After the War--The Journals

in which law and order is established

March 28, 2005

Day 2-- 8 pm

Today Cyndy and Brad, or Doc as everyone has taken to calling him, tried out the new Geiger counter. Here in the dungeon everything was fine, except we wondered if it was even working. Basement too, was fine. Upstairs in the living room, near the sliding glass doors, we discovered that it does work. Cyndy said that it was just trace amounts, barely enough to make the foil leaves separate, but it was enough to make us extra cautious. We also discovered that the sliding glass doors to the porch had been open all night. Upstairs, the readings were less and Duncan discovered Tony sleeping in one of the bedrooms. It dawned on me that I hadn’t remembered him when I was writing down where we’d all camped out.

Doc shook him awake and ordered him to take a shower and then head downstairs. He also said anyone who was upstairs should take one. Just as Tony was heading into the bathroom, Doc wondered just how much running water we had. John told them about the indoor pool. It was decided that we’d take dump showers with the pool water. Aside from the sheer seriousness of the operation, we managed to have some fun. I remember thinking that it was good that the pool was in an interior part of the house. I also remembered thinking about the pool when I’d read the listing and wondered why anyone would want a pool totally indoors. Who knew?

Brittany is driving me crazy. She moans about her boyfriend then climbs all over Lanie who seems quite happy to cuddle with Brittany. This place is too small for this. Then, this evening John went to the shelf to get a pack of smokes. He smokes. I smoke. Tony smokes. Duncan smokes. We all agreed to share. One pack, 5 each…two days. Except that it hadn’t quite worked out that way and so we were going to open another pack. There were two packs missing. There should have been nine left from the carton we opened last night. But there were only seven. This is not good.

Martha and Lilac have taken on the cooking. Those two ladies are amazing. Trevor has clean-up duty. We decided to set the porta potty just outside the dungeon since the readings were fine down in the basement. We also set up an area for Danny. It has been decided that most of the basement area is safe to be in, but at night we will ALL sleep in the dungeon. The door can be bolted from the inside and it is much safer this way.

I am worried about Freddy, as Lilac calls her husband. He didn’t do much of anything today. He sat on his cot. He may have read a little. But he is grey. I mentioned it to Doc. Doc says Freddy is a diabetic and they were to have picked up his new prescription this morning in town. Doc said he thinks Freddy will be okay for a day or so, and that maybe we can try to head into town for a look-see soon. The weather, amazingly has been clear but windy. There's a faint grayish haze high overhead though. I hope it is just high clouds.

We all seem to be settled down much in the same little corners of the new dungeon home as we were the first night. It is like we have staked out our sections in here as we seem to be staking out our roles in this new world and thus,
we have survived day 2 of the new world.


*****

March 29, 2005

Day 3 6 am

My father has been dead 16 years today. I don’t know why, but that was the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning. Not my children, who may or may not be alive. I don’t know about them and they are so scattered about, I may never know for sure. A world made so small by computers and the internet that my navy daughter in Spain was as close as my son a state away. All of us kept in close touch, our web cams sending our images across the world in a fraction of a second. We didn’t feel far away from each other. We talked on the phone and watched each other react on the web cams. Our living rooms or computer rooms held us all as if we were physically there.

Now, suddenly a wall has dropped down and there is no way to reach any of them. And I wake up thinking about my dad. If there is a heaven, and they are all there together, then at least they know where each other is. I don’t wish my children were here with me. But I do wish my dad was. Danny just put his big head in my lap, right on the notebook.

(a little later)

Danny looked at me with those huge brown eyes and I could swear he was trying to help in some way. I just put my head down on his and tears streamed. When I felt arms surround me in a gentle hug, it just made me cry harder. After a bit, I pulled myself together. I guess I ran out of tears, or the need for them. Duncan never said a word. He just held me as I held on to Danny. We sat like that until people started waking up.



10 am

John just realized the 4 cigarettes he’d put on the shelf were not there. He started yelling and screaming. Things got really tense. He accused everyone of stealing them. Tony didn’t seem to want to look anyone in the eye. Then Lanie said she thought she’d counted his smoking more than his share. She was counting? She thought we should go through his little pile of things. This prompted a whole long debate.

11 am
New world, new rules. I don't want any part of this. I’ve never been good at politics. Lanie is and she’s good. Somehow she convinced the majority that we should vote on it. So we did.

Question. Should we vote on serious subjects regarding actions taken by the whole and would majority rule in said situations..
Vote. Ayes 8, Nays 4 (Danny doesn’t get to vote; Trevor does.)
For: Doc, John, Duncan, Lanie, Me, Lilac, Freddy, Martha.
Against: Brittany, Tony, Trevor and Cyndy.
Resolution Passed.

Immediately Lanie brought up again about searching Tony’s stuff and probable cause. I hadn’t thought about the fact that with her being a senator and all that she was also probably a lawyer. She is.

Question. Should we go through Tony’s belongings to see if he has more than his allotted share of cigarettes?
Vote. Ayes 8, Nays 4
For: John, Martha, Me, Duncan, Freddy, Doc, Cyndy, Lanie
Against: Tony, Brittany, Trevor, Lilac

Resolution Passed.

Lilac said she voted against it because she thought Tony was a nice young man.

John asked Tony to stand away from his stuff. He first patted Tony down. I know I was feeling very awkward. He didn’t find anything. Then he searched through the duffle bag Tony had brought with him. He didn’t find any cigarettes. He did find Martha’s diamond earrings, and two gold bracelets. John just stood there holding Martha’s jewelry in his hand. He handed it to Martha. Then he swung around and his fist connected to Tony’s jaw knocking him into the shelves. Tony went down and when the shelves bounced off the wall, the missing cigarettes rolled forward and landed in Tony’s lap.


8pm

Microcosms. The world as we knew it ended 3 days ago. We spent today creating a new world order. At least for our immediate world. In a nutshell, Tony didn’t take the cigarettes. He did steal jewelry. Everyone agreed to think about things for a while, all the ramifications of what would choose to do or not do. Today was like the granddaddy of all the Survivor tribal councils rolled into one.( I wonder if there was filming for the new show going on and if they know what happened in the real world?.)

People kept meeting in small groups all over the basement. Everyone seemed to be whispering to someone else. Meals were grabbed and we didn’t all eat together as we had been. There talks of punishment and talks of banishment! Some said that nothing should be done because the search had been only for the cigarettes. There is much discord in our little family.

John, Doc and Lanie seem to be becoming a group of three joint leaders. The rest of us seem to be the great unwashed masses. John is calling for a meeting.

9pm

We are a new order. It is a new world. In this new world, individual thievery will not be tolerated. It is wrong to do something we (as a whole) have always thought of as illegal for personal gain. It is, legal now, on the other hand, for formerly illegal things to be done if it benefits the group as a whole, or is judged by the group to be an acceptable action that will benefit the group in the long run.

Question: Should Tony be punished or banished?
For Punished: the vote was 5—me, Cyndy, Duncan, Tony and Brittany
For Banished: the vote was 6—John, Lanie, Martha, Lilac, Freddy, Doc.
Trevor abstained due to the fact he was asleep.

Tony would leave the house immediately. He was given his backpack, escorted to the front door and forcibly ejected. It was, in effect, a quite possible death sentence. For what started out as stolen cigarettes.

This is becoming a very scary new world.

And thus ends Day 3