How 48 hours can change your life

Silver coin-

It was a dark and stormy night, suddenly the power went out.  Never to fear I am sure it will come back on soon you thought.  As the night turned into day no power yet.  You begin to realize that with no power I have no TV or computer, so you start to think how can I get information as to what is going on.  You reach for that trusty cell phone, you try to get onto the Internet…no service. You try calling a friend…no service, no signal. That is strange, your starting to get a bit worried.  You decided to stay home from work, and drive down to Starbucks for your latte.  They have no power, heck no street lights are working, and traffic is beginning to back up at the intersections.  You go back home, park on the street because you can not get your garage door up. The day turns into night, you have spent the day with no communication with the outside world, and have been eating snack food and drinking warm soda all day.

Candles now illuminate your house, your spouse has been calm, she has been reading a book, helped find the candles.  This night is a cold one, you realize that your fake fireplace really does you no good now, it seemed great at the time when they told you how “green” it was.  You bundle up in covers as the chill of the 32 degree night enters every corner of your home.  You think, with no power or natural gas we have no ability to heat our home and it is as cold as the outside, I hope this does not last long.  As you peek outside you notice how dark it really is, no street lights, no cars, no neighbors lights, just cold.

A sudden noise awakens you, not sure of what time it is, still dark.  You rush to the window and see what appeared to be a large truck that drove down your street, very loud.  Then you hear the sound again, on the other street, you rush outside, tripping on the way, falling down and cutting your hand, “ouch”!  You make your way to the back yard fence and see what appears to be a big truck with people in the back.  You can see the silhouette of a gun or something in there hands, it drives away.  As you walk back inside your wife was awakened and had lit two candles, she screamed “is that blood”, as she points at your hand.  You look down, “yes it is, I fell”.  You find a box of band-aids but nothing else such as hydrogen peroxide for the wound.  As your wife puts a band on your large cut hand she asks “what was that”?

“I am not sure”, it almost looked like soldiers you think but you do not want to tell your wife that.  No more sleep this night, as the sun starts to rise.  Your stomach aches with hunger, you need your coffee.  As you open the refrigerator you smell that odor of spoiling milk, you scavenge some left over chicken, open a can of corn, and wash it down with another soda.  I have to find out what is going on, you check your cell phone again, no service, and only one bar of power left.  I will listen to the radio in the car you think, you go to your car and listen.  “The city has experienced some temporary power outages” you hear on one channel, most of the others are just static. “Remain calm and shelter in place”, they say.

You are now worried, we can not just stay here and keep eating potato chips and soda, I need to get to the store for real food and water. I had better go now before they run out! You drive to the local store, and find hundreds of people standing in front of the store, you rush to the front door only to see no one is getting inside, and there are policeman in front. A big sign reads no power, we are closed.  Maybe there is another one open on a generator, of course Costco must be open, you get back in you car and see the low gas light, “Shit”, I need gas. You drive to the local gas station to find hundreds of cars surrounding the gas station. Someone is screaming, “they have no pumps working, no gas!”  You realize you can not make it very far on your tank, better get home.  You drive home, and see cars being abandoned everywhere, It takes you 30 minutes to drive one mile, suddenly your car stalls. One mile from home, what am I going to do?

People are everywhere walking around, a panic is beginning to take hold, you look at you bank as you start walking.  A huge line is formed all around the bank, but you just see armed men standing in front of the bank, and the ATM‘s, no money is available there you think.  You make it home and walk in the door. You have been gone for 5 hours. Your wife is concerned, she asks “what happened”?  You sit down from exhaustion, your hand is throbbing from the cut on it.  You say “honey I think we are in trouble”, you tell her what you viewed at the stores, the gas stations, the bank, all the cars abandoned including your own, and that the radio stations are mostly static.

You look at your watch, 6pm, the sun is setting. You see groups of men gathering on the streets, starting to walk up and down them.  What do I do if they knock on our door? What are we going to do for food, water, and this cut is so painful, what is happening?  I will go over to the neighbors and ask for food, you feel for your wallet, oh I have 100 dollars that will get us something.  You knock on their door, no response. You try a different neighbor, no response.  Suddenly the third house opens the door, you ask for some bottled water or food.  They tell you they have bottled water, you offer then 20 dollars.  They look at you and say, “Money, you think 20 dollars is going to get you some of my bottled water”?  You offer 50 dollars. He looks at you and says, “Keep your money, use it to light a fire. If you have something of value like silver coins to trade let me know otherwise, good luck!” The door slams in your face.  Welcome to your not so distant future.

God Bless You

God Bless America