Jaime on the mike, antarticsun.usap.gov
Naomi and Jason had just come down the stairs. I noticed they both had a bright smile, which I thought strange, given the circumstances. As I stood up from my seat to give Charlie back his post and as Jason took his against the wall, he turned to Charlie and asked: “Charlie, would it be alright if Naomi could take your spot and sit next to me?”
“What, you don’t like sitting next to me? Has this anything to do with odor?” Charlie replied gruffly.
“No, not at all, it’s that…” There was an embarrassing pause, “it’s that Naomi and I have developed a strong liking for one another.”
“What, and you don’t like me!” Charlie continued, just rubbing it in against Jason’s shyness. Naomi and I couldn’t help snickering.
“Oh alright” he said grudgingly, “you two lovebirds can have at it. But I took a shower just like everyone else yesterday, against my better principles. You can’t hold that against me.”
Now that I thought about it I had noticed Jason always taking a seat at any table or couch next to Naomi the last few days, and since her mother had moved in next door, she’d left the upstairs and gone back into the empty cottage. Perhaps Jason was sleeping there too. I wasn’t paying attention to such details as every night, when I went upstairs with Claire, I had the most beautiful woman in the world drawing me by the hand and no one else on my mind.
Soon the rest of the crowd had trickled downstairs and I told them of my talk with the governor and my proposal.
“If this project is adopted we’re all going to have to leave this house in a few days. There are a few things I need to button up before we abandon it for who knows how long, and I’ll need your help.”
They all nodded in assent.
“It’ll probably be a few hours before Sacramento gets back to us so let’s just go about our daily routines and see what happens” I told them. Several headed next door, Mary and Jane and Scout to the backyard shower, while I talked with Jaime and Charlie.
“I don’t like the idea of leaving this house behind” I began, “because I know there will be lots of looters wandering around after most people leave. I’m worried about my library. I have the safe room and also maybe the wine cellar. It has a metal door. Charlie, do you think if we loaded that room up you could weld it shut so tight it would take a day for anyone to break into it?”
We walked over to examine it. The inside wall was brick. As we walked into the musty den we could see that all the walls were brick with no windows, not a perfect environment for books but a temporary haven, perhaps even from a fire, which I also dreaded as a distinct possibility.
“Yes I could weld a bead around every edge” was his reply. “That would keep anyone out for a long time. We could also engage the bolt, break off the handle and gummy that all up with a weld. This wall would then be so smooth you might even hide the door behind some panels of wood. If they don’t know there’s a door, they won’t mess with it.”
“Excellent Charlie, you’re a good man to have around. If it comes to that, it’s a plan.”
After breakfast and a shower with Claire, I walked with her back to my library to try to imagine just what volume of space I would need to sequester the books I wanted to save and to determine what portion of the collection I couldn’t bear to lose. I decided it was about half the lot and that the two rooms could hold that many books, though it would take hours and many hands to move them.
“You should fill the cellar first” Claire said. “That room has the best chance to survive a fire.”
“I agree, Claire. Let’s see if there’s any news from Sacramento or anywhere else.”
Most of the others were gathered there already, with Jason, Naomi and Charlie at their posts. There wasn’t anything else to do but wait and find out what we were going to do and that all depended on people far away. We had nowhere to go until someone told us where to go and how to get there. So we stood and waited.
Scout came over to my side after a while, and for no particular reason, except possibly to stretch my legs I said to her: “Let’s take a walk together, just you and I.”
We strolled out into the backyard. It was another sunny day with that perfectly temperate east bay weather. It would be hot inland, but here it was gently mellowed by the constant cool breeze off the water.
“Scout” I began in a musing way, “what would you like your future to be?”
“To live here with you and my mother and Jane, and Naomi too.”
“I’d like that also, more than anything but I think we’re going to have to leave for a while and go somewhere else, because of all the trouble. I’m not sure, but we might even be split up. I want you to know that if that happens, I’ll spend all my time and effort trying to find you so we can all come back here and live together. You’re a part of this house now as much as I am.”
