Chapter 15 — Keeping the Faith
A serial novel in the form of correspondence among a family while the world as we know it collapses around us. I recommend you start at the Introduction:
https://readmedium.com/climate-for-change-introduction-5331d5ab9313
But you can start anywhere you want.
— -
Chapter 15:
Website chatbox (Translated from Bulgarian)
Dear Dad,
Weeks have come and gone. There is still no word about Benji. He is just a boy! I go to our neighborhood military base every day, and they are not able to help. They did say that I could go to the Capitol and ask there.
On Saturday, Mel and I took the bus down to the State Capitol building. There were hundreds of people there outside. There were tents set up and people walking around with signs and holding photos of missing loved ones. There was a perimeter set up around the main steps, with razor wire and cement barriers. Up against the barrier were many makeshift memorials, with stuffed animals, plastic flowers, candles, and photos. So many photos. There was one opening in the center of the barrier, guarded by dozens of soldiers, with a line extending out from the opening that snaked down the street. Mel and I staked out a spot at the end of the line. And we waited. In line, we met several families like ours. Almost everyone we met was here looking for information about a missing family member. It took several hours to reach the opening and get to speak with the guards. They scanned our chips, patted us down, and allowed Mel and I to enter the Capitol building. Once inside, we were directed to another line for inquiries about long-term missing persons. We saw many of the same people from line outside.
When we finally got to a window in an office in the basement of the building, we were given a card with a date and time on it for an appointment, which we would have to go to in order to report Benji as missing longer than one month. We didn’t talk to anyone who knew anything all day. Our appointment is a week from this Tuesday. All this to make an appointment! And I will have to take off work to go in.
— -
Dear Carol,
Your mother here. For them to say that Benji is “missing” is too much for me. Missing? More like taken! When you are forced by the people who took your son to wait in line for hours and hours in order to make an appointment to report him as missing, that is more than enough.
Today was a rough day for your father. One of our close neighbors showed up this morning and wanted to know exactly how much food and fuel we had given him over the last few months. When Peter told him, he opened up the topper on his pick up truck and pulled out cans of fuel and bags of potatoes. He measured it all out so that he was exactly square with us, and then he drove away.
Your father is in full crisis mode. Our gift economy depends on a mutual web of indebtedness. One of the rules is that if you ever pay off a debt, you should overpay, thereby creating a new debt and continuing the web of relationships. Our neighbor knew exactly what he was doing when he paid us off. He was saying he didn’t want or need to continue in our gift group. Why? Peter is trying to figure out what he might have done to offend him.
— -
Dear Mom and Dad,
While waiting for my appointment next week, I have been working my contacts within our block’s squadron of soldiers. They know more than they let on when I first talked to them. Your apple brandy has proven its usefulness in getting them to open up. One soldier told me that Stewart has requisitioned youth environmental education camps to be used for “Re-education.” These former youth camps were hastily converted into prisons. We don’t know if Benji is alive or dead. But if he is alive, he might be at one of these camps. It will probably take some effort to find out which camp they brought him to, and I don’t know what we would do if we knew, but at least we have something. It is a start.
— -
Dear C and M,
Your dad here. Good work looking for Benjamin and his friends. I have been to a few of those camps back when I worked for the school district. I might still have some contacts in the area, if we could get word to them somehow. I will send some letters through the improvised mail system and see what happens.
Wasn’t your appointment at the Capitol today? How did that go?
Eloise told you about our neighbor paying off his debt. He was just the first. Since then, two other neighbors have also paid their debts to us, and one of them removed his two teenage boys from your mother and Roy’s school. There has been no explanation.
— -
Dear Dad and Mom,
Yes. Today I went back to the Capitol and stood in those lines again. This time I got to speak to someone. He asked me all the same questions that I already had answered when I first reported Benji missing. He said that we could receive a life insurance payment, but we would have to drop the missing person report. I told him that we would not accept any insurance money unless we knew for certain that Benji was dead. Then he said that he would make inquiries and that I should wait for a text message in the next 6 to 8 weeks.
I’m thinking about quitting my job so I can protest with the Mothers of the Disappeared full time, but we need the food and fuel rations, so for now it is just weekends for protest.
I wonder if the Circle knows what is being done in their name here in the Twin Cities? The texts from the Circle talk about the need for shared struggle in the fight to slow down climate change and the need to adapt to a changing world. They ask people to do their part. The Circle has made sweeping changes, but most of the changes seem fair to me, and the changes apply to everyone equally. General Stewart, on the other hand, is unpredictable, and he makes changes and rules that seem spiteful and selfish. I wonder if the Circle has approved of Stewart’s “Re-education Camps”? Do they even know about the camps? Maybe we can expose him to the Circle?
I have faith that Benjamin is alive somewhere.
— -
Dear Carol and Mel,
It has been weeks since your last note. We hope things are okay for you both. We are both healthy. It has been cold here. We are burning so much wood. With a forest full of trees, I never thought we could run out of firewood, but between the house, the kitchen/dining hall, and the bunkhouse, we are burning a lot of wood. Our Mississippi friends are complaining about the cold worst of all. Their bunkhouse is drafty and the heat from the stove doesn’t reach to the corners. At night, people with beds on the edges can see their breath, and water glasses that are left out will freeze.
We still haven’t heard anything from General Stewart. Maybe we shouldn’t have shot down his drones. I would like to talk with him.
Eloise and I also still don’t know exactly why we lost ten families from our gift group. Over the course of a week, they each arrived and paid off their debts and removed any teens from Eloise’s school. No explanations. We are more than a little scared that this trend will continue. We can see that a gift group needs a critical mass of people with skills and resources. It takes a village!
— -
Dear Grandpa and Grandma,
This is Melody. I am writing because when I ask mom to write to you, she says there is nothing to say. It has been months since Benji disappeared, and mom is not doing well. She still goes to work, but when she is at home she just stares at the wall. She has given up. I don’t think she is eating much, and I don’t know how much she is sleeping. She is so skinny. It is lucky for us that Josh and Ashley are here. They are holding our house together by cooking and cleaning and little Alex provides the only spark of joy.
Jorge and I are continuing our watch on General Stewart’s mansion. We go every few days and pretend to visit the ex-nuns. They let us stay warm while we watch and they have good herbal tea for us. They have been foraging pine needles and other plants to make tea. Jorge and I are working on a new issue of Ben’s underground newspaper. If you have any news for us to print, please send it to me.
— -
Next chapter:
https://readmedium.com/chapter-16-camp-life-7b703fb30ab8
— -
Author’s note: And if you are not yet a Medium member and want to find out what happens to Benjamin, you have two options:
- Join Medium. I think it is worth it! Use my referral link: https://gaertner-andy122.medium.com/membership
- Email me, and I will send you a friend link: