The Liddy Scenario
Brody Cunningham watched the news, fascinated. He didn’t quite believe that the north east coast of the country, and the southern coast of California got what they deserved, but the thought wasn’t far from his thoughts.
It was the 1989 Liddy scenario almost verbatim. At least in the actions. The probable perpetrators were more likely Iranian sponsored Islamic Extremists rather than a communist cell.
The results were the same, plus a degree, due to the additional attacks in California that weren’t in Liddy’s memo to the president.
The terrorists had hit EHV transformers, shutting down the entire electrical grid to New England. The same thing in California, isolating it, too, from the electrical supplies produced in the middle of the country.
Choke points on the railroads all over the country were destroyed, limiting rail traffic to mostly local use, which wasn’t that much in demand. Coal fired power plants began to run out of fuel all across the country.
Enhanced EMP devices were used in New York City; Washington, D. C.; Houston, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; and Los Angles and Sacramento, California. Fortune 500 Corporate records, Federal reserve banking information, IRS and Social Security records, California and New York State and City welfare and entitlement records, and much private information was wiped from computers. Depending on the degree of secure back up, which wasn’t much for some of the systems, it would be months to years before computer records were re-created from paper records.
Almost every major natural gas pipeline was hit and either the lines blown where they crossed rivers, or the pumping stations taken out. More power plants went down.
Refineries in California and all along the Gulf coast were hit with RPG’s, creating explosions and starting fires that burned for days.
Fully two dozen aircraft were shot down just before landing or after takeoff. Flight was restricted to military aircraft, with fighter escorts that could use countermeasures on the shoulder fired missiles that had taken down the commercial craft. At first that seemed unnecessary, when the attacks stopped for a day, but three more flights, given special permission to fly, were shot down. All commercial traffic was stopped then. For the duration.
The attacks took place over three days, near the end of June. The Federal Government’s first and third benefit and Social Security checks for July did not go out. That’s when the riots started in Washington, D. C., all over California, primarily in Los Angeles, and in New York, when the state entitlement checks didn’t go out, either.
Brody had gone in to work the first day of the attacks, at the big box home improvement store where he was a warehouseman. The power went out around noon, when another section of the power grid, trying to carry the load around the blown transformers, had a cascading fail that blew many of the primary power interconnect transformers.
As news of the widespread attacks became known, one employee after another was sent home, with the instructions to call in an hour before shift during the following days to see if the store would be open, and if so, where the individual employee would be needed.
Brody knew he was low man on the totem pole at the store. He went in and signed up with a temp service again. That was what he had been doing since he got laid off at his previous job and got the warehouseman’s job.
The people at the temp service weren’t too hopeful. More and more information was coming in about the countrywide effects of the terrorist attacks. So Brody stayed home, conserving his cash, calling in to the store every morning, and staying by the phone the rest of the time, hoping for the temp service to call.
Getting low on fresh food on day six after the attack, Brody walked to the local grocery store where he normally shopped. “Should have known,” Brody said under his breath. The shelves were bare. With limited fuel, not many trucks were going anywhere. That included grocery store supply trucks, though they were getting priority over everything except fuel deliveries, and medical transport.
Brody turned around and walked out without buying anything. “Prep time,” he said to himself, going back to his apartment to get his mountain bike and trailer. He still had a month’s worth of LTS food in the apartment, but he decided to move some from the storage room he rented in case non-motorized travel was restricted, too. Better to save fuel for more important needs.
It took him three trips to get what he wanted, getting the manager from the office each time to open the gate to the facility. It was electronically controlled and wasn’t working, though the power was on. Supplied for a few days, Brody continued to try to find work. Then work found him. The temp service called and asked if he could operate small construction equipment like backhoes, skid steer loaders, and such. Brody said, “Yes, I can.”
It had been several years since he had, but he figured he could pick it up again quickly. He didn’t ask where the job was going to be, but he shrugged after he hung up and decided it really didn’t matter.
The next day Brody checked the address three times when he arrived at what he thought he’d read. He was right the first time, too. It was a cemetery. There was no office, as such. Only what looked to Brody like a garage. Which, Brody decided, only made sense.
After locking his truck, Brody walked over to the building. Sure enough, it was a garage, with the access door on the other side. There was an elderly man there tinkering on a Case tractor backhoe.
“Wha’cha’ doing here, boy?” the old man asked.
“I’m Brody. The temp service sent me down here to work.”
“’Bought time they brought in somebody. You ever dug a grave before?”
Brody shook his head.
