Trouble in America: Five Apocalyptic Stories

by Pete Thorsen

  “Yes and no. They are both old and have been on the ranch a very long time but both have been rebuilt and are fully functional. One we use for the garden and one we use for what few animals we keep here. We also have an electric well that feeds this house and the other three houses. That well is run totally by some of the many solar panels you see around here.”

  “So Al tells me he is going to work my butt off while we are here. So what’s on the agenda for work? I will freely admit I am looking forward to doing some real work again like we all had to do growing up on the farm but I will warn you I am really rusty.”

  “Growing up on a farm you obviously know there is always work to do. Tomorrow we’ll start easy on you and you and Joy can do some work in the garden. We won’t be as easy on Al because he needs to get off his butt and finally do some hard work here instead of just pushing a pencil on that regular job of his.”

  The talk continued with some gentle bantering between the two brothers until it was time to turn in for the night. In the morning Art and Joy were somewhat surprised when Liz got up about the same time as they did saying some of the old farm habits like getting up early were hard to break even in the big city.

  All six had a great breakfast and the boys left to start working with the twins going along to help. Their first project was rebuilding the old the old chicken coop because it was starting to fall apart and they were tired of always just patching it up. At the same time they had decided to move it to a new location and make the outdoor pen much heavier duty and a little bigger.

  Leaving the chickens in the coop for now they removed the fencing from around it and put it up just temporary next to the barn and then put the chickens in their new temporary pen. Then they started tearing the siding off the coop. When that was done and the coop was much lighter they jacked it up and installed new skid beams under it.

  While it was all wide open they cleaned it well and then used the pressure washer to really get it clean. Next they carefully skidded the coop to its new location using a small tractor. When it was in the proper spot they started the rebuilding. They didn’t finish the job before supper so they just put the chickens in the barn over night.

  The two girls worked in the garden in the morning and Liz tried to help Joy in the kitchen after lunch when she was baking bread. Liz had seen her mother bake bread but had never done so herself. They worked together on supper also and both found a new friend that day.

  The conversation during supper was more animated than the previous night as everyone got more comfortable with each other. They watched a little news together in the family room afterward and it was all bad again same as every other day. Shutting off the TV, Art asked “So when do you think the economy will fully rebound back to how great it was a few years ago, Liz?”

  “Same as you I think it will not rebound at all but instead at some point the whole house of cards will come crashing down.”

  “I don’t think I ever said that.”

  “I know that’s how you and Al feel though isn’t it? And you have a perfect spot right here to ride out the bad times that are for sure coming down the road in the likely not-to-distant-future.”

  “Did you and Al talk about this?”

  “No it never happened to come up in our conversations. But from the very first time I saw Al’s truck I guessed how he thought. And though we never talked about it there were little hints that I picked up because that is exactly how I feel so it was easy to fit in the pieces.

  Now that I have spent just a little bit of time with you and Joy, I can see that you are highly intelligent and you know very well what is likely going to happen and everything about this ranch is geared toward that day. Isn’t it?”

  “Well what I can’t understand is if you are smart enough to figure all that out on your own, why are you still hanging around with Al?”

  “So you knew when you saw my truck but you never said anything to me about what you thought the future will bring throughout all the time we spent together?”

  “Hey you are the one that never said anything to me either, Al. And we really never did talk about stuff like that did we. I think both of us saw a kindred spirit and that’s why we got along so well right from the start.

  With the way things are in the world it sure made me miss the farm more all the time. When you mentioned coming out here to your brother’s place I jumped at the chance to be on a farm again. I hope we are still OK. Neither of us ever just brought up what we thought of the whole world affairs type stuff.”

  “That’s why I brought you out here to the ranch. I didn’t want to hide anything from you. This is a big part of my life so I wanted to share it with you.”

  “Enough of the mushy stuff. I for one am glad we don’t have to pussy foot around anything. Again welcome to our ranch, Liz and we are pleased you came to visit.”

  “I’m glad I came also especially now that I know we all feel the same about some things. I thought I saw a backstop with some targets when we walked around yesterday, so do you guys have guns here?

  It has been awhile since I have done any shooting and I would like to get into it again. I plan on buying a pistol and getting a carry permit because of how everything is going. Knowing martial arts is great but I would feel better if I was carrying a gun then I would have more options.”

  “Yes, I have a couple guns I keep here at the ranch and I always do some shooting when I come out to visit. We will do some shooting before we go back to Atlanta and when we get back I’ll take you to the range I use there.”

  “That would be great. And you guys don’t have to be shy about putting me to work. I fully want to work hard while I’m here.”

  They talked about what had to be done the following day and Art said if Liz would help Al finish the chicken coop, he would cut hay. Liz said of course she would help with the coop but warned them she was not much of the carpenter. To which Art replied that was fine because Al wasn’t much of a carpenter either so it should work out perfectly.

