Earth Lost Without Power

by L. S. Wood

  She sensed something very much amiss with me, I am sure of it. She felt something bad had happened to you and she had it in her mind she was not going to smile again until her mommy could hold her tight in her arms once more like you did. Now she smiles with a meaning of glimmering hope in her eyes as her tiny cheeks all wrinkle up with her cute little dimples and her teeth shining bright through her tiny lips with a great big smile.

  Well, back to the story of this thing here on earth, this creature thing, this monster living in our skies. My theory is this with that creature monster living in the sky, Ann. The creature thing took the earth’s energy away from it for its food supply so it might live on in our atmosphere.

  Well, it took the earth’s energy away from her surface and sky anyway, and now the earth is trying its hardest to reclaim what man tried to take away from her. It’s a wonder the earth didn’t right up and explode from the horrendous imbalance of electrons, neutrons, protons, atoms, and whatever the hell else there was up there running and floating around bumping into one another in the damned atmosphere that day.

  Well anyway, anybody or animals, or other creatures living in this world can become a conductor for the earth to use in its quest to regain its power back from that creature, its super power back from that thing up there. People are zapped to death out walking along an old county road or pathway on a bright sunny day. Any animal out in the wild minding its own business, or say one or more of a farmer’s cows out in his pasture just grazing away minding their own business, might just become and do become victims of this monster, this thing living up in our sky.

  I think they become victims, murdered by the earth in its frustrating attempts to try to regain some power back from that creature, or the creature trying to keep the earth at bay all the time. I really do not know what in the hell is really going on. The general population and animals of the world become like a hot fuse link in a wire circuit shorting out, when too much electricity is applied to the fuse. They become a direct grounding link between the massive loads of neutrons when any creature encounters it or are around it when it strikes out.

  I know this sounds a little strange maybe a whole hell of a lot strange, but that is my theory, Ann. The Earth is trying to regain back its control from this over imposed imbalance in nature caused by man for man, and is killing off man and his animals. That is how I see it, Ann.”

  “What does it do, Ben? For goodness sakes man can you not explain yourself a little better than that, would you please! How does that monster in the sky you call it, this thing up there, kill people? I am sorry, Ben.” Ben could see she was getting frustrated not understanding a thing he was saying.

  “I didn’t mean to yell at you, Ben. It’s just been one hell of a long trying year for me stuck way the hell up there in space without you and the girls around me. Now this, this thing I come home to. This corroborated story of a monster lurking in the heavens of our planet trying to kill our people. That really puts the frosting on the cake, Ben, doesn’t it? You do know what I mean don’t you? How do we go about protecting our little Amber and Sarah from this creature thing, ourselves, our lives, my parents, or anyone else’s life for that matter from this horrible monster lurking in our heavens above?”

  “You can’t protect yourself or anyone else from it unless you or they become a mole, an ant, or a worm, and live underground for the rest of your life. What a life that would be, huh? The thing doesn’t penetrate too deep down below the surface of the earth, and the magnetic fields of the Earth seem to be fighting it off now or at least trying to attack it every once in a while.

  I just do not know how to explain it any better than that, Ann. It does not affect any plant life that I know of, only air breathing creatures, or creatures that generate any amount even the smallest insignificant amounts of electrical impulses generated from their insignificant nervous systems enabling them to think, and otherwise move around. I just don’t know.”

  “Well where the hell does that leave us, Ben?” “What do you mean, Ann?” What I mean is just this. Where do we go from here to live with our girls to protect them and us from this creature thing, this invisible creature thing lurking in the sky?”

  “There is nowhere here on earth to run or hide with our children Ann. That creature thing is everywhere. Rumor has it that it is even worse over the Ukraine in Russia, as it damn well should be. If it weren’t for those stupid egotistical sons of bitches, this whole thing wouldn’t have ever have had to happen to the earth.”

  “The Russian people are not all that bad, Ben. If it were not for those few Russian cosmonauts onboard the space station, I would not be standing here with you right now. They could have just as easily blocked the docking platform and airlocks on the space station, and that would have left us out in the cold in space to die from suffocation or starvation without any oxygen, or food to survive. You just cannot go around judging a whole country because of a few egotistical bastards that are power hungry. It just isn’t fair to the rest of the good people of Russia.”

  “I know it isn’t fair honey, but it does take all kinds of people to make this world of ours go round, including the sour apples on this planet. I just hope they were some of the first people to go, when they first pushed that foolish button of theirs. No I do not, not really. I hope some of them suns-a-bitches are still around, whether they are simple minded or not, so they can see just what they have gone and done to this once nice world of ours we had. I would love to be able to point out to them just what their greedy little minds did to so many innocent people around the world, including what they did to their own fellow citizens. I hope some of those bastards found themselves in the middle of this damn mess just like everyone else around the globe. It would serve them bastards right if they were, and I hope some are still alive and experiencing it! I wish no harm to anyone in the world, but I do hope the ones who did this receive it in the end what justice is due them bastards. It would serve them right to suffer right along with the rest of the others who are suffering dearly from all this!”

