We Interrupt This Program...
- Thread starter A.T.Hagan
- Start date
A.T.Hagan
Inactive
August 29 - The Brink
"That should do the trick now deputy Horne." The communications tech said as he began to pack up his tools, "It's not the prettiest set up I've ever put together but with having to make do with whatever we can lay hands on since Impact it's good enough. Shouldn't blow down in anything less than a hurricane or a tornado and you've got enough height on the tower now that you shouldn't have any trouble hitting the main antenna in Gainesville. Anyone putting out one watt or better on a hand held CB should be able to hit your tower pretty well out past the county line so it'll cover your sector and a fair bit more. I'm still working on the FRS antennas but when I get them set up we'll rig you out for that as well. The lower rigs are your TV/FM/scanner antennas which ought to increase your range there too."
John shook his hand and said, "Proud to see it. We've got a dog hunt coming up this Saturday and we'll need to be able to coordinate movement. It'll be a sort of working exercise to get the bugs out of our community security program."
The tech replied, "Yeah, I've heard you rural types have been having a problem with dogs going feral and packing up. You don't see very many in town now - nothing for them to eat and I think maybe people are starting to eat <i>them</i>."
Ann came out and said, "Mr. Gaskins, would you like to set to the table with us? We're just about to have lunch."
"Well, I've got two more rigs to get set up out Newberry ways" he hesitated, "but if you don't mind I think I will."
She smiled and said, "Well you're welcome. It's nothing fancy but it's hot and filling."
They all went in and washed up at the sink then sat to their meal. John looked around the table and asked "Where's the kids"
Ann replied "Melinda and Heather are over at the Daniels helping out - more of an excuse to spend time with kids their own age than anything else. Judy and Chuck are there too, they're Rick's sister's kids. Not sure how much work Kate's actually going to get out of them but at least they have some fun. Since the attack on Sunday everybody's been so tensed up it'll be good for them to let off some steam. Lisa called from the clinic and said she'd be home late but that Miguel's boy Roberto would escort her so she wouldn't be riding home alone in the dark."
John nodded then asked Ted Gaskins about his allusion to the dog problem in town, "Is it getting so bad they're starting to eat the dogs now?"
Ted nodded his head. "Yes, I think it is. We're just not getting enough food shipped in to adequately feed everyone. Between the damage to the roads and rail beds, the fuel shortages, and the military having priority for its transport, there just isn't enough food coming in and it's getting pretty hungry in town. You country types don't realize how good you have it. Out here your worst problem is dogs and you're not hungry. In town you can get killed for what used to be $5.00 worth of food a month ago. We're finding a body a day, mostly in the camps, but some around town too. Captain Swift's troops have suppressed three riots in the last ten days between the three largest camps. Been pretty rough about it too if you ask me but he's so short on troops it's about all he can do. He's trying to get authority to 'streamline' the justice system, at least in the camps. So far that's been resisted by the local civil authorities. Another couple of riots or a serious increase in the murder and violence rate and the sheriff and police chief may be outvoted. Word around the department is the governor is waffling and may go over to the Recovery Command position which is to 'temporarily' suspend civil law and put area administration on a more military footing. Gives me the sweats to think about Captain Swift getting control of the county. Everyone heard about the way you faced him down. Man, you sure had balls!" Remembering Ann was at the table he said, "Pardon me, ma'am. But it hasn't improved his disposition any since I can tell you that."
The conversation faded for a time while everyone attended to the matter of their plates. Presently Ann asked, "Have you heard anything about the war that's not on the radio? Have the Chinese said anything yet?"
Ted shook his head. "No, still no word. Nothing solid but a blue million rumors and theories flying around. Going on four days since we nuked their navy but not a word. The Sheriff thinks there may be an internal power struggle going on. Talk on the shortwave is all over the map - some say they're preparing to invade the U.S… like they could pull that off if they couldn't invade Taiwan. Others say they're going to hit us with some biological super weapon, which gives me the cold sweats I can tell you but nothing has happened so far along those lines. Me? I think we've spooked them. They tried to cross us and we gave them a strong shot to the jaw and knocked them on their butt. They're too scared to get up and take another swing at us."
Ted took another bite of his lunch and the others waited for him to continue. "My boy is a university student. He's moved back in with us since the campus is awash with evacuees. When the power's up the university still has their Internet connection so he logs on at our place. There's this board he reads that's left over from that Y2K nuttiness a few years ago - pretty wacko in spots but they do get a lot of news flowing through which you don't hear about on the national news. Been a lot of violence in L.A., St. Louis, someplace in Louisiana where they've got a big camp set up for the survivors from New Orleans. Some fella in New Hampshire says there's talk about a revolt in the New England states if the Recovery Command doesn't send in a new commander. The present one seems to be a little too handy with a gun when it comes to suppressing discontent. Another fella claiming to be in Pennsylvania somewhere says he's seen the Navy loading bodies onto barges. Says there's so many to dispose of they're dumping them at sea. Hard to say how much of any of it's true but it does make ya wonder."
"I was talking to one of the Health Department docs yesterday and he said the Chinese don't need a super bug. Plain old cholera and typhoid will do it for them if we can't get our water and waste systems better squared away in the camps. May be right too. Getting to be pretty squalid. It's for sure that they're having a dysentery problem. Some people are so stupid! Some of them won't do a damn thing to help themselves but sit on their butts and demand the government save them. Others go feral at the drop of a hat and turn into predators. There's plenty who want to work but there's just little for them to work with. If it weren't for the job that keeps me in town I'd be trying to find a place out here in the country too like anyone that has any sense does."
Turning back to his plate he gave it his full attention for a while and when Ann offered him seconds he gratefully accepted.
Presently Robert said, "Well, I can live with silence if it means they're not sending missiles. Maybe when we rebuild this will mean we'll have to go back to building stuff here in the U.S. again. Maybe that no one will want stuff made in China after this."
John said, "Well, we can hope. For sure we ought to be concentrating on rebuilding the U.S. rather than buying more cheap crap from China. If we don't get into some general nuclear exchange or biowar this fracas with them may work out for the best."
When the soup and cornbread was finished Ann brought out a cake.
"You're kidding!" Ted exclaimed.
She blushed and said, "Well, it's nothing special. Just plain old chocolate. The midday meal tends to be our big meal of the day since everyone does so much physical labor now and I like to make dessert when I can. Supper is usually leftovers or eggs. Would you like a slice?"
The man hesitated then asked, "Mrs. Horne, if it's all the same to you may I take my slice with me? I'd like to give it to my wife if that's OK."
"Well sure it's OK but there's enough here for both of you to have a piece. You've done us a big favor getting that radio set up the way you did. The least we can do is to feed you a decent meal."
With a grin he accepted his plate, took a bite, then his face fell. "Thirty days," he said, "It's not even been quite thirty days and we've come to this." He slowly savored every forkful until it was gone.
The meal over Ted looked at John and said, "I've just got time to look over your portable rig real quick if you like before I have to head north." Turning to Ann he said, "Ma'am, that was mighty fine and I sure appreciate it."
She smiled, "I'm glad you enjoyed it."
The two men walked into the living room to look at the portable CB. Robert went back out to continue in the garden and Ann cleaned up from lunch. When he was finished with the radio John walked Ted out to his truck. "Maybe if you get back out this way sometimes Ted you can help me get my short wave set up. I've had it for some time but never got around to putting it up. A simple dipole I can do but maybe you could do better."
Ted got in the truck and shut the door. Leaning out the window he replied, "Let me cast around and see what I can come up with. For just receiving a dipole will work pretty well but we might be able to get you some better cable and then I'll tune the antenna for you."
Ann stepped off the front porch and walked up to the truck. "This is for your family when you get back home." she said handing him a folded brown paper bag. With a puzzled look he took it and said, "Thank you. Got to be going, I want to be done and back to the house by dark. Y'all take care."
The truck pulled out and disappeared around the bend. Walking back towards the house John asked, "What was in the bag?"
Ann said, "The rest of the soup, cornbread and the cake. Did you notice how thin in the face he looks? God only knows what they've had to eat lately. John, if they don't start getting some real food into town soon what's going to happen to the children?"
"That should do the trick now deputy Horne." The communications tech said as he began to pack up his tools, "It's not the prettiest set up I've ever put together but with having to make do with whatever we can lay hands on since Impact it's good enough. Shouldn't blow down in anything less than a hurricane or a tornado and you've got enough height on the tower now that you shouldn't have any trouble hitting the main antenna in Gainesville. Anyone putting out one watt or better on a hand held CB should be able to hit your tower pretty well out past the county line so it'll cover your sector and a fair bit more. I'm still working on the FRS antennas but when I get them set up we'll rig you out for that as well. The lower rigs are your TV/FM/scanner antennas which ought to increase your range there too."
John shook his hand and said, "Proud to see it. We've got a dog hunt coming up this Saturday and we'll need to be able to coordinate movement. It'll be a sort of working exercise to get the bugs out of our community security program."
The tech replied, "Yeah, I've heard you rural types have been having a problem with dogs going feral and packing up. You don't see very many in town now - nothing for them to eat and I think maybe people are starting to eat <i>them</i>."
Ann came out and said, "Mr. Gaskins, would you like to set to the table with us? We're just about to have lunch."
"Well, I've got two more rigs to get set up out Newberry ways" he hesitated, "but if you don't mind I think I will."
She smiled and said, "Well you're welcome. It's nothing fancy but it's hot and filling."
They all went in and washed up at the sink then sat to their meal. John looked around the table and asked "Where's the kids"
Ann replied "Melinda and Heather are over at the Daniels helping out - more of an excuse to spend time with kids their own age than anything else. Judy and Chuck are there too, they're Rick's sister's kids. Not sure how much work Kate's actually going to get out of them but at least they have some fun. Since the attack on Sunday everybody's been so tensed up it'll be good for them to let off some steam. Lisa called from the clinic and said she'd be home late but that Miguel's boy Roberto would escort her so she wouldn't be riding home alone in the dark."
John nodded then asked Ted Gaskins about his allusion to the dog problem in town, "Is it getting so bad they're starting to eat the dogs now?"
Ted nodded his head. "Yes, I think it is. We're just not getting enough food shipped in to adequately feed everyone. Between the damage to the roads and rail beds, the fuel shortages, and the military having priority for its transport, there just isn't enough food coming in and it's getting pretty hungry in town. You country types don't realize how good you have it. Out here your worst problem is dogs and you're not hungry. In town you can get killed for what used to be $5.00 worth of food a month ago. We're finding a body a day, mostly in the camps, but some around town too. Captain Swift's troops have suppressed three riots in the last ten days between the three largest camps. Been pretty rough about it too if you ask me but he's so short on troops it's about all he can do. He's trying to get authority to 'streamline' the justice system, at least in the camps. So far that's been resisted by the local civil authorities. Another couple of riots or a serious increase in the murder and violence rate and the sheriff and police chief may be outvoted. Word around the department is the governor is waffling and may go over to the Recovery Command position which is to 'temporarily' suspend civil law and put area administration on a more military footing. Gives me the sweats to think about Captain Swift getting control of the county. Everyone heard about the way you faced him down. Man, you sure had balls!" Remembering Ann was at the table he said, "Pardon me, ma'am. But it hasn't improved his disposition any since I can tell you that."
The conversation faded for a time while everyone attended to the matter of their plates. Presently Ann asked, "Have you heard anything about the war that's not on the radio? Have the Chinese said anything yet?"
Ted shook his head. "No, still no word. Nothing solid but a blue million rumors and theories flying around. Going on four days since we nuked their navy but not a word. The Sheriff thinks there may be an internal power struggle going on. Talk on the shortwave is all over the map - some say they're preparing to invade the U.S… like they could pull that off if they couldn't invade Taiwan. Others say they're going to hit us with some biological super weapon, which gives me the cold sweats I can tell you but nothing has happened so far along those lines. Me? I think we've spooked them. They tried to cross us and we gave them a strong shot to the jaw and knocked them on their butt. They're too scared to get up and take another swing at us."
Ted took another bite of his lunch and the others waited for him to continue. "My boy is a university student. He's moved back in with us since the campus is awash with evacuees. When the power's up the university still has their Internet connection so he logs on at our place. There's this board he reads that's left over from that Y2K nuttiness a few years ago - pretty wacko in spots but they do get a lot of news flowing through which you don't hear about on the national news. Been a lot of violence in L.A., St. Louis, someplace in Louisiana where they've got a big camp set up for the survivors from New Orleans. Some fella in New Hampshire says there's talk about a revolt in the New England states if the Recovery Command doesn't send in a new commander. The present one seems to be a little too handy with a gun when it comes to suppressing discontent. Another fella claiming to be in Pennsylvania somewhere says he's seen the Navy loading bodies onto barges. Says there's so many to dispose of they're dumping them at sea. Hard to say how much of any of it's true but it does make ya wonder."
"I was talking to one of the Health Department docs yesterday and he said the Chinese don't need a super bug. Plain old cholera and typhoid will do it for them if we can't get our water and waste systems better squared away in the camps. May be right too. Getting to be pretty squalid. It's for sure that they're having a dysentery problem. Some people are so stupid! Some of them won't do a damn thing to help themselves but sit on their butts and demand the government save them. Others go feral at the drop of a hat and turn into predators. There's plenty who want to work but there's just little for them to work with. If it weren't for the job that keeps me in town I'd be trying to find a place out here in the country too like anyone that has any sense does."
Turning back to his plate he gave it his full attention for a while and when Ann offered him seconds he gratefully accepted.
Presently Robert said, "Well, I can live with silence if it means they're not sending missiles. Maybe when we rebuild this will mean we'll have to go back to building stuff here in the U.S. again. Maybe that no one will want stuff made in China after this."
John said, "Well, we can hope. For sure we ought to be concentrating on rebuilding the U.S. rather than buying more cheap crap from China. If we don't get into some general nuclear exchange or biowar this fracas with them may work out for the best."
When the soup and cornbread was finished Ann brought out a cake.
"You're kidding!" Ted exclaimed.
She blushed and said, "Well, it's nothing special. Just plain old chocolate. The midday meal tends to be our big meal of the day since everyone does so much physical labor now and I like to make dessert when I can. Supper is usually leftovers or eggs. Would you like a slice?"
The man hesitated then asked, "Mrs. Horne, if it's all the same to you may I take my slice with me? I'd like to give it to my wife if that's OK."
"Well sure it's OK but there's enough here for both of you to have a piece. You've done us a big favor getting that radio set up the way you did. The least we can do is to feed you a decent meal."
With a grin he accepted his plate, took a bite, then his face fell. "Thirty days," he said, "It's not even been quite thirty days and we've come to this." He slowly savored every forkful until it was gone.
The meal over Ted looked at John and said, "I've just got time to look over your portable rig real quick if you like before I have to head north." Turning to Ann he said, "Ma'am, that was mighty fine and I sure appreciate it."
She smiled, "I'm glad you enjoyed it."
The two men walked into the living room to look at the portable CB. Robert went back out to continue in the garden and Ann cleaned up from lunch. When he was finished with the radio John walked Ted out to his truck. "Maybe if you get back out this way sometimes Ted you can help me get my short wave set up. I've had it for some time but never got around to putting it up. A simple dipole I can do but maybe you could do better."
Ted got in the truck and shut the door. Leaning out the window he replied, "Let me cast around and see what I can come up with. For just receiving a dipole will work pretty well but we might be able to get you some better cable and then I'll tune the antenna for you."
Ann stepped off the front porch and walked up to the truck. "This is for your family when you get back home." she said handing him a folded brown paper bag. With a puzzled look he took it and said, "Thank you. Got to be going, I want to be done and back to the house by dark. Y'all take care."
The truck pulled out and disappeared around the bend. Walking back towards the house John asked, "What was in the bag?"
