Chapter 23 — Spring
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.
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Chapter 23
Handwritten or printed on computer paper (delivered by Charlie):
Dear Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, and Mel,
It has been a month since I last wrote. My days feel like they are all the same. Every day since the ground thawed, we have been digging in mud. The guards have us digging trenches. The rains fill them in and then they have us dig out the wet mud to get to the dry ground underneath to dig some more. The paths around the camp have become muddy messes. There is a layer of mud on the floor of the cabin. There is mud in the food. Our clothes are caked with mud. They hose us off with our clothes on sometimes. When we are not living in mud, we are shivering in the cold rain. I have seen cabin mates die from a fever in less than 24 hours, right after a shift digging mud in the rain.
Sometimes I think they are just trying to kill us. Why are we digging? Who do they think will come? Who are the trenches supposed to stop? The Canadians? Jeremy and I haven’t heard anything from Daisy in weeks. Charlie was transferred to another part of the camp and we only see her occasionally at the dining hall. The new guards have prohibited our nighttime university classes. The faction that favors violence is starting to gain over the faction that promotes non-violent resistance. I am cold and depressed. Even though the sun is out and it is above freezing, when you are wet and muddy and it is 40 degrees, that is almost worse than a dry cold at 10 below.
They have cut the food portions again, and ice fishing season is over, so fish stew is off the menu. We are tapping maple trees and cooking sap. So at least there is some sugar. The cornbread is much better when it isn’t so dry.
I am still trying to be grateful for the small things. I know you are all alive. Jeremy is alive. Daisy is alive (as far as I know). The chick-a-dees are still my friends. I got to see the Northern Lights the other night. I went out to pee in the middle of the night, and the whole sky was glowing with bouncing red and green lights. It seemed like it should be making a lot of noise, but it was completely quiet. I watched by myself for a few minutes, then I woke the rest of the cabin and we all watched for about half an hour, until people started trickling back to their beds. In the end it was just me and Jeremy, watching.
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Dear Benji,
Melody and I got your most recent letter. So much mud and cold. We worry for you. Hold on, summer is just around the corner.
We have settled into a rhythm here on our block. Everything has been easier, now that we know you are alive. We have a rototiller that was issued by the soldiers on our block. Every day they till up someone’s yard and bring plants and seeds, and anyone from the block who is available comes and helps plant. There are posters up in the bus stations showing people planting gardens with smiles on their faces, but people on our block are planting gardens out of desperation. Rations are not enough to keep us healthy.
All the compost that we have been making since the coup is being put to use in the gardens. Our chickens are now especially prized because their poop is considered the best fertilizer on the block. People on our block have started composting human waste too. We built a multi-seat outhouse in the park. One of the soldiers put up a sign over it that says “The Bank.” People come from all over to “make a deposit.” There are bags and bags of wood shavings from the carpenter’s shop down the block. Whenever we make a deposit, we also add some wood shavings.
Melody and Jorge are still working on VeRU. I think their plan is to put out one edition per month. Their school has started up again and they are busy with their homework, but every Saturday we find time to join the Mothers of the Disappeared to protest. Jorge’s family joins Mel and I to go march or hold a vigil. Usually it is the General’s Mansion, but sometimes to mix it up we go to the State Capitol. Last week we marched down Grand Avenue. The protests are always non-violent and even though don’t know how much good they are doing, I do know that I have to be there.
Josh, Ashley, and Alex are like family now. Our house is full of energy and we all share the chores. I’m glad we get along. Not everyone has had such good people placed in their home. I have some friends who are at their wits end with the family in their home. The family steals from them and they are slobs and drunks. There should be a process to kick somebody out if they are not abiding by house rules.
I’m including a letter from your grandpa too.
Love,
Mom (and Mel!)