  They were warned by their own scientific people not to make or launch these damned rockets until they were perfected beyond a reasonable doubt. Being so impatiently egotistical, they did not have enough brains to listen or take heed from their own scientific people. Now look at what those greedy bastards have done to our world, a planet in pure despair and there is not a thing anyone can do to correct or rectify their freaking mistake. This world is full of smart people all right, people able to mess up everything worldwide for everyone, but not smart enough to straighten out what they have so unconscionably caused.”

  “How are Mom and Dad doing with all this happening around them, Ben?” “They both are doing just fine, Ann. They would have loved to have come down to Florida and welcomed you back home as well for they were both invited too, but this trip down here would have been just too much for the two of them to endure at their age.

  They did not want to upset the apple cart, so they decided for their own good health and wellbeing, that staying home in Vermont was a great deal smarter for them than coming way down here to Florida, and getting themselves all excited, worn out, and sick. They are both doing just fine, super fine in fact.”

  “Good, and I just cannot wait to see the two of them again. You just cannot imagine how I have missed everyone down here so much while I was stuck up there. I just cannot wait to get back home to the farm and sample some of mom’s special homemade cooked meals. Then I will know I am home and can enjoy them and myself. If there is one thing you are definitely not going to get in outer space is one of a home cooked meal like the ones Mom cooks up in her kitchen. I just cannot stand it anymore, Ben. I do not want to have to wait any longer before I can just put my arms around the two of them and squeeze them tight with a good old tight loving Vermont bear hug. I never knew how anyone could possibly miss other people the way I have missed you Ben, the kids, and my parents.

 
It is hard to explain just how painful it feels, and how hard it really is being stuck way out there, unable to be with the ones you love so dearly, and not able to talk to any of them, or to know just what is happening to anyone below. Everyday locked up out there in that steel capsule, seemed more like a week to me, and every week a month, and every month an entire eternity. Oh, how I missed the lot of you guys so much. There were so many nights I just lay awake in my cubical, silently crying with tears flowing from my eyes thinking of you and the kids, and every once in a while my folks. I could not help it but I thought of you and the girls most the time and cried for days.

  I especially cried for the first few days away, and the twelve days just prior to Christmas, as well as the days when you and the girls all had your birthdays. I even cried at Easter for crying out loud, and on the Fourth of July, too. There were just so many nights I lay awake wanting to be in your arms again and have you tell me everything was going to be all right with everything. Did you miss me, Ben? I mean did you really miss me?”

  “Honey, there hasn’t been a single solitary day gone by with that I haven’t missed you or thought about you in one way or another. I was recruited to help dispose of all those decaying bodies before I knew if you were dead or alive, or had a chance to be alive. I spent four lousy long hard long hours-less tiring months out traveling around this country. From town, to town we traveled, burying people and animal carcasses for miles around the south before I found out the Twitchel had safely rendezvoused and linked up with the space station.

  Even then I did not know if anyone were dead or alive onboard. All they would tell us, or could tell us at that time, was that the shuttle had linked up and docked itself to the space station. No one down here knew for sure one way or the other; they just presumed you were all safe and doing well at the time.

  They did inform us, however, that one day in the future that the limited supplies onboard the craft needed to survive in space would run out for everyone, and you would either have to come back home to earth, or perish out there for lack of food and oxygen. They predicted it would take about six, eight, ten, or more months before something as drastic as that would take place, if you were ever to come back home, or at least give it a try to come back home then.

  I just knew it or felt it in my heart that you and the others had all perished out there! The four months I spent out in the field with the Sergeant just about killed me, thinking mostly about you all of the while stuck up there dead in that shuttle with the others, especially when the Sergeant was struck down and died I almost wanted to die myself. The only reason I did not give up on life myself was for our wonder little girl’s sake.

  I knew they needed at least one of us to come back home to be with them, even if it was only myself. Losing one parent would have been shocking enough for them to experience in their little lives, and I could not see them two losing the two of us.

  Personally I felt inside as if I had died within my own being out in the field with all those dead bodies scattered out all over the countryside Ann. The only two things that kept me going day after long day were our two beautiful little precious girls. I knew I had to return back home to them as soon as I could just for their sake, and not my own. That was if that damn thing in the air hadn’t taken them away from me, or us by the time I was able to return back home to them.

  I too have had to have a lot of courage, Ann, to be strong for the two of them while I was out there in the field, and it made me all that much stronger for it I guess. It made me a survivor Ann, a real survivor of the times and in what I was doing, going through, and where I would go when it was all over and done with.

