Chapter 28

“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

“The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind.”
― H. P. Lovecraft

“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.”
― François de La Rochefoucauld

0955 hours, local time
Saturday, 8 November, 2014
West Virginia Independence Hall,
Wheeling, West Virginia

Charles Tremaine twirled his mustache a little, even as he spoke with the venerable city fathers of Wheeling. The city had bounced back from the recent demon infestation, thank God, and the municipal government was doing its level best to rebuild anything destroyed or disturbed during the outbreak. It was a very sad situation and difficult for the former state capital of West Virginia, the original one, to find for itself of late. Even so, such was life. The city would rebuild itself, and perhaps he could play some role in that before his tribe and he departed.

“So, the mess in this state and Ohio is being cleaned up, thank God, while the other mess, in Harrisburg, of all places, seems well on its way to resolution. The feminists are on their way out, radical and otherwise. We’re not staying here, of course, but while we’re here, we can do our part to help you rebuild your community,” Charles, speaking as the Prophet and head of the tribe, informed Roger Eakes, the Mayor of Wheeling.

“I would very much appreciate that, of course. As would all of us, naturally,” Roger coughed, still feeling a bit embarrassed by how much many of them had cowered and hid from the demons.

Maybe he could redeem himself now by putting the likes of Charles Tremaine and company to work for the good citizens of Wheeling. He had little to lose. His legacy was already tarnished by the way that he and the others handled the demonic threat. No one could prove that he cowered during the demonic onslaught, but he couldn’t prove the opposite, either. There was a cloud of suspicion over him and the others ... and they hadn’t exactly led any kind of human uprising, had they? There was no sudden outburst of manly courage and pride, was there? No, against the demonic adversary, everyone had been very timid and quiet.

Of course, Roger wasn’t as fat as he used to be, since he hadn’t been able to eat as much during that demonic invasion. Even so, the loose skin under his chin and in other places made it clear that he once had plenty of jowls going on there. He had been a fat, happy, corrupt, easily manipulated kind of public servant. He still smoked cigars, a habit that even now disgusted Justine, among others, though Charles and Mike were used to it. They had encountered enough comrades who smoked cigars and cigarettes while in the military. In any case, Roger didn’t exactly impress Charles in the least.

“So, regarding how this will work, let me be plain. You’ll need to adapt to a very different kind of society and community. For one thing, we should do what we can to make public goods truly available to the entire public, to every member of the community. There will always be some level of poverty and wealth, always some kind of disparity of success and affluence, but there needs to be a kind of floor, a bare minimum standard of living for all. It’s just a matter of pooling resources or whatever. Call it socialism if you wish, or distributism, or whatever, and yes, it can and should co-exist with capitalism. No one economic theory or ideology has all of the answers, man.

“Another change will be the attitude toward such things as sex, nudity, etc. The age of consent should be fourteen, not higher or lower. Fourteen, period. Monogamy is passe. It’s finished. It’s done. It’s toast. Everyone should feel free to mate with each other, regardless of sex, gender, marital status, etc. People will be free to mate with each other in public and go nude in public. You’ll understand better once you’ve embraced Havenism and contracted Schumacher Syndrome. Polygamy will be very common. You’ll grasp this more in the future.

“Restrooms, changing rooms, public baths, and yes, those will exist, indeed public swimming pools, they will be unisex as well as nude. The Y is no longer a thing, as it will be owned by the city, by the community, and it definitely won’t be Christian. It will, if anything, be even better managed than it was back then. Public transit will be much more efficient, especially since it will be funded through taxation instead of charging people fares. People will be naked on buses, light rail, etc., so you’d best get used to it.

“We’ll need to do a serious restructuring of the emergency services, such as fire, rescue, police, etc. Police will need a tutorial on the new guidelines, instructions, etc. City Hall will, for the moment, not answer to any outside authorities, of course. Wheeling will be known as the Wheeling Free State for now. Time will change that when West Virginia is re-established, and you will be in contact with such communities as Clarkesburg, Charleston, Beckley, Huntington now that it is being re-populated, Hinton, Peterstown, Alderson, Union, etc. Other cities are a lot further along with their recovery, reconstruction, etc. You need to catch up.