by Crane, J. J.
They all leaned back into their seats. “This is a relief,” Katie said.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because you’ve been so instrumental with how everything has gone,” Steve said. “You’ve organized the meetings, listened to the ideas and have really called all the shots. Most of us have struggled to grasp the whole turn of events. You stood up to the challenge and led us.”
Linda then injected her thoughts. “And, now that we are getting deeper into this crisis, we felt others should have more roles in how we move forward. Especially now that people want to explore the area, this food distribution dilemma and the formation of a hunting party.”
“I wanted to address those things today, but the whole Peterson affair ended that,” I returned.
“We know,” Linda said. “That’s why we wanted to address this to you, so you didn’t think the idea was some kind of ambush at the next meeting.”
“I think it’s great,” I said. “I imagine you’ve come up with some ideas?”
They proposed a Neighborhood Governing Body. Each family would choose a person to represent their views. The formation of committees to address and execute functions within the neighborhood would derive from this body – something akin to having our own Congress. They thought that with the growing responsibilities mounting - garbage collection and burning, watch patrols, hunting, wood collecting, food distribution, general maintenance, we needed a group effort and organization behind it. Linda suggested the food distribution should have several people on a committee to give it proper, checks and balance. I felt June lean into me not liking the idea of people prying in on our supplies. Steve said the guard watch and future hunting expeditions needed to have oversight and parameters, as did any future exploration of the area.
By this time, Ted and Betty had heard most of the proposals. Ted said he was glad others felt passionate about keeping the neighborhood organized and alert. Not knowing how long this virus ordeal could last, the best thing we could do was form ourselves into a smooth functioning unit.
“Not everyone is going to like every decision made, but at least we’ll all have a voice in them,” Betty said.
The Macians and Burrells said they would bring up the topic and forward a motion to begin assembling a governing body at the next day’s meeting, and we’d move forward from there. They didn’t suspect resistance to the idea. In fact, we all thought it would give a greater sense of purpose and duty to everyone in the neighborhood. With that, we all hugged and said our goodnights.
The next day’s meeting went on for several hours. No one took issue with a neighborhood governing body. People expressed more concern about its power than its purpose. Family representation also became something of a sticking point – some thought larger families should have a stronger voice. The history buff in me recalled the founding fathers. Rather than representation by households based on population, I stated we should look at ourselves more like the Senate, equal representation by families, one vote per family. Since there were fourteen distinct family households, ties would render motions and actions to be tabled.
The inevitable question soon arose. “Who’s the president?”
It certainly was a simple enough question. The natural follow up arose quickly. “Are we electing a president, or should that title be named something else?”
Linda thought carefully for a minute. With a confident manner, she said, ‘The Body,’ as she quickly nicknamed it.
Linda then added, “when this meeting breaks up, each family will go home and choose their representative. I would also encourage each family to select a backup representative. When we reconvene, that assembly will elect a… Presiding Chairperson.”
Upon completion of the governing body topic, we addressed hunting. We all agreed the community needed more protein in our diets. Max, Bruce, Steve, and Ted had the most experience with hunting and so took to organizing it. With little to talk about, they agreed to hunt the next day.
If there was one species of animal our area had, it was deer. In normal times, seeing a dead deer carcass on the side of the road happened often. So much so that you rarely paid any attention to them unless they began to smell. Their presence in our yards occurred on a semi-regular basis. We agreed no one would shoot deer in someone’s front yard. Common sense, but it needed voicing.
The next morning before sunrise, the two teams went out. Max and Bruce were team one and Steve and Ted, team two. I woke around dawn. I wasn’t out of bed a minute when I distinctly heard a shot fired in the distance. A short time later, with a cup of coffee in hand, another shot rang out, followed immediately by another, which startled me to a point where I spilled coffee all over myself.
Both parties dragged back a doe. Max and Bruce’s doe appeared a little bigger. Both said they aimed at the easiest target rather than the largest animal. Ted, who was an excellent shot, bagged his with one bullet to the neck. Max said Bruce clipped theirs in the rear thigh. As the doe staggered, it moved into an angle where Max hit it in the head. “A very lucky shot,” he noted. “I was aiming for the heart/lung area.”
All four looked exhausted from dragging the heavy bodies through the snow-covered woods. It was the first time I noticed how taxing such an effort could be due to our lessened calorie intake.
I’d never seen a deer dressed before. To say my stomach didn’t dance, twist, and turn at the sight of all that blood and organs falling out of the body cavity onto Max’s backyard would be a lie. Max and Ted cut those two animals with precision. No useable piece of meat went wasted. Ted insisted they keep the hides. He said he would tan them for preservation and later use.
When they finished dressing the animals, Max netted over
fifty pounds of meat. Ted pulled a little over forty pounds. Max suggested they celebrate with a bar-b-que, and since he was an excellent chef, he took the lead in getting the preparations underway. The rest of the meat found itself in the hands of Betty who immediately began to make plenty of jerky. Jerky could last a long time without freezing or refrigeration if sealed and stored correctly. What she didn’t use she wrapped and froze.
