At breakfast with Derek and Wondah, Melody and I caught up with what was happening while we were gone.

Derek asked, "How was Grandpa Ralph?"

I laughed. "He looked like a neglected wet dog when we first saw him. But by the time we left, he was back to his old self. Determined to stick it out there until he died. I'm sure glad we have him. Because he is our entry to most of the Central Valley supporting what we are developing here."

"So Derek, what happened while Melody and I were gone?"

"As of yesterday, eleven more people showed up at the port. We are getting people from all sectors, some with skills that will be really useful, doctors, pharmacists teachers and others too many to mention. They all start right in working for food and water and a safe place to sleep at night."

"That's good. We will need everyone if we are going to revive any part of Los Angeles. Any news from beyond?"

"I'll let Wondah tell you that…" Derek nodded towards Wondah.

"The military is in operation all over. Unfortunately, putting down uprisings and mobs. Some communities have become semi-military militias and have raided other communities for scarce resources. Farming areas seem to be doing the best.

"So is the government in Washington, kinda… It's pretty much chaos and every surviving politician for his/herself for now. Most of them asking for more help for their communities. It's the same all over the world. The news on the Internet is pretty bleak, dysfunctional."

She paused, and then started again. "Watching the scuttlebutt online, some of our people are complaining that there isn’t any more fish or seafood and that the trip and more trips to the Valley are useless when so much needs to be done right here."

I had considered that happening. "What do you think we can do about it."

She looked over her glasses and said, "I think we should have a meeting to clear the air."

Derek replied, "Great idea, Wondah. You and I have other things to do besides work on security systems. We need to get others involved to take that over. I, for one, want to go back to doing renovation and construction."

I agreed. "Okay then, I'll give the Captain a call and see if we can set up a meeting for…?"

Wondah volunteered, "Friday night, two days from now. That'll give me time to get prepared with visuals and a screen set up. I'll get the word out right away so that everyone will know as soon as you find out what the Captain says.

I called Captain Jensen and he agreed to let us use the auditorium for the general meeting and offered a few other rooms for group meetings to hammer out details. I thanked him. Without the ship we wouldn't have had that kind of meeting place. The hotel at the port only had a couple of restaurants. Nothing suitable for a large meeting.

I checked with Ray Dugas. He was on his way down to the port to help get the animals we brought from the Valley started there providing fresh eggs and milk.

"Glad you had a good trip, Melody and Drake. We've got the beach cleaned up about as much as we are able for now. Still no fish and I don't trust the seafood around the pier because of chemical contamination."

"That's not good. Any suggestions about fishing?" I asked.

"I suggest that the fleet go north to Santa Barbara and beyond where all of this industrial crap in the Pacific didn't happen. The fishing and seafood should be okay up there till you get to the Bay Area where it might be bad again."

"I'll be looking forward to hearing how those new animals are doing at the port. I think we should go hunting in the reserve to get more fresh meat for the compound."

"Good idea. It will be a while before we can produce our own meat from the livestock we have. In the future we'll have to run regular trips to the Valley as we grow."

"I'm not fond of old goat." We both laughed.

Derek and I left to take care of some repairs at the port from the flood that occupied our next two days. In the meantime, with Ray's help, some of the young people of the fishing community took charge of milking the cows every morning at the corral with a convenient small warehouse as a shelter for them at night.

Every morning after milking, they were taken to pasture in vacant lots and big backyards where the lawns had gone to hay earlier and new sprouts from the recent •  rain provided additional succulent food for grazers. Goats were taken the places where there were brush that they enjoyed.

Every late afternoon they were then herded back and milked again. The community relished the fresh milk and used every bit of the milk and cream.

In addition to the pigeon colonies and seagull traps that the fishing community had already established, another area was set aside for chickens and ducks. sawdust and hay was brought in to provide nesting places. Scraps from seafood and fish were the primary food source because they didn't have much grain or rice for the birds.

Friday evening came and everyone congregated in the auditorium of the Rambler. There were far more people than I thought and filled it halfway. Unfortunately, everyone couldn't be there because we had to have some security that was provided by people from the ship. Our community was left guarded by only its booby-traps and cameras. But we hadn't had any challenges there for some time.

Wondah set up her station on the left side of the stage with her smart pad and Wi-Fi system so she could relay information from the audience to the large screen provided by the ship.

I joined Derek, the Captain and a recovering Van wheeling an oxygen tank on the stage. When everyone had settled in, I began a speech that I had shared with others to make sure that I was doing the right thing since politics was never part of my life. But we had to start somewhere…

"Thank you all for coming. And especially, Captain Jensen for providing this place for us to meet." I nodded to  hi and he nodded his head and waved to the audience… They cheered!

"I want to get back into the construction business with Drake. There is an unimaginable opportunity to rebuild most of Los Angeles for those of us who have that kind of vision. But it will take all of us with all of our skills and hard work to make it happen. I'm not going to bore you with details…" I was interrupted with applause again.

"But… But we need to organize in a way that communities have always been organized so we can use our best skills to the best purpose. A few of us got together and decided that we would have some committees work tonight to develop a few details. The committees are governance, banking, business, farming, fishing and any other committees that you would like to see. Any suggestions…?"

Several hands went up and I called each one.

The first woman said, "Don't forget education."

A second man called out, "Security." 

A third woman called out, "We need entertainment."

A nurse from the ship announced, "We need a hospital."

A boy I knew from the beach cleanup, Erik Banks raised his hand. I called on him.

"My dog, Artie, got attacked by wild dogs and killed. What are we going to do about them?"

An animal committee was created.

Wondah displayed each committee on the big screen and added a room where the details would be worked out. When no more committees were suggested, Wondah displayed the rules and I reiterated them.

"First, you should select a committee to join and go to that room. Second, you should, together, select a moderator to speak for the committee. And a secretary to collect all the suggestions made. Once that's done, everyone should brainstorm ideas and not, at this point, argue which ones are better or not. Once you are finished, everyone come back here and we'll have each moderator make a brief report." Everyone started shuffling out of the room…

"One more thing… If we have time, we will take nominations for Mayor, a governing committee, and police chief or sheriff. Otherwise, we'll convene again next Friday and get that started. Any questions?"

Everyone left the room. Within an hour, everyone was back and Wondah had gathered all of the ideas that the secretaries had on their smart pads. Each moderator was then given 10 minutes to explain what they had come up with. It was getting late, past 9 pm and the little ones were getting restless, so I adjourned the meeting with the promise that we would meet again on the following Friday night.

Derek, Wondah, Melody and I left the meeting feeling quite good that we had a start on developing a structure that would eventually have a government, sectors of the society working fully with people that wanted to work in those sectors and hopefully, a banking and financial system that would enable everyone to have a fair shake in the business of rebuilding the city.

Getting there wasn't going to be easy. There was already signs of discord in the ranks. Something to be expected, but I wasn't prepared to deal with.

Copyright 2023 © Ronald W. Hull

8/7/23