The world is dingier than we know and life is short. Alisse goes to the doctor for a procedure--a sterilization--after which she can begin her life in earnest while planning for her ensuing death. She and her love and her closest friends accept the way things are. They prepare for it like actors in a well-rehearsed play. Then Alisse learns the truth. Ephemera is a short story about a world where death is planned and life is an unexpected twist-of-fate.