Chapter 8

Evie woke up briefly just after we got started. Tiffany made her some broth and she sipped most of it. She was still in a lot of pain, so Sandy gave her some more morphine, which knocked her out again.

We had decided to go to Crestwood before setting Evie's arm in case there was a doctor or nurse there who could do a better job of it. Even with the trial, we were in Crestwood by noon.

My heart was in my mouth as we approached the Wal-Mart parking lot. I knew we'd be very disappointed if there was no one there. We certainly didn't expect what we found when we got there.

Syl let out a scream and Tina started giggling. There had to be twenty motor homes or campers in the parking lot.

We pulled over near the entrance to the store and Rob parked off to our left. People started walking toward the RV before we were even stopped. Tina and I got out, but everyone else stayed inside for the moment.

A large burly man moved out ahead of the rest. He stuck out his right hand and said, "I'm John Mason, from Colorado. Where are you guys from?"

"Hi John, I'm Ed James and this is my wife, Tina. We're from California originally, but we've been living down in Kentucky for the last few months."

Half a dozen other people shook our hands and introduced themselves. I've always been terrible with names, but I tried to remember what I could.

"So, do you know anything about this shindig, Ed?" John asked.

"As a matter of fact, we're the ones who put up the signs," I told him. "We've got a nice little community started down in Kentucky. We have electricity and gas. We also have cattle, horses, sheep and chickens and we have some good farmland where we can grow some crops in the spring. We've put in a sewage disposal plant, a water treatment plant, and we have ten houses already up. There's a lot of work to do, but we think we can have something that approaches the comfort we had before IT happened if we all work at it."

By now there were at least twenty people gathered around us, most of them women of course. Everyone started asking questions, but I held up my hand and said, "I know you all have a lot of questions, but I have one for you first. Is there a doctor in this group? We have a lady inside who has been badly beaten. She has a broken arm and probably some broken ribs. We need help."

A woman near the back of the group said, "I'm Christina DeAngelo. I am a doctor."

She started pushing her way toward the front of the group. "Tina, could you take her in to see Evie and send Syl out?"

Tina smiled and nodded.

Syl was outside, standing at my side within seconds. I introduced her as my wife and no one blinked an eye. We answered questions for about twenty minutes, then I told everyone, "I seem to be repeating a lot as new people come around. What I'd like to do is get you all to make a list of questions each of your families would like answered. I'll go over them and get Syl to write out the answers on poster paper. We'll tape these in the windows of the store. That way, each of you can go over what's been asked and answered and think of anything else you'd like to know."

"That sounds reasonable," John said.

"I want to talk with each and every one of you before you all make a decision as to whether you want to go with us or not."

Everyone seemed satisfied with this, so Syl and I went back inside to see what was going on with the doctor. "How's she doing, doctor?" I asked.

The doctor looked up at me and smiled. "I think she's going to be okay. She does have at least two broken ribs. We've set her broken arm, but I'm going to have to make a scavenging run to get a splint for it. I'll also need tape for her ribs. At the same time, I'll pick up my bag so I can get her vitals. By the way, please call me Chris. I think all of this formality shit went out the window when IT happened."

"Thanks, Chris. Please call me Ed. Were you introduced to everyone else?"

"Yes, even to Evie. We used morphine to put her back out again before I set her arm. I was also told how you guys handled the guy who did this to her. Very commendable. I want to check over Alicia and Bonnie after I get my bag."

"Great. Do you need anyone to go scavenging with you?"

"That would be nice. I'm sort of by myself. I've been living with two other women and a guy, but I'm not married to or hooked up with any of them. The guy kind of gives me the creeps, but since IT happened you take your company where you can get it."

"Okay, Tina, would you go with Chris and I to pick up some medical supplies? I think I'll get Rob to go too. How about you, Syl, would you like to go?"

Tina and Syl both agreed to come along, so I called Rob on the radio and asked if we could take his RV for some scavenging. He agreed and his wives agreed to stay with our crew to help take care of the invalids.

After we were all loaded in Rob's RV, I asked Chris, "Do you have any idea where we'll need to go to pick up what we'll need?"

"No, we'll need to find a medical supply house. We'll probably have to go into St. Louis to find one. I'm from Salt Lake City, so I'm not familiar with this area at all."

I asked Tina to go back to our RV and get us a couple of battery-powered lanterns and some flashlights, since it would probably be after dark before we found what we wanted.

We actually found the supply house we wanted fairly quickly. We were still glad to have the lanterns along, though, since there were no windows in the building and it was very dark inside.