News of the hunt went over well. People liked the sound of ninety pounds of meat and couldn’t wait to sink their teeth into something juicy. Over the course of the day, Max’s house became the epicenter of a festive time as curious onlookers wanted to see the new bounty and hear about the hunt. By sunset, with the meat cut and marinated, Max had the grill going. He enjoyed the spotlight. As for the food, I could instantly feel my saliva glands activate at the first whiff of freshly cooked meat wafting through the air off his grill.
With ample food to feast on that day, people bore better spirits, and that translated into a far more effective official first meeting by the new Neighborhood Governing Body. Every family unit chose who would speak for their respective families. The first topic of discussion that came up was about leadership. With little debate, Linda said I should become the Presiding Chairperson, a title that people preferred over, president. Ted seconded it. Linda asked if there were any other nominations. None happened, so Linda called for yeas and nays. With that, I was the community’s official first chairperson.
With the leadership issue out of the way, I asked Linda Macian to become the Vice Chair and Sarah Kenderdine to act as Secretary. I caught her off guard with the nomination because she wasn’t a direct member of the neighborhood. She was humbled and gladly accepted the post. With a simple motion and second, we had our leadership council.
That night we discussed food distribution according to caloric needs. I presented a list of what foods Ted brought and what we had. The last thing June and I wanted were people combing through our shelves, possibly creating more jealousy than may have already occurred. Still, jaws dropped at just how much we had in store.
When the Food Committee finished tallying all the neighborhood had, the estimate gave us ten weeks’ worth of food, bringing us into roughly mid-April if we consumed between 1900 to 2300 calories a day.
We allowed for flexibility, especially for those work details or hunting teams that expended a lot of extra energy.
Ted, representing his family, suggested a fasting day. He said we should commit to only one day a week, half the neighborhood one day, the other half the next day. The caloric consumption would be five hundred calories on the fasting day. It would extend our food supply.
Linda suggested a trial run of eight hundred calories before shifting to five hundred calories, so folks could better adjust to such a drastic change in food intake. She also put forward that people would not have any work detail on their fast day.
Hunting was next on the agenda. We discussed how often it should occur. Max suggested twice a week as needed. He noted the success they had on the first hunt wouldn’t often replicate itself. He also reiterated his suggestion at ice fishing and hunting small game.
“People might not like squirrel, but we have plenty, and a plate of squirrel or rabbit with some pasta and a few vegetables will go a long way in keeping us nourished and strong,” he advocated.
This discussion led into the duties of a night watch. More people needed to get involved and understand what it entailed. Currently, six of us took regular rounds. That had to change. A regular rotating schedule would start as well as proper training in the handling of weapons, especially for the teenagers who expressed interest in participating with watch duties. Ted and Jason took the lead in training and setting up a schedule.
The last topic for the evening dealt with organizing a group to explore the town. Max and Bruce originated the idea. When asked why, they couldn’t come up with a clear, concise answer outside of simply seeing what the world looked like. I felt we needed a better answer than ‘just to see.' I felt conditions were still far too dangerous for a simple scouting trip – it needed a goal. Linda concurred and said there would be plenty of opportunities in the future, and that an exploration of the region was inevitable.
Still, people's imaginations were piqued. Most wanted to know what was happening beyond our neighborhood. However, by a majority count (we eschewed the two-thirds approach), the council voted to table the idea of an area exploratory mission until the following week. I asked Bruce and Max to write out a detailed plan for what they wanted to accomplish, why, how, where they would go, and safeguards taken to ensure a safe trip. No one had an issue with this.
When I looked at my watch, it was almost midnight. We talked for nearly five hours, yet the time flew. We agreed to meet in three days – twice a week would become our regular meeting or as needed.
“I think we are on our way brother,” Ted said as we headed back home. “Thank you again for thinking of us.”
“My pleasure, I’m glad you’re here.” I looked around and saw the stars shining above, stopping in the street to look at them. “I think we are doing the right thing with this little government experiment.”
“No doubt in my mind,” he shot back. “Let’s get our rifles; the next shift is ours.”
Chapter 14
Automobile and truck traffic had become almost non-existent. Every now and then, someone spotted a police car go by. And, no one had heard a siren in almost two weeks. The Watch Patrol, (as we officially named it) reported quiet nights. It was eerie to think how noiseless the world had become. In the past, even on the most silent nights, you could usually hear the distant sound of traffic somewhere.
Three days after the first official meeting of The Body, while outside arranging firewood, I caught a glimpse of a car pull onto our street. I stopped and made my way to the front yard seeing the vehicle was a police car. It was towards the end of the day, and the last of the sun’s light began to set behind the trees of the forest. Slowly the car made a big looping turn in the cul-de-sac. We could hear the distinct crunch of the tires roll through the half inch of fresh snow that fell earlier in the day. It stopped in front of my driveway. I walked closer to the curb when the police officer driving opened his door and got out; the other officer stayed seated on the passenger’s side. The seated patrolman didn’t appear to want to make eye contact as he busied himself with a laptop.