Ann said, "The rest of the soup, cornbread and the cake. Did you notice how thin in the face he looks? God only knows what they've had to eat lately. John, if they don't start getting some real food into town soon what's going to happen to the children?"
Last edited:
Albuburbia
Membership Revoked
I swear on my Grandmother's grave ...
When he saw that chocolate cake, my eyes teared up!!!
I can't wait to read more!
When he saw that chocolate cake, my eyes teared up!!!
I can't wait to read more!
A.T.Hagan
Inactive
Story discussion thread
I'm in a bit of a quandary about the recovery/rebuilding phase of the story so if any of you readers would like to give me some ideas I've started a discussion thread at:
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39248
Take a look if you're interested. I'd like to keep this thread for just the story and the brainstorming stuff can go on the other thread.
Thanks!
.....Alan.
I'm in a bit of a quandary about the recovery/rebuilding phase of the story so if any of you readers would like to give me some ideas I've started a discussion thread at:
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39248
Take a look if you're interested. I'd like to keep this thread for just the story and the brainstorming stuff can go on the other thread.
Thanks!
.....Alan.
A.T.Hagan
Inactive
August 31 - Dead Tide
John tied the horse to a tree and went into the Archer fire station. He wished this first meeting of the southwestern Alachua county deputies could have been held on another day since he had the dog hunt coming up that afternoon but it was when it was and he'd just have to cope with it. "At least since I came in by myself this time I could ride the horse instead of a bike. The pedaling is beginning to get to my right knee. Like it or not I'm fifty years old and the machinery is going to start showing its age. Just too damn bad that the world has become a physically harder place than it was a month ago. And why am I in such a foul mood this morning anyways? Probably shouldn't have stayed up to listen to the news last night I suppose. It's never anything but bad. Between dysentery and Swift's troops shooting people the funeral industry is doing a booming business. Of course, there's not a lot of profit to be made with a backhoe digging a mass grave."
For a wonder the air conditioning was on when he went inside. Private homes were forbidden to run air conditioners or other "non-essential" electrical equipment in order to conserve power. Even then it was now rationed with all but the most essential power users receiving only four hours of electricity a day. "Well, being a 'modern' building and all there's not the first window in it that can be opened. If they were going to use the place to meet at all I reckon they'd have to turn on the a/c." He felt his mood begin to lift as the dampness and humidity of a Florida late August morning evaporated from his skin and clothing.
He looked around the room which held about twenty five people and recognized only a few of the faces. "Not surprising. Most of them probably aren't real law-enforcement any more than I am. With better than 200,000 residents in the county before the Impact chances were they were going to be strangers." The few remaining empty chairs were near to the front so he took one of those. A man he recognized from the university, Stu Rogers, worked in the same department as his wife came up to him and spoke.
"Hey John! I heard they'd asked you to join the program. Good to see you. We heard about you facing down Captain Swift. Took real guts to do that. Wish we'd done it ourselves instead of letting them waltz in and inspect everything but we fell for their story and got suckered in. They sure sang a different tune when they came back the next week. I still had to sell them twenty cows but they were much more deferential about it."
John replied, "Yeah, they bought up most of Ed Strickland's cattle too except for a fair number he's keeping as breeding stock and wouldn't sell. He managed to work a deal with them to where they'd pay for part in cash and part in stuff like fencing, fertilizer and whatnot. He figures he didn't get anywhere near to what they're really worth just now but at least the Army didn't come in and take everyone's food and leave them to starve. You had much action out your way since they signed you up?
"No, not much at all. We're near to thirty miles out of town and no big highways. Had some minor theft but that's about it. Been doing more impromptu relief work with the church than I have law enforcing. Hopefully it'll stay that way."
With a nod John said, "Your church organizing for relief work? Lisa who works at the Archer clinic lives with us now and she said something about several of the churches here in Archer trying to start programs for the locally hard up and some for the camps."
Stu grinned, "Yeah, we're working on putting together what organizational aid we can. Several of the local boys in the church belong to the Guard and were incorporated into the local Recovery troops. They get home every once in a while when they can and they sure tell some sad tales. We figure if something isn't done to help relieve the situation the evacuees cooped up in there are going to bust loose and fall on the surrounding countryside like a swarm of locusts. We've got damn little food we can send but things like tools, building supplies, and whatnot to help make life more livable. Several of the congregation who have done missionary work in Central and South America have gone in to teach about primitive sanitation and cooking. It's for sure the Recovery HQ and what few FEMA people there are in the county sure don't have the manpower for it."
Another man came up to them. "Sorry to butt in," he said, "but are you John Horne?"
John nodded his head and the man put out his hand, "Glad to meet you. I'm Ed Harris. I heard about you facing down the Army. He sounds like an insufferable bastard but then I retired after thirty in the Marines so we don't get along anyways. I've got the sector to the west of you running down 27 from Archer to the county line and some of the side roads. We ought to link up sometimes since we'll be helping each other out."
He was an older man in his late fifties, permanently tanned and creased with plenty of gray showing in his high and tight hair cut but none of him looking slack. "Good idea" John said "You free this afternoon? We've got a feral dog hunt coming up and you can watch if you like. We're using it as a working exercise to get our organization and commo worked out."
Ed shook his head in agreement, "Sounds good. We're not even that far along yet so maybe you'll give me some ideas. Starting an organized program to kill those goddamned dogs is really a good idea. We've all been shooting them whenever we see one but I still had a big rottweiler get in and tear up one of my cows."
Over the next ten minutes John ended up shaking hands with nearly everyone in the room as word began to circulate who he was.
Presently the Sheriff entered the room and with little wasted time started the meeting. "Gentlemen, you all know why you've been chosen and I'm not going to sugar coat the situation for you. The Sheriff's Office is stretched nearly to the breaking point right now and if we don't start seeing some relief coming in from the undamaged parts of the country soon we'll be facing collapse. State governments and the railroads are working around the clock to get the rail lines working again and it looks like they'll have the first trains ready to go in the very near future. Be that as it may they aren't here now but all of our problems are."
"The long and the short of it is I can't devote much more than moral support, limited amounts of communications support and some centralization to you in the outlying areas. Rather than waiting for the inevitable Vigilance Committees to form I've taken the initiative to start a program of local citizen policing to maintain order and deter any bandit wannabees from starting trouble. You're it for southwestern Alachua county from west of Interstate 75 to Newberry. I advise you all to get to know everyone bordering on your sectors and maybe some of those near to your sectors that don't directly touch on them. Figure out what communications you have in common between you and work out certain shared channels or frequencies that you can use to communicate with each other in addition to the one you'll use for internal communications within your sector. Get familiar with each other's special skills or equipment because you're mostly going to have to look to yourselves for support outside of some specialized investigation or communications support that I can provide you. If we start getting regular fuel shipments you'll each receive a ration but I can't say when or how much it'll be. I realize that sometimes this is going to be a great burden on you but you know as well as I do why it has to be done. I wish the situation was otherwise but it's not. If we cannot maintain order the entire state may break down into bloody anarchy."
"Let me make it clear to you that as sworn deputies you have full powers of arrest. I trust you to use your judgment wisely in exercising this power. Most especially be very cautious about the use of force but use it if you must because we cannot tolerate a climate of lawlessness and violence developing in the county. Unless you've done something really stupid I will back you to the hilt. Each one of you was chosen because of your background, experience, or your demonstrated ability to cope with difficult situations. I trust you will not do anything stupid."
"To assist you in your work I've had a map of the county made up showing each of your assigned sectors with your name in it." He pointed to the large four by eight map on the wall. "If there are portions of your given sectors that present practical difficulties for an individual deputy to police it then confer with your neighboring sector deputies and try to work something out. For those of you needing communications assistance that's Ted Gaskins in the back in the green shirt. He's one of my radio techs and he'll do what he can to get you set up. Now I've got an emergency county commission meeting to make in Gainesville so I'll leave you to it. Good luck gentlemen." With that he stepped from behind the podium and went out the door.
Stu turned to John and Ed sitting next to him and said, "I begin to understand how the Britons must have felt when Rome recalled the Legions."
-- -- -- --
John's fatalistic mood had settled deeply upon him again as they finished up with the meeting. There were six other sectors that touched on his and he'd met all but one of the deputies assigned to them - the last having not attended the meeting. He'd also met and spoke at least a few words with everyone else in the room so he'd at least know their faces. By mutual agreement everyone in the room agreed that CB Channel 9 would serve as the area "911 channel" for people to call for help on regardless of their sector and Channel 11 would serve as the intersector deputy's channel. He left the meeting with as many questions unanswered as resolved and suspected he'd get few of them dealt with if he called the sheriff. Mostly he figured they'd have to solve them for themselves until things could be put back together.
Lisa had told him the Archer post office was running again. There was no fuel for rural deliveries so you had to come into town to get your mail even if you didn't have a box in the building. With no one sending junk mail and most of the companies that sent him bills now probably scattered across the continental shelf he figured that the postal mail volume would plunge steeply. "Probably just as well" he thought "I doubt the postal service can even pay more than a very few employees now. Mail's going to go back to being mostly personal or official communication like it used to be way back when."
To his surprise there was a handful of mail waiting for him. Most of it was now irrelevant having been posted before Impact - junk advertising, book catalogs gave him a pang of regret, credit card bills, the power bill, a jury summons brought a momentary grin to his face but the last letter on the bottom stopped his breath for a moment. A huge grin split his face and he carefully tucked the letter into his breast pocket and the rest went into his saddle bags. Even junk paper was paper and paper was a manufactured commodity which meant that it did not get thrown away until it had absolutely no more possible uses. Even then it could be used to light a fire.
He pulled the CB out of the saddle bag. "John to Base. I'm finished with the meeting and I've got the mail. I'll make a quick stop by the market on the way out then I'm heading home. I've got a surprise!"
A moment passed then the radio crackled, "Base to daddy. I read you. What's your ETA? What's the surprise?!"
A smile crossed his face again, "John to Base. ETA of approximately an hour and fifteen minutes. If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise would it?"
-- -- -- -- --
He rode through the gate within the specified time and up to the barn. He was just unsaddling the horse when Ann came in. "Mel tells me you've got a surprise for us? What is it?"
John grinned, "I'll tell you what I told Mel. If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise would it?" He picked up a curry comb. "When I get Cricket squared away I'll show you. When's lunch going to be ready? The hunt's at two and I want to be finished by then."
She grinned back at him, "Yes dear, I'll be sure you're fed before you go out and play with the boys." Walking back to the door she turned just before going through and said, "I've got a surprise for you of my own" and stuck her tongue out at him as she disappeared into the brightness outside.
John tied the horse to a tree and went into the Archer fire station. He wished this first meeting of the southwestern Alachua county deputies could have been held on another day since he had the dog hunt coming up that afternoon but it was when it was and he'd just have to cope with it. "At least since I came in by myself this time I could ride the horse instead of a bike. The pedaling is beginning to get to my right knee. Like it or not I'm fifty years old and the machinery is going to start showing its age. Just too damn bad that the world has become a physically harder place than it was a month ago. And why am I in such a foul mood this morning anyways? Probably shouldn't have stayed up to listen to the news last night I suppose. It's never anything but bad. Between dysentery and Swift's troops shooting people the funeral industry is doing a booming business. Of course, there's not a lot of profit to be made with a backhoe digging a mass grave."
For a wonder the air conditioning was on when he went inside. Private homes were forbidden to run air conditioners or other "non-essential" electrical equipment in order to conserve power. Even then it was now rationed with all but the most essential power users receiving only four hours of electricity a day. "Well, being a 'modern' building and all there's not the first window in it that can be opened. If they were going to use the place to meet at all I reckon they'd have to turn on the a/c." He felt his mood begin to lift as the dampness and humidity of a Florida late August morning evaporated from his skin and clothing.
He looked around the room which held about twenty five people and recognized only a few of the faces. "Not surprising. Most of them probably aren't real law-enforcement any more than I am. With better than 200,000 residents in the county before the Impact chances were they were going to be strangers." The few remaining empty chairs were near to the front so he took one of those. A man he recognized from the university, Stu Rogers, worked in the same department as his wife came up to him and spoke.
"Hey John! I heard they'd asked you to join the program. Good to see you. We heard about you facing down Captain Swift. Took real guts to do that. Wish we'd done it ourselves instead of letting them waltz in and inspect everything but we fell for their story and got suckered in. They sure sang a different tune when they came back the next week. I still had to sell them twenty cows but they were much more deferential about it."
John replied, "Yeah, they bought up most of Ed Strickland's cattle too except for a fair number he's keeping as breeding stock and wouldn't sell. He managed to work a deal with them to where they'd pay for part in cash and part in stuff like fencing, fertilizer and whatnot. He figures he didn't get anywhere near to what they're really worth just now but at least the Army didn't come in and take everyone's food and leave them to starve. You had much action out your way since they signed you up?
"No, not much at all. We're near to thirty miles out of town and no big highways. Had some minor theft but that's about it. Been doing more impromptu relief work with the church than I have law enforcing. Hopefully it'll stay that way."
With a nod John said, "Your church organizing for relief work? Lisa who works at the Archer clinic lives with us now and she said something about several of the churches here in Archer trying to start programs for the locally hard up and some for the camps."
Stu grinned, "Yeah, we're working on putting together what organizational aid we can. Several of the local boys in the church belong to the Guard and were incorporated into the local Recovery troops. They get home every once in a while when they can and they sure tell some sad tales. We figure if something isn't done to help relieve the situation the evacuees cooped up in there are going to bust loose and fall on the surrounding countryside like a swarm of locusts. We've got damn little food we can send but things like tools, building supplies, and whatnot to help make life more livable. Several of the congregation who have done missionary work in Central and South America have gone in to teach about primitive sanitation and cooking. It's for sure the Recovery HQ and what few FEMA people there are in the county sure don't have the manpower for it."
Another man came up to them. "Sorry to butt in," he said, "but are you John Horne?"
John nodded his head and the man put out his hand, "Glad to meet you. I'm Ed Harris. I heard about you facing down the Army. He sounds like an insufferable bastard but then I retired after thirty in the Marines so we don't get along anyways. I've got the sector to the west of you running down 27 from Archer to the county line and some of the side roads. We ought to link up sometimes since we'll be helping each other out."
He was an older man in his late fifties, permanently tanned and creased with plenty of gray showing in his high and tight hair cut but none of him looking slack. "Good idea" John said "You free this afternoon? We've got a feral dog hunt coming up and you can watch if you like. We're using it as a working exercise to get our organization and commo worked out."
Ed shook his head in agreement, "Sounds good. We're not even that far along yet so maybe you'll give me some ideas. Starting an organized program to kill those goddamned dogs is really a good idea. We've all been shooting them whenever we see one but I still had a big rottweiler get in and tear up one of my cows."
Over the next ten minutes John ended up shaking hands with nearly everyone in the room as word began to circulate who he was.
Presently the Sheriff entered the room and with little wasted time started the meeting. "Gentlemen, you all know why you've been chosen and I'm not going to sugar coat the situation for you. The Sheriff's Office is stretched nearly to the breaking point right now and if we don't start seeing some relief coming in from the undamaged parts of the country soon we'll be facing collapse. State governments and the railroads are working around the clock to get the rail lines working again and it looks like they'll have the first trains ready to go in the very near future. Be that as it may they aren't here now but all of our problems are."
"The long and the short of it is I can't devote much more than moral support, limited amounts of communications support and some centralization to you in the outlying areas. Rather than waiting for the inevitable Vigilance Committees to form I've taken the initiative to start a program of local citizen policing to maintain order and deter any bandit wannabees from starting trouble. You're it for southwestern Alachua county from west of Interstate 75 to Newberry. I advise you all to get to know everyone bordering on your sectors and maybe some of those near to your sectors that don't directly touch on them. Figure out what communications you have in common between you and work out certain shared channels or frequencies that you can use to communicate with each other in addition to the one you'll use for internal communications within your sector. Get familiar with each other's special skills or equipment because you're mostly going to have to look to yourselves for support outside of some specialized investigation or communications support that I can provide you. If we start getting regular fuel shipments you'll each receive a ration but I can't say when or how much it'll be. I realize that sometimes this is going to be a great burden on you but you know as well as I do why it has to be done. I wish the situation was otherwise but it's not. If we cannot maintain order the entire state may break down into bloody anarchy."