“Well, come on along. Got the old goat to going.” The Case rumbled to life and the old man put away his tools. Climbing into the seat of the open ROPS cage, he started to pull out of the garage just as Brody started to step up and ride beside him.
“No riders, boy,” the old man said. “OSHA don’t like it. You walk. I’ll ride.”
Brody nodded and easily walked along side the old backhoe. The old man wasn’t pushing it very fast. He watched as the old man used the backhoe to carefully dig a grave, where the sod had already been removed. Brody knew enough about running equipment to know that the old man was an expert.
The old man maneuvered the backhoe away from the grave. There was another plot with the sod removed. “You do that one. Just like I did this one.” That was all he said before he turned around and walked off.
Climbing onto the backhoe, Brody worked rather slowly, until he’d acquainted himself with the eccentricities of the backhoe. Then he was able to dig a bit faster, though he knew he was nowhere as fast as the old man, nor as precise. He’d just finished the grave when another man, dressed in soiled coveralls, came up and pointed off in another section of the graveyard.
“Hop to it. We got nine more today.”
“Nine?” Brody asked.
The fellow hurried off without answering. Brody put the Case in gear and headed in the direction in which the man had pointed. It didn’t take him long to find the next plot needing to be dug. He worked steadily until after one and then went to his truck to get his lunch. He slipped out of his shirt, leaving on his T-shirt. It was really getting hot.
Brody had barely taken a bite of his sandwich when the old man came walking up slowly. “Hurry it up, boy. We gots lots more to do.”
“Don’t I get a lunch?” Brody asked, a bit annoyed.
“You got it. Now hurry up. I hope you know enough to stay out of sight during the ceremonies.”
“Sure,” Brody said, not having had a clue. But it made sense. Still eating his sandwich, and grabbing a bottle of water to take with him, Brody headed back to where he’d parked the backhoe. “Where next?”
“Pick a spot without a headstone, that isn’t already a fresh grave. Do the best you can peeling and saving the sod. Quantity is now the goal, over quality.”
Brody shrugged. “Sure thing. What’s your name, anyway?”
“Emit Smith. What’s it to you?”
“Nothing,” Brody quickly said. “Just wanted to know what to call you.”
“Don’t call me. This is my last day. You’re on your own as of right now,” Emit said. “Just gotta get my lunch bucket and I’m out of here.”
“But… What am I supposed to do? Who will sign my timecard?”
“Take it to the coroner’s office. He’s in charge of this mess. This part of it, anyway.”
Brody was confused. But when he took on a job, he completed it. Doing as Emit had said, Brody picked random undisturbed plots and kept digging all afternoon, until six. He had well over his eight in, without a real lunch, plus.
There was no one around when he parked the Case backhoe in the garage and closed the door. Another hearse was pulling into the cemetery as he pulled out. He had to stop and look at a telephone book to find out where the coroner’s office was. He drove down to the city morgue and asked for the coroner.
The person was on their way out the door and just pointed down the hallway. Brody went down it and found the office door marked Coroner’s Office. He knocked on the door and went in when a voice said, “Come in.”
“Yes? What is it?” The man looked up then. “Oh. Who are you?”
“Brody Cunningham. I’ve been digging graves at the city cemetery. I’m a temp. I was told you would sign off my time card.”
“For crying out loud! This should be taken care of by the City Cemetery Administrator. Who told you me?”
“Emit Smith. He said it was his last day.”
“You’re kidding! That old geezer is quitting? He’s been grave digger at that cemetery since he was nineteen.”
“He told me it was his last day. I’ve no way of knowing if he means it or not. He sure looked like he did.”
Brody held out the time card to the coroner. According to the name plate on his desk his name was Dr. Steven Crane. “Dr. Crane?”
Crane essentially snatched the card from Brody’s hand. “Let me see! I might as well… Wait. This card goes through Sunday. I’m not about to sign it and let you put any hours on it you want. Looks like you’re already fudging. Nine and a half hours today?”
“Emit had me work through lunch, and I had to finish the grave I was on. He had me dig a bunch of them. What’s going on?” Brody’s inquisitive nature had gotten the best of him.
“People die. They need graves. Here. Bring this back when you have Saturday and Sunday entered.”
“You want me to work the weekend?”
“People die every day of the week, or didn’t you know that?”
“Yes, sir. I know that. But…” Brody needed the work. Why not? At least he wasn’t digging the graves by hand. “Okay. Saturday and Sunday it is. Can I take a lunch?”
Dr. Crane suddenly looked thoughtful. “Well… Of course you’re entitled to a lunch… But make it a short one.”
The telephone rang and Dr. Crane answered it. He hadn’t given Brody the time card back so Brody waited. And listened to one half of the conversation.