I gave a short wave to acknowledge the officer then pulled the back of my shirt out of my pants to conceal the handgun I had tucked away. “How are you doing officer?” I asked with some trepidation having never seen this man before. I half expected to see Officer Lasker who paid us a visit last time. This was a younger fellow, skinny, tall, short hair and clean-shaven. He stood like a cop, strong posture and confident, but his uniform wore a little big. No one perceived this as unusual since we all had lost weight.
He bit his bottom lip and looked around. “Not bad. How
are you doing?”
“As good as one could expect I guess,” I said. “Everything alright in the area?”
“No,” he answered. “Things are actually quite bad. There’s a lot of death going on. And where there isn’t death, there’s been some looting and other kinds of violence.”
Soon, Curtis, Ted, June, and Betty came out of the house. I noticed Pops standing on his porch. With my peripheral vision, I saw Dave and Katie pop their heads out to see what was happening.
“Sorry to hear about that,” I answered.
The cop looked around revealing no surprise. “You folks look like you have everything under control.”
“We are thankful to be as fortunate as we are,” I said.
“Best conditions I’ve seen by a long shot,” the cop answered, still surveying the area with a casual ease. “You have power?”
“Thankfully yes,” I answered, my skin tightening around all my bones wondering where this inquiry would go. “Why, have areas lost power?”
“Some have. We’ve been lucky so far. But once it goes out, there’s a good chance it isn’t coming back for a while.”
I felt wary. Glancing towards the patrol car, the passenger just sat there, barely moving. I really wanted them both to leave. However, I also wanted to find out information, any information. “Are food stores open?”
“No, but the government says it’s trying to muster supplies to areas, but I haven’t seen it,” he said with a firm tone while taking a few steps closer to the front of my driveway. “We have the downtown store under lock and key. We keep it guarded as best we can.”
“Is there any chance of buying anything?” I asked with caution.
“There hasn’t been a delivery in over two weeks, and even that wasn’t much,” he said while placing his hands on his waist revealing a holstered handgun. “We are trying to accommodate on an ‘as needed’ basis, but by the looks of it, you all seem to be in pretty good shape. The best I’ve seen of what little is left. What’s your secret?” He asked with a grin that turned into a bent smirk.
I felt a chill run up my spine. I knew this guy was scouting. Thoughts that the police would come to confiscate our supplies ran through my head. “Scrimping and fasting,” I answered trying to sound more desperate. I wanted to change the subject, quickly. “How’s the police force doing?”
“Dozen of us working all the time,” he said.
I remembered Lasker saying ten, but I wasn’t going to say anything.
“Has to be exhausting,” I said.
He nodded. “It is. Sure could use some help,” he said. He glanced up toward my porch. “The young man up there want to be a deputized cop?”
I turned and saw June wrap her arms around Curtis who was barely seventeen.
The cop half chuckled when I turned back to him. “We are looking for folks to help out. We’re covering a lot of territory. Really strange that we have to deputize people. Like the old west.”
“Have people volunteered?” I asked.
“Yup,” he said. “A couple. We keep it safe. No getting out of the car if we don’t have to, especially to touch anything.”
I watched as once again he scanned the neighborhood before speaking. “We heard shots being fired the other day while out on patrol. Early in the morning,” he said. “You wouldn’t ha
ppen to know anything about that would you?”
I could see he was counting, taking an inventory of bodies. I answered as if I had no idea what he was talking about. “No, sir.” I looked to change the conversation again. “Do you know what’s going on in the region, Hartford even? There isn’t much on the news.”
He nodded affirming my question. “Don’t bother with the hospitals; there isn’t anyone there anymore… outside of dead people. As far as I know, there are only a handful of folks alive in the area. I’m guessing maybe a few dozen in the whole town, besides you guys. Most have fled, died, or kept to themselves. Chief Lasker asked me to swing by to check in on you folks. He said you were all in pretty good shape the last time he was by.” The man took a moment to look us over. “He was right.”
Chief Lasker. I didn’t like the sound of that. Apparently, he gave himself a field promotion.
I had to speak, or he might grow suspicious. “Well, thank you for your service, officer…
“Booker. Alvin Booker,” the man said.
“Thank you, Officer Booker. We appreciate all that you guys are doing to keep the area safe.”
He smiled. It looked genuine enough. “Just doing our job,” he said.
“How about the National Guard? Any word on how they are helping with things?” I asked.
He laughed. “National Guard! Hell, there ain’t hardly a military anymore. What’s left is trying to keep things civilized in the cities or doing their best to keep the power grid working. Whatever you do, don’t go towards the cities. Did you ever see the movie Escape from New York?”
I said I did.
“Yeah, it’s kinda like that.”
“Geez,” I said. Ted had now walked down closer as did Betty. June ushered Curtis back into the house.
“You folks look like you got it pretty good, though,” the cop repeated as he once again scanned the neighborhood. “I haven’t seen anything…this cohesive anywhere. It’s like you guys have your own utopia.” He paused, then looked me straight in the eye. “It’s almost as if you prepared for this calamity.”