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Dear Benji,
Your grandma and I were very pleased to get your recent letters. Knowing you are alive helps keep us going. It is full on spring here and those people who have fuel for their tractors and seeds to plant are out there rumbling over the fields: plowing, discing, dragging, planting. We have one member of our gift group with a working set of heavy equipment and everyone is taking their turn. People are planting the corn with a wider spacing, in anticipation of needing to do manual cultivation, either with horses or cultivating tractors, since no one in our group has any herbicides left. The Amish blacksmith in our group has been busy getting horse-drawn cultivators ready for all of us. Most people in our group are also planting potatoes and spring wheat as well as preparing ground for big vegetable gardens.
One thing we have plenty of is manure. We are using it to fertilize our pastures and hay fields, as well as composting it for the gardens. We are running a little low on garden seeds, but between all the gift group members, we have enough to make it this year, and we plan to be systematic about saving seeds for next year.
Your grandma and I have decided to seed most of our fields to grass and hay. We have the cows from our neighbor and we are thinking that if this goes on much longer, we won’t be able to depend on stored fuel for our tractors. We are thinking about systems where the animals harvest the grass themselves. We have some solar electric fence chargers, and the plan is to do rotational grazing in spring, summer, and fall. Of course, we will need to have hay fields for the winter. We are trying to figure out ways to cut hay and bale with horses. The Amish do it. Why can’t we?
It sure is nice not to be cold all the time anymore. With the warm weather, we only need to use firewood to cook our food. What a relief. Our Mississippi friends are so much happier now that winter is past. We have also gotten to enjoy some southern cooking, now that all the edible wild greens are up in the farm yards and forests. Greens and bacon make a good meal!
Our gift group has gotten smaller, and we finally figured out why. We lost ten families over the course of the winter. They each paid off their debts to others in the group and withdrew their children from our school. They stopped attending church with us and we stopped seeing them at the potlucks and skill shares. They quit the militia. They never told us why. They were still out here, and sometimes we would see a pick-up truck roaring down the highway with one of their people at the wheel. It was a mystery for a while, but mysteries can’t last long when you live in a small community. Too many people have too many connections. And somebody finally talked to somebody.
The news came out last week during the time after church, and it spread quickly through our gift group. It turns out that General Stewart had sent a representative to one of the families who quit the gift group. Instead of coming in on a helicopter, this man had come walking up during the day, dressed as a beggar. Stewart’s rep promised these people a good supply of fuel, food, and agricultural chemicals in exchange for a contract to sell produce and grain to the city. The stipulation was that they could not continue in our gift group and they could not tell us why they left. Now that it is spring, the people who made the deal with General Stewart are out planting their fields with their big tractors, and they can’t hide their deal anymore.
Your grandma and I are a little scared because some of the most powerful families in our area have left the gift groups. They have a big influence and some of our people are starting to waver. We wonder what might happen if Stewart sends his army out. Would our old friends who have left the group join the invading soldiers and come after us? Stewart has successfully divided us, and the word is that the other township gift groups are divided too. The people who have joined with Stewart are calling themselves the Loyalists and they are calling us the Rebels.
The Loyalists are driving around again in their big pickup trucks and you can hear the generators that Stewart gave them going day and night, so they have fuel and electricity. They have taken to wearing green ball caps and green armbands, so we just call them the “greens.” I heard they have started their own churches too. The green churches happen at the same time as our church, and the word is that they have more and better food. Maybe we should just go green? Except I don’t trust Stewart.
The EBG has been giving daily updates from the war in Europe. Russia and its allies are backing rebel groups in Turkey, Hungary, and Germany. The western European allies are supporting the governments of those countries with troops, weapons, and airpower. Neither side has used their nukes yet, thankfully. When the Russian-backed rebels take a town, they symbolically topple the wind generators and tear down the solar panels. The Russians quickly set up gas pipelines to the new territory and they proclaim the territory “liberated from the eco-fascists!” When the western allies retake the towns, they have teams ready to install wind turbines and solar panels and declare the town “free from climate crisis deniers!” The Circle government of the USA seems to be on the sidelines in this war, no word yet on American troops going over there.
Please stay safe. Love,
Grandpa and Grandma
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Next chapter:
https://readmedium.com/chapter-24-summer-cd7ea83a3369
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