“How many?” Pause “Aren’t we going to get Federal help?” Pause. “I imagine so, but…” Pause. “Have you seen the weather forecast?” Pause. “That means we’re going to have to go to extreme measures.”
Dr. Crane hung up the telephone slowly. Suddenly he looked up at Brody, startled. “You didn’t hear any of that. You understand?”
Brody nodded. Something was up. Not only was he curious, he did need the money.
“Oh. Here. Have Julie Anne take care of this tomorrow.”
“Julie Anne?” Brody asked, taking the card when Dr. Crane held it out.
“Julie Anne Baumgartner. She’s the Cemetery Administrator. She’ll be out there in the morning to give you some instructions. If she isn’t, you give me a call. You have a cell phone?”
“Doesn’t everybody?” Brody asked, taking out his Motorola and showing it to the doctor.
“Take my card. Call me if she isn’t there and start doing what you were doing today.” With that Dr. Crane put his head down and began reading the material he’d been reading when Brody had gone in.
Taking the card, Brody left. “Something is up,” Brady said to himself as he went back out to his pick up. It seemed even hotter now with the sun going down than earlier in the day. Brody hadn’t seen the weather forecast that morning. He turned up the AC in the truck and the cab was just getting cool by the time he got home.
Brody flipped the light switch when he went into the apartment, but noting happened. He turned on the battery lamp on the bookcase by the door of the apartment and then, without thinking, tried the TV remote. “Dummy!” he said to himself and tossed the remote back onto the sofa. Brody pulled a small flashlight from his pocket and began checking boxes that were stacked along the wall of the apartment. It took him only two tries to find the small battery operated TV. He had thing organized fairly well.
There were batteries with the TV and he put them in and turned the unit on. All five local stations were broadcasting. Just to find out, Brody hooked the cablevision cable to the TV. Nothing. He went back to the TV’s built-in antenna. He watched his favorite station. They were running on backup power the anchor woman said.
“The best information we have is that this is a cascade failure related to the terrorists’ attacks on the electrical grid in other parts of the nation. The city authorities are asking that everyone that doesn’t have a critical job function to stay home until this situation is rectified.
“Anyone in critical need of food should call one of the food banks that have been set up. The numbers are scrolling across the bottom of your screen. The hospitals are already overloaded. Only in the most serious cases should you call 911 or take someone to the hospital.
“Mike, how is the weather going to cooperate?”
The scene changed to the weather set. Mike didn’t look too hopeful. “Janice, I’m afraid the weather is not going to cooperate at all. The temperatures from this new system will continue to climb just slightly tonight and then zoom to over one-hundred tomorrow. Janice.”
“Thank you, Mike. Definitely not good news. As with those needing food, a few ‘cooling centers’ have been set up around the city. Those numbers are now scrolling at the bottom of the screen. Please…”
The TV screen went snowy. Brody tried another channel. They were still up and running. But saying the same things. Hot and hotter the next few days. With no word on when the electricity might come back on. Limited fuel and food deliveries, if any.
“Not good,” Brody said. He opened up the windows of the apartment and got ready for bed. Not much to do but sleep. He didn’t want to waste battery power reading or watching what TV there was. He set his alarm for the next morning just before he went to bed.
Brody was bathed in sweat when the alarm woke him up the next morning. Crossing his fingers he went to the bathroom. There was no water pressure. He used the bathroom, realizing that after the one flush, he would have to start using the chemical toilet.
He used some of his bottled water supply to take a quick sponge bath and then got dressed. The roads were a mess, with all the traffic signal lights off and not enough police to direct traffic at all the major intersections. A few civilians were trying to do the directing, but they were ignored for the most part.
Brody had expected it and took the long way around to get to the cemetery to avoid the grid lock. He had the garage opened up and the Case running, after a bit of fiddling with it. A few minutes later, Brody was about ready to call Dr. Crane, but he saw a car pull in and park next to his truck.
“Miss Baumgartner?” Brody asked when he met her halfway to the garage.
“Ms, if you don’t mind. And you are?”
“Brody. Dr. Crane said you’d have some instructions for me this morning?” Brody lifted his cap and ran a sleeve across his forehead. It was already hot.
“Yes. We are… to be blunt… having a burial crisis in the midst of this larger crisis. We are going to have to stop doing individual graves, except for those that are willing to pay extra. The bodies are stacking up in refrigerator trucks and we’re running out of diesel for them. I will show you where I want slit trenches dug for mass graves. You’ll dig one for immediate use, and then start on the others, filling the first as bodies are added.”