At this moment we were interrupted by Claire, yelling from the back door.
“Roland it’s the governor. He wants to speak to you.”
“It’s a go Roland; the whole plan is a go. My military liaisons love it. They’ve contacted their generals. We have units in the Bay Area that are deploying right now to set up the first stations along the egress points and others to start notifying the people. The march begins at noon. Tell all your neighbors and tell them to spread the word. But I want you and your station to stay put and stay online, at least for today.”
The governor continued: “Those perimeters we were talking about setting up in the port areas and Alameda are also a go. Anyone who can’t make the trek because of age or disability should be directed to those nearby locations in a few days once we set up the relocation centers. By the way, I was handed a note a few minutes ago by one of my aides. He said there’s a Mr. Tanaki in Tahiti who’s willing to trade me a Learjet for a large sailboat. He says he’ll bring it here and hand it over with his pilot if we provide him with a yacht big enough to sail all of you back to his island. Do you know this guy?”
“Yes, he’s a friend of mine, and he’s not kidding. He was here just five days ago. He took it back there last Saturday just hours before the trouble began and he told me last night by radio that he’d come back at any cost to get us out of here.”
“You have some mighty important friends” said the governor. “We’ll inform him he can have twenty sailboats for that jet and all the supplies and help he needs. With that jet I could fly to Washington and back and really get things rolling. I’ll have my aides reach the mayors and coast guard in the bay region to make it happen. If you contact him first tell him to fly into Travis and we’ll have him brought to you. He also said he could bring us another dozen working short waves. It sounds like a godsend which I’ll believe when I see it. One of these days I’m going to want to meet you in person.”
“Actually governor, that would be a good thing” I interrupted, “because I have an even more important matter to discuss with you and it has to be kept a secret.”
“What are you talking about?” He replied, confused. “What’s more important than the preservation of this state?”
“Believe me, it’s a lot more important. It explains why we’re so far ahead of the game here and saw everything coming. But I can’t say anymore over the airwaves. Mr. Tanaki knows where we are. I need you to employ the utmost discretion in getting him here after he lands. Use your people and leave the military out of it if you can. I swear to you that everything we’re doing is for the restoration of this state and country.”
“Will do” was his bewildered reply.
I knew I was leaving him in a the dark about our group. But in the very middle of that conversation I’d decided to trust him completely and tell him about the wafers and even give him some in private. I could see that he was a good man, a caring person and if he and a few of his aides could make better executive decisions affecting the lives of millions in this time of crisis, what better use for a few chips?
I turned to the others: “I don’t know what’s going to happen over the next few days but I can tell you this, we’re not staying here. I need to put a few things in order in this house before we leave so I’d like everyone’s help. Charlie and Naomi can stay on the radios. The rest of us, let’s go upstairs. I need some books moved. It’s a lot of work but it’s for the house, and as I just told Scout I want all of you to consider this place yours as much as mine from now on, to return to later, and live in.”
We marched upstairs to the turret library. The panic room was only across the bedroom and bathroom so we set up a conveyor line, each of us five feet apart, passing four or five books at a time and stacking them in that room, while I picked out the ones most worth saving from the shelves. In two hours we finished. The safe room was about one-third filled up with stacks of books, enough for me. I told the others to take a break while Jaime and I went down to the wine cellar to see what we had to do to prepare it for another load of books.
It was mid-afternoon and I didn’t have the motivation to move more books. I knew we’d be in the house for another day at least and I’d just remembered the governor’s directive to me to tell my neighbors of the coming exodus. So I asked Jaime and Claire to come with me. We opened the front gate and started honking the horn of the Mustang for several minutes while Claire stood in front and yelled for people to come out. In a few minutes several neighbors started appearing in the street.
With a dozen or so gathered around I began the announcement.