"Let me make it clear to you that as sworn deputies you have full powers of arrest. I trust you to use your judgment wisely in exercising this power. Most especially be very cautious about the use of force but use it if you must because we cannot tolerate a climate of lawlessness and violence developing in the county. Unless you've done something really stupid I will back you to the hilt. Each one of you was chosen because of your background, experience, or your demonstrated ability to cope with difficult situations. I trust you will not do anything stupid."
"To assist you in your work I've had a map of the county made up showing each of your assigned sectors with your name in it." He pointed to the large four by eight map on the wall. "If there are portions of your given sectors that present practical difficulties for an individual deputy to police it then confer with your neighboring sector deputies and try to work something out. For those of you needing communications assistance that's Ted Gaskins in the back in the green shirt. He's one of my radio techs and he'll do what he can to get you set up. Now I've got an emergency county commission meeting to make in Gainesville so I'll leave you to it. Good luck gentlemen." With that he stepped from behind the podium and went out the door.
Stu turned to John and Ed sitting next to him and said, "I begin to understand how the Britons must have felt when Rome recalled the Legions."
-- -- -- --
John's fatalistic mood had settled deeply upon him again as they finished up with the meeting. There were six other sectors that touched on his and he'd met all but one of the deputies assigned to them - the last having not attended the meeting. He'd also met and spoke at least a few words with everyone else in the room so he'd at least know their faces. By mutual agreement everyone in the room agreed that CB Channel 9 would serve as the area "911 channel" for people to call for help on regardless of their sector and Channel 11 would serve as the intersector deputy's channel. He left the meeting with as many questions unanswered as resolved and suspected he'd get few of them dealt with if he called the sheriff. Mostly he figured they'd have to solve them for themselves until things could be put back together.
Lisa had told him the Archer post office was running again. There was no fuel for rural deliveries so you had to come into town to get your mail even if you didn't have a box in the building. With no one sending junk mail and most of the companies that sent him bills now probably scattered across the continental shelf he figured that the postal mail volume would plunge steeply. "Probably just as well" he thought "I doubt the postal service can even pay more than a very few employees now. Mail's going to go back to being mostly personal or official communication like it used to be way back when."
To his surprise there was a handful of mail waiting for him. Most of it was now irrelevant having been posted before Impact - junk advertising, book catalogs gave him a pang of regret, credit card bills, the power bill, a jury summons brought a momentary grin to his face but the last letter on the bottom stopped his breath for a moment. A huge grin split his face and he carefully tucked the letter into his breast pocket and the rest went into his saddle bags. Even junk paper was paper and paper was a manufactured commodity which meant that it did not get thrown away until it had absolutely no more possible uses. Even then it could be used to light a fire.
He pulled the CB out of the saddle bag. "John to Base. I'm finished with the meeting and I've got the mail. I'll make a quick stop by the market on the way out then I'm heading home. I've got a surprise!"
A moment passed then the radio crackled, "Base to daddy. I read you. What's your ETA? What's the surprise?!"
A smile crossed his face again, "John to Base. ETA of approximately an hour and fifteen minutes. If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise would it?"
-- -- -- -- --
He rode through the gate within the specified time and up to the barn. He was just unsaddling the horse when Ann came in. "Mel tells me you've got a surprise for us? What is it?"
John grinned, "I'll tell you what I told Mel. If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise would it?" He picked up a curry comb. "When I get Cricket squared away I'll show you. When's lunch going to be ready? The hunt's at two and I want to be finished by then."
She grinned back at him, "Yes dear, I'll be sure you're fed before you go out and play with the boys." Walking back to the door she turned just before going through and said, "I've got a surprise for you of my own" and stuck her tongue out at him as she disappeared into the brightness outside.
A.T.Hagan
Inactive
Onebyone said:Uhh oohh do we have a mutiny started. Ann is giving away the food John is working so hard to preserve for the group??? OR are they going to allow this man and his family into the group because he has good skills?
hummmm.....
Can't wait to see where this is going Alan.
Bread upon the waters...
.....Alan.
A.T.Hagan
Inactive
August 31 - Cyclical
"Alright John Horne!" Ann pointed the spoon at him threateningly "There'll be NO cobbler for you until you TELL us what this surprise is!"
Her husband grinned as he pushed his plate away. "Well," he said, "I can't rightly tell you seeing as how it's actually Dad's surprise!" He unbuttoned his pocket flap and withdrew the letter then extended it to his father.
Robert quirked an eyebrow but said nothing as he took the missive from him. "Men!" Ann let out a sigh of frustration. Melinda and Heather looked expectantly at Mel's grandfather. "It wasn't even yours yet you've made us sit here through the entire meal consumed with curiosity!"
With a chuckle her husband replied, "Ahh, but it's the anticipation that makes it all the sweeter."
His wife opened her mouth to retort then noticed her father-in-law staring intently at the letter with a grave expression.
Finally the elder Horne said, "It's from Carla. Must have mailed it before the impact."
"Dad," his son interjected, "look at the postmark! It's dated the 8th! She mailed AFTER the impact. She's alive!"
His father squinted at the outside of the envelope then took his reading glasses out of his pocket and put them on. He reexamined the letter and said, "Well, sure enough. It IS dated August 8th!" His hands shook slightly as he carefully slit the envelope open with a butter knife. Inside were three folded pages with Carla's neat penmanship on them. Unfolding the pages his father began to read aloud.
<i>August 7th, 2002
Dear Dad,
I have no way of knowing if you and the family have survived the tsunamis resulting from the asteroid strike or even if this letter will ever be delivered so I suppose I'm writing this as much for myself as to let you know that I and the kids are alive. I don't know about Aaron. He was with us when the news came but somehow we were separated in the madness of trying to get as many people on board as possible before we had to undock but I'd better start this at the beginning so you'll understand.
As you may recall from my last letter we had been back in Norfolk for a week when the news broke. I think it went out over military channels before the public announcement so we had a few more minutes warning. Aaron had brought Cindy and Neil to the base so I could show them around the carrier. As you probably recall it's open on a limited basis for public tours when we're not actively preparing to ship out. We'd decided to have a late lunch at the chow hall you and I ate at last year and had just left when the base warning sirens sounded. We didn't know at first what the emergency was about or even if it was only a drill so we ran for the nearest shelter so I could be sure Aaron and the kids were safe before reporting back to the ship. When we got there the shelter commander immediately ordered everybody to head to the wharves yelling about an asteroid that was going to impact and we all had to get aboard before the tsunamis hit Norfolk.
It seems when the word came in about the impact the Admiral ordered every ship that could make way and every plane that could get off the ground to move to safety but only after as many people as could be safely crammed aboard were taken on. The asteroid was only 45 minutes from impact when the sirens went off so there wasn't time for any organization, the S.P.'s just started grabbing anyone and everyone and shoving them towards the docks. This is when we lost Aaron. A woman with a child in her arms fell and he stopped to help her get up while I ran with Neil in my arms and had Cindy by the hand. I thought he was behind us but when we got to the ramp he wasn't anywhere to be seen and the S.P. wouldn't let me go back to look. I can only hope he made it aboard another ship but I know he is not on board with us. Two hours before Impact the Captain threw off the lines and pulled out going to flank speed as soon as he was clear enough that he could do so. We've never done that before because of the damage and the safety risk but every ship in the yard was moving fast. We saw plane after plane rising in the distance. One went down and crashed into a housing area but I've never heard why. The entire group was blowing every horn and whistle it had to warn everyone out of the way as we made our insane dash to open sea and deep water. I know we ran down at least one cabin cruiser that didn't get out of the way. I saw the people bailing out. They must have had engine trouble because they were sitting dead in the channel.
By the time we cleared the harbor and were heading out into open ocean we could see a monstrous number of ships and boats of every description before and aft of us all heading outbound. When the asteroid was supposed to enter the atmosphere I had the kids cover their eyes but I put on my sunglasses and saw it hit air. I shouldn't have done that as I may have damaged my vision but it seems to be getting better now. It was well over the horizon from us so what I saw was a like a camera strobe flashing then it disappeared. I was mostly blind for a little while but I could see the sky in that direction begin to turn dark and expand like watching time lapse photography of an approaching storm. We were hustled below after that so I didn't get to see any more as everyone was sent below decks and the ship battened down for gale weather. I don't know how tall the wave was or in what depth of water we were at when it came but for a moment we were all terrified we would capsize. The ship eventually righted itself and the damage crews got on top of everything very quickly. We had hundreds of non-ships personnel on board ranging from kids like Cindy and Neil to vendor repair technicians and base shore personnel so it took a while to get everyone squared away and it is very cramped. We're very short on fresh water and it is severely rationed as is food but we're alive.
Once he was sure the last of the waves had passed the Captain spent a day searching for survivors from any ships or boats that might not have survived the deep water waves. He eventually called it off as shore debris began to drift out and pose a hazard to navigation along with overturned boats and ships. We didn't recover many and before we left I saw many, many bodies in the water.
I can't tell you where we're at nor am I allowed to say where we're going but if ever you receive this then take heart that at least the three of us are alive and maybe Aaron as well on one of the other ships. I've got to go make sure the kids are squared away before I go on duty. Cindy is taking this like a trooper and has been a real help in organizing the kids and keeping them under control. Neil's settling down now that the fright of it is passing and starting to do well. I'll write again when I can.
Love, Carla.
PS. Tell John that all those nutty books he bought may be finally paying off. I take back all the ribbing I've been giving him over the years. Love C.</i>
His father folded the letter and gently put it back in its envelope then excused himself to use the toilet. John reckoned he'd never seen his father weep in his life, not even when his wife, John's mother died, and wouldn't see it now either. "Probably just as well because he'd get me going too most likely." Ann and Melinda did not try to hide their tears and Heather looked close to weeping herself.
Presently John cleared his throat and said, "That's the first piece of really GOOD news we've had since Impact. Tonight when we all sit to supper we'll have a prayer of thanksgiving."
With a glance at the kitchen clock he said, "I told Ed Harris to drop in about one. He's a neighboring sector deputy and is going to watch our dog operation. Reckon I'd better round up the gear and get ready."
------
Lunch is over. Time to go mow some more. Maybe more tonight or tomorrow.
.....Alan.
"Alright John Horne!" Ann pointed the spoon at him threateningly "There'll be NO cobbler for you until you TELL us what this surprise is!"
Her husband grinned as he pushed his plate away. "Well," he said, "I can't rightly tell you seeing as how it's actually Dad's surprise!" He unbuttoned his pocket flap and withdrew the letter then extended it to his father.
Robert quirked an eyebrow but said nothing as he took the missive from him. "Men!" Ann let out a sigh of frustration. Melinda and Heather looked expectantly at Mel's grandfather. "It wasn't even yours yet you've made us sit here through the entire meal consumed with curiosity!"
With a chuckle her husband replied, "Ahh, but it's the anticipation that makes it all the sweeter."
His wife opened her mouth to retort then noticed her father-in-law staring intently at the letter with a grave expression.
Finally the elder Horne said, "It's from Carla. Must have mailed it before the impact."
"Dad," his son interjected, "look at the postmark! It's dated the 8th! She mailed AFTER the impact. She's alive!"
His father squinted at the outside of the envelope then took his reading glasses out of his pocket and put them on. He reexamined the letter and said, "Well, sure enough. It IS dated August 8th!" His hands shook slightly as he carefully slit the envelope open with a butter knife. Inside were three folded pages with Carla's neat penmanship on them. Unfolding the pages his father began to read aloud.
<i>August 7th, 2002
Dear Dad,
I have no way of knowing if you and the family have survived the tsunamis resulting from the asteroid strike or even if this letter will ever be delivered so I suppose I'm writing this as much for myself as to let you know that I and the kids are alive. I don't know about Aaron. He was with us when the news came but somehow we were separated in the madness of trying to get as many people on board as possible before we had to undock but I'd better start this at the beginning so you'll understand.
As you may recall from my last letter we had been back in Norfolk for a week when the news broke. I think it went out over military channels before the public announcement so we had a few more minutes warning. Aaron had brought Cindy and Neil to the base so I could show them around the carrier. As you probably recall it's open on a limited basis for public tours when we're not actively preparing to ship out. We'd decided to have a late lunch at the chow hall you and I ate at last year and had just left when the base warning sirens sounded. We didn't know at first what the emergency was about or even if it was only a drill so we ran for the nearest shelter so I could be sure Aaron and the kids were safe before reporting back to the ship. When we got there the shelter commander immediately ordered everybody to head to the wharves yelling about an asteroid that was going to impact and we all had to get aboard before the tsunamis hit Norfolk.
It seems when the word came in about the impact the Admiral ordered every ship that could make way and every plane that could get off the ground to move to safety but only after as many people as could be safely crammed aboard were taken on. The asteroid was only 45 minutes from impact when the sirens went off so there wasn't time for any organization, the S.P.'s just started grabbing anyone and everyone and shoving them towards the docks. This is when we lost Aaron. A woman with a child in her arms fell and he stopped to help her get up while I ran with Neil in my arms and had Cindy by the hand. I thought he was behind us but when we got to the ramp he wasn't anywhere to be seen and the S.P. wouldn't let me go back to look. I can only hope he made it aboard another ship but I know he is not on board with us. Two hours before Impact the Captain threw off the lines and pulled out going to flank speed as soon as he was clear enough that he could do so. We've never done that before because of the damage and the safety risk but every ship in the yard was moving fast. We saw plane after plane rising in the distance. One went down and crashed into a housing area but I've never heard why. The entire group was blowing every horn and whistle it had to warn everyone out of the way as we made our insane dash to open sea and deep water. I know we ran down at least one cabin cruiser that didn't get out of the way. I saw the people bailing out. They must have had engine trouble because they were sitting dead in the channel.
By the time we cleared the harbor and were heading out into open ocean we could see a monstrous number of ships and boats of every description before and aft of us all heading outbound. When the asteroid was supposed to enter the atmosphere I had the kids cover their eyes but I put on my sunglasses and saw it hit air. I shouldn't have done that as I may have damaged my vision but it seems to be getting better now. It was well over the horizon from us so what I saw was a like a camera strobe flashing then it disappeared. I was mostly blind for a little while but I could see the sky in that direction begin to turn dark and expand like watching time lapse photography of an approaching storm. We were hustled below after that so I didn't get to see any more as everyone was sent below decks and the ship battened down for gale weather. I don't know how tall the wave was or in what depth of water we were at when it came but for a moment we were all terrified we would capsize. The ship eventually righted itself and the damage crews got on top of everything very quickly. We had hundreds of non-ships personnel on board ranging from kids like Cindy and Neil to vendor repair technicians and base shore personnel so it took a while to get everyone squared away and it is very cramped. We're very short on fresh water and it is severely rationed as is food but we're alive.
Once he was sure the last of the waves had passed the Captain spent a day searching for survivors from any ships or boats that might not have survived the deep water waves. He eventually called it off as shore debris began to drift out and pose a hazard to navigation along with overturned boats and ships. We didn't recover many and before we left I saw many, many bodies in the water.
I can't tell you where we're at nor am I allowed to say where we're going but if ever you receive this then take heart that at least the three of us are alive and maybe Aaron as well on one of the other ships. I've got to go make sure the kids are squared away before I go on duty. Cindy is taking this like a trooper and has been a real help in organizing the kids and keeping them under control. Neil's settling down now that the fright of it is passing and starting to do well. I'll write again when I can.
Love, Carla.