Brody was stunned. They were turning to mass graves already. It was inconceivable. “There are that many deaths already?”
“Yes. Now don’t stand around. Get the tractor and follow me.” Julie Anne Baumgartner was all business.
Brody followed slowly behind her as she walked to several places in the cemetery and pointed out what she wanted. After the fifth spot she motioned for Brody to join her on the ground. He stopped the engine on the backhoe and hopped down.
“This is the one I want you to start with. Come back to the car with me. I have gloves, masks, and Tyvek coveralls for you. You’ll have to help with the bodies. We’re short of body bags so many of the deceased will be in the clothes they were in when they died.”
“But I didn’t…” Brody started to protest. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be handling dead bodies. Even with personal protective equipment.
“Look, mister, if you don’t want to do it let me know right now and I’ll get someone who will.”
Brody suddenly noticed how haggard Julie Anne looked. Despite the professional business clothes, the perfect makeup, and tidy bun her hair was done up in, Julie Anne was on the edge of collapse. Brody felt sorry for her.
“No. I’ll do it. But I want a couple of things in return for going well above and beyond the job description.”
Julie Anne’s lips were pursed angrily, but she said nothing.
“I want all the PPE required. If you don’t have a large enough supply, I suggest you get one. I won’t work without it. And bottled water. It’s going to be hot. I’ll need a very large supply. Finally, things may get way out of hand here. I want to be paid in pre-1965 US junk silver coins.”
“You have to be kidding me! Why pre-1965 coins and where am I supposed to find them, even if I did agree to this… blackmail?”
“Careful throwing around words like blackmail. You need me more than I need you. I’m not out to gouge you. You can convert at whatever the last spot price was on silver. Several of the local coin stores have junk silver coins.”
“You’ve worked temp before. You know we don’t pay you. We pay the temp agency and they pay you. You’ll have to work out that deal with them.”
“See ya,” Brody said and started walking toward the parking lot.
“No! Wait! Okay, okay! I’ll see what I can do.” She joined him and the two continued toward the parking lot to get the initial set of PPE for Brody. When they got to the car Julie Anne used the remote and opened the trunk.
Brody was satisfied with the quality of the PPE. The protective hooded and booted coveralls were the good stuff, as were the rubber boots and gloves. There was a box of 3M P-100 masks. “Try to get me a Millennium full face CBRN mask and a box of filters. I’m afraid the P-100’s might not be adequate.”
Julie Anne’s brow wrinkled. “You seem to know something about personal protective equipment.”
“I’ve used it before. I want the best. This is going to be a risky job before it’s over.”
“That’s fair. I’ll see what I can do. The water shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll pick up a case…”
“Three cases to start. At least. It’s going to be over a hundred for days, I expect. I’ll drink almost a case a day. I’ll stick with you as long as this takes, if you look out for my needs. I’m not going to have the time, it looks like. That includes food. It’s hard to come by. MRE’s are okay if you can get them. They can come out of the pay.”
Julie Anne had started to frown, but at Brody’s assertion he’d stick with her made a difference to her. She believed him. “Okay. I’ll make it at least a case a day. And some food. For each of you.”
“Each of us?” Brody asked.
“Isn’t Dwayne here?”
“Didn’t see anybody else. Oh. You must mean the guy that was here yesterday. No. I haven’t seen him today.”
“I’ll have to try to find someone else if he’s left. Emit I understand. He’s way past retirement age. No need for him to endure this situation.” Julie Anne sighed.
“Um… I know someone that will probably do it. Same terms as me.”
“If you can get at least one more reliable, hard worker, I’ll do everything I can to get you the silver coins in payment. If I have to take it out of my own salary.”
“One I can pretty much guarantee. Two maybe. More than that, I don’t think so, though I’ll ask if you want me to.”
“Please do.”
Brody took the boxes out of the trunk and carried them to the garage. Julie Anne carried the rubber boots. There were six pairs, two pairs of three different sizes, still tied together in pairs from the store.
“Will you trust me enough to go ahead and start working?” Julie Anne asked. “The first two or three… deliveries… will be going in the private graves.”
“Give me your word you’ll give it a real try, then we have a deal,” Brody said.
“I do. Give you my word I’ll do my best.” She held out her hand.
Brody just said, “Your word is good enough. Don’t wait too long on that water.” He turned and headed back to the Case to start digging. As he walked he pulled out his cell phone, mentally crossing his fingers that cell service was still up. It was.
“Hey, Ranger! Yeah, it’s Brody. Got a gig for you if you’re interested. Hard, nasty work, PPE provided, possibly pay in silver. Don’t you want to know what it is?”
