Survivors (12 page)

“Well,” I said, “Now we have two reasons to
go to the Orlando area: the solar cells and the Publix Replenishment Center. Josh is certain they
must have a backup power supply when the electrical power goes down. He remembered overhearing the managers where he worked saying their
insurance company insisted on the backup power
at the replenishment center or they’d cancel their
policy. Josh said they must have several million
dollars’ worth of frozen meat stored there.”

I sliced a large piece of Swiss cheese. “Josh,
you, and I can spend tomorrow planning how to
make that happen.”

Barbara started to cry; something we said
had triggered some bad memory. We all had to go
through this; it was sort of like post-traumatic
stress syndrome. Jessie and I let Barbara come to
terms with whatever was bothering her and then
she finally spoke. “I’m sorry, I was just thinking
about what you were both talking about; you’re a
real community here. Last week I thought about
ending it all. I had a gun in my hand, and I was
sitting on a bench where my family and all my relatives are buried.

“I actually thought I might be the last living
person on the planet. It was a terrible feeling. I was
sitting there talking to my father and mother. It
was funny; I knew they couldn’t hear me, but for a
moment I thought I could actually sense their
presence.

“I had that gun in my hand, and it was
shaking, and then I heard my mother. I swear I
could hear her say not to do it; she told me help
would be arriving in a few days. Her voice was so
clear; I was almost in shock. She never spoke
again, but I put the gun away and never thought
about suicide after that day.

“I was thinking about her just now and how
lucky I was to have you find me. She knew; she
must have known you’d be coming.”

Jessie and I both took Barbara in our arms
and provided the type of comfort that can only
come with physical contact. She finally stepped
back and thanked us. She tried to smile and then
picked up her glass of wine. “Let’s have a toast,”
she said.

Jessie and I lifted our glasses and Jessie
said, “Margaret taught us a Jewish toast; it’s
l’chaim
, and it means
to life
.”

We touched our glasses, and together we
said
l’chaim
. With Barbara now back to normal, we
all shared the stories of our lives. Barbara had a
degree in Agricultural Engineering from Florida
State University. Her skills would be a great addition to our community.

Beth, as promised, had fixed Mr. Bear for
dinner. She had taken some large stock pots from
Costco and had fixed bear stew. The meat was a
little tough, but Beth had managed to scavenge a
variety of vegetables from the Costco produce section. Jack and Bobby and their new friends said
they had all helped fix dinner.

After dinner, Margaret handed me an update of her spreadsheet. We now had a total of 259
residents plus Barbara. I tapped my spoon on a
glass to get everyone’s attention and then stood up.
“Today was a very productive day. I’m told that our
Costco now has electricity, and the frozen food
there has been saved. The place has been cleaned
up, and I think it will become our food pantry for
the near future.”

Everyone clapped and after the noise subsided I continued. “I want to welcome our new arrivals from Fort Myers Beach, Fort Myers, and Cape
Coral. We are very pleased you have decided to join
our community. This morning Blaine, Josh, and I
flew over to Immokalee and found twenty-two survivors. They will be arriving tomorrow to join us.
We are going to need their skills. Many of them
have worked the fields there, and with help from all
of us, we’re going to have a continuing supply of
fresh fruit and vegetables.”

There was another round of applause and
then I continued. “In the afternoon, we flew up further north and found Barbara Gordon. Barbara,
please stand. Finding Barbara has given our community a wonderful opportunity. How many here
would like to have fresh milk again?”

About a dozen children raised their hands.
“Well Barbara owns a dairy farm just a little west
of Lake Okeechobee. There’re enough cows there to
keep us supplied with milk and butter and cheese,
but she’s going to need our help to keep the farm
going, so here’s what I’m asking.

“We need some of you to agree to spend a
month up there getting the farm up and running
again. If you like the lifestyle then you can continue to work there. If not then you can return and
another volunteer will take your place. Here’s the
thing; I think there needs to be one major rule for a
person to stay in our community. They need to
agree to help out in some way unless they’re sick
or disabled. Every person here can contribute in
some way. Even our children can contribute by
going to school.”

There were a few moans from the older
children. “No,” I said, “you will become our future
scientists and engineers and doctors. We need you
to study hard so you can all become the future
leaders of our community.”

Again there was a burst of applause. “So after dinner, if you’re interested in signing up to
work on the dairy farm, then Barbara will be sitting at this table and will show you pictures of her
farm and explain what needs to be done. I encourage you to talk to her. I can tell you, she will be a
wonderful person to work with.

“Now, as we discussed last night, we’re going to have elections soon. Patty, could you please
explain to everyone how our election will work.”

Patty, who was at a table near the back,
walked up to the front and explained the election
process. She ended her little speech by encouraging everyone who wanted to run for office to get
their applications in the box out in front of Building H by the end of the day tomorrow.

Margaret asked to be heard. “I just want to
let everyone know I’m going to publish a daily
newspaper with all of the highlights of the previous
day. We’re all accomplishing so many things each
day, and with all the new people, we need to let
everyone know what’s happening; so please let me
know if you have something interesting to report.”

Again there was a round of applause, and I
was encouraged once again at how everyone
seemed to be figuring out how they could contribute to our community, without being asked.

I saw Beth working in the kitchen and decided to pay her a visit. “Beth, the bear stew was
the best I ever ate.”

Her answer was quick, “And of course you
are undoubtedly a person who appreciates the
most unusual cuisines. I’d venture to say it was
also the worst bear you ever ate.”

“And you’d be right. Really though, it was
pretty good. It tasted a little bit like chicken.”

We both laughed, and then I asked a more
serious question. “How are things coming in the
food department?”

“Good, I’ve found a half dozen volunteers to
help out. We agree on a menu, and then some of
us go to various stores and homes and scavenge
for the right ingredients. Yesterday, one of the guys
was attacked by wild dogs. It’s becoming more
dangerous. I had four of the men find some additional electric stoves at Home Depot, and one of
George’s people wired them up for me. Now we
barely have enough to cook for all the people. I’m
going to need a new kitchen soon, or else people
will have to fix their own meals in their apartments.”

I thanked Beth for her good work and then
found Jessie, George, and Bill sitting at one of the
tables. I poured myself a cup of coffee and began
looking at Margaret’s updated spreadsheet. Jessie
was talking to Bill and George about acquiring the
ability to manufacture our own photovoltaic cells.
A newly arrived skill caught my attention. I stood
up and shouted, “Is Isaac Molten here?”

A thin man in his late twenties, just a little
under six feet tall approached our table with a
great deal of suspicion. I introduced myself and
everyone at the table and asked him to join us for a
cup of coffee.

“Isaac, I understand you worked for Verizon. What did you do there?”
“I was in the maintenance department. I did
repair work on the cell towers.”

The others suddenly began listening very
carefully. I asked, “Is there any way we can start
the Verizon system up again?”

“Sure,” he answered, “But only for local
calls. Here’s what we need to do. I saw a cellphone
tower on the edge of the solar field. All we need to
do is power it up. Then people with a Verizon account can call each other as long as they’re in
range of this one tower. Calls outside the range of
this cell tower are the problem.”

Jessie asked, “Why is that?”

“Let’s say you’re calling someone in Boston
from here. Your call goes to this cell tower, and
then the tower looks for where the other phone is
located. Once it finds the other phone in Boston, it
directs the call through fiber optic cables to the cell
tower in Boston where the phone is located. Then
that tower makes the connection to the phone inside that cell.”

Bill asked, “So does that mean that if we all
have Verizon cellphones we can call each other?”
“In theory yes, but each phone has to be activated by setting up an account.”
Jessie asked, “Can we just go down to the
Verizon office and set up new accounts?”

Isaac thought for a moment, “No, that won’t
work because the server used to set up accounts is
located in Lakeland Florida, and with the internet
down, that server isn’t working.”