PS. Tell John that all those nutty books he bought may be finally paying off. I take back all the ribbing I've been giving him over the years. Love C.</i>
His father folded the letter and gently put it back in its envelope then excused himself to use the toilet. John reckoned he'd never seen his father weep in his life, not even when his wife, John's mother died, and wouldn't see it now either. "Probably just as well because he'd get me going too most likely." Ann and Melinda did not try to hide their tears and Heather looked close to weeping herself.
Presently John cleared his throat and said, "That's the first piece of really GOOD news we've had since Impact. Tonight when we all sit to supper we'll have a prayer of thanksgiving."
With a glance at the kitchen clock he said, "I told Ed Harris to drop in about one. He's a neighboring sector deputy and is going to watch our dog operation. Reckon I'd better round up the gear and get ready."
------
Lunch is over. Time to go mow some more. Maybe more tonight or tomorrow.
.....Alan.
A.T.Hagan
Inactive
August 31 - Crisis
The sun was near to touching the horizon as John keyed the mike “Rover leader to Net. We’re at the end point. Let’s call it a day. The Rover team scored 6 dogs, a coyote, and a fox. Over.”
“Roger Rover Leader” came Heather’s reply. “Dog pound do you copy?”
A momentary lapse then Ed Strickland’s voice came across, “Roger that Net, I copy. Tell the Hefe’ that we’ve put nine dogs in the pound, two raccoons, two coyotes and a couple of cats. We’re packing it in and will meet up at Rover Leader’s place.”
John and Ed kicked their horses into a trot and started towards the house. Sixteen men from John’s sector had participated in the dog hunt and he figured the next one would probably net even more as the word got out. It had started off clumsily as the members of the two teams learned the necessary radio protocol and how to coordinate within the teams and how to work the teams together. The clumsiness gradually wore off and for the last two hours everything had worked fairly smoothly. He figured they probably hadn’t gotten every dog but any survivors should be pretty shy around barns and pastures for at least a little while until gnawing hunger drove them back. He also figured that word of the successful exercise would get around to those who might be thinking of doing a little preying of their own on their fellow humans and he devoutly hoped they too would be deterred.
Back at the house the teams threw the kills onto Miguel’s truck as he had asked for the corpses. John suspected they’d end up on someone’s table but purposely did not ask what he wanted them for. Miguel knew virtually everyone in the area and had a fair idea of their personal condition, those who were in the worst need would have some protein in their diet tonight. A month after the Impact had blown the bottom out the grocery industry John didn’t figure there’d be many who’d turn up their nose at the meat. With every meal he gave private thanks that a little foresight and diligence was keeping his family from having to resort to the same.
In the back yard he could see Ann stirring the huge cauldron that Ed had brought, formerly used to scald hogs it was now serving as a community soup pot for the collective meal that had been put together. Several families had contributed little or nothing and although this was seen it was not noticed. John wondered if they would be among those who would be receiving a gift from Miguel. Ann and Heather had started a game for the kids involving how much corn they could grind into meal with the hand mill that involved some complicated reward system based on age and gender that he didn’t understand but by the end they’d milled nearly a bushel of feed corn. A fair part of this had been turned into cornbread, some baked in the oven in the house but several pans were cooked over a fire in the yard as Ed’s wife Ellie gave a hands-on class in camp cooking using several different methods to bake the bread. With a grin she said, “I used to go off to the cow camps with Ed when we first married before the kids came along. Lord, I used to cook up tons of camp food and you should see the way those hands could put it away. Haven’t done this for years and years. Makes me feel young again!”
Presently the kitchen bosses pronounced the meal ready. The group looked at John as he took off his hat to say grace. “Tonight I will be giving a prayer of thanksgiving for in addition to our successful hunt and this excellent meal the Horne family has received some personal good news. This morning my father received a letter from my sister Carla who was at the naval base in Norfolk at the time of Impact. Beyond all hope it seems by miraculous chance that not only she but her two children are alive. The whereabouts of her husband, my brother-in-law, are presently unknown but there seems a good chance he too maybe be alive as well.”
Placing his hat on his chest John bowed his head and spoke, “Lord, we are gathered here together this night in community fellowship to give thanks and to celebrate the successful hunt that has just ended which removed the threat of dangerous predators to the livestock and children of our community. We thank thee oh Lord for your blessings this day and we thank thee for this most excellent meal of which we are about to partake. We thank thee that so many of us are able to gather here together this evening and we pray for the safety and deliverance of the loved ones of every one here of whom we have not heard. We thank the oh Lord for the deliverance beyond hope of my sister Carla, her daughter Cindy and her son Neil. We pray oh lord of the safe deliverance of her husband Aaron whose whereabouts are unknown to us. We pray oh lord for the deliverance of our nation and indeed this entire world which you saw fit to create from the trials and perils that now beset us. We beseech thee that aid and comfort may be delivered unto all in our county, our state, our nation and our world who are in desperate need this night. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.”
“Amen” intoned the gathered group.
John looked up and smiled at Ann, Ellie and the rest of the cooks. “My but that soup smells good. Let’s eat!”
The ladies begin to dip out soup into bowls and hand out generous hunks of corn bread. Rick said, “If I’d known how much better corn bread tasted when it’s made out of fresh milled corn I’d have bought a mill myself! We ever get back to something approaching normal I will.”
Miguel chuckled and Ed spoke, “Things ever get back to normal I reckon everyone is going to buy a hand mill. If’n we don’t starve to death first it’ll be a long, long time before you see the total reliance on a grocery store again that we all allowed ourselves to fall into, at least in this county, I can tell you that!”
Every one found places at the sawhorse tables and for a time conversation fell to nothing as the assembled saw to the matter of their plates. Seconds were offered and were gladly accepted. John had just reached the bottom of his bowl and was chasing the last little bit of pot liquor with a chunk of corn bread when the outside bell of the phone rang. “Well, looks like the phone’s are working today”, he said. “Heather, would you be kind enough to answer it””
“Yes sir” she said and dashed into the house. Seconds later she dashed out of the house again and ran to the tables.
“Uncle John! There’s a woman on the phone, says she lives next to the Tiersdales. She says there’s screaming coming from their house. I could hear it over the phone!”
“Damn!” John swore. “Run back inside and tell her I’m on my way but it may be fifteen, twenty minutes before I can get the saddle on the horse and run up there. Is she by herself?”
Heather nodded, “Yes sir, she said her husband hasn’t come home from work yet and she’s by herself.”
“Then tell her to bolt the doors and if she’s got a gun to get it. Tell her to watch out the windows for what she can see and I’m on my way.”
John turned towards the barn and Miguel stood up. “John! I’ll take you in the truck. From the sounds of it maybe all of us should to go.”
With a nod he agreed. “OK, it’ll be a lot faster. Let’s keep this to Posse members right now and make sure everyone is armed.”
The sun was near to touching the horizon as John keyed the mike “Rover leader to Net. We’re at the end point. Let’s call it a day. The Rover team scored 6 dogs, a coyote, and a fox. Over.”
“Roger Rover Leader” came Heather’s reply. “Dog pound do you copy?”
A momentary lapse then Ed Strickland’s voice came across, “Roger that Net, I copy. Tell the Hefe’ that we’ve put nine dogs in the pound, two raccoons, two coyotes and a couple of cats. We’re packing it in and will meet up at Rover Leader’s place.”
John and Ed kicked their horses into a trot and started towards the house. Sixteen men from John’s sector had participated in the dog hunt and he figured the next one would probably net even more as the word got out. It had started off clumsily as the members of the two teams learned the necessary radio protocol and how to coordinate within the teams and how to work the teams together. The clumsiness gradually wore off and for the last two hours everything had worked fairly smoothly. He figured they probably hadn’t gotten every dog but any survivors should be pretty shy around barns and pastures for at least a little while until gnawing hunger drove them back. He also figured that word of the successful exercise would get around to those who might be thinking of doing a little preying of their own on their fellow humans and he devoutly hoped they too would be deterred.
Back at the house the teams threw the kills onto Miguel’s truck as he had asked for the corpses. John suspected they’d end up on someone’s table but purposely did not ask what he wanted them for. Miguel knew virtually everyone in the area and had a fair idea of their personal condition, those who were in the worst need would have some protein in their diet tonight. A month after the Impact had blown the bottom out the grocery industry John didn’t figure there’d be many who’d turn up their nose at the meat. With every meal he gave private thanks that a little foresight and diligence was keeping his family from having to resort to the same.
In the back yard he could see Ann stirring the huge cauldron that Ed had brought, formerly used to scald hogs it was now serving as a community soup pot for the collective meal that had been put together. Several families had contributed little or nothing and although this was seen it was not noticed. John wondered if they would be among those who would be receiving a gift from Miguel. Ann and Heather had started a game for the kids involving how much corn they could grind into meal with the hand mill that involved some complicated reward system based on age and gender that he didn’t understand but by the end they’d milled nearly a bushel of feed corn. A fair part of this had been turned into cornbread, some baked in the oven in the house but several pans were cooked over a fire in the yard as Ed’s wife Ellie gave a hands-on class in camp cooking using several different methods to bake the bread. With a grin she said, “I used to go off to the cow camps with Ed when we first married before the kids came along. Lord, I used to cook up tons of camp food and you should see the way those hands could put it away. Haven’t done this for years and years. Makes me feel young again!”
Presently the kitchen bosses pronounced the meal ready. The group looked at John as he took off his hat to say grace. “Tonight I will be giving a prayer of thanksgiving for in addition to our successful hunt and this excellent meal the Horne family has received some personal good news. This morning my father received a letter from my sister Carla who was at the naval base in Norfolk at the time of Impact. Beyond all hope it seems by miraculous chance that not only she but her two children are alive. The whereabouts of her husband, my brother-in-law, are presently unknown but there seems a good chance he too maybe be alive as well.”
Placing his hat on his chest John bowed his head and spoke, “Lord, we are gathered here together this night in community fellowship to give thanks and to celebrate the successful hunt that has just ended which removed the threat of dangerous predators to the livestock and children of our community. We thank thee oh Lord for your blessings this day and we thank thee for this most excellent meal of which we are about to partake. We thank thee that so many of us are able to gather here together this evening and we pray for the safety and deliverance of the loved ones of every one here of whom we have not heard. We thank the oh Lord for the deliverance beyond hope of my sister Carla, her daughter Cindy and her son Neil. We pray oh lord of the safe deliverance of her husband Aaron whose whereabouts are unknown to us. We pray oh lord for the deliverance of our nation and indeed this entire world which you saw fit to create from the trials and perils that now beset us. We beseech thee that aid and comfort may be delivered unto all in our county, our state, our nation and our world who are in desperate need this night. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.”
“Amen” intoned the gathered group.
John looked up and smiled at Ann, Ellie and the rest of the cooks. “My but that soup smells good. Let’s eat!”
The ladies begin to dip out soup into bowls and hand out generous hunks of corn bread. Rick said, “If I’d known how much better corn bread tasted when it’s made out of fresh milled corn I’d have bought a mill myself! We ever get back to something approaching normal I will.”
Miguel chuckled and Ed spoke, “Things ever get back to normal I reckon everyone is going to buy a hand mill. If’n we don’t starve to death first it’ll be a long, long time before you see the total reliance on a grocery store again that we all allowed ourselves to fall into, at least in this county, I can tell you that!”
Every one found places at the sawhorse tables and for a time conversation fell to nothing as the assembled saw to the matter of their plates. Seconds were offered and were gladly accepted. John had just reached the bottom of his bowl and was chasing the last little bit of pot liquor with a chunk of corn bread when the outside bell of the phone rang. “Well, looks like the phone’s are working today”, he said. “Heather, would you be kind enough to answer it””
“Yes sir” she said and dashed into the house. Seconds later she dashed out of the house again and ran to the tables.
“Uncle John! There’s a woman on the phone, says she lives next to the Tiersdales. She says there’s screaming coming from their house. I could hear it over the phone!”
“Damn!” John swore. “Run back inside and tell her I’m on my way but it may be fifteen, twenty minutes before I can get the saddle on the horse and run up there. Is she by herself?”
Heather nodded, “Yes sir, she said her husband hasn’t come home from work yet and she’s by herself.”
“Then tell her to bolt the doors and if she’s got a gun to get it. Tell her to watch out the windows for what she can see and I’m on my way.”
John turned towards the barn and Miguel stood up. “John! I’ll take you in the truck. From the sounds of it maybe all of us should to go.”
With a nod he agreed. “OK, it’ll be a lot faster. Let’s keep this to Posse members right now and make sure everyone is armed.”
Alan,
Excellent work! I have copied and pasted each installment into Word for my own enjoyment.
May I have your permission to print and give to some DGI's? It just might get to them. However, if you have any hesitation at all regarding my doing this I will understand and not distribute it.
Thank you so much for all your efforts that I am so greatly enjoying.
Nana
Excellent work! I have copied and pasted each installment into Word for my own enjoyment.
May I have your permission to print and give to some DGI's? It just might get to them. However, if you have any hesitation at all regarding my doing this I will understand and not distribute it.
Thank you so much for all your efforts that I am so greatly enjoying.
Nana
Just a thought
Inactive
BTTT
A.T.Hagan
Inactive
August 31 - Damage Control
John and six others leapt into the back of Miguel's truck and quickly went up the road to the Tiersdale's house. The truck stopped in front of their gate and they unloaded. Nothing could be heard from inside. "Jimmy, you and the rest surround the outside of the house. Miguel, come with me and we'll go find this neighbor woman then we'll check the inside of the house."
The men went through the gate and began to fan out. John took his star out of his pocket and pinned it to the front of his shirt where it could be seen. He was just about to rap on the frame of the screen door when the inside door swung inwards. "Deputy Horne!," the woman at the door nearly shouted, "Thank God you're here! He's got Brittany! I saw him run out the back door with Brittany! You've got to catch him! He had a knife in his hand!"
John put his hands in the air making calming motions, "Easy ma'am" he said, "WHO has Brittany and what direction did he run in? What did he look like and how long ago did he leave? Easy now, we can't help her if you can't tell us what you know."
The woman took several deep breaths and forcibly brought herself back under control. She shuddered but managed to speak in an even tone. "He's about your height, a white man, with black hair cut very short. He had tattoos on the arm he was holding Brittany with, his left arm I think. They were kind of lurid and stand out. Oh! When he ran out of the house he didn't have any pants on, just sneakers, underpants and a t-shirt. He had blood on his shirt."
"That's very good ma'am. Very good. " John spoke in soothing, reassuring tones, "How long ago did he leave with the girl? And what direction did he run?"
The woman turned to glance at a wall clock in the room behind her. "It wasn't very long ago I think. Maybe only four or five minutes just after I called. He ran out their back gate. It's wooded back there so I couldn't see him any more after that."
"OK" John said as he pulled the little CB out of his pocket. "Miguel, if you'd stay with the lady here and get whatever further information you can think of I'll get Jimmy and we'll start tracking this fellow and the girl. We may need you to come running with the truck later."
Miguel nodded and John backed out of the portico into the yard. He trotted through the gate of the Tiersdale's yard shouting at Jimmy. "He's grabbed the daughter and ran out the back gate. Rick and Bill, you stay here at the house. Go inside and see if you can find Mrs. Tiersdale or her husband. Don't disturb anything if you can help it. The Sheriff might want to send an investigator."
Jimmy and the others began to move towards the back gate with John. "What's he look like?" asked Jimmy.
"My height, white male, big tattoos on at least one arm, close cut black hair, sneakers, t-shirt, NO pants. The girl's white and about twelve years old."
Jimmy nodded and they all began to scan the ground. The trail proved easy to follow as the man and Brittany had scuffed up the wet, fallen leaves in their passage. At about a hundred yards into the thick belt of oaks they came across a pair of blue jeans that had obviously just been thrown there.
They were girl sized.
"Jesus!" John said. "Well, if the son of a bitch is going to stop for that then we'll catch up to him all the faster."
