by J. F. Krause
“Me! Why do they want to know what I’m going to do?”
Lydia smiled supportively before she spoke. “Bobby, people think of you as sort of our group organizer and conscience. You’re the only name everyone seems to know right now. Like it or not, you’re not just our leader anymore, you’re everyone’s leader. The fact that you don’t want to be doesn’t matter, and it’s probably a plus. They need an authority figure to turn to, and you’re it.” As she spoke, Julie came into the room with several sheets of paper and handed it to her. “This is more of the same. Right now, there really aren’t many communities with leaders. They just do what we are doing, and it’s working for them. We send out bulletins every few hours with reports on what we are doing, and they do the same thing. Your speeches have been on the radio all over the country. We have over fifty thousand survivors out there. So far, the largest single group is here. For the moment, New York City has sorted themselves out into three communities of about 1500 each, but they don’t really have a single leader, not even in each community. They have work groups and leadership groups, but they talk about what we report that we are doing. Bobby, it’s only been a week, and they’re looking to us, to you. We have to say something. The other communities are afraid if he gets away with creating a community of thugs and rapists, that others will spring up and that more will join them.”
I wasn’t comfortable being in charge of us, let alone everyone. I still had hopes of someone somewhere in authority showing up and taking charge. Then it hit me. I was that person to them. I didn’t mean to be, and I didn’t deserve to be, but somehow I was. When you’re faced with having to accept that ninety-nine point something percent of the world had just died, your mind just doesn’t find much logic to hang onto. My mind logically told me to do something, but it wasn’t filling in the blanks. I needed something more before I just decided to weigh in on this. I needed to really know that no government survived before I could personally take on the job of being an authority figure.
“Todd, what kind of reports have you heard on the internet or with the HAM groups?”
“Well, everywhere you can think of was devastated by the sickness. We’re hearing from large parts of the world now, at least as far as the internet is concerned. The power is off most places. So, if you’re asking where all has been affected by The Sickness, the answer is everywhere: Australia, Europe, Africa, Mexico, South America, Asia, even islands like Hawaii. There isn’t a single government working. I thought for sure someplace like Switzerland would still be around, but nothing. Not very many people got organized like we did. And if you didn’t organize fast and big, you splintered. We’re ahead of everyone, but lots of people are just doing what we do, and it’s working for them.”
“We already have the elementary school starting tomorrow. We seemed to do it with ease, but that’s big.” Anna was giving us the report I was going to ask for anyway. “Now, a lot of communities have announced that schools will open this week and next week, and that’s phenomenal, but no one would be doing it at all if we hadn’t gotten people to do the impossible. We are well on our way to having a medical center, and upper levels of learning. We’ve been able to prove that the world is still going on. Nothing like that is happening in Indianapolis, and from what I can tell, a lot of people in that part of the country are really nervous.”
I did what I always do when I’m over my head, I asked questions.
“Okay, who do we need in the same room at the same time in order to make some good decisions about how to respond to Governor Hawkins?”
We discussed that a bit and decided to call a meeting of all the representatives and all the work group chiefs. It would be a bit more representative and lead to fewer charges of misrepresentation.
So we had a plan. We would meet tomorrow at noon. Lydia would talk about why people looked to us and me. Todd would reassure them that the world truly came to an end, at least for those of us still in denial, and that included most of us at some level. Marco would make suggestions as to how we could help if we decided our help was necessary. Personally, I thought Indiana was a long way from us and it seemed unrealistic to expect to have much of an impact. Still, it was a little like having a cancer in your foot. It may be a long way from your vital organs, but it wouldn’t go away on its own and would eventually spread.
I asked them to meet me at 11 AM tomorrow for a general progress report. I was so glad we weren’t facing problems like the poor people of Indianapolis. One of my former colleagues at my old school had been from there. She was kind, friendly, and put together. This shouldn’t be happening to them.
I picked up Jerry and Charlie and we met up with Irma, Kevin, Lydia, Anna, Zach, Marco, Janet, and Jane at our usual table for dinner at what had become the fairgrounds food court/mess hall. We were now eating by groups. Families with children at 5 PM, group 2 at 5:40 PM, and group 3 at 6:20 PM. Teenagers were considered part of the family group so, counting Todd’s circle of friends, we took our three tables as usual. Todd was a leader at his very own nerd table. There were actually several teen tables and all of them sat near us. It was quite noisy in our section. Given the number of kids, it was probably noisy all over the mess hall. We had added Ms. M to our group since she had adopted the two little waifs we found on our caravan trip on Saturday. Marco liked to eat with us and as lead defender, he could eat when and where he pleased. No one seemed to mind that Zach was there either. As a pilot he was sort of in a league of his own. I noticed he always sat next to Anna.
