through, and I will forever be in their debt for saving my wife’s life. If they could please stand,” he said, motioning for the medical team to stand.
The Villagers began to applaud. It turned into a standing ovation in recognition of the doctors, nurses and medics who worked so hard to save their patients. I was honored to stand for them. These people no longer did their jobs for a pay check. They did it for the love of their neighbors.
I got a little wobbly, and I reached for the person standing the closest to me, Jackson. He grabbed me, as if he had been waiting for it. “Are you okay, darlin’?” he asked me in my ear. I nodded and was glad when everyone stopped clapping and took their seats.
Mark came over and took his place by my side, and like a well-rehearsed play, Jackson took his place at the podium.
“Now, Adam would like to discuss the state of Monterey outside the Village walls.”
Adam stood stiffly and uncomfortably moved to the podium.
“As everyone knows, we now have a problem with obtaining supplies from what is left in the city’s debris.” Adam headed straight to his obviously scheduled topic. “We can no longer go out-bounding without risking all of our lives. Since I have been going out, studying the outlying areas while foraging for supplies, I can tell you that there is not much left that we can reach under the layers of snow, even if the Sneaker Wave were no longer in our way.”
I was scrutinizing the faces of the Villagers, and they were concerned. Since I have known him, Adam has been a straightforward person. It was his style, and it worked for me, but I wasn’t sure how everyone else was going to take it.
He continued, now with growing urgency, not waiting for the group to digest what he had just said. “We need to leave here if we are going to survive. We need to find a place where it is safe to plant food, raise farm animals and drink uncontaminated water. That place is no longer in Monterey. The Monterey you all knew is gone. What is left is deadly.”
Jackson rose and brought Adam a folder. “For those of you who haven’t been out of the Village, I have photos for you. And I warn you, they will not be easy to look at.”
For the next twenty minutes, we passed around the photographs of what had been historic Monterey and the beautiful cities that had once surrounded it. During that time, Adam explained how he had been collecting soil and water samples, as well as photographing and studying different areas that would work as a resettlement site for the Village.
My gut started to ache like it always did when things were about to go wrong. In this case, everything was about to go horribly wrong. I wanted to jump up and stop the entire meeting, stop Adam as he acted as Jackson’s unwitting pawn, but it was too late.
When Rolette rose, I knew that there was no stopping it. It started as a snowball, and was going to end in an avalanche, if I may take a note from our current weather conditions.
Rolette began speaking, voice deep, like rich velvet. “Today, I represent God’s Warriors. We have lost too many of our members due to your leadership.” He pointed at me, and allowed his ridge finger to run across the rest of the speakers sitting in chairs on the stage, ending on Adam. “You have brought in a plague from the outside. If you had not gone out there, into Sodom and Gomorrah, we would not be suffering from God’s wrath,” he said.
I couldn’t read the Villagers anymore. I felt a distance from them that I had never felt before. I didn’t know how important my connection with them was until that very moment.
I wished that Jackson would handle this scene, find a way to make it better, but my gut told me he couldn’t. He had never built a rapport with these people.
I stood and went to the podium, mostly because I needed something to lean against. I grasped it and took a breath to slow my pulse and gather my thoughts. The proverbial pin could have dropped with
The Villagers began to applaud. It turned into a standing ovation in recognition of the doctors, nurses and medics who worked so hard to save their patients. I was honored to stand for them. These people no longer did their jobs for a pay check. They did it for the love of their neighbors.
I got a little wobbly, and I reached for the person standing the closest to me, Jackson. He grabbed me, as if he had been waiting for it. “Are you okay, darlin’?” he asked me in my ear. I nodded and was glad when everyone stopped clapping and took their seats.
Mark came over and took his place by my side, and like a well-rehearsed play, Jackson took his place at the podium.
“Now, Adam would like to discuss the state of Monterey outside the Village walls.”
Adam stood stiffly and uncomfortably moved to the podium.
“As everyone knows, we now have a problem with obtaining supplies from what is left in the city’s debris.” Adam headed straight to his obviously scheduled topic. “We can no longer go out-bounding without risking all of our lives. Since I have been going out, studying the outlying areas while foraging for supplies, I can tell you that there is not much left that we can reach under the layers of snow, even if the Sneaker Wave were no longer in our way.”
I was scrutinizing the faces of the Villagers, and they were concerned. Since I have known him, Adam has been a straightforward person. It was his style, and it worked for me, but I wasn’t sure how everyone else was going to take it.
He continued, now with growing urgency, not waiting for the group to digest what he had just said. “We need to leave here if we are going to survive. We need to find a place where it is safe to plant food, raise farm animals and drink uncontaminated water. That place is no longer in Monterey. The Monterey you all knew is gone. What is left is deadly.”
Jackson rose and brought Adam a folder. “For those of you who haven’t been out of the Village, I have photos for you. And I warn you, they will not be easy to look at.”
For the next twenty minutes, we passed around the photographs of what had been historic Monterey and the beautiful cities that had once surrounded it. During that time, Adam explained how he had been collecting soil and water samples, as well as photographing and studying different areas that would work as a resettlement site for the Village.
My gut started to ache like it always did when things were about to go wrong. In this case, everything was about to go horribly wrong. I wanted to jump up and stop the entire meeting, stop Adam as he acted as Jackson’s unwitting pawn, but it was too late.
When Rolette rose, I knew that there was no stopping it. It started as a snowball, and was going to end in an avalanche, if I may take a note from our current weather conditions.
Rolette began speaking, voice deep, like rich velvet. “Today, I represent God’s Warriors. We have lost too many of our members due to your leadership.” He pointed at me, and allowed his ridge finger to run across the rest of the speakers sitting in chairs on the stage, ending on Adam. “You have brought in a plague from the outside. If you had not gone out there, into Sodom and Gomorrah, we would not be suffering from God’s wrath,” he said.
I couldn’t read the Villagers anymore. I felt a distance from them that I had never felt before. I didn’t know how important my connection with them was until that very moment.
I wished that Jackson would handle this scene, find a way to make it better, but my gut told me he couldn’t. He had never built a rapport with these people.
I stood and went to the podium, mostly because I needed something to lean against. I grasped it and took a breath to slow my pulse and gather my thoughts. The proverbial pin could have dropped with
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