The Henderson Journals

by The-Suburban-Guy

These are the logs of Michael Henderson, resident of Vault 72 and later founding member of the "Douglas Vault" settlement. They detail his life within the Vault, as well as some of the founding and growth of the settlement following the return to the surface. This story is intended to fit within the Fallout canon, filling in some of the gaps in Pennsylvania's post-war history.

11. Christmas Past

Entry 10: "Christmas Past" 12.26.77

Christmas just passed. It's strange to have celebrated and not had any trees. Vault-Tec prohibits us from growing any trees until we can go back up top, so for now its just paper cutouts.

This was the first time I've been alone for Christmas. In the vault we don't have much ability to give gifts. We all have what we need, and you can't buy anything new-there's nowhere to buy it. I had a copy of Red Menace and a Grognak comic in my jacket when I came into the vault, and that's about it. For Christmas Andy, Joe, and I exchanged gifts. Clark was Jewish, so he didn't do the Christmas exchange. At least this way we didn't let the tradition die, even if we were just swapping things we'd normally let each other borrow.

I gave Joe my Red Menace holodisk and Andy my Grognak. Joe gave me a holodisk with recordings of some of the radio broadcasts from before the war. He'd had time to grab some belongings before getting to the vault because he lived close. He gave Andy an advance copy of the school yearbook from above. Joe had been the editor and updated the advance copy monthly. I think Andy gave the best gift though.

Andy gave me a photograph of our families together on the 4th of July from this year. His mother had grabbed the photo album before reaching the vault, and he searched until he found a picture of my whole family.

I cried as I thanked him, reaching out to embrace him. After a brief moment he responded.

"Okay, and that's enough." Andy gently pushed me off.

Andy also got Joe a good gift, when the bombs dropped he was wearing a Nuka-World shirt. Joe had never been there, so him getting Andy's shirt was about as close as he would ever get.

New Year's is coming up soon. They're having a party in the Atrium for everyone to stay up. It's kind of strange. Without seeing the weather time moves differently.

Entry 11: "Revised History" 12.30.77

Today I gave my first lesson to the younger kids. There are only a handful of them, so I did manage to get them all together for a bit. They seemed pretty receptive, and when I explained that they needed to understand what really happened they seemed eager to learn.

The main thing I'm working on is explaining to them the whole situation that led to the war that led to the bombs that led to the Vault. I can remember that the Resource Wars started a bit before I was born, and that the US and China fought in Anchorage when I was a kid. My parents never forbid me from seeing the news, and as a result I have always had a pretty good idea that things weren't going great in the world.

I guess that's why my parents decided to move into Suburban Estates. They figured that with everything going on, the safest bet would be to move into a neighborhood where even atomic fire could be stopped thanks to a two-ton steel door.