"You have just watched The Michael White Show on Fox 12. Coming up next is the classic 90's hit Seinfeld, which some of you older and wiser ladies and gentlemen might remember. After Seinfeld at 5, will be an all new episode of Culture Clash. Stay tuned to Fox 12."

The commercials played on the old Pre-Blackout 32" Flat screen TV. The summer weather in Portland, OR is usually sunny, but today has been an overcast day with a few showers here and there. Inside, the atmosphere is stuffy, as most nursing homes are. Like most buildings in post-Blackout Portland, the Portland Seniors Home is a pre-Blackout structure. Most Portland residents decided to renovate the older homes and buildings of the city rather than tear them down when given the choice by the US government. Despite the exterior renovations however, the Portland Seniors Home still leaves a lot to be desired on the inside. Cracks in the walls, rats, and mold, the Portland Seniors Home receives very little funding from the state of Oregon as it is an entirely tax-payer funded facility. Most of the residents are older residents with health issues who would otherwise be homeless. From the time it was built in 1923 to the 2012 Blackout, the building served as an all-girls Catholic school. During the Blackout, the building was vacant until 2018 when some charitable Portland residents opened it up as a homeless shelter, which later evolved into a free-of-charge senior home. The Catholic school received one renovation in 1967 and has since remained virtually unchanged on the inside, which contains hardwood floors and wooden window sills.

During the commercial break, Debra Kowalsky, an 82 year old wheelchair bound Caucasian woman, commented "If I was her mother, I would have beat her black and blue for disrespecting me like that on national TV."

Another woman, 75 year old Denise Johnson, an African-American woman, said "Mmm, now I don't know if I can sympathize with her. If my children's fathers was touching them, I woulda killed 'em."

"I say shoot them all." Said 82 year old Barry Jenson, a bald, wheelchair-bound Caucasian man with glasses.

While this episode was just a run-of-the-mill Michael White episode for most of the seniors in the room watching, to one wheel-chair bound senior, it meant a lot more. While physically disabled and barely able to speak, 69 year old Ed Truman remembers meeting the guests back in 2029 right when his life took a turn for the worst. Ed Truman remembers being in charge of Willoughby, TX during the Patriot reclamation of America. Ed remembers Rachel Matheson and her apparently pedophile father Dr. Gene Porter. He remembers how he thought he witnessed Sebastian Monroe's execution only for him to come back from the dead. He remembers how that entire group undermined his authority and made him look like an ass to President Jack Davis. And of course, his darkest memory. Killing the woman he sort of loved to save his own life and the Patriot's operation. Even to this day, Truman still struggles with wondering why he was able to kill one of the only people in his entire life he felt a connection to. He's always felt different from other people in that aspect. Even in the Portland Seniors Home, he hears other residents talk about the love they have for their kids, even when their kids dump them in a shithole nursing home to die. Truman's considered that he might be a sociopath, but still feels different from other sociopaths, like Jack Davis or Victor Doyle. These men always had a sense of authority to them. A sense of strength and power. Truman his entire life has felt weak and worthless. He's always felt he belonged in a more subordinate role. He thinks back to his childhood and how he was the weakest link in the family. His father abused him, his mother, and his older brother. His mother abused his older brother and him. And his older brother abused him. He was frequently beat up and told he was worthless and eventually came to believe it. Truman thinks back to one of his worst memories during childhood.

March 14, 1978:

8 year old Eddy Truman is lying in bed at 6:04 PM trying to fall asleep. He's going to go hungry tonight, but that will be better than risking his father's wrath if he gets the blame for breaking the side mirror on his father's 1959 Corvette, which his father loves more than life itself and definitely more than any of his family. He lies under the covers of his Scooby-Doo themed bed sheets. He can hear some yelling and his heart starts to pound.

"Margie, what the fuck happened to my 'vette?"

He can't hear what his mom says in response.

"You don't fucking know?! You're here all God damn day. How the FUCK DO YOU NOT KNOW?!"

Eddy hears a smacking sound and hears some dishes crash.

"You little worthless bitch! You cannot be this fucking worthless and stupid! I've had that car since high school and it's been in perfect condition until today. DID YOU FUCKING BREAK THE MIRROR OFF?!"

After a moment of silence, he hears

"BOBBY!"

Eddy's heart pounds as his dad moves from his mom to his brother. The next step is him. Eddy knows how the mirror broke. His brother was tossing him around like a ragdoll in the garage when he threw him into the side of the Corvette.

"Did you fuck my car up?!"

After a few seconds of silence, his worst nightmare comes true. He hears loud thumping up the stairs. Suddenly the door fly's open.

"Oh, look at you, you guilty little piece of shit. Going to bed at 6 fucking PM, huh?!"

Eddy was too frightened to speak before his father grabbed him by one hand pulling him out of bed, and punching him in the face. His father grabbed him by the wrist and threw him down the stairs while shouting profanities.

"You little worthless fucking worm. If you don't fix the mirror on my car, I'll fucking kill you!" His father yelled at him before leaving the house for the night.

Eddy laid at the bottom of the stairs with a broken wrist, a bloody nose, and pain all over his body.

At school, he was also bullied by other guys who seemed to be able to see his inner weakness.

