Chapter 2

Adventures

Stock market is making a comeback now, and the economy is settling down, but money (cash) is still not readily taken. I decided that I was going to travel around a bit before looking for work again, traded my car for a small van and then went to get a new tag. The office also houses Social Services and I saw quickly why there were no hookers on the street, they were all here. The line to the place was about 8 blocks long! I took the cash I had a home hidden (I had about 5,000.00 saved for a rainy day) and got on the road.

The first hotels I stayed at that would take cash were dives and way overpriced. I found ways to save money and started being really frugal (cheap) with everything. I finally decided on a place and settled down again. One of the last hotels that I stayed at didn't have cable and I was rather limited as to what was on. I took a shower and came out of the bathroom listening to some religious show on TV. Seemed that, for lack of a better word I'll refer to him as "Super Preacher", was making quite a stink. He was a self-made millionaire and he was talking about how the government had caused the homeless and prostitution problems. He went on to tell how the government was not doing enough to solve the problem.

Got a job today framing houses, although it's hard work but feels good to come home tired. The boss heard about me living in a hotel and asked me to stay in his garage and I agreed because it was cheap. Food is harder than ever to get now without an ATM card, oh, they will take money in the small places but you pay for the convenience with higher prices. I had decided to no longer use my card and was trying to rely totally on cash when I could.

The boss let me have a small black and white TV so I could watch the news and such. Super Preacher was on showing footage of the long lines at social services, the homeless and prostitutes with small children selling themselves for FOOD! There are so MANY homeless now! According to his report anyone with bad credit, overdue bills overdue child support, IRS problems even traffic or parking tickets was being refused ATM cards ... anything but perfect a perfect credit history was making it nearly impossible to get an ATM card now. I decided that it could not be that bad so I made plans to go look for one myself soon.

Took a 4 day weekend and went to the closest large city. Seemed really strange, seemed that everyone I saw had a new car or suit on, very few in jeans or T-shirts. Went driving around and it was the same nearly everywhere but I happened onto the "bad side" of town and WOW, what a comparison! Pretty young women-Children, everywhere! I have been a Christian for a long time and I care about these people, so many of them, and it really bothered me that so many young ladies would be living in this poverty and selling themselves because they had bad credit. I asked someone and I was told that you can't get an ATM card without good credit, and that meant a good job, and you can't get a good job without good credit. Nothing I could do about it myself, I gave one of the women with children that I saw a few dollars and went home.

SuperPreacher has been at it again today, saying that he had been trying to tug at the heartstrings of America but finding only deaf ears so he was going before Congress soon to plead his case there.

Today they played the speech that SuperPreacher gave to congress. I didn't hear it myself `cause I was at work, but the announcer said "SuperPreacher gave an oration unlike any I have ever heard, mixing religion and politics in a way that made everything so wonderful and simple". Getting help for the poor, America the God-loving country of the free, well I've seen it before, little to nothing happens.

Today was really interesting. Watching TV I found that the poor were being given ATM cards! The announcer said that they could use them to buy two meals a day and pay one months rent on low cost housing to the total of 500.00 a month for one year. The announcer further stated that the people could not buy cigarettes, alcohol or any other item that is not a necessity.

One week later...

THAT was a disaster! People stealing cards and more in line to get theirs reinstated than new ones being issued! They stopped issuing them today saying that the cost for this disaster would run into the millions!

Watched TV this evening, and boy was SuperPreacher angry! He had organized most of the mainstream churches under him to push this and it was causing him no end of grief. Seems that most of the denominations were arguing with each other about what had to be done, the US's response was neutral so far. SuperPreacher said that the government had tried to do it their way, but he had a better option to consider that would solve all the problems at once quickly and make the world a better place for everyone. He announced that he would hold a meeting in a few days and that representatives from Congress and each of the churches was requested to attend.

