American Exit Strategy: Book 1 by Mark Goodwin Page A
Authors: Mark Goodwin
Tags: Fiction, Science-Fiction, Literature & Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Religion & Spirituality, Christian fiction, Christianity, Dystopian, Christian Books & Bibles
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conversation about Karen not going in. She would always go along with his recommendation on weightier subjects like this, but not without a serious discussion.
Many of the grocery stores that had been looted were still closed as well. The National Guard was bringing in some MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat), but they were far less than what was needed and the lines were horrendous.
Matt and Karen were very well set for food. The fridge was still packed. The only thing they ran out of was milk, but they had some condensed milk and powdered milk which was just fine for cereal.
Fortunately, no one lost power throughout the riots except for Detroit. The fires had taken out several electrical reducing facilities and large swathes of the grid had to be shut down to keep the lines from being charged where the poles had actually burned down and left exposed power lines laying in the molten insulation.
The nightly gunfire and sirens died down gradually over the next few nights, so the neighborhood watches cut their hours from 10:00 pm to 5:00 am. This allowed the block watch guys to run with one shift per night, and to alternate nights off.
Matt was making a large pot of rice and a large pot of beans. He knew everyone on the block was not as well set as Karen and he was, so he was going to take some around to those who were getting a little tight on food.
Karen came in from the garden with a nice size bowl of peppers, tomatoes and lettuce. "This will make a nice salad." she said. "Are you making those pans up for the neighbors?" she asked.
"Yes." Matt replied. "Blaine went over to St. Marks and stood in line for five hours this morning to get four MRE's from the National Guard. He must be getting pretty low on food to do that."
"I thought Blaine said they were pretty well set on food." Karen said, a bit surprised.
"They eat out all the time, under normal circumstances. They have no idea how long a can of SpaghettiOs will last them. In their mind, two plastic bags of groceries from Publix will last a month. In reality, it will last about two or three days for two people, depending on what’s in there.
Let's play a guessing game." Matt said.
"OK." Karen said.
"You know the five gallon bucket filled with bags of dried beans and rice that I just opened? How long would that last you and me if that was all we had to eat?" Matt quizzed.
"Can I look in the bucket?" Karen wanted to get as much information as possible to make her guess. She loved guessing games. It was a bit of a sport to her.
"OK." Matt agreed.
"We have four bags of black beans, three bags of red beans, two bags of chickpeas and two bags of black eyed peas." She counted out the contents as she rifled through the bucket. "And we have one 20 pound bag of white rice. I guess all of that would last the two of us about two to three weeks." she guessed.
"Ten days" Matt replied, "but that was pretty close. You could stretch it to two weeks if we really reduced our calorie intake. The point is, it looks like a lot more than it is. Most people eyeball their food stockpile. I used relatively loose estimations, but I actually calculated the amount of calories that we needed to come up with how long we could last on what we had stored."
"So what are you making for the neighbors?" Karen inquired.
"I'm going to open a couple cans of that chicken we bought and mix it in with the rice and black beans. I put a bit of blackened seasoning in it. It’s not gourmet, but it will be better than an MRE. I’m also going to take the opportunity to talk about storing food. I don't want to just 'give a man a fish', I would like to give them some pointers on getting more prepared when things get back to normal." Matt said.
"So you do think things will get back to normal?" Karen asked.
"Well, 'normal' may a bit of a stretch. It doesn't look like these food riots are going to trigger the end of the civilized world. I think we will have grocery stores back up and running. I think I'll be able
Many of the grocery stores that had been looted were still closed as well. The National Guard was bringing in some MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat), but they were far less than what was needed and the lines were horrendous.
Matt and Karen were very well set for food. The fridge was still packed. The only thing they ran out of was milk, but they had some condensed milk and powdered milk which was just fine for cereal.
Fortunately, no one lost power throughout the riots except for Detroit. The fires had taken out several electrical reducing facilities and large swathes of the grid had to be shut down to keep the lines from being charged where the poles had actually burned down and left exposed power lines laying in the molten insulation.
The nightly gunfire and sirens died down gradually over the next few nights, so the neighborhood watches cut their hours from 10:00 pm to 5:00 am. This allowed the block watch guys to run with one shift per night, and to alternate nights off.
Matt was making a large pot of rice and a large pot of beans. He knew everyone on the block was not as well set as Karen and he was, so he was going to take some around to those who were getting a little tight on food.
Karen came in from the garden with a nice size bowl of peppers, tomatoes and lettuce. "This will make a nice salad." she said. "Are you making those pans up for the neighbors?" she asked.
"Yes." Matt replied. "Blaine went over to St. Marks and stood in line for five hours this morning to get four MRE's from the National Guard. He must be getting pretty low on food to do that."
"I thought Blaine said they were pretty well set on food." Karen said, a bit surprised.
"They eat out all the time, under normal circumstances. They have no idea how long a can of SpaghettiOs will last them. In their mind, two plastic bags of groceries from Publix will last a month. In reality, it will last about two or three days for two people, depending on what’s in there.
Let's play a guessing game." Matt said.
"OK." Karen said.
"You know the five gallon bucket filled with bags of dried beans and rice that I just opened? How long would that last you and me if that was all we had to eat?" Matt quizzed.
"Can I look in the bucket?" Karen wanted to get as much information as possible to make her guess. She loved guessing games. It was a bit of a sport to her.
"OK." Matt agreed.
"We have four bags of black beans, three bags of red beans, two bags of chickpeas and two bags of black eyed peas." She counted out the contents as she rifled through the bucket. "And we have one 20 pound bag of white rice. I guess all of that would last the two of us about two to three weeks." she guessed.
"Ten days" Matt replied, "but that was pretty close. You could stretch it to two weeks if we really reduced our calorie intake. The point is, it looks like a lot more than it is. Most people eyeball their food stockpile. I used relatively loose estimations, but I actually calculated the amount of calories that we needed to come up with how long we could last on what we had stored."
"So what are you making for the neighbors?" Karen inquired.
"I'm going to open a couple cans of that chicken we bought and mix it in with the rice and black beans. I put a bit of blackened seasoning in it. It’s not gourmet, but it will be better than an MRE. I’m also going to take the opportunity to talk about storing food. I don't want to just 'give a man a fish', I would like to give them some pointers on getting more prepared when things get back to normal." Matt said.
"So you do think things will get back to normal?" Karen asked.
"Well, 'normal' may a bit of a stretch. It doesn't look like these food riots are going to trigger the end of the civilized world. I think we will have grocery stores back up and running. I think I'll be able
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