Brody laughed at Ranger’s response and then told him the address of the cemetery. Next he called two more of his acquaintances. Neither one was interested. They preferred to stay holed up where they were and wait out the troubles. Both were well enough equipped and supplied to do so.
It was almost noon when Julie Anne and Ranger both showed up within minutes of each other. Ranger introduced himself there in the parking lot and Julie Anne had him carry the water and other items from her trunk to the garage.
“Please tell Brody that I made the arrangements he wanted. You should be able to find him. He’ll fill you in on what you are required to do.”
“Very good,” Ranger replied and took off at an easy trot, despite the heat, to find the source of the sound he was hearing. It didn’t take long.
When he trotted up to the Case backhoe Brody saw him and shut down the machine. “Hi, Ranger! I see you found the place. You still okay with the work?”
“Why not? Just a job. Met the boss lady. She said she’d made the arrangements you wanted. That the silver?”
Brody nodded. “You want to take over. I need a break, a bottle of water, and a bite of lunch.”
“Sure, buddy. Looks like an eight foot wide slit trench. Going to be a mass grave, I take it.”
Brody nodded, and climbed down off the backhoe. The ROPS threw a little shade, but it sure would have been nice to have an air conditioned cab instead of the open framework of the rollover protective system.
Ranger was an experienced heavy equipment operator and went right to it after getting on the backhoe. Brody didn’t have to worry about him and headed for the parking lot to get his lunch out of the truck.
He saw three hearses pull in as he was walking. They were headed for the individual graves that were still open. After getting his lunch box from the truck, Brody went up to the garage. He saw the six cases of bottled water and three cases of MRE’s. There were two boxes, each containing a Millennium CBRN respirator, and two boxes that contained ten replacement filters each.
“You really came through,” Brody said aloud. He sat down after pulling one of the bottles of water free from the case and slowly ate his sandwich. It was the last of the fresh food he’d had in the fridge when the power went out.
The freeze bottle in the insulated lunch box was still cold and he ran it luxuriously over his face and his arms, relishing the coolness as he ate. He used the porta-jon that sat on the back side of the garage and washed his hands with water from the bottle he’d been drinking.
The hearses were leaving when Brody headed back to where Ranger was working. He stopped at each of the three graves. The caskets were still sitting on the lowering apparatus at each one. Brody checked it out and figured how to operate the equipment. He lowered the caskets in turn and took the equipment back to the garage, making several trips to get everything moved, including the mats covering the mounds of dirt.
After that, Brody used his truck to carry stuff. Apparently Emit had used the backhoe bucket to move the stuff around, but with it tied up constantly, Brody decided he could invest a little in the effort. The diesel tank by the garage was full, so he could get replacement fuel.
The dreaded sight of a semi truck pulling into the cemetery came just as Brody was going to join Ranger, in the truck, after getting sidetracked with the graves. The driver of the truck saw Brody and drove up and stopped beside him. “Where do you want me?” he asked.
“Follow me,” Brody said and headed for the first slit trench. He’d loaded the PPE he and Ranger would need to handle the bodies safely.
Ranger saw them coming and moved the backhoe out of the way. He met Brody at his truck on the narrow lane that ran through the cemetery. “Got the… Oh. I see it in the back. Fun starts now, I guess.”
“Yeah,” Brody said, giving a bit of a sigh.
The semi driver was getting parked where it would be the easiest to unload the bodies from the trailer into the slit trench. He was opening the trailer doors, wisps of frozen vapor trailing out as they opened. Brody and Ranger had the protective equipment on and began to move the bodies.
“Aren’t you helping?” Brody asked the driver through the voicemitter of the Millennium respirator.
“Not bloody likely,” replied the man. “These are all yours. I’m just the transport. Here’s the manifest.”
“After we’re done,” Brody said. It was a struggle to get the body bags out of the truck and carried down the slope at the end of the trench and laid out side by side. Brody managed not to gag at the idea of the frozen bodies inside the body bags and wondered how much worse it was going to be if the coroner did run out of body bags.
With the last body in the trench, Brody and Ranger each took an independent count, both of which matched the manifest the driver handed Brody. Brody signed it and the driver hurriedly left, having closed up the trailer as soon as the last body was out.
Brody wished he’d waited. It would have been nice to spend a few minutes in the reefer trailer to cool off. But he couldn’t so he went back to work on the backhoe, giving Ranger a chance to go get water and take a rest.
Brody covered the bodies they’d just laid out, leaving a ramp so they could do the next batch. When he’d finished that he filled in the other three graves and met Ranger back at the slit trench.