Super Preacher has announced that he will run for president. Dude is charismatic enough to actually have a chance at it. They also announced that the meeting would be in another three days. Some splinter church groups are raising a stink about it saying all the usual anti-Christ talk ... I don't know about all that but SuperPreacher does give me the willies sometimes.

You should have watched the news last night, there was a really big blow-up over the Muslims and some South African churches, seems that they are "polygamous" and have more than one wife, well, they wanted to bring their wives with them but US law doesn't allow it. The meeting went on as planned.

Meeting

I watched this thing on TV and SuperPreacher apologized to the Amish, Muslims and South African Christians. I wondered what the Amish were upset about ... hmmm, anyway, he said that he would do what he could to rectify the problems as soon as possible. He also made a quick comment on the dedication of various churches for their contribution and made a special mention of the Mormons for their continued dedication to family values saying that if he had his way they would no longer be persecuted on US soil. I was surprised at all this because I didn't realize that there was so much unity between denominations.

When SuperPreacher came on TV he spoke of his hopes and his belief in God and how the unity of the churches was mandatory if this crisis, worldwide, was to be stopped and these people helped, the poor, not only in the US, but worldwide.

Just a personal note here, this is one handsome man, well spoken and motivated and he played the crowd like a master showman ... you could feel the people lining up behind him as he spoke. He said that he had made mistakes in the past but not hidden them like some others had and had risen out of them like the phoenix out of the ashes, and these mistakes made him stronger! I expected a mad dog feast but the crowd was with him even now, seems that he had shown them a human side with honesty attached. He said that there was only one way to end world hunger, only one way to protect the sick and dying, only one way to protect the elderly from an early and useless death, only one way to forever prevent another murderer from evading justice, and he said, "I know the WAY!" He was speaking fast, playing the crowd hard here ... I waited for the pitch ...

He said "There is enough money to feed, clothe, and hose every single homeless mother and child out there, even if they CAN'T or WON'T help themselves we can help them now!"

He paused, and said "We can now stop 99% of child abductions, insure that nearly all crime is stopped with less ... Yes, LESS ... police than we have now." He continued "We are able to stop a killer in a matter of hours instead of days now ... and prevent him from killing again."

He paused once again, took a drink of water, and said "Death of the young and elderly is now being prevented and we can now (pounding the words hard) STOP Murderers From Using Guns, and, yes, and we can do all this while feeding and caring for the homeless young women out there AND reduce federal spending ... with ... THIS! Holding up a small insulin syringe.

Before there was a reaction he stepped to the wings and a screen came down on the stage. We could hear his voice amplified say "We had a small town of 650 persons participate in our test by allowing us to implant them with this system. Here are the results of that success! The lights were lowered slightly and the screen showed the inside of a small town police cruiser.

The police were sitting chatting and their radar gun beeped with a four beep then one long beep. The police looked at each other, the driver flicked on the siren and the other called on the radio with a description of the van that had just driven by. The little monitor on the dashboard lit up and a picture of a little girl, about 8 or so appeared, she was listed as missing on the top of the screen and the time she was reported lost. They caught up to the van and he stopped. The officers got out, guns drawn and ordered the man out of the vehicle. They cuffed him and then searched the van. Under a blanket in the back, hands tied and gagged was a little 8 year-old girl, scared to death. The mother appeared a short time later and there was a wonderful tearful reunion. The mother was saying to one of the police officers, "Thank you, oh, so much officer, she was gone for over an hour before I called you, thank you for finding her so fast!"

SuperPreacher interrupted and said "From the time that she was reported missing to the time that the man was handcuffed was a little under 35 minutes. One of the reasons he gave for not running was that it was too soon, they couldn't have known that fast.

The scene changed to a man that was wearing rags, he went to a restaurant and ordered food, ate it, then walked out.

Camera changed to a woman sitting in an easy chair sweating and holding her chest. There is a knock on the door, the woman looks startled and starts to get up but falls on the floor. The door opens and the EMS crew walk in and immediately start working on her and the scene cuts as the EMS take her out on a stretcher.