The building had been broken into before, probably by someone looking for drugs. The section of the building where the drugs were kept was basically a vault within the building. It had reinforced concrete walls and a door a bank vault would be proud of. You could see where the door had been pounded on with a sledgehammer or something, but it didn't look like they'd made any headway toward getting it open.

We didn't need anything in that line anyway, so we didn't make any attempt of our own. Chris found what she was looking for fairly quickly and started loading things up. Tina and I acted as bodyguards to protect everyone from dogs or anything else that might be a danger.

It didn't take long for Chris to get Evie's arm into a splint when we got back to the RV. Evie was still knocked out, but was showing signs of coming around. Taping Evie's ribs took a little longer and before Chris was finished, Evie let out more than one groan from the pain. Chris took her vital signs and pronounced there was really nothing more she could do under the current, primitive conditions.

We talked a little while with Chris, then she excused herself to go back to her own RV.

Day 126 - September 24

When I managed to stumble out into the dining area, Syl already had coffee made and was sipping at a cup. The surprising thing was, Evie was sitting with her. We had quit giving her any morphine after her arm was set, so she was alert this morning.

I introduced myself and asked her how she felt.

"Like I was run over by a truck," she told me. "I'm Evie Walters, by the way. Evelyn actually, but no one ever calls me that. I understand I owe you my life, Ed. Thank you for getting us out of that."

"You are most welcome, Evie. We just did what had to be done. People like that can't be allowed to hurt other people. If he'd just been quietly drinking himself to death, I wouldn't have had any problem with it. He would have just been hurting himself. When he starts hurting other people, then he becomes a problem."

"Well, whatever the reasons, I thank you. All of you."

"I'm just glad we came along when we did, Evie."

"So am I. Syl tells me you are the ones who are trying to get a community together. I know that I'd like to join you and I'm pretty sure Alicia and Bonnie would too. What are the requirements for us to join you?"

"I think you guys have already paid your dues," I told her. "Actually, we're just looking for people who can live together without prejudice. We're going to try to weed out people like Al and anyone who thinks someone is inferior because of their race, color, religious beliefs, or gender. We want a community where everyone is equal."

"That sounds fantastic. You know it's not going to be easy though, don't you?"

"Yeah, hopefully we can figure out who the worst offenders would be before we take them home. I know we can't expect to eliminate all of them, but we'll try."

"They're not always easy to spot. I was a psychologist before IT happened. Al seemed perfectly fine when I met him. I was charmed by him. It wasn't until some time after we were all together that things started falling apart. I should have realized what was happening before I did, but I felt safe when we were all together. Then he started the abuses. It was classic really. We made excuses for him. We tried to help him. I had finally decided that no matter how much I liked the comfort factor of being in a group, I was going to get out of it. Then he went nuts."

"Went nuts? Is that an approved psychological evaluation?"

Evie laughed, then grimaced from the pain in her ribs. "No, but it's the only way I can describe it."

"Evie, you can be a great asset to us in helping to evaluate the people we talk to, if you're up to it. Would you mind talking to a few people today?"

"Sure. I might be better acting as a silent observer though. I can make up a few questions that you could slip in, and then I can evaluate the answers we get. I'm still a little tired from what I went through, but I can always drop out if I need to. You're going to be talking to everyone, right?"

"Yes, Evie. I'd kind of be going against my own beliefs if I excluded anyone. Why do you ask?"

"Well, first off, I'm not trying to set myself up as an expert. My track record in selecting post-IT mates is pretty bad. I can give you a few ideas though, if you're willing."

"Certainly, Evie. Fire away."

"Okay, you're probably thinking of having casual chats with everyone and not mentioning that we are evaluating them. That was my first thought as well. Instead, I think you should make a brief speech to everyone, telling them we are going to be evaluating them."

"Why would we do that, Evie? Wouldn't that just put them on their guard? I'd think it would even cause some people to leave before we can even talk to them."

"Yes, it probably will cause some people to leave. They're probably the people we would reject anyway. You should make it clear in your speech that if they are part of a family group who doesn't want to stay around, they are free to do so as an individual. Hopefully that would prevent anyone from being forced to leave, who really wanted to join us. As for putting them on their guard, if anyone is on their guard, they are more likely to make a mistake trying to cover up what they don't want us to know about them."

"Okay, what else?"

"You should make up a list of laws for the community. It doesn't have to be all-inclusive, but it should include things like prejudice, murder, theft, and the like. This should be prominently posted on the front of the store. You should also make up a sign-up list for family groups and individuals. Then we should interview them in the order they sign-up."