The radio crackled, Miguel's voice sounding from the speaker. "John, this is Miguel. Rick and Bill have made a quick run through the house. Mr. Tiersdale doesn't appear to be here. Mrs. Tiersdale is in the bedroom. She'd dead. They say she's been repeatedly stabbed and the body is about half-naked. Over."
John spoke into the radio, "I copy. John to Net control. Do you copy? Over."
After a moment Ann's voice came back. "Uhh, this is Net Control. We copy. What do you want us to do John? Over."
John replied, "See if you can raise County Central and apprise them of the basic facts and that we're in pursuit of the kil… the suspect. Leave the house exactly as it was found and we'll report in periodically. Did you copy that Miguel? Over."
Miguel came back, "I copy. Let me know if you need pick up. Over."
Ann came back, "We copy. We're trying to raise County Central now. Over."
The trail led through a grassy clearing and for a few moments they could not find the trail until Jimmy found it in the trees on the other side. The posse trotted onwards, John's right knee began to twinge. "Not now, damnit!" he growled to himself.
Another fifty yards under the trees the leaves were much more disturbed and they found a pink t-shirt hanging from a catbrier vine. Jimmy said, "Must have had to struggle with her getting her shirt off. He stared at the leaf mold, then the shirt. "I don't think they're more than a minute or two ahead, the duff is still springing back from where he stepped on it." They ran onwards.
Minutes later they heard a high pitched feminine scream. The posse began to sprint. Presently they could begin to see a bright line ahead and John figured they must be approaching the other side of the belt of trees. He vaguely recalled there was a large cow pasture somewhere near and hoped that the light was it ahead. Another scream and now they could hear hoarse, muffled cursing, obviously a male voice. They ran around a thicket of oak saplings surrounding a long fallen tree and saw them.
The man had the girl by one arm struggling to bend her over a low horizontal large limb of the fallen tree. "You little ****! Shut your ****ing mouth or I'll cut your goddamned throat!" The girl was thrashing wildly, naked but for her now dirty white panties. She screamed again. John drew his big N-framed Smith & Wesson revolver and shouted. "Sheriff's department! Drop the knife and put your hands up!"
The man whirled around, shock and surprise plain on his blood streaked face. At that instant the girl the girl gave a hysterical jerk of her arm and snatched her hand free of her captor's grasp. The man whirled back again to grab her as she leapt over the limb. He leapt onto the branch and was about to jump for her when John's revolver spoke. The man spasmed and fell off the other side. John and the rest ran forward. As he rounded the top of the fallen tree the man lurched to his feet with his knife in his hand and began to jerkily run towards the lawman blood pouring from the massive hole in his right side. John's revolver and the guns of three of the others spoke nearly as one and the man was slammed into the wet leaf mold. He thrashed for a moment and was still - eyes open staring into infinity.
Nothing was said for a moment as the men breathed deeply catching their breathes. Finally Jimmy said, "Just as well. Saved the county the trouble of a hanging or a firing squad. Goddamn predator."
After another few breathes John asked, "Does anyone recognize him? I don't think I've seen him before."
No one knew who the fellow was. The deputy spoke again, "Where did the girl go? We'll need to find her. She's certain to be traumatized all to hell and could be injured. Y'all go look for her while I radio this in."
The men fanned out, quickly finding the girl behind a tree where she'd hidden. John pulled out the radio. "John to Net Control. We have found the suspect and the girl. The suspect is dead. Over."
A few seconds passed then Ann's voice came back, "Net Control to John. We copy. Suspect dead. Is the girl OK? Lisa's got her bag and is ready to head your way. Over."
Jimmy walked up with the girl. John spoke gently to her. "It's OK. We're with the Sheriff's department. We're not going to hurt you. I just need to look you over quickly to see if you're injured, OK?"
The girl mutely nodded her head and John gently took her by the shoulder and turned her around for a quick visual examination. Jimmy took off the BDU shirt he wore as a light jacket and gave it to the girl who shrugged into it when the examination was over - she shivered violently. John spoke into the radio, "John to Net Control. She has no visible injuries other than some bruises and scratches. She is shocky. Over."
Ann replied, "We copy John. Over."
Miguel's voice came across, "Miguel to John. Where are you? Do you need pick up? Uhh, over."
The deputy looked back the way they had come and then towards the edge of the tree line just yards away. "We're near to the other side of the belt of trees that comes up against the backyard. I think we're on the backside of that big pasture that runs up to Archer road. Do you know where it is? If you can make it back here come get us so we don't have to carry this trash back through the woods. Over."
The reply came, "I'm familiar with it. Shot doves back there a couple of years ago with Ned McKasky who owns it. I think I can be there in about twenty minutes. There's several gates to go through. Over."
John nodded his head. "I copy. Go by and pick up Lisa first. Brittany's going to need some care. Over."
Miguel came back, "I copy. Pick up Lisa first and we'll be there to you in about thirty minutes, maybe less. Over."
John started to put the radio back in his pocket when it sounded again. It was Ann's voice but in the background he could hear Heather on the other radio. "Net Control to John. We've raised County Central. They advise to preserve the crime scene intact and recover the body. They cannot send anyone at the present time. The watch captain advises you to put all available manpower on alert and prepare to move into Gainesville if you are called. Major fighting has broken out in the big refugee camp at the county fairgrounds and the sheriff doesn't know if they are going to be able to get it under control. Captain Swift is dead. If called to do so go to Shands Hospital to deploy. Do you copy? Over."
He swore fervently and passionately before keying his mike. "Roger that, I copy. As soon as Miguel can pick us up we'll head to the house and start preparing. Get on the local net and call as many as you can."
John and six others leapt into the back of Miguel's truck and quickly went up the road to the Tiersdale's house. The truck stopped in front of their gate and they unloaded. Nothing could be heard from inside. "Jimmy, you and the rest surround the outside of the house. Miguel, come with me and we'll go find this neighbor woman then we'll check the inside of the house."
The men went through the gate and began to fan out. John took his star out of his pocket and pinned it to the front of his shirt where it could be seen. He was just about to rap on the frame of the screen door when the inside door swung inwards. "Deputy Horne!," the woman at the door nearly shouted, "Thank God you're here! He's got Brittany! I saw him run out the back door with Brittany! You've got to catch him! He had a knife in his hand!"
John put his hands in the air making calming motions, "Easy ma'am" he said, "WHO has Brittany and what direction did he run in? What did he look like and how long ago did he leave? Easy now, we can't help her if you can't tell us what you know."
The woman took several deep breaths and forcibly brought herself back under control. She shuddered but managed to speak in an even tone. "He's about your height, a white man, with black hair cut very short. He had tattoos on the arm he was holding Brittany with, his left arm I think. They were kind of lurid and stand out. Oh! When he ran out of the house he didn't have any pants on, just sneakers, underpants and a t-shirt. He had blood on his shirt."
"That's very good ma'am. Very good. " John spoke in soothing, reassuring tones, "How long ago did he leave with the girl? And what direction did he run?"
The woman turned to glance at a wall clock in the room behind her. "It wasn't very long ago I think. Maybe only four or five minutes just after I called. He ran out their back gate. It's wooded back there so I couldn't see him any more after that."
"OK" John said as he pulled the little CB out of his pocket. "Miguel, if you'd stay with the lady here and get whatever further information you can think of I'll get Jimmy and we'll start tracking this fellow and the girl. We may need you to come running with the truck later."
Miguel nodded and John backed out of the portico into the yard. He trotted through the gate of the Tiersdale's yard shouting at Jimmy. "He's grabbed the daughter and ran out the back gate. Rick and Bill, you stay here at the house. Go inside and see if you can find Mrs. Tiersdale or her husband. Don't disturb anything if you can help it. The Sheriff might want to send an investigator."
Jimmy and the others began to move towards the back gate with John. "What's he look like?" asked Jimmy.
"My height, white male, big tattoos on at least one arm, close cut black hair, sneakers, t-shirt, NO pants. The girl's white and about twelve years old."
Jimmy nodded and they all began to scan the ground. The trail proved easy to follow as the man and Brittany had scuffed up the wet, fallen leaves in their passage. At about a hundred yards into the thick belt of oaks they came across a pair of blue jeans that had obviously just been thrown there.
They were girl sized.
"Jesus!" John said. "Well, if the son of a bitch is going to stop for that then we'll catch up to him all the faster."
The radio crackled, Miguel's voice sounding from the speaker. "John, this is Miguel. Rick and Bill have made a quick run through the house. Mr. Tiersdale doesn't appear to be here. Mrs. Tiersdale is in the bedroom. She'd dead. They say she's been repeatedly stabbed and the body is about half-naked. Over."
John spoke into the radio, "I copy. John to Net control. Do you copy? Over."
After a moment Ann's voice came back. "Uhh, this is Net Control. We copy. What do you want us to do John? Over."
John replied, "See if you can raise County Central and apprise them of the basic facts and that we're in pursuit of the kil… the suspect. Leave the house exactly as it was found and we'll report in periodically. Did you copy that Miguel? Over."
Miguel came back, "I copy. Let me know if you need pick up. Over."
Ann came back, "We copy. We're trying to raise County Central now. Over."
The trail led through a grassy clearing and for a few moments they could not find the trail until Jimmy found it in the trees on the other side. The posse trotted onwards, John's right knee began to twinge. "Not now, damnit!" he growled to himself.
Another fifty yards under the trees the leaves were much more disturbed and they found a pink t-shirt hanging from a catbrier vine. Jimmy said, "Must have had to struggle with her getting her shirt off. He stared at the leaf mold, then the shirt. "I don't think they're more than a minute or two ahead, the duff is still springing back from where he stepped on it." They ran onwards.
Minutes later they heard a high pitched feminine scream. The posse began to sprint. Presently they could begin to see a bright line ahead and John figured they must be approaching the other side of the belt of trees. He vaguely recalled there was a large cow pasture somewhere near and hoped that the light was it ahead. Another scream and now they could hear hoarse, muffled cursing, obviously a male voice. They ran around a thicket of oak saplings surrounding a long fallen tree and saw them.
The man had the girl by one arm struggling to bend her over a low horizontal large limb of the fallen tree. "You little ****! Shut your ****ing mouth or I'll cut your goddamned throat!" The girl was thrashing wildly, naked but for her now dirty white panties. She screamed again. John drew his big N-framed Smith & Wesson revolver and shouted. "Sheriff's department! Drop the knife and put your hands up!"
The man whirled around, shock and surprise plain on his blood streaked face. At that instant the girl the girl gave a hysterical jerk of her arm and snatched her hand free of her captor's grasp. The man whirled back again to grab her as she leapt over the limb. He leapt onto the branch and was about to jump for her when John's revolver spoke. The man spasmed and fell off the other side. John and the rest ran forward. As he rounded the top of the fallen tree the man lurched to his feet with his knife in his hand and began to jerkily run towards the lawman blood pouring from the massive hole in his right side. John's revolver and the guns of three of the others spoke nearly as one and the man was slammed into the wet leaf mold. He thrashed for a moment and was still - eyes open staring into infinity.
Nothing was said for a moment as the men breathed deeply catching their breathes. Finally Jimmy said, "Just as well. Saved the county the trouble of a hanging or a firing squad. Goddamn predator."
After another few breathes John asked, "Does anyone recognize him? I don't think I've seen him before."
No one knew who the fellow was. The deputy spoke again, "Where did the girl go? We'll need to find her. She's certain to be traumatized all to hell and could be injured. Y'all go look for her while I radio this in."
The men fanned out, quickly finding the girl behind a tree where she'd hidden. John pulled out the radio. "John to Net Control. We have found the suspect and the girl. The suspect is dead. Over."
A few seconds passed then Ann's voice came back, "Net Control to John. We copy. Suspect dead. Is the girl OK? Lisa's got her bag and is ready to head your way. Over."
Jimmy walked up with the girl. John spoke gently to her. "It's OK. We're with the Sheriff's department. We're not going to hurt you. I just need to look you over quickly to see if you're injured, OK?"
The girl mutely nodded her head and John gently took her by the shoulder and turned her around for a quick visual examination. Jimmy took off the BDU shirt he wore as a light jacket and gave it to the girl who shrugged into it when the examination was over - she shivered violently. John spoke into the radio, "John to Net Control. She has no visible injuries other than some bruises and scratches. She is shocky. Over."
Ann replied, "We copy John. Over."
Miguel's voice came across, "Miguel to John. Where are you? Do you need pick up? Uhh, over."
The deputy looked back the way they had come and then towards the edge of the tree line just yards away. "We're near to the other side of the belt of trees that comes up against the backyard. I think we're on the backside of that big pasture that runs up to Archer road. Do you know where it is? If you can make it back here come get us so we don't have to carry this trash back through the woods. Over."
The reply came, "I'm familiar with it. Shot doves back there a couple of years ago with Ned McKasky who owns it. I think I can be there in about twenty minutes. There's several gates to go through. Over."
John nodded his head. "I copy. Go by and pick up Lisa first. Brittany's going to need some care. Over."
Miguel came back, "I copy. Pick up Lisa first and we'll be there to you in about thirty minutes, maybe less. Over."
John started to put the radio back in his pocket when it sounded again. It was Ann's voice but in the background he could hear Heather on the other radio. "Net Control to John. We've raised County Central. They advise to preserve the crime scene intact and recover the body. They cannot send anyone at the present time. The watch captain advises you to put all available manpower on alert and prepare to move into Gainesville if you are called. Major fighting has broken out in the big refugee camp at the county fairgrounds and the sheriff doesn't know if they are going to be able to get it under control. Captain Swift is dead. If called to do so go to Shands Hospital to deploy. Do you copy? Over."
He swore fervently and passionately before keying his mike. "Roger that, I copy. As soon as Miguel can pick us up we'll head to the house and start preparing. Get on the local net and call as many as you can."
Laurane
Canadian Loonie
Is this where John Horne lives????
Trying to imagine the terrain around John Horne's area....found this on Ebay and wondered if this was what it was like??? Is this a creek or a swamp?
Are there alligators in his area??? Inquiring mind from frozen Canada wants to know.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1754008238
Trying to imagine the terrain around John Horne's area....found this on Ebay and wondered if this was what it was like??? Is this a creek or a swamp?
Are there alligators in his area??? Inquiring mind from frozen Canada wants to know.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1754008238
A.T.Hagan
Inactive
Hee hee!
Interlachen is a nice area but it's to the east of Gainesville in Putnam county. More open water over there. In fact, after six feet of rain in three weeks that particular house would likely be a little wet on the floors I think.
John lives west of Gainesville. Not a lot of open water and in most places well drained. Lot of tree and hay farming and a fair amount of cattle. Slowly but surely seguing into suburbia the nearer you get to town.
Alligators? Yep, just about any place you find water there's likely to be an alligator. With every low spot now filled they'll be steadily spreading out. They're not very dangerous to anyone who knows better than to kick one or let their dog go bark at it. They are good eating though.
Neat post!
.....Alan.
Interlachen is a nice area but it's to the east of Gainesville in Putnam county. More open water over there. In fact, after six feet of rain in three weeks that particular house would likely be a little wet on the floors I think.
John lives west of Gainesville. Not a lot of open water and in most places well drained. Lot of tree and hay farming and a fair amount of cattle. Slowly but surely seguing into suburbia the nearer you get to town.
Alligators? Yep, just about any place you find water there's likely to be an alligator. With every low spot now filled they'll be steadily spreading out. They're not very dangerous to anyone who knows better than to kick one or let their dog go bark at it. They are good eating though.
Neat post!
.....Alan.