They took turns running the backhoe and resting, unloading one more truck late that afternoon. Julie Anne showed up to tell Brody that it was the last load for the day, but there would be more the next day. “Can you work a while long and get more trenches dug?”
Brody looked at Ranger, who nodded. “We’ll get done what we can. It’s actually easier on us to do the digging in the cooler hours of the evening. Not that it’s that much cooler. But it helps. Is there any chance you could get us a rental machine? Just a Bobcat if not another backhoe. We waste quite a bit of time moving the hoe back and forth. If we had something with which to backfill that we could leave at the trench in use, it would be easier.”
Julie Anne nodded. “Makes sense. I’ll see what I can do.”
Julie Anne left and Brody and Ranger went back to work.
The two men switched off and on until midnight, taking turns napping and digging. Since Ranger lived quite some distance away, he went home with Brody and stayed at his place. They were back at the cemetery, working, when Julie Anne showed up the next morning.
“My! You two have done an amazing amount of work! How late did you work last night?”
“Midnight. It was a lot nicer, even at eighty-five degrees, than it was earlier in the day. Not as hard on the Case, either.”
“That should be better. The Bobcat skid loader should be here any minute. Is there anything else you need?”
“I’m a little uncomfortable burying these people with no good ID to each location.”
Julie Anne’s face fell and she looked about to cry. “I know. But we just don’t have the means. The manifests indicate which trench, but that is all. We have to be careful to make sure the trenches are marked as to which each is.”
“There is a map in the garage I’ve been marking with what I know,” Brody said.
“That’s good.”
All three turned when the rental delivery truck showed up, right on the heels of the first reefer tractor trailer. With sighs that Julie Anne noted, Brody and Ranger suited up for the handling of the bodies.
“Just have them park it here,” Brody told Julie Anne. “We’ll come get it when we need it. Oh. And I’m using my truck to get around faster. Just replacing the fuel from the cemetery tank. I hope that’s okay. Speeds things up a great deal.”
“I suppose that will be all right. But just what you use. Fuel, even for the city services, is almost gone.”
Brody nodded and he and Ranger got into the pickup and led the semi to the slit trench. It was as hard as Brody thought it would be when the body bags ran out and the frozen bodies were in only the clothes they’d died in, in most cases. A few were wrapped in bed sheets or blankets. It made the bodies much harder to handle, too. The body bags had handles. The bodies didn’t.
Julie Anne, good as her word, showed up Monday morning with several tubes of silver coins. “I thought we’d better just do it and I’ll work out the required financial details with the city later.”
“Excellent!” Ranger said, as Brody counted out his share and then pocketed his own.
“Thank you,” Brody told Julie Anne. “I know this was a bit out of the ordinary, but it was important to us.”
Julie Anne shrugged. “The price of things is going up and even cash isn’t taken everywhere. I’ve already seen one service station that has their sign posted ‘No checks. No credit cards. No cash. Gold or silver coins only.’ I guess you aren’t the only one with the same idea.”
Brody and Ranger exchanged a glance. She had no clue.
“What is the cause of all these deaths?” Brody asked the question that had been on his mind for days.
“Heat and dehydration for the most part. Without power there’s no AC or water. The cooling shelters are full, but even they are limited as to what they can provide. Without fuel the generators aren’t running. There have been several deaths from people on electrically powered respirators and other critical life support systems. Even those with battery backups are dying as their batteries die and can’t get recharged. The hospital generators are out of fuel for the most part and the city hasn’t been able to get more.
“I was in the EOC this morning before I came out here and it’s like this all over the region. All over the country.” She looked down at the ground for a long moment. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep our bargain. I’ve got all the water I could round up, and MRE’s. The silver… Well, to be honest, I bought all the junk silver, as you called it, three coin stores had. Two more didn’t have any. They’d already sold out. Only numismatics were left, and I didn’t think you wanted those at that value. “What I have is only enough for another full week for the two of you.”
“Well,” said Brody slowly, “Let’s just get through this week and see where we stand.”
“You’ll continue to work this week?” Julie Anne asked. Her body language was saying she had her doubts.
“I said I’d stick by you for this,” Brody said. “Ranger?”
“I’m good. As long as I can stay at your place,” Ranger replied. “My rig is half full, but I don’t know when I’ll be able to get more fuel.”
“Okay. That’s settled,” Brody said. “You have your crew for the week.”
“Thank you,” Julie Anne replied. “It means a lot to me.”
So Brody and Ranger worked the week, putting in ten to twelve hour days, through Sunday. Julie Anne hadn’t shown up much. Only once with three more cases of water and a case of MRE’s.