Sometimes denial can be a good thing. If it weren’t for denial, facing the death of our wives, husbands, children, parents, and friends would have been too much for some of us to deal with. Many, maybe most, of us had been right by our loved ones’ sides as they died wrenching deaths. I had certainly seen what would have been my share of death on any other occasion, but actually, I had gotten off easier than just about anyone I knew. For sure, I had witnessed the very close-up and tragic deaths of three beautiful little girls who I barely knew. In theory, I knew my family was gone, but I hadn’t held their hands as they passed. I hadn’t seen the confirmation of their deaths by their gray skin and limp hands and vacant wide-eyed faces. I had seen enough dreadfulness on the day of dying to know that this was a very tragic and horrific day. But I hadn’t seen a single friend or loved one actually succumb to this horrible disease. So in the greatest leveling event in recorded history, I was barely scratched in comparison to almost everyone around me.
If, in the world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, then, in this world of lost loves and hopeless futures, I could still see. Everyone around me accepted me as one of their own, but, because I still had my heart intact, I could see much clearer than most just how the new world had changed from the old one. I could still contemplate the future. I could still react to the changes going on around me. I could plan and organize and comfort. I could still question the future.
I also wasn’t alone in my ability to look into the future, and unfortunately, some of these others weren’t as benign as I am. While I had just been lucky enough to not have to see my loved ones die, these others had seen and not been affected. The narcissists and the sociopaths and the psychopaths were still out there. And they were now in a place where they wanted to be kings and queens in a wounded, sightless world. I had finally come to realize that, at least until our shattered survivors could see their way in this post apocalyptic world, I was the one they had decided to look to.
After dinner, I had asked Lydia to give a report over the speaker system on the progress of our work groups. We talked a little about what she should say, and then the boys and I joined Kevin and his children along with Irma and headed back to our motor homes. Once there, the three boys immediately settled in to watch a cartoon movie. We three adults passed Dinah around and drank hot tea. I found that my ‘aha’ moment made me calm. Eventually, we would all be able to function in this new world, and eventually I could go back to being Bobby Caldwell, fifth grade teacher.<
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Second Tuesday
At breakfast we saw the notice that the electricity would be off for an hour or so, but that most areas would be covered by back-up generators. After the power was back on, we could actually start looking forward to a neighborhood that would become our new home. We knew it would be adjacent to the university, but that still left a large area to explore. Now that we were aware of the bad guys in Indianapolis, it was decided to make sure it was relatively defensible. I left that up to the work groups that were involved in the decision to make recommendations.
Kevin and I dropped the boys and Dinah off at school and at day care. Day care was very educational as it turned out. The education group decided that since the kids would be there all day long, they would work at helping their little brains grow and develop. They tapped into the very clear research that shows the first three years are incredibly important growth and development years. We only had a few children under three so we decided to give them the benefit of as many learning experiences as possible. Dinah was somewhere between eight and ten months old and would benefit mightily. At least we hoped.
The boys were placed in the grades they had been before, but they would be studying at their levels of actual achievement. They would have a single teacher who worked with them at the start of most days, but then they would move on to other teachers throughout the day depending on what they needed to study next. Ms. Tsang turned out to be a gifted teacher. Her philosophy was that teaching was an art, but technique and style could be learned and polished. When it came to instructional delivery, both teachers and assistants might be doing the same thing, but when it came to developing each child’s educational plan, that was the job of the teacher. Because the school day was actually considerably longer than before, and there were going to be fewer and shorter breaks, it was theorized that our children could study art, music, sports, and drama much more thoroughly than before. It was also decided that the high school curriculum could be completed by age 15 to 16 for most kids. I wished I could be part of all this.
Since there really wasn’t any major change to the boys’ daily schedules, they didn’t seem concerned or anxious at all. Most of the children were adjusting much faster than the adults, even some of the teachers still had meltdowns, sometimes right in front of class. A sound, a smell, a child’s reaction, or nothing at all could trigger a flood of tears.
There was a feeling of excitement today, though. I could feel it at breakfast when we read the notice that our electricity would go off and we would be dependent on generators for an hour or so. I could feel it as we went to school. Like dinner, the mess hall had to serve in groups. Families ate from 7 to 7:30, but some people started at 6 and others at 6:30. Many people just took an egg sandwich or a breakfast shake and went to their work assignments. Today, people actually seemed a little more alert and alive than just the day before. Even though the rain yesterday had caused the electricity shutdown to be delayed a day, we took it in stride. But today was the new electricity change over day, and people were excited.
After dropping the boys, I went to my office where I was met by Lydia and Anna. More and more, Lydia dealt with the work groups while Anna kept track of the other communities.
“I notified the leadership council and the work group chairs about the noon meeting today. Most were okay with it. George wasn’t happy. He thinks you should stick to the Friday meeting schedule, and he didn’t think the work group chairs needed to be bothered.” Lydia’s face displayed a small rueful smile as she delivered the George news.
“What work group is George in, do you know?” When I asked that, both of them looked at each other and grimaced.
“George isn’t in a work group per se.” Anna actually rolled her eyes when she said that.
“What do you mean by ‘per se’?” I asked.