Security camera, man enters the store, robs the cashier at knifepoint then leaves. Store clerk presses a button as the man walks out ... the scene pauses.

SuperPreacher says "the homeless man has no place to cook food, so he can get two meals a day at that diner, they feed him a balanced meal and the charge is deducted from his daily account. The woman that had a heart attack was having it for quite a few minutes before she would have called anyone. She was met by the EMS who had a special electronic key to get into her house without damaging anything when she is in distress, The reason that they were there so quickly was that as soon as her heart started to beat wrong, the EMS were notified by the chip inside her, in any other place she would have died that day. The robber has now been tagged by the police using the metal detector in the store, the police have been notified and have a description of the robber. They can find him using their radar guns now. Another security camera, a man walks in, buys a few things and walks out to find three police cars sitting outside waiting for him.

City Hall, we follow a camera through two doors marked security area only, no unauthorized personnel. We are shown a room that has people sitting behind a long counter with headsets on, about 40 of them. The scene changes to the same doors but they open as we approach to find that there are only 6 people there now behind computer monitors. Tape pauses again.

SuperPreacher said, "We used banking computers which were already set up to track large volumes of information and are linked worldwide. This room handles all 911 calls, fire and rescue calls, and police dispatch calls. The way it is done is that all of it is automated because of the chip. The chip notifies the room of a potential emergency, any emergency, and the dispatch is instantaneous. The cost of setting up this system was paid for in the first two weeks of operation. The operational cost is about $75 per person per year with little to no theft of any services.

The screen came up and people in the audience started to applaud. Sheesh, it sounded great to me too! For some reason the "Mark of the Beast" came to mind though.

SuperPreacher stood, walked to the center stage again, and when the crowd got quiet said, "These chips are technological marvels-using the absolute latest technology and operate on the body's natural electrical system so there are no batteries ever to replace. Manufacturing and inserting the chips cost about $25 each and it is painless". The nurse held out her hand and SuperPreacher injected the back of her hand with the chip. He said that he would answer questions for a time.

The Questions were simple enough, where can we get them, do they have to be replaced, how does it know is you are sick and so on, but one stern faced man stood and said, "This sound like the mark of the beast, how can we insure that it is not?" SuperPreacher smiled and said "Ladies and Gentlemen, this was the question I have been waiting for!" The nurse came forward with a small vial and magnifier and handed it to the preacher. He smiled and turned to the audience. This is the 666th chip manufactured. I have just injected my Nurse with the 665th chip. He held it up and said "We all worship God here and want to make a statement of faith to the world. He held the magnifier in front of the vial and there was a chip floating inside. He laid it on the floor of the stage and while the world looked on, Stomped it. He raised his voice saying "This is a brave new world, there will BE NO beast, I will promise you that" He held out his hand and said, "I myself will take the 667th chip!" as he was injected.

The applause was long with people hugging and slapping each other on the backs. The scene changed to an analyst who said a few words about how the chip would help mankind and he went into great detail about the systems used and their inexpensive costs. I flipped channels and on one I saw a fellow that was suppose to be the chips designer, he held up a glass vial and passed it in front of a magnifier saying "this was the first chip ever produced" and he proceeded to explain the parts and how they worked, as well as the manufacturing process. He said that as the first ever produced that this chip would be on display at he Smithsonian Institute.

6 Months later.

Got about 25,000 in cash now. Things are getting harder. The small grocery stores have closed and it is the national chains now. I went to the farmers market and they still take cash but are getting squeezed out quickly due to few people carrying money anymore, and the larger vendors now have debit machines attached to Cell phones. Commercial sellers are very abundant there now.

I talked to a man earlier today that has about 35 acres of land for sale. He agreed to sell me the land at a reduced price if I provide him with a percentage of the crops. I agreed as I am starting to worry about food myself now.