Brody and Ranger lost several pounds each over those few days, between the work and the heat. They conserved water and food as they could, but couldn’t take the chance of becoming dehydrated or lose strength due to lack of food.
They used only a case of the water between them per day, and one MRE each per day, supplementing both from Brody’s prep stocks. Ranger would give him some in return, once he could go to his place and get them. To save fuel, Brody was leaving his truck in the garage at the cemetery and riding his bicycle back and forth. Ranger had his bike in the locked down in the back of his truck and they both rode.
It was a month after the attacks, and Brody had put in two weeks and three days at the City Cemetery, along with Ranger. The number of bodies they were burying went up every day. Fortunately the city had recently enlarged the cemetery and there was enough room for the slit trenches.
Monday after the two full weeks rolled around Julie Anne showed up at the cemetery right after Brody and Ranger rode up on their bicycles.
“You don’t look good,” was the first thing Brody said when she got out of her car.
“I guess I haven’t eaten in a couple of days…” her words faded away as she stood up outside the car and swayed slightly.
Brody grabbed her on one side and Ranger the other. They got her sitting down on the edge of the back seat of her car. Ranger ran around to the other side of the car and opened the doors on that side to collect what little breeze there was.
“Why haven’t you said something, for heaven’s sake?” Brady asked. He turned to Ranger. “Get one of the MRE cookies and a bottle of water.”
With a quick nod Ranger was off like a shot to the garage and was back only a couple minutes later with the requested items. Brody was fanning Julie Anne’s face. The heat wave hadn’t broken and it was already ninety-five degrees at seven in the morning.
Ranger handed Brody the water first and Brody wetted his bandanna with it and bathed Julie Anne’s face gently. She finally came around and Brody helped her get a sip of water and then took the cookie that Ranger had unwrapped. “Nibble on this,” Brody said and guided her hands with the cookie in them up to her mouth.
It took a few bites for her to come fully cognizant of what was going on. She tugged her hands gently from Brody’s. “I’m okay, now. Thank you.”
“Why haven’t you been eating?” Brody asked.
Julie Anne gave a slight shrug. “Sometimes I forget, and there just isn’t much around. And I can’t get any money out of the bank for what is available.”
Brody looked around at Ranger. “You bring the rest of the MRE?”
“Right here,” he said, handing the package to Brody.
Against Julie Anne’s rather feeble attempts to prevent it, Brody made sure she ate everything in the meal package, over the next hour. Ranger had gone on and fired up the equipment, getting ready for the expected deluge of corpses.
“Please stop fussing over me,” Julie Anne managed to say with a show of her old self. And you should have Ranger stop what he’s doing. I don’t have any more money to pay you.”
“Don’t worry about that right now. Why’d you come out here, anyway? Things are working fine.”
“I can’t let you work for no pay. I can’t even get you any more food or water. And the fuel must be about gone in the cemetery tank. I can’t find any to refill it. We’ll have to stop pretty soon, anyway.”
“Well, for the moment you just sit here and relax. Let Ranger and me worry about whether or not we get paid. The fuel could be a problem, but I have an idea about that.” Brody moved off, got on his bicycle and headed off to talk to Ranger.
When Ranger saw Brody coming, he stopped the Case. They were stopping it every time now, to save fuel.
“She’s doing okay, now,” Brody told Ranger. “Look, she’s admitted she can’t pay up anymore. No more food or water. And the diesel is about gone…”
“You want to keep going, somehow,” Ranger said. He knew his buddy pretty well.
Brody nodded.
“I’m okay with it, since we have food and water to eat. Need to be doing something, even if we don’t get paid. But I don’t know about the fuel. No way to dig all these graves by hand.”
“Yeah. About that. You’re right. But… You know… We could actually fill them by hand. Just dig them with the backhoe and Bobcat until the fuel runs out. Maybe hold onto a reserve for some kind of emergency.
“And this isn’t an emergency?” Ranger asked dryly.
“You know what I mean,” Brody said with a short laugh. “You in?”
Ranger nodded. “I’m in.”
“Okay. I’ll tell her. It should make her feel better.”
Ranger waved in acknowledgement and Brody rode back to the parking lot. Julie Anne was sitting in the back seat, her legs inside now, with her head back on the seat. Brody hated to bother her, but decided she would rather know as soon as possible.
“Ms Baumgartner…” At Brody’s words Julie Anne came awake abruptly. She looked around frantically for a moment and then relaxed when she saw Brody.
“I’m sorry to wake you.” Brody looked at her quizzically. “You not only haven’t eaten, you haven’t slept much the last few days, either, have you?”