“Look, we have a couple of shortwave radios operating and I’ve been able to talk to the mayor of San Francisco and even the governor. He has instructions for all of us. The power in the bay area can’t be restored for another few months and as all of you can see for yourselves, transportation is crippled. We all need to remove to the central valley where there’s plenty of food. We have to do it on foot if we don’t have a car, which means almost every one of us. Stations are being set up every few miles along highway eighty by the military with food, water and shelter. We know the walk is going to take a few days, but they’ll be there to assist us every step of the way. This is the only way we can survive. They can’t bring the food here. So pack up tonight, just a few clothes, some bedding and all the food you can carry, one suitcase each, and get a good rest. In the morning set out towards Sacramento. You’ll see the crowds heading there and the way stations with all the information you’ll need. Good luck.”
I knew there would be a barrage of questions, and there was.
“Why should I believe you. Our elected officials have to tell us this in person. Where are they now?” said one of my middle-aged neighbors, looking hungry and distraught.
“O.K. follow me, all of you.” I led them like a group of schoolchildren on some class outing through my front gates to the back door and down the stairs into our eagle’s nest. I could see they were all wide-eyed and impressed.
“Chuck” I blurted out, “get some city official on the line, anyone. These people don’t believe me and they won’t follow the instructions I’ve just given them till they hear it from God.”
It wasn’t two minutes before Naomi had the mayor of San Francisco on the line. I pulled the neighbor who’d spoken up to the mike and told him to talk, which he did. After several minutes he turned to the others and told them it was all true, a statewide bulletin directly from the governor to get to the central valley by any means possible, as soon as possible.
They filed out of the basement and thanked us in the street. I reminded them to tell everyone else they could reach of the marching orders, and for those people to tell others. Finally, to put a little urgency in their steps, I informed them that the governor believed that if we didn’t get all the good people out of the bay area as soon as possible there could be mass lootings and killings in the streets, with the police unable to respond or restore order. By the way they quickly dispersed I could see that the message had sunk in, except for one middle-aged woman who had another question for me.
“I have an ailing mother in my house who can’t walk or even rise from bed. I can’t leave her. She needs our care. She’s close to her end.”
“Is she lucid?” I said out of the blue, wondering about this strange predicament.
“Yes perfectly but so weak she can only speak in a whisper. We expect that she has only a short time left.”
“This is a sad situation” I replied. “All I can suggest is that you spend the next few days at her bedside saying your goodbyes then put her to sleep with medication. If you stay behind more than that you’ll be endangering the rest of your family, your children. I know this is hard, but in these times I think it’s the best thing to do.”
“And what about some of my other neighbors and the Abbotts here” she said, “They’re too old to go.”
“Yes, damn, precisely. I forgot to tell the others. They don’t have to leave. Centers will be set up for them all over the bay, by the water. Alameda is the closest. I’m sure it’ll be announced by officials when it’s ready. Those who can’t walk will be transported. By the way, just out of curiosity how many are there in your house and do you have food enough for the trip?”
“There’s four of us. I have three teenage children, besides my mother and yes we have enough food for another week, and a cat and dog. What do we do with them?”
“That’s another thing I never thought of” I replied. “I suppose you could have the dog walk along with you. The cat I’d leave behind unless someone wants to carry her. It might be feral by the time you return, but it’ll probably still be here. By the way, if you need water, there’s a pump working behind the Abbott’s house. I’ll put up a sign and open the gates tomorrow. When you do leave on the long walk find a group of friends to go along with you. The larger the group, the safer.”
“Thank you.” She said as she turned to walk home.
“Don’t forget to tell all your neighbors about everything I’ve said.” I yelled out.
“What a complex world this is” I thought to myself as we went back in. “Every household is different, in needs and wants and frailties. I just hope people join together into clans. That evens the playing field. Some will have what others need, but as a group, they’ll be stronger. It was in clans that mankind spread out of Africa to cover the earth. There has to be some validity, some innate power in that unit.”