Farming is HARD! I bought a couple of pigs - had to move them a few days later to the other side of the property, FAR from the house. Got 2 milk cows and a bull. A small group of Amish came to see me and we talked. They offered to help a little and they showed me how to milk a cow and boil the milk to make it keep longer. They showed me how to plow the ground and they also brought a welcoming gift ... a dozen "dittlers", or baby chickens.

The house is almost finished now, two rooms, but it is roomy. I salvaged an old generator from an old ford truck and made a paddle wheel of sorts then wired the house using car lights, not the headlights but the back-up lights and other things. I got a few 12-volt light bulbs from the hardware store and they are great, they work from battery and I now have one that I found as a backup. I have no idea how to keep meat yet and food is really getting expensive without the chip, some stores now charge a surcharge if they take money at all. Soon though I should have enough eggs and pork to trade.

My corn and beans started growing and the pigs had a litter of piglets. I am so exhausted that I go to bed at dark now, funny, I actually feel better when doing this. Farming is really hard work, but is almost becoming a pleasure.

Corn came in and the beans, it feels great to pick them, but oh so lonely and tiring. I rescued a truck for next to nothing, and registered it as a farm vehicle so that I can get away without a lot of taxes and problems. I took a load of corn to the farmers market and sold most of it. Was hard though, many had the chip and few had money. I had a great thing happen though, talked to a Christian lady that had decided to not take the chip, I gave her some corn, she wasn't doing very well for herself.

Went back to the market today and it was a bit better than yesterday. People had heard of me and were there waiting. The same lady came by again and I invited her to my place to eat. (I now could keep meat, I built a small smokehouse!) She came over and we had a great meal. She told me how bad it is out there for people not willing to take the chip or have theirs deactivated. Seems that if someone gets into trouble then most of the functions of their chip are turned off ... like the buying and selling parts. We talked about a lot of things and she told me that she didn't have a large farm, just a little vegetable garden in the back of her place, and I was fascinated talking to her about this and everything else. I dropped her off at her house and she kissed me on the cheek.

Went to her house today. The door was locked but I wondered around the back to see if she was working in her garden. She was outside sitting in front of an old garage. She was startled when she saw me. I just smiled, closed my eyes to the reality of this situation and just smiled as if everything was fine.

We talked for a while and she finally sighed, then told me that the house was taken by the bank and she was living in the garage until the place sold or they found her there. I offered her a job on my place, free room and board as long as the place produced it. She said that she didn't know a thing about farming, so I told her that I would teach her, and to think it over.

She came by today and asked me if the offer was still open. I said, "Sure it is!" We talked a while then I gave her a hoe and she started weeding the corn and beans ... then I had to stop her and show her what were beans and what were weeds. After a little practice she is doing great. I want to pay her in money a little and I intend to, but there isn't enough, so I decided that I would share part of the farmer's market money with her. Funny though, the last few times I was at he market I had to give away as much as I sold as very few were using money.

We have been living and working side by said, me and Lynn, and today, after realizing that we were really starting to like each other, made a decision, asked a question and ... She said YES!

The bank has sold her house and I have added a room onto the house for her. I make my own lumber now, I bought a chainsaw rig from a fellow for a truckload of corn. I used an axe to split cedar to make shingles for the roof.

I am still only using about 10 of the 25 acres. Lynn has been reading the Bible a lot lately (I've read it over and over myself) and we are picking corn and smoking hams. With me and Lynn both working, and with the Amish helping out on occasion, we barely take care of the land we have, no way I am going to be able to work it all.

We had greens, corn and Pork Chops this evening. I cannot buy gas anymore so I put together a still out in the back to make grain alcohol. I am mixing it with used oil to keep it from burning my engine up.

Lynn and I have decided to go visit the city. She wanted to look up a friend of hers, besides, I wanted to go take a look around and see what has changed. We decided that when we get to town we would get married.

Author: MH

First created on 18 May 2002 Updated on 21 June 2016

Copyright ©2000 Andy Nonymousman
Reproduced by permission and with thanks by HEM, 2001
Endorsement of this book by HEM does not necesserily mean
endorsement of the author's other publications or views.