A.T.Hagan
Inactive
August 31 - The Hour Before Dawn
After a time Miguel arrived with the truck. They loaded the girl into the front with Lisa so she could examine her. The body they wrapped in a tarp and threw into the back being careful to keep it away from the more useful carcasses of that afternoon's hunt. On the way back Miguel stopped at his place and unloaded the animals with instructions to his son Alberto to handle them. They stopped at the murder scene again to pick up the remaining two men and to let the neighbor woman know that the girl would be with Lisa and Ann at the house and to make sure that no one entered the house and disturbed anything. John left a note for her to give to Mr. Tiersdale when he returned home briefly explaining why things had been left the way they were and to ask that he not disturb anything. Coming home to find that your wife had been raped and murdered, your daughter nearly so, and the law had just went off and left everything was going to be a hell of a blow to the man but John didn't know what else to do. His duty was to the living - the dead no longer cared. "A hell of a way to handle a murder" he thought to himself. That completed everyone returned to John's house.
At the house John found the men who had not gone with the Posse and many more besides. As he began to question everyone about the state of their weapons and ammunition supply one of them, Steve, hesitated, looked at his feet and finally said, "John, I'm not sure I'm up for this. I mean it's not like this is happening in our community, nor even in Archer. The fair ground's clear to the other side of Gainesville. I'm not sure this is our fight. Why not let Gainesville handle it's own?"
For a time no one spoke, several of the men looked uncomfortably at each other including several of the Posse. As the silence became painful John said, "You're right Steve, The fairgrounds are on the other side of Gainesville from us, makes them near to twenty five miles away I think. But consider this, the sheriff tells me there's some fifty five thousand evacuees in Alachua county alone, never mind the county residents who are themselves in desperate straits. From the sounds of it the Recovery Command troops have lost control and the refugees have busted out of that camp and are rampaging through Gainesville now. We all know that what's left of the Federal government and many of the state governments are trying to get relief supplies through to the East coast but it's taking time. Those supplies ARE coming but it may be a few more days, maybe even a week or longer. All we've got to do is hold out until then and most of the driving force behind these problems will begin to subside. Be that as it may that aid isn't here yet and those hungry refugees are busting loose and will take what they want where ever they can find it. That's a big camp and if they can't get it under control the other camps around the county may slip away as well. How long will it be before they've scoured Gainesville clean and began to rage through the countryside like a swarm of locusts? Do you want to try to hold them off from your front yard? It'll be a hell of a lot better to take the fight - if there must be a fight - to them rather than letting them bring it to us where their attacks could wipe us out."
John looked around at the other men and continued, "We don't know that we'll be involved in any fighting at all. Camp Blanding has to know by now and they should be sending troops. From the sounds of it we're just going to be a reserve. I won't ask anyone to come along that's unwilling but as far as I'm concerned I've had my fill today of predators running loose in my neighborhood. This threat I want to scotch at the source! Anyone that doesn't want to go can go on home now. The rest of us have work to be done."
Many of the men looked at the ground and would not meet anyone's eyes. After a minute two did walk away, not looking back. The rest stayed. Including himself John counted twenty one. "It'll have to do" he said. "Let's look over everyone's rifles and make sure we've got ammo for everyone. I want each man to have at least forty rounds. If you don't have that much run back to your house and get what you have."
He turned to Miguel, "You got enough gas in the truck to haul us all to Shands and back?"
Miguel nodded to the affirmative. John nodded back at him, a growing suspicion now nearly confirmed.
"OK then, all we can do now is wait and see if we're needed."
-- -- -- -- --
John stepped down off the truck in the parking garage east of the Shands emergency room. A hospital security officer said, "Sector deputies to meet in the cafeteria. All others head to the top level of the garage."
With a nod to Miguel to take charge John walked from the garage, across the street and into the hospital. He'd never seen the place so dirty but it appeared to still be functioning. The room contained about thirty men and he recognized many of them from the southwest sector deputies meeting. With a mild shock he realized that meeting had only been just that morning. It felt like days in the past now. An acute sense of fatigue washed over him. A uniformed deputy walked in and stepped up onto a chair.
"My name is Captain Dick Parker, I'm the west side watch commander for the A.S.O. There may be more of you coming but time is pressing so I'm going to start."
"The situation is like this. About four hours ago in the Fairgrounds evacuee camp a man there was discovered by other camp residents to be hoarding a stash of canned goods. We don't know where he got them from, it may be that he'd brought them with him. Regardless, this sparked outrage among the other camp residents where they have been subsisting on a 1200 calorie a day diet for several weeks now. Apparently he refused to give them up and a fight broke out quickly resulting in his being lynched. The camp commander notified the local Recovery HQ of the situation and said he was sending in troops to break it up and recover the body. He never reported back and we can only assume he and however many troops he may have taken with him were overwhelmed. When he failed to report in a timely manner Captain Swift went to the camp with a platoon of soldiers to restore order. He was confronted with a well-organized group of camp residents, some of whom were carrying M16's believed to have belonged to the camp guards but they also possessed many civilian weapons that were apparently not found when they entered the camp. From their actions we think that at least one or more ex-military may be among them. Captain Swift ordered them to surrender the weapons and disperse and they refused. At this point one or more shots were fired - we don't know who fired. The residents charged Captain Swift's troops and he ordered volley fire into the mass. General fighting broke out, the Captain and at least six of his troopers were killed soon after and the situation began to spread outside of the camp."
"So far the fighting has not spread much beyond Waldo road and 39th avenue and we hope to be able to contain it there but we are at risk of losing the airport which sits near to the fairgrounds. To prevent this we are moving all troops and law enforcement personnel out of southern Gainesville to the northeast. The airport must not be allowed to fall as we were just notified this morning that a joint venture between a number of the Midwestern states and the Federal government is trying to airlift food supplies to the most desperate areas as a stopgap until the rail lines can be brought back into usable conditions. Your roles here are to protect the hospitals, Shands, the V.A. across the street and Alachua General Hospital further east and you'll be divied up by sector accordingly. We think the fighting won't come this far but if it does just try to hold out here until more troops can be sent in."
He looked across the lunch room to a man on crutches. "If you'll look behind you the gentleman with the crutches is Captain Thomas Wayne. He's an infantry officer who is a patient across the street at the V.A. He has volunteered to lead up the defensive details along with a number of sergeants who were also at the V.A. They'll be your leadership. Captain Wayne, I leave these men in your hands. I'm needed in the northeast so I must be going."
With some difficulty Captain Wayne stepped up onto a stool that had been provided for him. "Good evening gentlemen" he said, "Let's take a quick review of the buildings and surrounding grounds to see where we can do the most good. If our riot makes it this far chances are we're going to be outnumbered so we'll need to make our defender's advantage count…"
After a time Miguel arrived with the truck. They loaded the girl into the front with Lisa so she could examine her. The body they wrapped in a tarp and threw into the back being careful to keep it away from the more useful carcasses of that afternoon's hunt. On the way back Miguel stopped at his place and unloaded the animals with instructions to his son Alberto to handle them. They stopped at the murder scene again to pick up the remaining two men and to let the neighbor woman know that the girl would be with Lisa and Ann at the house and to make sure that no one entered the house and disturbed anything. John left a note for her to give to Mr. Tiersdale when he returned home briefly explaining why things had been left the way they were and to ask that he not disturb anything. Coming home to find that your wife had been raped and murdered, your daughter nearly so, and the law had just went off and left everything was going to be a hell of a blow to the man but John didn't know what else to do. His duty was to the living - the dead no longer cared. "A hell of a way to handle a murder" he thought to himself. That completed everyone returned to John's house.
At the house John found the men who had not gone with the Posse and many more besides. As he began to question everyone about the state of their weapons and ammunition supply one of them, Steve, hesitated, looked at his feet and finally said, "John, I'm not sure I'm up for this. I mean it's not like this is happening in our community, nor even in Archer. The fair ground's clear to the other side of Gainesville. I'm not sure this is our fight. Why not let Gainesville handle it's own?"
For a time no one spoke, several of the men looked uncomfortably at each other including several of the Posse. As the silence became painful John said, "You're right Steve, The fairgrounds are on the other side of Gainesville from us, makes them near to twenty five miles away I think. But consider this, the sheriff tells me there's some fifty five thousand evacuees in Alachua county alone, never mind the county residents who are themselves in desperate straits. From the sounds of it the Recovery Command troops have lost control and the refugees have busted out of that camp and are rampaging through Gainesville now. We all know that what's left of the Federal government and many of the state governments are trying to get relief supplies through to the East coast but it's taking time. Those supplies ARE coming but it may be a few more days, maybe even a week or longer. All we've got to do is hold out until then and most of the driving force behind these problems will begin to subside. Be that as it may that aid isn't here yet and those hungry refugees are busting loose and will take what they want where ever they can find it. That's a big camp and if they can't get it under control the other camps around the county may slip away as well. How long will it be before they've scoured Gainesville clean and began to rage through the countryside like a swarm of locusts? Do you want to try to hold them off from your front yard? It'll be a hell of a lot better to take the fight - if there must be a fight - to them rather than letting them bring it to us where their attacks could wipe us out."
John looked around at the other men and continued, "We don't know that we'll be involved in any fighting at all. Camp Blanding has to know by now and they should be sending troops. From the sounds of it we're just going to be a reserve. I won't ask anyone to come along that's unwilling but as far as I'm concerned I've had my fill today of predators running loose in my neighborhood. This threat I want to scotch at the source! Anyone that doesn't want to go can go on home now. The rest of us have work to be done."
Many of the men looked at the ground and would not meet anyone's eyes. After a minute two did walk away, not looking back. The rest stayed. Including himself John counted twenty one. "It'll have to do" he said. "Let's look over everyone's rifles and make sure we've got ammo for everyone. I want each man to have at least forty rounds. If you don't have that much run back to your house and get what you have."
He turned to Miguel, "You got enough gas in the truck to haul us all to Shands and back?"
Miguel nodded to the affirmative. John nodded back at him, a growing suspicion now nearly confirmed.
"OK then, all we can do now is wait and see if we're needed."
-- -- -- -- --
John stepped down off the truck in the parking garage east of the Shands emergency room. A hospital security officer said, "Sector deputies to meet in the cafeteria. All others head to the top level of the garage."
With a nod to Miguel to take charge John walked from the garage, across the street and into the hospital. He'd never seen the place so dirty but it appeared to still be functioning. The room contained about thirty men and he recognized many of them from the southwest sector deputies meeting. With a mild shock he realized that meeting had only been just that morning. It felt like days in the past now. An acute sense of fatigue washed over him. A uniformed deputy walked in and stepped up onto a chair.
"My name is Captain Dick Parker, I'm the west side watch commander for the A.S.O. There may be more of you coming but time is pressing so I'm going to start."
"The situation is like this. About four hours ago in the Fairgrounds evacuee camp a man there was discovered by other camp residents to be hoarding a stash of canned goods. We don't know where he got them from, it may be that he'd brought them with him. Regardless, this sparked outrage among the other camp residents where they have been subsisting on a 1200 calorie a day diet for several weeks now. Apparently he refused to give them up and a fight broke out quickly resulting in his being lynched. The camp commander notified the local Recovery HQ of the situation and said he was sending in troops to break it up and recover the body. He never reported back and we can only assume he and however many troops he may have taken with him were overwhelmed. When he failed to report in a timely manner Captain Swift went to the camp with a platoon of soldiers to restore order. He was confronted with a well-organized group of camp residents, some of whom were carrying M16's believed to have belonged to the camp guards but they also possessed many civilian weapons that were apparently not found when they entered the camp. From their actions we think that at least one or more ex-military may be among them. Captain Swift ordered them to surrender the weapons and disperse and they refused. At this point one or more shots were fired - we don't know who fired. The residents charged Captain Swift's troops and he ordered volley fire into the mass. General fighting broke out, the Captain and at least six of his troopers were killed soon after and the situation began to spread outside of the camp."
"So far the fighting has not spread much beyond Waldo road and 39th avenue and we hope to be able to contain it there but we are at risk of losing the airport which sits near to the fairgrounds. To prevent this we are moving all troops and law enforcement personnel out of southern Gainesville to the northeast. The airport must not be allowed to fall as we were just notified this morning that a joint venture between a number of the Midwestern states and the Federal government is trying to airlift food supplies to the most desperate areas as a stopgap until the rail lines can be brought back into usable conditions. Your roles here are to protect the hospitals, Shands, the V.A. across the street and Alachua General Hospital further east and you'll be divied up by sector accordingly. We think the fighting won't come this far but if it does just try to hold out here until more troops can be sent in."
He looked across the lunch room to a man on crutches. "If you'll look behind you the gentleman with the crutches is Captain Thomas Wayne. He's an infantry officer who is a patient across the street at the V.A. He has volunteered to lead up the defensive details along with a number of sergeants who were also at the V.A. They'll be your leadership. Captain Wayne, I leave these men in your hands. I'm needed in the northeast so I must be going."
With some difficulty Captain Wayne stepped up onto a stool that had been provided for him. "Good evening gentlemen" he said, "Let's take a quick review of the buildings and surrounding grounds to see where we can do the most good. If our riot makes it this far chances are we're going to be outnumbered so we'll need to make our defender's advantage count…"
A.T.Hagan
Inactive
September 7 - The End of the Beginning
It wanted to rain and John was tired but he still had six more rows to go with the seeder before he was done and it had to go back tomorrow without fail so he unfolded the accordion top on the tractor and drove on. It had been a good week all things considered, especially compared to the week previous. A large military transport passed overhead on its way to the airport in Gainesville. "Won't be many more of them I think" he said to himself, "with the rail lines coming back into play. Sure got us out from between a rock and a hard place though."
The rain began to come down steadily as he finished the last two rows. When the truck came by to pick up Ann in the morning they'd be taking the implement with them. He smiled when he thought about that. It had taken a little while for him to get use to the idea but he had to admit she'd been very foresightful when she cut her deal with the university. The surprise that she didn't get to tell him about until the next day after Carla's letter had come in had been the fact that the university wanted her to come back to work right away, badly enough that they'd feed and lodge her to get her to do so. With the economic and physical devastation caused by the asteroid impact and its resulting weather effects local food production and self-reliance suddenly took on an importance they had not enjoyed in many decades, maybe ever before. With her Atlantic ports smashed, her Gulf ports damaged to one degree or another, and acute fuel shortages predicted to last several years or more the Governor made it a crash priority that Florida had to become more self-reliant in food production. This pointed the arrow of urgency straight at the various state colleges of agriculture and the state cooperative extension service that presented their public face. After years of slowly subsiding in political and budgetary relevancy this sudden urgency and importance had taken them utterly unawares and they were now scrambling to fulfill what they had been tasked to do. Now, like never before the vast collection of knowledge held in their libraries and databases on large and small scale food production, food preservation, home economics, disaster mitigation and other topics needed to be able to get out to the people. This meant the university needed its trained staff to find and distribute this information, much of which had been previously considered outdated, which meant they needed Ann and her colleagues.
John backed the tractor under the barn overhang so he could detach the grain drill and clean it so he could return it like he'd received it. It was an old drill, the extension farm off campus no longer used it as they had newer, more efficient equipment but for planting oats and wheat like he'd been doing it worked well and it would fit his tractor. Realizing that she had an importance that she'd never held before Ann had dickered with the vice-president that part of her salary was to be paid in ways such as allowing her to borrow certain tractor implements or other agricultural machinery that would be useful on the Horne farm -becoming one in actual fact rather than just a fanciful name - as well as necessary seed and other considerations. The VP took it all in stride but insisted that she work with the university agronomists on certain projects which is how John came to be planting this new variety of hulless oats rather than the oats he'd intended to plant and also putting in several acres of soft white wheat to be trialed. This was fine by him as they would get to keep half of the grain and the agronomists would get their data and seed to distribute if it worked out. He'd also agreed to greatly increase his planting next Spring of the open-pollinated yellow dent corn he'd been conserving and improving on his own for the last seven years which he'd intended to do anyways but now they wanted to study it for possible distribution. All of this grain planting left him short of pasture which he solved by getting Ed to agree to rent him an adjoining pasture which he had no present use for having sold so many of his cattle to the Recovery Command. It was going to be a long winter and they weren't out of the woods yet but if they could make it through then next summer they ought to be doing alright relative to quite a lot of the rest of the surviving state population. At least they could grow their own food.