Jessie smiled. I was learning to associate
this coy smile with the solution to big problems.
“So Isaac,” she said, “What would happen if we
went up to the place in Lakeland and stole their
server? We can bring it down here and use it to
activate accounts right here.”

Isaac thought about Jessie’s solution and
burst into laughter. “Yes, that would work, and I’ve
been to the headquarters. I even know where they
keep the server.”

I said, “Isaac, I want you to think about
everything we need to make the server work. We’re
planning on making a trip to that area of the state
in a few days. Gather all the tools you’ll need, and
if you need any help, just ask any of us.”

As Isaac left, a tall very thin middle-aged
man in his forties approached our table and introduced himself as the Reverend Paul Wooden. “I’m
the minister at the First Presbyterian Church in
Cape Coral. I just wanted to let you know that everyone here has undergone a great deal of stress in
the last few weeks, and I’ll be happy to help out
anyway I can.”

“Well, all of us can certainly use some spiritual assistance,” I said.
Paul then asked for a favor, “I’d like your
permission to set up a church here.”

My father had warned me never to discuss
sex, politics, or religion with friends, because it always leads to trouble, and yet Paul certainly deserved an answer. Everyone was looking at me,
waiting for me to speak. “Paul. Given the odds, you
may very well be the only religious leader who has
survived, at least in our area. Take a look around.
I’m not an expert on demographics, but I’m guessing we have a very diverse group of people here. We
probably have people who represent every religion,
and we may also have some agnostics or atheists.

“So the challenge is how to meet the spiritual needs of our community in a way that meets
all of our resident’s needs. It can’t be called a
church, or a synagogue, or a mosque; just a religious center, and when you conduct a service, it
has to be non-offensive to all our residents.”

Reverend Wooden thought about my proposal. I could tell he was going through a very personal internal conflict. His struggle dragged on for
over a minute; I could see it in his eyes; but none
of us spoke.

Finally he said, “Jim, what you’ve proposed
makes a great deal of sense given our present status, but my religious education is making it difficult to accept. Your logic, however, is irrefutable.
In my heart, I know you’re right; I’m going to have
to administer to the spiritual needs of the entire
community, not just to those of my own faith. I’ll
give it a try.”

Jessie asked, “What shall we call you?
What’s your title?”

Paul Wooden answered, “In keeping with
my new mission, I think it would be appropriate if I
was considered a chaplain, but actually I just prefer to be called Paul.”

“Well Paul, let us know how we can help
you get started.”

The four of us were alone now. We refilled
our coffee cups and got down to the business of
our nightly meeting. “I’ve got a couple of things to
discuss. First, let’s talk about the upcoming election. I think the four of us should put in our applications. For whatever the reason, we seem to be
the ones people think are in charge, and I think we
make a good leadership team. Also, I think we
should ask Manny Garcia to join our team. We’re
going to need the help of the people from Immokalee, and his being on the Board of Governors will
send a strong message to everyone living here.”

George had a pained look on his face. “I
think he would be a wise choice, but I’m worried
some people here won’t like it.”

“I know George, but here’s our chance at
becoming a society where everyone really is treated
equal. I don’t want to pass up this opportunity.”

Bill and Jessie were on board, and we
agreed I would talk to Manny when he arrived in
the morning.

“Next subject, let’s spend the day tomorrow
working on plans to get frozen food from the Publix
Replenishment Center and solar cell technology
from the supplier of Opti-Solar’s solar cells; and I
guess we can add stealing Verizon’s server to the
list.”

Jessie said, “We’re going to have to find a
lot of refrigerator trucks. Stan’s our best scrounger. We should send him out tomorrow with a goal
of finding a couple dozen trucks with refrigeration.”

“I’ll talk to him tonight,” I said. “One final
topic; we’ve been attacked by a bear, and Beth told
me one of the persons helping her was attacked by
wild dogs. I’m thinking as much as I hate guns, we
need to have some around to protect the community. What do you guys think?”