Limitations
<b>August 15, 2002 - 6:00 a.m.</b>
The mantle clock was softly chiming the hour when Ann stepped through the door of Melinda's room into the living room shaking down a thermometer. John ran his fingers through his hair, "Well?", a tone of worry in his voice, "any change?"
"No, John", she replied, "the Tylenol hasn't changed it at all, she's running 103.4. She's curled up on her side in a fetal position with localized hardness and tenderness in her lower right abdomen. What are we going to do?"
He let out a long sigh. "Well honey, we've just come up against an important limitation on self-reliance. We've got to get Melinda to a doctor and we need to do it today - right now. Mike's patrol zone covers the west part of Gainesville I'll go over there right now, he shouldn't have left yet for work, and find out what it's going to be like trying to get to Shands. We haven't been a mile away from the house since Impact and from what we've been hearing on the radio I suspect it's getting pretty bad in town."
Giving his wife a kiss he stood up and headed for the back door. "I'll be back as soon as I talk to Mike and we'll take her in the van." A few seconds to don his slicker and he was gone, lost into the rain and darkness.
Four hundred yards down the road he came to Mike's gate. "HELLO THE HOUSE!", he shouted from the road. He'd known Mike for years but since Impact one did not simply walk up on to anyone's porch anymore without first announcing their presence, most especially not in the dark. Word had come last week that a neighbor of Miguel, the store owner, had been found dead in his living room, his house ransacked. Now passing through someone's gate uninvited was asking to come face to face with a shotgun - or worse.
A light sprang from the deeper darkness of the porch and played across his face and hands. "Morning John!", Mike called from the door, "What brings you callin' so early this morning?"
"Mike, I need to talk to you. Mel's bad sick and needs a doctor, maybe a surgeon. I want to take her into Shands but from what we've been hearing on the radio I suspect it's going to be a chore to get there. What can you tell me about the situation in town?"
"Are you sure she really needs a doctor?… No, I reckon you are or you wouldn't be here. OK, I tell you what. I go on shift at 0800. If you'll give me a lift to the hospital I'll have my partner meet me there. Since Impact we're all partnered to save fuel and… for other reasons and he's got my car. I'll be in uniform and will be able to get you through the check points faster than you'd get through otherwise."
John nodded and said, "Is it as bad as that then? I'd heard that the Guard had set up checkpoints but I thought they were just looking for looters and whatnot."
Mike studied his shoes for a moment and came back, "Yeah, it's bad alright. Might get worse too." He let out a sigh, "Probably ought to fill you in anyways. The way things are going it might come to… community involvement towards the end."
The darkness was gradually giving way to a deep gray through the heavy clouds. John said, "I'll go and get Melinda and Ann in the van and I'll pick you up here in a half-hour."
"Sounds like a plan then. Oh, and John? Wear a sidearm. Wear it openly and put a rifle in the back."
John turned and walked back towards his house, the rain stealing the sounds of his boots on the pavement.
---
"Better turns toward Archer", Mike explained, "Payne's Prairie has come up so high that it's covered the part of the Williston road that curves around it. Covered 441 where it crosses the prairie too for that matter and is threatening to cross the Interstate as well. They've opened all the gates but it's coming in faster than they can let it out again. Looks like it's going to be Lake Alachua once more instead of Payne's Prairie for a long time to come."
"How bad is the water in town?" Ann asked, "I've heard that Hogtown Creek is out of its banks pretty far."
"Hogtown Creek, Sweetwater Branch, every little crick or branch in the county is trying to become the Suwanee river. Word off the net is that the Suwanee, Santa Fe and Itchnetucknee are miles into the woods and threatening to undermine a couple of bridges. No one living along those rivers now unless they're ten feet high or more on poles and even a lot of them washed away I hear. Lake Santa Fe and Newnan's Lake have risen twelve feet since Impact. Dad says they ought to look like he remembers then when he was a boy. Fishing down to Lochloosa and Orange Lake ought to be mighty fine in a year or so if ever this weather settles down. Course, we'll all have to paddle or sail from the landing with the fuel situation and all. Be hard put to even be able to drive by then."
This piqued John's interest. "Is the fuel situation that bad? Have they started rationing?"