You couldn't get fuel at all if you didn't have a ration priority and very little even if you did but he hoped that would change in the coming months. All of this unexpected planting would have more than completely used up his stored diesel fuel but agricultural food production now enjoyed a ration priority just below food transport and emergency services so it had been possible to get enough for the plowing and planting. There wasn't any gasoline to be had, not even for himself as a sector deputy or Lisa as one of the most important personnel at the clinic in Archer. Well, where was he going to go anyways? At least the university picked up Ann and brought her home again. They couldn't pick up and drop her off everyday which meant she stayed in a dorm during the week and was only home for the weekend. Even after only a week he missed her when she was gone, most especially with three girls in the house and Lisa being at the clinic all day!
With the seeder ready to be picked up he put his slicker and hat on and walked over to Mike's place. He should be getting home about now and was supposed to have the case wrap up on the Tiersdale murder which he'd have to review and sign off on. He was still dreaming about it. "I'll never get used to that. My God, I hope I never get used to it!" he sighed to himself as he squelched down the road. After the riot and breakout at the camp had been resolved and the sheriff's office could get around to lesser priorities they had identified the perpetrator. His name had been Richard Louis Nelson with a long history of mostly minor crimes but his last conviction had been for attempted rape. In fact, he was supposed to still be in jail for the crime but it turned out that in the previous week the local prisons had been forced to release a number of prisoners on "early parole" because the increasing absenteeism of the prison guards and the lack of food to feed the prisoners was making it impossible to guard all but the worst offenders. "Too bad he had to rape and murder a woman and nearly do the same to her daughter for them to find out they'd made a mistake with that one." Well, he'd murder no more. He'd felt guilt pangs for shooting the rustlers but not for killing Nelson. "It's too damn bad somebody didn't do it before he reached the Tiersdales."
The Sunday of the dog hunt, murder, and camp riots seemed a month long to him. They'd been at Shands until nearly four a.m. in the morning before word had come that fresh troops from the Recovery H.Q. at Camp Blanding and the on-site troops and law enforcement had finally managed to crush the rioting, but at a heavy cost of 127 civilians dead, 23 soldiers, and four deputies and police officers. The ring leaders of the riots had been identified, were tried and subsequently ordered shot by the new county Recovery C.O., a Major Randolph McCall. After much intense negotiation between the Recovery Command, the Governor's office and a coalition of county boards of commissioners and sheriff's it was agreed the camps and the coastal areas directly devastated by the tsunamis would be placed under Direct Federal Administration, or DFA for short, which so far as John could tell seemed to be a euphemism for martial law without actually coming out and calling it that. All areas outside of those zones would remain under what civil law there remained. Word around the department was that it was the arrival of the first military transport planes carrying food relief that actually ended the riots. Once word got around what was in the planes that over flew Gainesville the rioters simply gave up. John didn't care either way if it meant they weren't going to have to participate in a pitched battle.
The sun was just beginning to lighten the sky when he'd made it home last Monday morning and he was surprised to see Ann up and with her bags packed on the bed. For a bad moment he'd gotten the idea that she was leaving him! She laughed when he expressed this thought and said, "No darling! This is the surprise I've been trying to tell you about! The university wants me to come back to work!" Fatigue and sleep deprivation made it all seem unreal to him as she explained the deal she'd negotiated with the university and what it meant to the family. He still hadn't liked the idea and wasn't going to agree but she sat him down and laid it all out for him in a step-by-step fashion.
"John, we need this. No one in the family is working, we have no income coming in. You yourself have told us that it'll be next Spring before we have anything that we can sell from what we produce ourselves. The Federal moratorium on mortgages, rents, loans and other debts also froze our bank account presuming the loss of New York and the other cities wouldn't have eliminated it anyway. With inflation spiraling higher and higher the cash money we have left on hand is worth less every day. We need the income. What's more I managed to dicker with the VP to allow us to use some of the implements and other equipment from the extension farm so you can expand our plantings here and we'll get seed and other stuff out of it as well. This could put us years ahead of what we'd be able to do otherwise. Besides, with me being in town all week eating the university's food it'll take some of the strain off of our food supply that taking a new mouth in would place on us."
That last one puzzled him so he said, "What new mouth?"
She laughed again, "Why Brittany of course! You brought her here yourself! Have you forgotten about her?"
In truth he had but he replied "Why should she figure into this? She doesn't live here. Her father will pick her up when he gets home."
A serious expression crossed her face, "John, it's going on seven a.m. Monday morning. Her father hasn't come home yet, at least we haven't heard from him. If you'd come home and found me murdered and your neighbor told you that Melinda was at a another neighbor's house wouldn't you go get her right away?"
"Well, yeah," he said, a little confused, "You mean he's never shown up yet?"
"No John, he hasn't. What's more no body has shown up to do anything about Mrs. Tiersdale's body either. Lisa and I think he's missing, or maybe run off and abandoned his wife and child, may not even know his wife has been murdered but we think he's missing."
"Shit!" John said with tired passion. "Lord God I hope this won't turn out to be a double murder. Maybe that's how the bastard knew to go to that particular house… I'll have to call this into county central. They're supposed to come and deal with the crime scene, though I don't know what's left to do other than clean up. With the riots and all - God it was only last night! - I suppose they haven't had time to do it yet. I'll call them this morning before I go to bed and goose them. But what about Brittany? Why are you counting her into our food situation. Even if her father doesn't come home she's got relatives she can go to doesn't she? Maybe family friends? Somebody?"
Ann shook her head, "Yes, she's got relatives but they're in Maryland. On the map it looks like they may have been far enough west that the tsunamis may not have taken them but how would they come and get her? The two friends families she might go stay with are even worse off than her family was. Do you think they'd take her? We thoroughly explored all of the possibilities last night. Melinda, Lisa, Heather and I discussed this after Lisa gave Brittany a sedative and put her to bed. We want her to stay here John, at least until we can locate relatives who have a responsibility to her. We don't want to just send her off to some orphanage or something. Where would she go? Into the camps? It would be kinder to just shoot her! She can do the same kind of work that Melinda and Heather do and I won't be here during the week so she won't be a burden on the food supply. I might even be able to bring food from the university maybe, or something. She stays here!"
John was so tired that he felt dizzy and not up to this contention with his wife so he let the matter drop until he'd had some sleep. He realized later that day after he'd awoken that this meant it would have to wait all week until she came home unless they could settle this over the phone. This she simply refused to do and by the time she'd made it home Friday night the entire matter had set up like concrete and he realized he faced the immovable object when he ran into the united front of the house females.
"Well," he finally conceded, "We'll just have to make it work somehow."
Mike pulled up behind him just as John reached his gate and he got out of his car. "See you Tuesday morning Mac!" he said to the driver who turned and went back the way he'd come. "Hi John! I've got your paperwork. Guess what?! I get tomorrow off! First damned day off I've had since the rock hit! I've got your paperwork too, come on in and have a look at it. Wanna stay for supper? Kate will feed you some of your eggs."
John smiled and said, "I appreciate it Mike, but Ann's going back in the morning so I'll eat at the house. Maybe another time. I've been on the back of the tractor all day so I'm about filthy and dog tired to boot. Let me sign off on the Tiersdale case so I can go home and clean up."
"OK", the deputy grinned, "I reckon I can't compete with your wife, especially when she's gone all week. That Tiersdale mess was a nasty business, I'm sorry it fell to you to have to deal with it. Near as we can tell we think Mr. Tiersdale may have run into Nelson at the Archer market since men hang out there looking for day work. Still no trace of him though so we're still not sure if Nelson murdered him or maybe he just didn't run off as some of the nastier gossip would have it. I never met the man but from talking to the neighbors I don't think he'd just up and run off. We'll find him sooner or later, probably in a shallow grave."
The sector deputy nodded his head. "Yeah, I don't think he ran off either. What a crappy world it is sometimes but it's happening all over. Brittany seems to be taking it as well as can be expected. With Mel and Heather to keep her company and plenty of chores and responsibility she doesn't seem to dwell on it too much. Any news down at the department?"
"Well, as a matter of fact" Mike allowed, "there is. Word about your dog hunt got around to the Recovery HQ and they'd like to send some folks out when you do the next one. Feral dogs have become a serious threat down to Orlando and some of the other larger cities. They want to watch the way y'all did it so they can show it to the folks down south. When do you reckon you'll do it again?"
"Dad and Ed was talking about doing another one next week, probably Saturday or Sunday sometime. Right now everyone's too busy planting. Dad shot a dog in the pasture this afternoon so it's looking to be time again. Tell them to come on out, we can always use more hands."
"OK, I'll pass that on. Oh, and here's a heads up for you. Levy county sheriff's office put the word out there was a cross burning in Raleigh last night and someone shot into the houses of a couple of black residents. Raleigh being just to the south of Archer they wanted us to know in case whoever did it comes north."
With a sigh of disgust John said, "Well, if that don't just take the cake! Here we are everyone's trying to keep from starving, we've got thieves and murderers to deal with and those ignorant yahoos in bedsheets want to stick their heads up! There's at least twelve black families in my sector alone, three of the men on the posse here are black and these folks are all just trying to stay alive like we are. And of course with you being gone twelve hours a day every day who is going to have to deal with it! Me! Anyone starts burning crosses or shooting into houses around here should count themselves lucky if ALL they get is an ass full of birdshot!"
With a grin Mike said, "I knew you'd take the news calmly" and then laughed. Levy county said they had a good idea of who'd done it but they wanted to put the word out just in case. The sheriff wants this squashed too so if it crosses the county line he's going to come down on it like a ton of bricks."
The men hung up their rain slickers and went into the house. John sat that kitchen table reading the paperwork, asking Mike about procedure, and making corrections. In the background the radio was on but he gave it only half an ear. The Federal and state governments were creating a program called the National Reconstruction Corp for the evacuees presently trapped in the camps and for anyone else unable to find work. They'd be used in the salvage operations in the devastated areas and to rebuild damaged infrastructure resulting from the earthquakes and flooding. With the fuel shortage much work that would have once been done by machinery would now have to be done by hand. The Corp wouldn't pay much relative to pre-Impact wages but at least they'd all eat, be clothed, and have a place to live during the coming winter. It sounded rugged but given the alternative it presented an attractive option. He was doing more physical labor now himself than he'd ever had to do before.
The paperwork reviewed and signed, John put his rain slicker back on and headed home. There'd be the usual alarums and difficulties to deal with tomorrow but for tonight he was going to take a hot shower, get dry, eat a good supper and then share a week's worth of company with his wife before she went back to the university.
It wanted to rain and John was tired but he still had six more rows to go with the seeder before he was done and it had to go back tomorrow without fail so he unfolded the accordion top on the tractor and drove on. It had been a good week all things considered, especially compared to the week previous. A large military transport passed overhead on its way to the airport in Gainesville. "Won't be many more of them I think" he said to himself, "with the rail lines coming back into play. Sure got us out from between a rock and a hard place though."
The rain began to come down steadily as he finished the last two rows. When the truck came by to pick up Ann in the morning they'd be taking the implement with them. He smiled when he thought about that. It had taken a little while for him to get use to the idea but he had to admit she'd been very foresightful when she cut her deal with the university. The surprise that she didn't get to tell him about until the next day after Carla's letter had come in had been the fact that the university wanted her to come back to work right away, badly enough that they'd feed and lodge her to get her to do so. With the economic and physical devastation caused by the asteroid impact and its resulting weather effects local food production and self-reliance suddenly took on an importance they had not enjoyed in many decades, maybe ever before. With her Atlantic ports smashed, her Gulf ports damaged to one degree or another, and acute fuel shortages predicted to last several years or more the Governor made it a crash priority that Florida had to become more self-reliant in food production. This pointed the arrow of urgency straight at the various state colleges of agriculture and the state cooperative extension service that presented their public face. After years of slowly subsiding in political and budgetary relevancy this sudden urgency and importance had taken them utterly unawares and they were now scrambling to fulfill what they had been tasked to do. Now, like never before the vast collection of knowledge held in their libraries and databases on large and small scale food production, food preservation, home economics, disaster mitigation and other topics needed to be able to get out to the people. This meant the university needed its trained staff to find and distribute this information, much of which had been previously considered outdated, which meant they needed Ann and her colleagues.
John backed the tractor under the barn overhang so he could detach the grain drill and clean it so he could return it like he'd received it. It was an old drill, the extension farm off campus no longer used it as they had newer, more efficient equipment but for planting oats and wheat like he'd been doing it worked well and it would fit his tractor. Realizing that she had an importance that she'd never held before Ann had dickered with the vice-president that part of her salary was to be paid in ways such as allowing her to borrow certain tractor implements or other agricultural machinery that would be useful on the Horne farm -becoming one in actual fact rather than just a fanciful name - as well as necessary seed and other considerations. The VP took it all in stride but insisted that she work with the university agronomists on certain projects which is how John came to be planting this new variety of hulless oats rather than the oats he'd intended to plant and also putting in several acres of soft white wheat to be trialed. This was fine by him as they would get to keep half of the grain and the agronomists would get their data and seed to distribute if it worked out. He'd also agreed to greatly increase his planting next Spring of the open-pollinated yellow dent corn he'd been conserving and improving on his own for the last seven years which he'd intended to do anyways but now they wanted to study it for possible distribution. All of this grain planting left him short of pasture which he solved by getting Ed to agree to rent him an adjoining pasture which he had no present use for having sold so many of his cattle to the Recovery Command. It was going to be a long winter and they weren't out of the woods yet but if they could make it through then next summer they ought to be doing alright relative to quite a lot of the rest of the surviving state population. At least they could grow their own food.
You couldn't get fuel at all if you didn't have a ration priority and very little even if you did but he hoped that would change in the coming months. All of this unexpected planting would have more than completely used up his stored diesel fuel but agricultural food production now enjoyed a ration priority just below food transport and emergency services so it had been possible to get enough for the plowing and planting. There wasn't any gasoline to be had, not even for himself as a sector deputy or Lisa as one of the most important personnel at the clinic in Archer. Well, where was he going to go anyways? At least the university picked up Ann and brought her home again. They couldn't pick up and drop her off everyday which meant she stayed in a dorm during the week and was only home for the weekend. Even after only a week he missed her when she was gone, most especially with three girls in the house and Lisa being at the clinic all day!
With the seeder ready to be picked up he put his slicker and hat on and walked over to Mike's place. He should be getting home about now and was supposed to have the case wrap up on the Tiersdale murder which he'd have to review and sign off on. He was still dreaming about it. "I'll never get used to that. My God, I hope I never get used to it!" he sighed to himself as he squelched down the road. After the riot and breakout at the camp had been resolved and the sheriff's office could get around to lesser priorities they had identified the perpetrator. His name had been Richard Louis Nelson with a long history of mostly minor crimes but his last conviction had been for attempted rape. In fact, he was supposed to still be in jail for the crime but it turned out that in the previous week the local prisons had been forced to release a number of prisoners on "early parole" because the increasing absenteeism of the prison guards and the lack of food to feed the prisoners was making it impossible to guard all but the worst offenders. "Too bad he had to rape and murder a woman and nearly do the same to her daughter for them to find out they'd made a mistake with that one." Well, he'd murder no more. He'd felt guilt pangs for shooting the rustlers but not for killing Nelson. "It's too damn bad somebody didn't do it before he reached the Tiersdales."