  Chapter Four

  Starting early the next day Al and Liz had the coop done before noon. Then after lunch the two of them worked putting up a new heavier fence next to the coop for the chicken pen. They hoped the much heavier wire fencing would be able to keep out dogs, coyotes, and raccoons. While they were working on the fence, Joy painted the new coop. Art spent the morning cutting hay and had to run into town for a few things in the afternoon.

  Supper that evening was more modest because everyone including the two ladies had been working all day long. They enjoyed the evening together and made the plans for the next days work, something they did every evening during Al and Liz’s stay at the ranch.

  The two did spend part of one day doing some shooting and Al was not even surprised to see Liz was a safe and competent shooter. All too soon it was the weekend again and time to leave. Both Art and Joy told Liz she was welcome at the ranch anytime and there was no reason to bring Al back if she didn’t want to.

  She thanked them and said it was one of the best vacations she had in a very long time. Even the twins were sad to see them leave. On the long drive back to the airport Al and Liz talked the whole way. It was very plain to both of them that their relationship had taken another very large step and they were much more comfortable together because of it. They talked at some length about the economic situation and how each of them thought it might end.

  The next week went by and on Saturday Al took Liz to the gun shop with the attached indoor range he always used. She looked at many different pistols and rented a couple to shoot plus she shot two that Al had brought with to shoot.

  Liz ended up buying two new pistols a standard Glock 19 that shot the same caliber as Al’s old Browning Hi Power. She also bought a Berretta Tomcat 32 auto for a concealed carry pistol. They taught the concealed carry classes at the range there so she signed up for the next class. Al already had his carry permit.

  Al was glad Liz was getting her carry permit because things were
going downhill at a steady rate. The nation’s crime rate which had been falling for the last twenty or thirty years had turned around and was now rising and rising sharply. Both petty crimes and violent crimes were rising and in some areas the numbers were rising very fast.

  Al was sure things would not last too much longer and spent a bunch of his money buying lots of things and had them all shipped directly out to the ranch. He talked to his brother and both of his sisters and they all thought the same way. His two sisters (with their husbands onboard with it) also had many things shipped out to the ranch.

  The ranch was to be their sanctuary when things went in the dumper. Now Al and Liz often talked about the ranch and how ugly things were getting in the United States and most other countries. He asked if she would come with him when it was time to seek shelter and she said yes but only if she could pay her own way so-to-speak by bearing some of the cost of items needed out at the ranch.

  With that agreement Liz also had some things shipped to the ranch and paid for some of the ‘community’ equipment out there too. Both Liz and Al turned some of their cash into silver and gold but neither was big into precious metals because they were unsure of what the value might be if and when things in this country did go down the drain.

  With the increase in crime Liz now carried her small pistol almost all the time, a fact that Al was all in favor of. He even bought a Ruger LCP pistol and carried it in his pocket all the time. He did not think much of the tiny, hard to fire pistol but it was still a gun and much better than nothing. The light little pistol was always in his pocket so if he had his pants on he was armed.

  Just the fact that both Al and Liz thought things were bad enough to carry guns all time convinced them that the end was near. When Al’s job sent him to Las Vegas on a job he gave Liz a key to his apartment and his truck with orders to bug out in the truck to the ranch if something happened while he was gone. If she thought it was safe enough then grab his gear from his apartment to take with but not to endanger herself at all to get his stuff.

  Al was gone for over a month on the job and he and Liz talked almost daily. Things turned out OK and he came back to Atlanta to a very happy Liz. They both watched the news every day looking for whatever might give them a hint of the economic catastrophe before it actually hit. But while things continued to worsen it also just kept on going like the Energizer Bunny.

  Many companies were announcing layoffs and others were just closing down. More and more cities were filing for bankruptcy relief. The new wonderful health care law caused many states to freeze Medicaid enrollment totally. The health insurance companies said they were losing a ton of money because only the old and sick had signed up for the new insurance.

  A little known part of the huge health care law came to light when the Federal government made a huge payment to the health insurance companies to compensate them for their financial shortfalls to the tune of billions of dollars. This part of the health care bill really made everyone mad in the country no matter what party they belonged to.

  Of course the government did not have this money and all if it had to be borrowed on top of the already huge deficit. Most people never noticed that almost the only entity now buying the United States debt was the Federal Reserve Bank using ‘new’ dollars. Some did observe this fact and the selling of United States bonds turned up into high gear. This of course drove the interest rates paid up also. But the five billion per day that the Federal Reserve was buying took care of all this selling.

  Al was edgy; he kept thinking it was very close to the time to be leaving. But when he walked to and from work things around him looked perfectly normal. He decided there was one thing he could do to get ready and he went over to Liz’s place. When he got there he told Liz he just had to ask her something. So he got down on one knee and asked her if she would marry him!

  “Yes I’ll marry you!”

  “Ah. How soon can we get married?”

  “Do I have time to change my clothes?”

  “No. I mean yes. I mean can it be fairly soon?”