“It means he likes to sit in on discussions from each of the groups as it strikes his fancy,” Lydia responded. “He likes to join in the discussions and he’s making a name for himself while he’s at it.”
“A name for himself?”
“Yeah, ‘King George’.”
“Really? They don’t call him that to his face, do they?” I asked.
“Some do. He’s not winning many friends, but there are a few people who have started to hang out with him. They spend most of their time hanging around his motor home across the street from the main entrance to the fairgrounds. You know he moved don’t you? I’ve heard a few comments about that, too.” Lydia was usually hard to read, but clearly she didn’t like him.
“Anything else I need to know, I mean, other than about George? ” I continued.
“LA Metro is still finding people. Between the searchlight groups, the radio station, and the ice cream trucks, they got over a hundred people yesterday, and that was without the planes in the air. There’s another caravan arriving this afternoon. The USC group still has over a hundred people and would like to become a permanent salvage group. They want to keep running the radio station there as well. They seem to want your blessing. The same goes for the old Orange County group. They think they can start producing coffee, tea, and chocolate by using green houses. They plan to use the existing garden spaces under the electrical lines. They want permission, too.
The animal control group will be announcing a pet check up. Since they don’t have many pet records, they want to start vaccinating for rabies, and such. The veterinarians are dividing their time between the agriculture group and the animal control group. There’s also a debate going on about ‘no kill’ shelters, but the pragmatic side seems to be winning. I guess you can tell which side I’m on. We can’t have thousands of feral pets running around the city forming packs, and we simply can’t keep them in cages because of the sheer numbers, so we have no choice but to begin putting them down. Surprisingly, or maybe not, a lot of people have been adopting pets.” As Lydia said this, both she and Anna looked down at my feet where Nelda sat looking up serenely. Now that the kids had started school instead of day care, Nelda had to spend her day with me. She was a remarkably calm dog, especially for a puppy. Most people assume it’s was because I’m a calm person, or so I’m told. As I recall, she was calm when I met her for the first time back at the condos. I’m glad they think I’m calm. That’s what being a near catatonic mess must look like from the outside in.
I couldn’t stop myself from picking her up once she had my attention. That caused both Lydia and Anna to laugh. I’d need to find someone to look after her when we started the meeting. Being a young looking 23 year old already made me look like a child in too many people’s eyes. Petting a puppy during a big meeting would finish the job. I needed to ask when the doggy day care was going to start up again. I couldn’t be the only person needing a place to park a dog while I was at work.
“Lydia, let’s see if the no kill group would be willing to start a pet day care kennel, at least until we get housing other than the motor homes. That might mitigate the need to euthanize so many orphaned house pets. And unless anyone can come up with a reason why people shouldn’t be allowed to live where they want, I’m good with keeping the USC and Orange County communities going. It’s not as though we can stop them anyway, or at least not for long. I would say that unless they have some actual teachers, all the children need to be taken in by one of the communities that have a school. That will also apply to teenagers up to sixteen. I realize we can’t enforce that either, but we should really encourage them to provide for their kids. Okay, Anna, your turn.” Even as I was talking I had another ‘aha’ moment: I make decisions and tell people what to do quite often.
“The west coast communities would like to have a meeting with you in person. They want to send a couple of people or so from each of them. They want to talk about coordination, things like the college, a medical school, setting up a train system, and an airline system. Things that we’ve already been talking about, but they want to be in on the planning of it, too. There’s sort of a forum or think tank developing
. Some of the communities outside California want to set up some discussions, too. Also, several of those communities will be starting their own elementary schools over the next week and a half. They’d like to talk with our teachers and compare notes. The other work groups are saying the same thing. Todd said he can set it up if you give him the go ahead.”
“Of course. Tell him to go ahead, but we have to have the approval of our work group chairs before he actually starts setting up the conversations.” I wasn’t sure what all this entailed, but I figured if Todd said he could do it, it could be done.
“It sounds like people are starting to come out of their shells. How do you want to handle the personal meeting thing? Lydia, you’ve been sort of specializing in our local community planning and coordination with the West Coast locations, and Anna, you’ve been doing the same thing for the communities outside the west coast, am I right? Is that what’s happening?”
They looked at each other and Lydia explained their team dynamic. “That’s mostly right. I’ve sort of organized the office work here and I guess that means I’m the office manager, if you don’t object.” Of course I didn’t object. I hadn’t even thought of needing an office manager.
She continued her explanation. “Since I was gathering information from the local work groups for you and sending it out to the West Coast communities I’ve become your first connection to them. They’ve gotten into the habit of coming to me to ask about you. Anna gets information from the communications team that Todd has been heading up. That just sort of happened because he was already doing it when we met each other last week. Even though the job has grown, he’s kept up with it, so we didn’t change things. Since we arrived on Saturday, we really haven’t had time to discuss much. Anyway, Anna is the go to person for the non West Coast communities. Todd keeps track of the international communications group. I hope you’re okay with this set up.”