"Okay, those things sound reasonable. Evie, the thought of punishment for breaking the community's laws kind of has me in a quandary. I can only think of a few punishments that would work today, and all of them seem cruel. The first would be death. That would have to be for something very bad. Another would be banishment from the community. That's almost as cruel, but at least they'd still be alive. Another would be hard labor. That one wouldn't be as easy to administer and it might lead to resentment, which would be directed at the community or it's leaders at a later time. Another would be whipping, which would have the same problems as hard labor, or maybe even more. I don't think incarceration is an option at all. Locking someone up wastes the community's resources on someone who has already proven they don't want to live with the community's rules."

"This is a tough issue, Ed. I didn't witness it, but I think the way you handled things with Al was appropriate. I don't believe that there was any hope for redemption with Al. But what about the guy who has been put through hell then finally breaks down and slaps his wife? If we assign the same punishment to him as we did to Al, it might not be appropriate. We might find out later that his wife is a shrew and that no one could possibly live with her. We're going to have to be very careful to find out all of the facts before we assign a punishment. I tend to agree with you that there are only two punishments that will work for us. Death and banishment."

"Evie, you are a very smart lady. I think the community needs to set up and formalize a set of laws, but I don't want them to be anything like what we had before. Our judicial system before IT happened was so worried about the criminal's rights; it almost completely ignored the victim's rights. I don't want that in our community. Therefore, I don't want anyone who was part of the legal system helping to make our new laws. Would you be willing to work with me and a few others over the next few months to try to come up with something that works?"

"I could do that, Ed. In fact, I think I'd like to help with that. I'm not going to be good for any physical labor for a while, so that would let me feel productive."

"Thanks, Evie. Syl, would you see if you could roust Tina out? I'd like for you and her to raid the Wal-Mart and get all the poster paper they have, along with some Magic Markers for making up some signs."

"Sure, love. I'll get the rest of the family up too, so they can make some breakfast while we do it," Syl said as she headed toward the bedroom.

I knew things were going to be confusing, so after breakfast I put Syl in charge of organizing things. "We're going to need a place to interview people," I told her. "Maybe Rob can find us a place. Use anyone and everyone to help you. Evie and I will work on making up the signs with the laws. Get someone to make sign-up sheets on some of the poster paper. When the sign-up sheets are ready, get a couple of people to go around to all of the RVs and tell the people they need to sign up to be interviewed. Also, take care of anything else you can think of. I'd like for Evie, Chris, and all of my wives to be there when we do the interviews."

Chris came in as I was talking to Syl and did a quick check of Evie. "You're doing very well, considering what you went through," Chris told Evie. "I was worried about internal injuries, but I don't see any indication there are any. Are you in much pain?"

"No. Oh, there's a little, but I don't want to take any medicine I don't have to."

"If you need anything, just let me know," Chris said.

"Chris, we are going to start interviewing people today. Would you be willing to sit in on the interviews with us?" I asked.

"I suppose. I don't know I'd be much help though. Why me?"

"Chris, you are a well educated person, plus you are a medical doctor. I'd want you to be looking for signs of abuse or signs that someone might be an alcoholic or anything else your expertise might turn up that a layman wouldn't notice," I told her.

"Okay, that makes sense. I'd be glad to help."

"When we get home, I'd also like to have you help set up the laws we're going to live by if you would."

"I don't know anything about the law, so I don't think I could be of much help, Ed"

"We don't want people who know about the old laws, Chris," I told her, then went on to explain what we were looking to do and why. She agreed after a little coaxing.

It didn't take long to get our current laws/rules written up. Chris and Evie were a little amused by the nudity rule. "So, do you guys normally go nude?" Chris asked.

"Yes, we do," I answered. "In fact, it's difficult to get some of us to wear clothing at any time."

"I'm all for it," Chris said. "Other than protecting yourself from skin cancer or to help withstand the cold, there's really no reason to wear clothing at any time."

"I think you're right about the prejudice thing as well," Evie said. "As long as we consider nudity to be an evil, we'll think of ourselves and others as being evil when we're undressed."

"We're not saying people have to go naked," I told them. "We're just saying it's okay if they do. I'd like to make all of our laws like that if we could, unfortunately things like murder and rape have to be specifically forbidden."

"So, you'd like to get rid of all of the 'Thou Shalt Not's'?" Chris asked.

"Yes, because all of them are outdated. For example, 'Thou shall not commit adultery'. My wives and I feel just as married as if we'd had a minister perform a ceremony for us. Under the old laws we're not married, though. If I claim Tina, who was my first wife, as my wife, any relations with my other wives is adultery."

"I can understand that," Chris said. "I've known for years that the ten commandments were outdated. I've also known that there are laws on the books in the United States that are outdated. Sure, I'll help, Ed. It should be interesting to see if we can keep from falling into the traps that our ancestors fell into."