Day 82
I've been too busy to write during the day and too tired at night. The last four days has certainly been … interesting.
We've run into two old acquaintances. One a potential friend and one a potential not-friend; I'm not sure if I'm prepared to call him an enemy or not, we'll see. Actually I'm hesitant to confirm either one's role without more information. Who knows, both of them could blow up in our faces or turn out to be the best thing since sliced bread.
We have not one new family, but three; two from the train and one couple from the Ehren Cutoff enclave. It's been a lot to assimilate in a short amount of time. So much has happened that I'm not going to be able to get it all down tonight. About all I'm good for is a quick introduction of our new members.
First there is Jerry and Muriel. They are a long married couple in their 60s but they are still active and hearty. Three months ago they were "snowbirds" who lived in their RV year around and who were visiting one of their adult daughters in Zephyrhills. Since then they've lost most everything they had except for a few personal items and the clothes on their backs. In fact they've lost it three times. First time was when they had to run for their lives and were picked up by some folks that eventually formed Hale Hollow. The second time was when they chose to leave there and follow the Ehren Cutoff enclave after the Hale Hollow group encountered some personality conflicts in their leadership. This time they lost it when they left the Ehren Cutoff group, completely disillusioned by the new leader's agenda. In Jerry's words, "That group is getting downright weird, maybe worse. The new leader insists on being called 'Brother Jeremiah' and is forcing out anyone that doesn't completely agree with the way he is running things." Muriel has been a homemaker for years but Jerry used to work in the funeral business. The only thing of any significant value he was able to bring out with them from the Ehren Cutoff group was a sanitizing device developed to use prior to the embalming process.
Our next family includes Hank and Trish and their kids. Hank and Trish were engaged to be married before NRS. The economic troubles of the time caused him to be laid off when the grocery store he managed was closed. They put their wedding plans on hold hopping Hank would find a job in short order. Instead, NRS only made finding a new job more difficult. They had combined their two households trying to save money when there was a large outbreak of NRS in Fort Lauderdale where they lived. They worked together and were able to secure a place on one of the refugee trains that head for the FL/GA border but they had to sign a Writ of Commitment before they were allowed to board with the children. Even though the writ really doesn't have much legal standing they now consider themselves married. Both Hank and Trish have children from their first marriages. Hank is still grieving for his estranged, college aged son who never escaped the third UCF massacre. His other son Brandon is introverted, immature, and bookish. He's struggling to find his footing with the men. Brandon isn't a bad kid, he's just not very self-motivated which means he requires pretty constant supervision to get him to move from one constructive task to the next. Trish's kids are 16 year old fraternal twins named Martin and Madison. The twins prefer to be called Marty and Maddie. Cute, right? Not.
I'm glad I don't have to deal with them on a too regular basis. Again, they are having a little trouble fitting in. They are both very extroverted and were very popular at their school. They're used to being pretty high up the teen social ladder and are having an adjustment reaction to suddenly being expected to shoulder so much responsibility without any corresponding accolades. I give all the kids pats on the back on a regular basis but apparently that's not enough for the twins. They get really huffy when they think they are being under appreciated. Honestly, I had enough of the brat mentality with Ricky and I'm just about to tell them what happened to him. Maybe a little reminder of the realities of our situation will help ... though their parents might not appreciate it too much.
The last couple is Jack and Teri. They are in their early 30s and their special needs son died when several of his medications became unavailable during the supply line break downs. Terry is unable to have any more children and was thrilled with the number of children in our group. There are very few unclaimed children in the Hale Hollow enclave and no young children at all in the Ehren Cutoff group. (I think they might be good parents for Sis and Bubby and I'm talking it over with Scott before mentioning it to anyone else. Both of those kids need a lot more one-on-one attention than we can give them right now.) Teri worked at her son's day care facility before he died and their world fell apart. Jack worked in construction during the housing boom; since then he's worked a variety of jobs but had yet to find anything permanent.
Scott and David welcomed the addition of Jerry and Jack and think that with additional hands and experience they can halve the time they are spending on repair and maintenance and get everything hardened down for the cooler weather that should be heading out way soon. We don't get as cold as north Florida and beyond does but even getting down into the 50s at night and still being damp is a good recipe for colds and worse.
We now have forty-one people in Sanctuary. We are very close to reaching our pre-chosen 50-person limit. As it is I'm going to have to drastically enlarge the garden for next month's plantings. Even with all of the stuff that was found in the Vandervort house and all the stuff we've been gathering over the past month or so, we are going to be hard pressed to keep up if our group grows any more.
I'm going to try and catch up more tomorrow as it is supposed to be a "day of rest"; hopefully my arm won't be so sore either. Today is Saturday which means it is baking day. I really caught myself a good one when I banged into a hot Dutch Oven I had sat on the counter. It blistered up almost immediately and Rachel says that I'm going to have to watch for infection for the next few days. Thank goodness for burn cream, gauze, and ibuprofen. I just hope I can ignore the thumping enough so I can get some sleep.