  “Yes it can be soon. I only have my brother and I doubt he could make it to the wedding anyway because he is in Afghanistan. Don’t you want all your family to come to the wedding?”

  “I’m not much for any big get-togethers. I thought maybe we could have a very small private wedding and then maybe have a reception or something out at the ranch at a later time.”

  “Yes that sounds like a fine plan. Unlike most girls I have never wanted a big grand wedding. I only ever wanted a big grand man to marry me and you fill the bill completely so I’m happy.”

  They talked about the soon-to-be wedding and many other things well into the night before Al left to return to his own apartment. Liz handled most of the simple arrangements though they both had be there to get the marriage license (which they both left work early for one day to get it done). Two weeks later they had a very simple and short ceremony in a church with only a couple of their friends in attendance. They skipped the honeymoon and moved into Al’s small apartment just because it was slightly bigger than Liz’s and offered better parking.

  Liz got out of the lease on her apartment by paying an extra month’s rent and forfeiting the damage deposit. They were now husband and wife living in a very small apartment. Al checked with the landlord and found that a two bedroom would be available in his building in only two weeks and made arrangements to move at that time into the larger space.

  Al’s family was disappointed about not being able to go to the wedding but were happy about the planned reception later at the ranch. Everyone offered their congratulations and best wishes.

  Chapter Five

  While Al and Liz couldn’t be any happier that was not the case for the rest of the world. Earlier China had said they were going to get rid of the bulk of the foreign currency they had on hand which had included almost two trillion US dollars. This was fed out gradually by China and had not really caused any problems for the United States.

  Then China started selling the US bonds that they were holding. This was done with no announcement or warning and they tried to do so gradually like they did with all the dollar currency they held. China knew this had to be done very carefully and quietly to prevent any kind of panic.

  China knew a panic would hurt the United States and indirectly hurt China also but it was time to get the money that the US owed them before it was too late to get any at all. So they were very careful and had sold about a quarter of the Treasuries they held when word leaked out or someone put two and two together enough to figure it out. Anyway it was splashed on the front page of every major newspaper in the world. Then it was instant chaos.

  Every country, every mutual fund, everyone that held any US bonds wanted their money back at the same time. Congress passed an emergency bill that was quickly signed into law by the President that allowed the government to ‘take over’ all retirement accounts in the USA. This included every kind of retirement account, IRA, 401k, everything.

  The government instantly had way more money than it needed to buy all the bonds back from everyone demanding payment. That was fine but the damage was already done. The whole world was now flooded with US dollars and they dropped in value against all other currencies. And dropped and dropped until they had no real value anywhere in the world.

  Almost every country was stuck with varying amounts of the now worthless US currency. Soon all world currencies were suspect, nobody wanted any fiat currency they wanted goods or precious metals or diamonds or anything solid. Anything but the play money that every country used.

  With just about every economy already just barely holding on this currency fiasco was the straw that broke the camel’s back. All markets in the world crashed, it was 1929 again only worse and it was the same everywhere not just in the United States.

  Economies in many countries depended on US dollars and now those dollars were useless. Even third world countries realized there would be no aid from anywhere now.
The United Nations’ programs all stopped as the United States funded most everything and now they couldn’t fund anything with those worthless dollars.

  In the United States of course most people were oblivious to any happenings. When the US bond and US Treasuries selling frenzy hit, most people either didn’t hear about it or didn’t care about it. When Congress passed the emergency bill to seize all retirement accounts a few more woke up but still many kept their heads stuck in the sand.

  As soon as banks opened after the government seized all those accounts there was a huge run on the banks. Of course most banks don’t keep too much cash on hand most of the time and they quickly ran out of money and so did all the ATM’s across the nation.

  The President signed an Executive Order putting a five hundred dollar per week limit on bank withdrawals that same day. The next day the banks all had money delivered again but it made many people mad when they could only get the five hundred dollars allowed by the Presidential decree.

  Then there were runs on food and just about everything else which made no sense because there was plenty of food just like always. But when people saw the food shelves getting bare it just spurred them on to buy more without even thinking that the delivery trucks would come that night and the next day to bring more to the stores.

  The media spurred the frenzy on by showing only the worst things they could and interviewed ‘experts’ that made bizarre negative predictions of what was come in the days and weeks ahead. This naturally only made things much worse.

  Then gas went up; way up. It was inevitable that gas would go up with the devalued dollar but there was no reason for it to go way up the next day. But of course it did go up. With most everyone in a buying frenzy they bought extra gas in cans to take home which only fueled the frenzy more when a few stations ran out of gas.

  Of course there was plenty of gas available as soon as more deliveries could be made but all it took was seeing a couple stations with signs that said ‘out-of-gas’ to make people more crazy. The TV stations were quick to show the long lines at the pumps and the closed out-of-gas stations. And so gas prices went way, way up because crazy people would pay any price for it before it was all gone.