WWIV - In The Beginning

Mid-morning I stepped back outside. Already the heat and humidity were rising fast. I wondered if it was the hot weather or the lack of air conditioning that made it seem more oppressive. Perhaps it was the current situation, a situation for which no one seemed overly prepared.

  First I stopped next door at Ted and Alice Shawl’s place. Alice is a wonderful woman who just had the bad luck of marrying a know-it-all like Ted. I knew I could count on Alice to keep a positive attitude; it’s Ted that worried me the most. He’d be too frank and open with everyone, perhaps causing unneeded panic. Alice thought the flyer was a great idea.

  Next were Sergio and Veronica Mendez. They were a quiet couple that no one knew much. Sergio took a while to come to the door and greet me. They only opened the door a crack to speak with me. They were older, probably mid-50’s if I had to guess, close to Ted and Alice’s age. Undoubtedly not 38 or anywhere close to my age.

  Trouble could be counted on from the family at the end of the cul-de-sac, the Lewis’. As I approached, I could see the whole family in their garage preparing for a long-term battle with no power. I tried to put my best smile on as Betty Lewis saw me approaching.

  “Morning Bill. How about some coffee?” she said.

  Of course these modern day preppers had coffee. They had dug out their camp stove first thing and prepared a grand breakfast. I could see the coffee pot sitting on one of the burners, steam rising from its spout.

  “Actually I’d love some, Betty. Thanks.”

  Betty’s husband entered the garage through the door from the backyard. Scott smiled at me and Buddy grandly. “I’ve been warning people about this for years. And no one listened.” Scott took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his brow. “Now people will start paying attention. Someone dropped a nuke somewhere, and the EMP wiped everything out. I just wonder where the main blast was centered.”

  Scott certainly had it all figured out. I knew I needed to slow him down. “We don’t know that for sure, Scott. It could have been any of a number of things. Heck, it could be as simple as a bad solar flare.” Scott grinned at my view, but listened somewhat patiently to the optimist known as Bill Carlson. “We just need to help everyone remain calm until we figure this out. Okay Scott?”

  Scott nodded. “Sure, sure. You do whatever, Mr. Happy Guy. We’re bugging out first thing tomorrow morning if the lights ain’t back on.” I had suspected as much. “We got a place over by Chippewa that we’ll be safe at. A good place to ride the storm out.” Scott smiled again. “Whatever it is.”

  I knew I’d never convince this pair and their boys, Chad and Brent, to stay put. Maybe it was better if they left for Chippewa. “Sounds good Scott. Everyone needs to do whatever they think is best.” I handed the flyer to Betty. “But let’s have a nice cookout tonight and enjoy some camaraderie, okay?”

  Scott looked over the flyer. I couldn’t read his expression. “Yeah, yeah, that seems like a good idea. You can count on us, buddy.” Scott reached out his hand, and I shook it in return. For all I expected, Scott had been decent. His attitude helped me feel more relaxed.

  I finished my rounds quickly. Charles and Charlotte Johnson were a yes, as were the Holmes (Tyler and Lori and their four kids Taylor, Travis, Tia and Tracy) next door to them. Jim and Alexis across the street from my house agreed. They were the youngsters of the neighborhood and a long way from their parents in Virginia or North Carolina; I could never remember which state. Absent was anyone at Winston Hillsberg’s home. Not unusual; no one ever saw much of them. I left the flyer in their door in case they were already in hiding.

  Buddy and I returned home after a canvassing of the neighborhood. I knew I accomplished something that morning. I had set out to rally the people, my neighbors, and from what I could see on their faces, believed I had done a good job. I quickly dug in the refrigerator and grabbed two bottles of water. Finally my faithful black companion and I retired to the back porch. I flopped down in my favorite chair and stared at the hot hazy sky.

  Sharon was most likely on her way from Milwaukee by now. She would be wondering why she couldn’t reach me on my cell phone. Again, this would be my fault somehow. Maybe she had heard of the power outage in the Twin Cities before she departed and decided to stay put with her parents. Maybe Milwaukee was in the same shape as here. Knowing Sharon, she had run her minivan low on gas and would need to fill up somewhere just this side of Madison. Hopefully Madison wasn’t having these same issues. If that were the case, she’d be in trouble on the road by herself.

  While I hated fighting with my wife of ten years, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could take the blame for everything. Every little issue just had to be my fault in Sharon’s mind. If only I had a better job we’d have more money, and the kids could have a better life. If only we had more money, we could have better cars. If only I took care of the yard like Sharon’s dad always had, it wouldn’t look so bad. To Sharon it was a never-ending litany of Bill issues.

  Maybe, just maybe, she’d be stuck with her parents for a week or two and start to miss me. Given enough time under her mother’s thumb, Sharon just might appreciate me a little more. People always say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Maybe that would be the cure-all for our relationship. I was just happy she wasn’t there right then to experience it with me. Even though everyone was in the same boat, somehow Sharon would invent an idea that I hadn’t paid the power bill and now the whole town suffered. Her absence was okay with me for now.

  I wondered for a moment how the kids were holding up at Grandma’s house. Margaret, Sharon’s mom, had lots of rules. Rita and Dustin weren’t used to many rules at home. Sharon pretty much let them do whatever they wanted most of the time, and if I tried to discipline, oh, now that was trouble.

  “Just let the kids be kids, Bill. They’ll have plenty of time for all your rules when they get older.” Sharon had all her lines down pat. Blame it on me, Bill. It was an old story, and I knew it had to be dealt with soon. She needed to get on the same page with me. We needed to work as a team, not as separate individuals. Maybe this little power issue was just the thing we both needed.

  Back to the issue at hand – What had happened to the power grid? I assumed something had fried real bad over in St. Paul or Minneapolis. That made the most sense. But why no running cars? That was odd, really odd. And the cell phones. Mine hadn’t been plugged in last night. I had plenty of battery life left when I went to bed. What had caused it to drain so quickly overnight? There had to be a logical explanation for all of this, at least I hoped there was. But what if it were something more cynical? Like an EMP blast? What did that mean? How long would this last in that case? I couldn’t sit any longer. Against my better judgment, I knew I had to ask the one person I dreaded asking – Ted.

  Chapter 4