"Oh yeah, they're rationing alright. That is when there is any gasoline at all there's a definite hierarchy of who gets it. Even the sheriff's department is having a hard time keeping our cruisers on the road and you can bet that running the a/c is right *out*. I'm sure you wouldn't be wasting your fuel storage like that but it wouldn't do to be seen driving around too much where folks could see you. Might arouse some unwanted curiosity. Word has it that come Spring folks like us with tractors and land will be entitled to special agricultural fuel if we use it in food production. It'll be like the 'off road' fuel that's not taxed now and has a special dye in it. Just don't get caught with it in your car because it'll be more than just a fine if you do."
The Horne's Aerostar came to the intersection with U.S. 27 and turned right, past Miguel's store now dark and with plywood nailed over the windows and doors. "Did something happen to Miguel?", Ann asked, "His store is all boarded up, he didn't get looted or anything did he?"
"No," Mike answered, "I saw him yesterday. He's fine. His boy Ricardo did put a .357 bullet past one fellow's head who wanted to get rough with Miguel when he wouldn't take his credit card but that was about as bad as it got. He's just got nothing to sell and doesn't want folks to damage the place looking for food or gas. Told me that he pumped every gallon of gas he had before the waves hit and sold everything in the store that could be eat or drunk by dark. Got a box full of cash now. I'm bettin' he'd rather have his gas and food back, leastwise his food anyways. He'd just have had his gas 'requisitioned' if he still had it. A can of pork and beans'll bring five dollars now - unofficially, of course - price controls won't allow for selling it for more than what it brought before Impact."
He grinned, "Course, there ain't no pork and beans and not much of anything else for that matter to be found for sale - officially that is. Nobody's starving…yet… but ain't no one getting fat in town either. Plenty of folks out here in the country ain't eatin' too well as far as that goes. We don't lack for feed corn to the house so we'll have pone at least right on but my boys would be pretty shy on protein if it weren't for them eggs y'all been giving us. Don't think I'll forget that."
Ann said, "Mike, we've been friends and neighbors ever since we moved out here five years ago. I can't recall how many times you or your boys have helped us. That's what neighbors are about - good neighbors anyways. Those hens keep right on laying - Impact or no - and we're certainly not selling eggs to coworkers anymore. Better to share them with the folks who are important to us. I'd say you're making it up in kind right now."
Conversation faded and they rode on in silence. Melinda moaned softly but her condition did not change. At Archer Rd and I-75 they came to the checkpoint. A dozen wet, dejected looking people sat under the overpass finding what shelter they could against the never ending precipitation under the watchful eye of a trooper who looked like a boy dressed up for Halloween. There was just one other car in front of them at 7:30 in the morning on one of the main roads into Gainesville. Another trooper walked up to the driver's window and bent over to see inside. "Good morning. Do you have business in Gainesville?"
Mike leaned over so the trooper could see him, "I'm Deputy Mike Daniels, ASO, These are my neighbor's John and Ann Horne and their daughter Melinda. They're giving me a ride to work and taking their child to Shands. She's seriously ill and looks to need a doctor bad."
The trooper, a corporal from the collar tabs, belonging to the local Gainesville company, gave a cursory examination to Mike's uniform, glanced through the car but scarcely noted the rifle in plain sight in the back. He took out a pad in an aluminum box and leaned inside the window to escape the rain. He wrote down the names of the vehicle occupants, their destination, license plate number and reason for being in town. He then gave a carbon copy of the form to John. "This is your pass to be in town Mr. Horne. You'll need to be able to produce it if you're stopped. We've had trouble with looting and stealing from the refugees so we're trying to limit their movements until things can be better organized." He glanced at Melinda, "I sure hope they can help your little girl. God speed to you."
The makeshift gate swung up and John drove through. The traffic lights were blank but as there were virtually no cars to be seen moving this wasn't a problem. John glanced at Mike and asked, "Is it like that at every road into town?"
Mike nodded, "Yes, it is. If I weren't with you and Melinda not so obviously sick you might have been a spell longer getting through - might not have gotten into town at all. I expect they'll be moving that checkpoint out to Tower Road before long, maybe even as far as Parker Road. They're not trying to restrict movement in the country but with the fuel situation being what it is and all no one's much driving out there anyways"
He gave a glance back towards the overpass, "I wanted you to see that before I said anything. Once you get Melinda seen by a doctor you and I have to talk."
<b>Alan's note:</b> If I've put the appendix on the wrong side will someone kindly tell me? It's been a *long* time since A&P and I haven't had the time to look it up again. Thanks.
ME?????being blunt,,,,nawwwwww...LOL
<------ Picture of me right now! Oh, I am greedy, too. This is GREAT! More, more, more please! I am on the edge of my seat. 