February 11, 1981:

Eddy Truman is walking home from school on a chilly Cleveland, OH day. As he walks up his driveway, the boys across the street see him.

"Heeey, Eddy." One of them shouts. They all run over to him.

Eddy Truman looks down and tries to make it into his house but the 4 boys block him.

"What, not even a hello? Did your slut mom not teach you manners?" The boys' chuckle.

"I have to study. Can I go in?" Eddy asks them.

"I don't know. Can you?" One of them asks while blocking the door.

"All the men in the neighborhood were mad today. They wanted to have sex with your mom, but she was missing her pussy. Where were you, Eddy?"

"I don't get it. I was at school." Eddy responded wanting to just head inside.

"What are you, a retard? You're her pussy."

Another boy adds in. "You know, if someone talked to me that way, I'd kick their ass. Why don't you kick Kirk's ass, Eddy?" He then hit Eddy on the back of the head. "Why don't you hit back, Eddy?"

"Come on, we better let the pussy get back to its mommy."

Once Kirk stepped away from the door, Eddy rushed in and locked it.

Perhaps this is why Truman has never seen human relationships as anything other than predatory and selfish.

Truman uses every ounce of strength he has to turn his head to the left so he can see the view of the beautiful Portland Hillside. The fact that he's in Portland feels like a metaphor to him. A metaphor for failure. In his 20's, Truman's dream was to live in Seattle and be a grunge rockstar like his idol Kurt Cobain. One of the few other people Truman felt a connection to in life was Kurt Cobain. Someone he saw as being an outcast like himself. An outcast who rose to fame and conquered all of the hive mind masses of people that bullied him throughout his life. Instead of being a rocker however, Truman joined the military, serving in the Gulf War in 1991, and Iraq and Afghanistan from 2001-2009 when he was transferred to guard duty at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Of course, he remembers the Blackout in 2012, the Patriot government being established in 2013, and rising through the ranks of what was left of the US government. He remembers how he almost felt like he found happiness in the island colony. It felt like starting life over on some exotic island, living off the land. It was fantasy-esque. But it didn't take long for others to see his inner weakness. As he tried to rise up the ranks and gain the favor of President Davis, one man he had the displeasure of being under frequently was Victor Doyle. For a while, Truman served as a police chief at the Guantanamo community.

December 16, 2020:

"Alright, so what exactly happened, Truman?" Doyle asks Truman in an office room at night.

"Well… I approached the teens, asked them what they were doing out past curfew, one who I believe was President Davis's son, yelled "drinking". I pulled out my gun, told them to drop the alcohol, and put their hands up. He told me "You're not going to shoot me", through the bottle at me, and the group ran off into the trees."

"Why didn't you shoot?" Doyle asked.

"It's President Davis's son. I can't shoot the president's son."

"Then shoot one of the other kids. Or shoot in a non-lethal area. Listen, Truman, President Davis has given us cops permission to use force on his kids if they break the law. Why didn't you use force?"

"I…. I just thought… you know, it's the president's son. That's bound to intimidate anyone."

"It wouldn't intimidate me." Doyle said calmly while staring directly into Truman's eyes.

Truman felt nervous and intimidated in that moment as well. "Well… I just feel like there would be a lot less heat on me if I just complied-"

"Complied with what, Truman? President Davis knows his son Brandon is a troublemaker. He has specifically given us permission to keep his son in line. You already knew this, and yet you acted like a scared little girl."

"I won't make the same mistake next time, sir."

"Oh, I think you will." Doyle remarked.

"I promise, sir."

"You can't promise me that. What, are you gonna magically grow a pair?"

"Pardon, sir?" Truman asked uncomfortably.

"You act like a scared little girl around authority figures. That's why at age 40, you were working guard duty at the old prison over there. Why don't you act like a man?"

"Sir, I can't act out of line." Truman said nervous and shaking internally.

"Oh, I know you can't. Believe me. I see the scared look in your eyes. Now go off and fuck up some more, so I can justify firing you."

"Yes, sir." Truman paced out of Doyle's office glad that it was over.

Eventually, Truman was promoted to head the reclamation of Texas. He was stationed in a town called Willoughby, TX where he and the Patriots built a reprogramming camp to create perfect soldiers out of the young kids. After he killed his fiancée and then later saw her tell him to go to Bradbury, Idaho, he blacked out, and then found himself walking down a road in some flat wilderness. The next town he walked into, he found out the power was back on. He later made his way to Portland, OR where he could start over, as he would find out through TV that the Patriots had been defeated. Struggling with why he killed his fiancée and being completely alone and a failure, he tried to kill himself in 2037 by jumping off a 4 story building head first. After jumping, his fall was broken by a tree branch and he fell head first into the street at a slower speed. The brain damage he received from the fall has caused him to be paralyzed from the neck down, have very limited muscle control in his head, and have very troubled speech. Since no one claimed him, he was put in the Portland Seniors Home and will likely be here until he dies. Truman wishes that death would come, but is unable to kill himself because of his paralysis.

Truman feels dehydrated, so he contemplates whether he should ask for water or hope that they forget to give him water and he dies. He decides that they probably won't forget and not asking would prolong his thirst.

He tries to speak. "Waaaaterrrr." His speech sounds slurred and it's a struggle for him to be able to speak at all.

"Waaaterrr" "Waaaaterrr"