The Sunday of the dog hunt, murder, and camp riots seemed a month long to him. They'd been at Shands until nearly four a.m. in the morning before word had come that fresh troops from the Recovery H.Q. at Camp Blanding and the on-site troops and law enforcement had finally managed to crush the rioting, but at a heavy cost of 127 civilians dead, 23 soldiers, and four deputies and police officers. The ring leaders of the riots had been identified, were tried and subsequently ordered shot by the new county Recovery C.O., a Major Randolph McCall. After much intense negotiation between the Recovery Command, the Governor's office and a coalition of county boards of commissioners and sheriff's it was agreed the camps and the coastal areas directly devastated by the tsunamis would be placed under Direct Federal Administration, or DFA for short, which so far as John could tell seemed to be a euphemism for martial law without actually coming out and calling it that. All areas outside of those zones would remain under what civil law there remained. Word around the department was that it was the arrival of the first military transport planes carrying food relief that actually ended the riots. Once word got around what was in the planes that over flew Gainesville the rioters simply gave up. John didn't care either way if it meant they weren't going to have to participate in a pitched battle.
The sun was just beginning to lighten the sky when he'd made it home last Monday morning and he was surprised to see Ann up and with her bags packed on the bed. For a bad moment he'd gotten the idea that she was leaving him! She laughed when he expressed this thought and said, "No darling! This is the surprise I've been trying to tell you about! The university wants me to come back to work!" Fatigue and sleep deprivation made it all seem unreal to him as she explained the deal she'd negotiated with the university and what it meant to the family. He still hadn't liked the idea and wasn't going to agree but she sat him down and laid it all out for him in a step-by-step fashion.
"John, we need this. No one in the family is working, we have no income coming in. You yourself have told us that it'll be next Spring before we have anything that we can sell from what we produce ourselves. The Federal moratorium on mortgages, rents, loans and other debts also froze our bank account presuming the loss of New York and the other cities wouldn't have eliminated it anyway. With inflation spiraling higher and higher the cash money we have left on hand is worth less every day. We need the income. What's more I managed to dicker with the VP to allow us to use some of the implements and other equipment from the extension farm so you can expand our plantings here and we'll get seed and other stuff out of it as well. This could put us years ahead of what we'd be able to do otherwise. Besides, with me being in town all week eating the university's food it'll take some of the strain off of our food supply that taking a new mouth in would place on us."
That last one puzzled him so he said, "What new mouth?"
She laughed again, "Why Brittany of course! You brought her here yourself! Have you forgotten about her?"
In truth he had but he replied "Why should she figure into this? She doesn't live here. Her father will pick her up when he gets home."
A serious expression crossed her face, "John, it's going on seven a.m. Monday morning. Her father hasn't come home yet, at least we haven't heard from him. If you'd come home and found me murdered and your neighbor told you that Melinda was at a another neighbor's house wouldn't you go get her right away?"
"Well, yeah," he said, a little confused, "You mean he's never shown up yet?"
"No John, he hasn't. What's more no body has shown up to do anything about Mrs. Tiersdale's body either. Lisa and I think he's missing, or maybe run off and abandoned his wife and child, may not even know his wife has been murdered but we think he's missing."
"Shit!" John said with tired passion. "Lord God I hope this won't turn out to be a double murder. Maybe that's how the bastard knew to go to that particular house… I'll have to call this into county central. They're supposed to come and deal with the crime scene, though I don't know what's left to do other than clean up. With the riots and all - God it was only last night! - I suppose they haven't had time to do it yet. I'll call them this morning before I go to bed and goose them. But what about Brittany? Why are you counting her into our food situation. Even if her father doesn't come home she's got relatives she can go to doesn't she? Maybe family friends? Somebody?"
Ann shook her head, "Yes, she's got relatives but they're in Maryland. On the map it looks like they may have been far enough west that the tsunamis may not have taken them but how would they come and get her? The two friends families she might go stay with are even worse off than her family was. Do you think they'd take her? We thoroughly explored all of the possibilities last night. Melinda, Lisa, Heather and I discussed this after Lisa gave Brittany a sedative and put her to bed. We want her to stay here John, at least until we can locate relatives who have a responsibility to her. We don't want to just send her off to some orphanage or something. Where would she go? Into the camps? It would be kinder to just shoot her! She can do the same kind of work that Melinda and Heather do and I won't be here during the week so she won't be a burden on the food supply. I might even be able to bring food from the university maybe, or something. She stays here!"
John was so tired that he felt dizzy and not up to this contention with his wife so he let the matter drop until he'd had some sleep. He realized later that day after he'd awoken that this meant it would have to wait all week until she came home unless they could settle this over the phone. This she simply refused to do and by the time she'd made it home Friday night the entire matter had set up like concrete and he realized he faced the immovable object when he ran into the united front of the house females.
"Well," he finally conceded, "We'll just have to make it work somehow."
Mike pulled up behind him just as John reached his gate and he got out of his car. "See you Tuesday morning Mac!" he said to the driver who turned and went back the way he'd come. "Hi John! I've got your paperwork. Guess what?! I get tomorrow off! First damned day off I've had since the rock hit! I've got your paperwork too, come on in and have a look at it. Wanna stay for supper? Kate will feed you some of your eggs."
John smiled and said, "I appreciate it Mike, but Ann's going back in the morning so I'll eat at the house. Maybe another time. I've been on the back of the tractor all day so I'm about filthy and dog tired to boot. Let me sign off on the Tiersdale case so I can go home and clean up."
"OK", the deputy grinned, "I reckon I can't compete with your wife, especially when she's gone all week. That Tiersdale mess was a nasty business, I'm sorry it fell to you to have to deal with it. Near as we can tell we think Mr. Tiersdale may have run into Nelson at the Archer market since men hang out there looking for day work. Still no trace of him though so we're still not sure if Nelson murdered him or maybe he just didn't run off as some of the nastier gossip would have it. I never met the man but from talking to the neighbors I don't think he'd just up and run off. We'll find him sooner or later, probably in a shallow grave."
The sector deputy nodded his head. "Yeah, I don't think he ran off either. What a crappy world it is sometimes but it's happening all over. Brittany seems to be taking it as well as can be expected. With Mel and Heather to keep her company and plenty of chores and responsibility she doesn't seem to dwell on it too much. Any news down at the department?"
"Well, as a matter of fact" Mike allowed, "there is. Word about your dog hunt got around to the Recovery HQ and they'd like to send some folks out when you do the next one. Feral dogs have become a serious threat down to Orlando and some of the other larger cities. They want to watch the way y'all did it so they can show it to the folks down south. When do you reckon you'll do it again?"
"Dad and Ed was talking about doing another one next week, probably Saturday or Sunday sometime. Right now everyone's too busy planting. Dad shot a dog in the pasture this afternoon so it's looking to be time again. Tell them to come on out, we can always use more hands."
"OK, I'll pass that on. Oh, and here's a heads up for you. Levy county sheriff's office put the word out there was a cross burning in Raleigh last night and someone shot into the houses of a couple of black residents. Raleigh being just to the south of Archer they wanted us to know in case whoever did it comes north."
With a sigh of disgust John said, "Well, if that don't just take the cake! Here we are everyone's trying to keep from starving, we've got thieves and murderers to deal with and those ignorant yahoos in bedsheets want to stick their heads up! There's at least twelve black families in my sector alone, three of the men on the posse here are black and these folks are all just trying to stay alive like we are. And of course with you being gone twelve hours a day every day who is going to have to deal with it! Me! Anyone starts burning crosses or shooting into houses around here should count themselves lucky if ALL they get is an ass full of birdshot!"
With a grin Mike said, "I knew you'd take the news calmly" and then laughed. Levy county said they had a good idea of who'd done it but they wanted to put the word out just in case. The sheriff wants this squashed too so if it crosses the county line he's going to come down on it like a ton of bricks."
The men hung up their rain slickers and went into the house. John sat that kitchen table reading the paperwork, asking Mike about procedure, and making corrections. In the background the radio was on but he gave it only half an ear. The Federal and state governments were creating a program called the National Reconstruction Corp for the evacuees presently trapped in the camps and for anyone else unable to find work. They'd be used in the salvage operations in the devastated areas and to rebuild damaged infrastructure resulting from the earthquakes and flooding. With the fuel shortage much work that would have once been done by machinery would now have to be done by hand. The Corp wouldn't pay much relative to pre-Impact wages but at least they'd all eat, be clothed, and have a place to live during the coming winter. It sounded rugged but given the alternative it presented an attractive option. He was doing more physical labor now himself than he'd ever had to do before.
The paperwork reviewed and signed, John put his rain slicker back on and headed home. There'd be the usual alarums and difficulties to deal with tomorrow but for tonight he was going to take a hot shower, get dry, eat a good supper and then share a week's worth of company with his wife before she went back to the university.
A.T.Hagan
Inactive
Well, that depends.
We've made it through the first month or so after the Impact. The actual immediate disaster part is coming to an end and anything that follows would be recovery and ramifications.
I can end it here if y'all like or I can explore some of the midterm ramifications and impact on some other areas - as well as the further ramifications to the Horne family.
Since it was the TB2K readers that encouraged me to take this beyond the initial first post I'll let you decide.
What do you think?
.....Alan.
We've made it through the first month or so after the Impact. The actual immediate disaster part is coming to an end and anything that follows would be recovery and ramifications.
I can end it here if y'all like or I can explore some of the midterm ramifications and impact on some other areas - as well as the further ramifications to the Horne family.
Since it was the TB2K readers that encouraged me to take this beyond the initial first post I'll let you decide.
What do you think?
.....Alan.
Renegade
Veteran Member
It seems to me that part of how fast the "rebuilding" progressed would have a lot to do with how the world reacted to our troubles. What happened with the economy, the global military situation, etc. Droughts, fires, etc. in other parts of the country would affect how fast things got rebuilt there. If war in the ME was bad enought, then they would need to find a mule to plow with, etc. It seems that all of that would have an impact on just how fast the Horne family got back to "normal".
You could almost turn this into a "little farm on the flats" saga....
All I can say is, I have totally enjoyed your story. You are really good! If you keep writing, I'll keep reading!!
If you stop this one here, then I'll wait for the next one!! LOL
You could almost turn this into a "little farm on the flats" saga....
All I can say is, I have totally enjoyed your story. You are really good! If you keep writing, I'll keep reading!!
If you stop this one here, then I'll wait for the next one!! LOL
Alan,
I don't think it is time to end it, if you can keep writing.
I would really like to see it progress into reconstruction. Then on into a settled existence so the people are back on what will be normal life for them for decades to come, a cross between 1800's and 1900's technology and lifestyle. Showing how they develop new old fashion tools to do what they need to do. I don't think the hardware store is going to open real soon and when it does it will have old fashioned new inventory.
Maybe delve into some personalities and maybe get some kind of romance started once things get settled somewhat
I don't think it is time to end it, if you can keep writing.
I would really like to see it progress into reconstruction. Then on into a settled existence so the people are back on what will be normal life for them for decades to come, a cross between 1800's and 1900's technology and lifestyle. Showing how they develop new old fashion tools to do what they need to do. I don't think the hardware store is going to open real soon and when it does it will have old fashioned new inventory.
Maybe delve into some personalities and maybe get some kind of romance started once things get settled somewhat
There's still much to explore in this story I believe. Plus, we've gotten to where we need a daily Alan Hagan story fix. Please, keep writing!
Shoot, I spoke way to soon. What I should have said eventually, like all good things it will have to come to an end. But, not like right now or anytime soon. I hope.
I'm still re-reading this story along with the last one.
I'd say that there are still several different areas that could still be covered. For instance, two that come to mind are Carla and her kids, also her husband Aaron. I'm also sure the kids can't stay on the ship forever. Norfolk will certainly have to be abandoned, for a while to come, along with every other deep water port on what is left of the East Coast.
I'm not familiar with Florida's coast line, but I think the next deep water port maybe Mobile Bay.
Also, you mentioned the release of some criminals from local prisons, due to lack of food. I'm sure they are all not just going to fade back into society.
Let's not forget the situation between China and the U.S., they just are not going to sit back and let us nuke one of their fleets.
It's going to be hard to maintain the effort to rebuild the east coast along with other damaged areas, and still be combat ready.
Hey, besides I still need something to look forward to at work, besides work...lol
I'm still re-reading this story along with the last one.
I'd say that there are still several different areas that could still be covered. For instance, two that come to mind are Carla and her kids, also her husband Aaron. I'm also sure the kids can't stay on the ship forever. Norfolk will certainly have to be abandoned, for a while to come, along with every other deep water port on what is left of the East Coast.
I'm not familiar with Florida's coast line, but I think the next deep water port maybe Mobile Bay.
Also, you mentioned the release of some criminals from local prisons, due to lack of food. I'm sure they are all not just going to fade back into society.
Let's not forget the situation between China and the U.S., they just are not going to sit back and let us nuke one of their fleets.
It's going to be hard to maintain the effort to rebuild the east coast along with other damaged areas, and still be combat ready.
Hey, besides I still need something to look forward to at work, besides work...lol
Well I guess all good things must come to an end. This has been a wonderful story Alan. However I have been wondering, did China just lay down after we nuked them or is a retaltory strike in the works and if so how would that affect your story? Maybe a fade out into how the rest of the country is getting along. (any surge of illigals into the country, etc.) But if you feel like the story needs to end, so be it, it's been a good time and thank you.
That said, you have some willing readers out here if you wish to continue.
That said, you have some willing readers out here if you wish to continue.
S
slwhit
Guest
Like all the others have said, if you'll keep writing, I'll keep reading. You have quite a knack for keeping a story moving. If you're looking for suggestions about what to focus on next, I'd say go where you feel the story leading. Let your interpretation of what would happen due to the Impact follow naturally from the people you're talking about, rather than letting prep details drive the story.
I'm totally amazed and grateful for the time and thought you've put into this!
I'm totally amazed and grateful for the time and thought you've put into this!
Just a thought
Inactive
It's up to you Alan! End it if you like or continue with a wider world view or as others suggested, elaborate on some of the other characters. I've enjoyed your writting and feel inspired to write my own because of it! Thanks!
Scottsworth
Inactive
Alan,
If you aren't tired or bored of writing this story and if it hasn't become a burden then by all means please continue.
Excellent job!
If you aren't tired or bored of writing this story and if it hasn't become a burden then by all means please continue.
Excellent job!
Alan, this is the most enjoyable reading I've done in a very, very long time ... Better than any novel I've read lately for sure!
Like Scottsworth said, if it's not a burden to you ... I would certainly love to keep reading MORE MORE MORE! Please continue this terrific e-story if you're able. I am always looking for it the FIRST thing after I turn on my PC in the morning and evening. I just can't get enough!
Most EXCELLENT work, Alan!
Like Scottsworth said, if it's not a burden to you ... I would certainly love to keep reading MORE MORE MORE! Please continue this terrific e-story if you're able. I am always looking for it the FIRST thing after I turn on my PC in the morning and evening. I just can't get enough!
Most EXCELLENT work, Alan!
Allen, what have you learned from your story?
As a teacher you must have long ago realized that teaching first teaches the teacher. The same is true of the writer who must necessarly think deeply about his subject. It is at this level of thought that much is revealed to the writer. Would you be willing to share with us what you've learned about the general subject of your story from having thought about its various elements, and written about them?
You stepped back from the 'edge', so the story did not depict a situation where the moral and social order break down. Is it your view that it could not break down, or possibly that there is no hope for recovery if it does break down?
I must say the story has caused me to think differently about some aspects of our possible future.
We, like all human beings, love a good story. Yours met that test. Thank you, Alan!
Woolly
As a teacher you must have long ago realized that teaching first teaches the teacher. The same is true of the writer who must necessarly think deeply about his subject. It is at this level of thought that much is revealed to the writer. Would you be willing to share with us what you've learned about the general subject of your story from having thought about its various elements, and written about them?
You stepped back from the 'edge', so the story did not depict a situation where the moral and social order break down. Is it your view that it could not break down, or possibly that there is no hope for recovery if it does break down?
I must say the story has caused me to think differently about some aspects of our possible future.
We, like all human beings, love a good story. Yours met that test. Thank you, Alan!
Woolly