They Were The First

 

Walking toward us, on the other side of my place, were a young man and a young woman walking together. Sometimes they held hands. He carried a sort of homemade utility bag on his left shoulder. I could see that he had shoulder length black hair and unremarkable outdoor clothing. He wore cowboy boots though. Didn’t see many of those! She had on a long cotton dress, red with some ornate print and over it a heavy wool sweater in black yarn. She had regulation brown hair and was a tall girl. Her hair was up in a loose knot of some kind. She looked strong and capable. We would pass or meet them about the time we all got to the mailbox in front of the house. They laughed audibly and as we got closer; I could hear bits of singing. I did not know the song.

We all stopped by the mailbox. The man said, “we are Felicity and Evan and child. Are you Doug Simpson?”

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It was a moment I kept in memory. Doug looked at the couple we had just met on the road. His straight dark hair tended to fall before his very light blue eyes, giving him an almost fierce look, though I had not seen a lot of that in him. He was over six feet tall and rather thin. His clothes were worn. He was a bit grubby. It’s hard to stay clean and fresh doing what we had been doing.

“Yes. I am Doug Simpson,” he said to them, and smiled.

Evan put his hand out to Doug, and then the rest of us. We shook with Felicity also. There was some nervous laughter. Bubby kept his trap shut for the moment.

“Um, what can I do for you two,” Doug asked at last.

“We were told by a big round orb of light that you and your friends would be here. I know that sounds weird, but it’s true. It said Novus Ordo, the new world, is starting here and now, and that you were the main man! We want that.” Evan looked from Doug back to Felicity.

Felicity spoke up “I am carrying his child, and we want you to marry us! We could not find anyone else at all!” She smiled expectantly.

I thought Doug would say no way, he was not qualified etc. He totally amazed me by thinking it over out there on the street in front of my house.

“Let’s go inside,” said Doug. “We have to go around to the back. P-Sec thugs kicked the front door in, and I nailed it shut.”

Now there were six of us, plus Bubby. We all walked around to the kitchen door, which was still shut and looked ok. I dug the kitchen door key out of its hiding place under a certain piece of siding and unlocked the door.

I let Doug go first, I followed, then Felicity and Evan. Lou and Elvin brought up the rear with Bubby.

My kitchen smelled stale. You know how a house smells when no one has been home for a while. Power was working so I snapped on the kitchen light.

Doug and I spent a few minutes putting away the new supplies. I always went for plain and nutritious if I had a choice, so it was more brown bread, butter, cheese, apples, canned tuna, and peanut butter. We also bought cans of dog stew, in case Bubby couldn’t stand my cooking.

I said “hey, let’s go sit in the living room. There are more seats out there.” I was mother here, after all. Doug might be some kind of apostle, but it was my house. I took special care to put Felicity in my mom’s favorite upright sidechair.

I turned on a couple of lamps and we all got seated.

Doug said to Evan “tell me what you heard about me, and Novus Ordo. And where are you from? How did you find me?”

“We were living for the last three years with some others in a house that we found empty in Silvana. There were three guys, and one lady who was older, maybe 50, who kind of watched out for us. It was ok. We got along and we had a pretty good garden, back behind the house and even chickens. We salvaged things that were still usable from other houses that were empty, and the shops in town there. Nobody hindered us, and we never heard a peep from P-Sec at all.

“We were able to help each other.” Evan said. “Then things got strange.”

“One of the other guys would not leave Felicity alone. It got ugly. He would follow her around. Monica, the older lady, tried talking him out of it, but he wouldn’t listen to her at all. I started to be afraid that I was going to have to put him down or something.

“Then, a week ago, Bill rode into Silvana on a horse and told us there was something going on in Milltown. Somebody was gathering the people and inspiring them to live like human beings again, not pets of a corrupt management company. He said your name was Doug Simpson. He said we should find you and join up! We want to live a real life Doug and Jen.

“One night, we were in our room talking and a small light like a pearl arrived inside the house in our room! It grew to about the size of a basketball and a soft voice from somewhere else began speaking to us. It told us exactly how to find this house and that you people would all be here, and a big dog! The dog was a sign to us that you were the right people. The voice said that you would honor our desire to be married in front of God and man. Then it left us.”

Bubby looked smug, and Lou and Elvin giggled.

Doug looked a bit troubled and said “you know of course that I have never even considered marrying people! I don’t know. I will have to think about it for a minute. But I guess if All Being says to do it, I should do it.”

I said “how about we do the wedding in the morning! Doug can think about what to say over night. We can make some dinner now and when we sleep you two can have my parents’ room. There is a good bed in there. Lou and I sleep upstairs, and these two guys can sleep here in the living room, like they did before.” So that was approved by all.

Evan said, “hang on a minute, I brought some stuff to share with you all!”

Out of his backpack he pulled two smoked chickens, about five pounds of carrots, six big onions and a lot of red potatoes. He took all of that out to the kitchen and put it on the table. Riches indeed, at that time in history.

I told Lou to come on and we worked out in the kitchen for a while boiling the potatoes and grating carrots for salad. We cut the chickens up into serving pieces and laid out the table. I made tea for a drink.

Dinner was quite nice that night and we all felt happy and content. It was like having a family again. It felt so normal. Felicity and Evan were easy to talk to. Then we all went to our beds. I promised to wash clothes for all the next day.

That night wasn’t so peaceful. It was an actual battle scene. Four Spookies showed up in the living room while Doug, Elvin and Bubby were sleeping. They had sniffed us out! Apparently, being barely in our dimension anyhow, doors didn’t matter to them. They just appeared, leaning about ten degrees off center. They had an awful odor, sulphur and ozone.

Two Lights appeared right behind them. It didn’t take long. They had promised to protect us, and they did. Each Light just surrounded two of the Spookies, swallowing them. Then they were gone. This is Elvin’s report of what happened.

It had been quick, but going back to sleep was not so quick. Bubby’s barking at the Spookies had awakened the whole house. He also kept barking for a while after it was all over. Lou had to talk with him for a while to get him to shut up.

Then, all of a sudden, it was morning. It was a mild sunny fall day. With so many people in the house, we were all busy for a while.

Then, when Doug called us together, we all stood facing Felicity and Evan. They had their arms around each other and looked all giggly and excited. Doug looked serious. He had combed his hair back too.

He said “Evan and Felicity, this is more of a prayer than anything else. We’ll all do it with you. You are promising to be always together, to help each other and to make a family here on Earth.”

And so, we stood with them and helped them promise, using a version of the well worn old promises that everyone knows. They were the first.
All of it so far: In the tenth year of the pandemonium.docx