Anderson abruptly held up his hands. “Hold on now, I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The City Council already voted to accept the refugees in, but the town consensus seems to be against that so let’s put it to a general vote.” He paused for a moment, then continued more formally. “All in favor of accepting refugees into Aspen Hill?”
The proposal was met with stony silence in the room, and not a single hand in the crowd lifted. Anderson looked back helplessly at the councilmen and women behind him, but in spite of their earlier resolution their hands were all down too. “Very well. All opposed?” The City Council kept their stoic postures, still as statues, but the auditorium filled with rustling as everyone else raised a hand. The Mayor’s shoulders drooped with defeat. “Very well. We’ll collaborate with Officer Turner and volunteers from the town on setting up and manning roadblocks.”
After a long, thoughtful pause he abruptly straightened and continued hastily, as if to leave the unpleasant issue behind. “On to other matters. As you should all be aware by now resupply from outside sources has nearly completely halted for the foreseeable future. As it stands we’re basically limited to what we already have or can produce in town. Now when when we spoke with FETF earlier they encouraged us to keep things business as usual to avoid a panic until things could get back to normal, but after some debate with the council we’ve decided that’s not going to be enough.
“As of today all restrictions on hunting, fishing, and gathering on public lands is suspended. If you have or can think of any means of producing food we strongly encourage you to do so. Furthermore, anyone with an excess of fuel, food, or other necessities is encouraged to donate to the town storehouse, which will be set up in Tillman’s Sporting Goods and organized by Councilwoman Tillman. Please see her for more information about donating or receiving aid. Now we do realize the need to see to your own survival, but you should also be aware that our chances of getting through this will be better as a community. We can’t afford to all go our own way and die alone when together we can pull through.”
Trev both agreed and disagreed with that line of thinking. Like Lewis had said, they needed the town to be strong for everyone’s wellbeing. But at the same time they had to be ready to look after their own wellbeing if the town couldn’t pull through. He couldn’t help but think of the President’s speech after the attack where he talked about everyone sinking or swimming together. That sort of strategy would just see everyone dead where a few could have lived, same as if they decided to accept all refugees and try to share out food equally.
Anderson continued his spiel in the same rapid, almost panicked pace, as if trying to get through unpleasantness only to find more unpleasantness ahead. “Be advised also that power and therefore water is expected to fail within the next few days, if not sooner. The spring at the edge of town flows naturally and is therefore not dependent on pumps, so get used to drawing your water from there until we can think up a better solution. Although the Aspen Hill Canyon stream is another potential source of water we strongly advise against drinking from it unless you ensure the water is thoroughly purified first. The water can be used for other purposes, such as manually flushing toilets or watering gardens.
“On the subject of sanitation, we should warn you that it’s anyone’s guess how long before the sewer system backs up, and we definitely don’t want that. We caution you all to have outhouses dug and constructed before the sewer system fails, and be prepared to plug your toilets just in case. Even those with septic tanks should be aware that the tank will eventually fill.”
That wasn’t a problem at the shelter. Lewis had created a drainage field for the septic system that would last pretty much indefinitely with minor maintenance. Yet another thing Trev could be grateful for while living with his cousin.
The Mayor’s speech drew him back in. “Also, obviously, without fuel the garbage trucks will not be running. Garbage can potentially cause as many sanitation problems as sewage, so we urge you all to dig garbage pits well away from your houses to dispose of your waste. We’ll also be organizing teams to dig public latrines and waste dumps at suitable locations and could use volunteers for that.
“Moving on. After much discussion we’ve decided that we can’t rely on the strength of the dollar as a means of currency, and trying to do so would be pointless since we’re cut off from the rest of the world. Therefore we advise all citizens to switch to a barter system instead. However, although you would be wise to no longer accept dollars as payment we still feel it will be prudent to keep the previously accepted dollar value of items as a standard for trade to avoid confusion. We understand that in any economy values will shift according to supply and demand, and even at the best of times the value of goods is open to negotiation, but those price tags at the store are a good place to start any haggling.
“Now, we have to stress that volunteer efforts are as important as, if not more important than, material donations. We encourage all citizens to seek us out for any ways you can be of help in the community, especially if you have any skills that would be of use. Most especially, if we’re to follow Officer Turner’s advice about roadblocks we’re going to need to keep them manned in rotating shifts. That’s a lot of people volunteering a lot of time, so if you know how to use a firearm and can spare even one shift a week that would help tremendously. We’ll even find a way to furnish you with a firearm while you’re on shift if you don’t have one, as long as you’ve got the skill to use it.”
The Mayor actually reached up to wipe at a bead of sweat on his forehead, then smiled in a self-deprecating way. “All right, then. That’s the general stuff, now let’s get down to brass tacks and talk specifics.”
After the meeting Lewis led the way over to where a harried-looking Councilwoman Tillman was fending off dozens of people vying for her time. From the sound of it far more of them were requesting aid than offering it.
Catherine Tillman was the wife of John Tillman, owner of Tillman’s Sporting Goods, who Trev and Lewis had gotten to know pretty well during their building project since it also doubled as the town’s hardware store. Although the woman showed no favorites she did get to them faster than some of the others.
“Trev, glad to see you made it home safely,” she said, shaking his hand warmly. “We were all worried when we heard you’d injured yourself and had a long walk home.”
“Thank you,” Trev said awkwardly, not sure why they’d navigated the crowd to be here. He looked at Lewis.
“I’d like to donate 500lbs of wheat to the storehouse,” his cousin promptly said.
“And 100lbs from me,” Trev hastily added, although he hadn’t been planning on a donation. It felt flimsy and tacked-on compared to Lewis’s offer, but he didn’t have nearly the food supply his cousin had stored away. Also hadn’t Lewis been against donating food in their earlier discussion since it might give away that they had extra to spare? And 500lbs! That was 40 weeks’ worth of food for a grown man, give or take. Sitting through the meeting had obviously changed his mind.
However flimsy Trev’s donation felt right after Lewis’s offer, 100lbs was two months’ worth in its own right and probably more than he could spare. At least Catherine didn’t seem to think his donation was pathetic. Her eyes widened as she looked between both of them. “Well that is very generous, thank you! Bring it by any time, or let us know if you need help getting it out to the store. Or I suppose I should say storehouse, now.”