  You just cannot imagine what it was like when I had to help bury the hundreds of little children out there that we had too Ann. I cried for every one of them. It was just like burying one of my own children, I mean our own children every time I came across another dead child in a house, barn, or out in a field. I was truly astonished and surprised I had any tears left in my little head too cry after a while, but the tears just kept on a coming, and coming, and coming.

  I just could not help but to think about all the good happy times these poor little children were going to miss out on in life with their folks, which we were burying right along with them in those retched ditches. I cannot imagine being a funeral director and having to prepare a small child for the grave. I just cannot imagine people doing that for a living. I would have nightmares about it all of the time, and would have to give that profession up. I still have nightmares about burying people and their little ones.

  Did I miss you, Ann? You’re damned right I missed you Ann. I have missed you from the tips of my littlest toes, to the longest strands and tips of the longest hairs on my head.

  I missed you so much I could taste the hurt of loneliness in my wanting mouth for a kiss from you. That is exactly, how much I have missed you so much, and so did the girls along with your parents, as well as everyone else that knows you down here.

  This country has missed you and the others because of those few damned pig headed unconscionable fools that wanted to show the rest of the world just how big and important they thought they all were, and now don’t even exist anymore the bastards.

  My wish other than getting you back alive was to have all those idiots suffer the way I saw so many people and their families out there were suffering, or had suffered during that awful attack of theirs. Whether intentional or not intended to happen, the whole thing just was not fair, not fair at all to the good people of this world. I sure hope there is at least one of those miserable bastards left alive to pay the price for this.

  When I was finally notified the Twitchel had made it and safely docked with the space station, my painful throbbing heart stopped hurting quite so bad. I knew there was at least a little spark of hope for you, a wee light at the end of the tunnel that you could possibly still be alive out there. I just couldn’t help but to think of you trapped up there with all those men, not knowing what was going on, and you not able to come back home. Did I think of you, Ann? You’re damn tooting I thought of you, and I missed you just as dearly as one needs food to live on and air to breath. If you did not come back home to me soon, I think a broken heart might have overcome me. That is how much I have missed you, Ann, and I will never let you go out of my sight ever again, except with your mom or the girls.

  I was getting pretty desperate for you in the end. I wanted to see if any of you especially you Ann were still alive up there, and needed some kind of special help. I wanted to go to Washington personally too make our Government send a rocket with a special capsule on its nosecone up there for your safe return, but you came back home to me first safe and sound without their help.

  I really do not know what I would have done if I had I lost you. My only hope and prayers are this, we will never have to be-separated ever again as we were. Being separated from you for just one day right now would be way-too much for my aching heart to bear. Now that we are together again, I can become a stronger father and the manly person I once was. I tried to be the best parent that I could possibly be, but without you by my side I was but half of a real person, and really only half of a father that I should have been to the girls. It has been a real living hell here on earth trying to be both mommy and daddy and sole support provider for the girls and your parents. They need their real Mommy and daughter around to be happy, Ann! I just cannot work the way I use to work.

  Taking care of your folks, their farm, the children, and worrying about you all the time has driven me almost insane. Almost to the state of madcap. I have worried so much about you and everything else in the world I do not hardly sleep at night. I was just about to lose my mind any time real soon, when word came to us from Cape Canaveral, from the space center that you and the others were home safe. Did I miss you, Ann? You tell me. Look deep down into my eyes and see who I really am now. Did I miss you? You’re damned right I did!

 
I know your time to reenlist in the Air Force as a NASA officer will soon be arriving in another month or so, but if you do not take that damn oath of reenlistment, and swear yourself back into the military, it will suit me just fine, and everyone else around here in your life. I know it has always been your dream and career, but now it is time to think of your family, and a career as a mother and homemaker. I cannot stand the thought with you gone and us alone ever again any longer.

  I am asking you please do not reenlist again Ann, for me, for the children, your folks, and for our relationship. I am begging you not to reenlist Ann. I am not demanding it but, please, please, please for our sake, for mine sake Ann, please do not sign up again for God’s sake, Ann.

  Think of the children this time, and please think of me. Did I miss you? You’re damn right I missed you, and so did the girls right along with everyone else around here. You’ll damn well see what I mean when we get back home to the farm and to Lunenburg!”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  The Arrival Home

  Dave Silsbee turned to see who might be departing or arriving on the midday bus arriving from Saint Johnsbury, before getting into and closing the door to his diesel fired pickup truck. He had just purchased some supplies at the hilltop general store, and post office by the common. He had been watching the bus come up the U.S. Route 2 hill, the road leading in from St. Johnsbury as it pulled up to its bus stop to let Ann, Ben, and the kids out from their long journey home from Florida.

  “Hey, Dave,” Ben yelled out from across the road! “Wouldn’t mind giving old Betsy here a push to fire her up for me would you, Dave? Sure thing, Ben, glad to hear everything is working out good for you folks. Glad to see you home safe and sound Missy.” “Thank you, Dave”, Ann hollered back.