She shook her head, too tired to put up a front.
“Well,” Brody said, hoping the news would cheer her as much as he was hoping it would, “Ranger and I came up with a plan. We’re going to keep working. The pay, if any, can be straightened out later. We have enough food and water to get us through for a while. To conserve fuel, we just going to dig the trenches with the backhoe and Bobcat. We’ll fill them by hand as we get more… deliveries.”
To Brody’s astonishment, Julie Anne began to cry. “I thought you’d be pleased!” he hurriedly said, having no idea how to handle a crying woman.
“I… I… I… am. It’s just such a relief… and I don’t know how to thank you… or pay you… or even if this is legal.” Julie Anne swayed on the seat and then fainted, leaning over to one side.
It looked uncomfortable and Brody reached into the car and straightened her up. She was breathing fine, and Brody decided she was just too tired and worn down. She’d be okay if she got some sleep. Working as gently as he could, Brody shifted her again, this time to a prone position on the back seat. He closed the doors all around, after rolling down all the windows. He’d check on her occasionally, but a semi was coming in and he needed to get back to work.
Grabbing his PPE, he climbed on the bicycle and headed for the semi. He gave the driver a ‘come with me’ sign and pedaled toward the slit trench now in use. Ranger saw them coming and met them there. Brody and Ranger suited up as the driver opened up the trailer.
After the bodies were laid out in the bottom of the trench, Brody rode back to check on Julie Anne, and got a shovel from the garage before he went back to the trench. Ranger was waiting. “Where’s my shovel?” he asked.
“Well, since this was my idea, I figured I’d do most of the shoveling, and let you do most of the digging.” Brody saw Ranger start to protest. “Don’t worry. There is going to be plenty of shovel work to go around, after we run out of diesel.”
“Okay… I guess,” Ranger said, rather reluctantly. He headed back to the trench he was working on.
It was hard, grueling labor in the heat, shoveling the dirt back into the trench. And it was worse when he had to put his PPE back on to continue. Some of the bodies had been well into decomposition when found, and now, as they began to thaw in the heat, since it was taking so long to cover them, the smell was terrible.
But with the respirator in place, and acting quickly to get at least an inch or so of dirt over the bodies, Brody was able to take off the respirator again, and shove the coveralls down to his waist, tying the arms to keep them from falling down to his boots.
He had to take a break or pass out himself, so he got on the bicycle and went to check on Julie Anne. She was still asleep. Brody got a bottle of water out of the garage and downed it. He took another down to Julie Anne’s car and put it where she would find it if she woke up before he returned.
Brody watched her sleep for a few minutes, as he rested, and then forced himself to go back to work. It was noon the next time he checked on Julie Anne. Ranger rode up on his bicycle and asked, “How’s she doing?”
“Okay, I think. She fainted and then fell asleep. I’m beginning to get…” Brody’s words faded when Julie Anne groaned and sat up, her face bathed in sweat.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. Seeing the water she reached for the bottle eagerly and drank half of it in a very unladylike manner.
“Oh, that is so good!” she said, between sips now. “How long have I been out?”
“It’s a little after noon, now,” Brody replied.
“Oh, my Lord! I should have been at the office hours ago!” She scrambled out of the back of the car.
“Wait a minute,” Brody said, laying a hand on her arm as she swayed slightly. “You’re going to eat something first, and drink some more water.”
“I can’t. I need…”
“You need to stay hydrated and nourished,” Brody insisted. “Come on. You can eat lunch with us.”
Brody didn’t exactly drag Julie Anne with him, but she would have had to struggle to break his firm grip.
“But this is your food and water!” she protested when Ranger tossed her one of the MRE’s.
“We’re in this together, now,” Brody said.
It seemed to satisfy her, for Julie Anne quit protesting and let Ranger and Brody help her get the meal pack open and the entrée in the included heater. She finished the first bottle of water, and after only a moment’s hesitation reached for another in the half empty case. There were two cases under it.
“It is so hot,” she said a few minutes later. “I really don’t want any more of this.”
Brody decided he’d pushed all he could. “Okay. At least you ate something. And don’t worry about it going to waste,” he said with a grin. “Ranger and I will finish it up.”
Julie Anne managed a small smile. “That’s good. Waste not, want not. Right?”
“Exactly,” Brody said. He reached into the case of water and handed Julie Anne two more bottles. “Take these with you in case you can’t find any where you’re going.”
“But…”
“Take it,” Ranger said. “Brody and I can fend for ourselves pretty good.”
“Well, then, thank you both. I do have to get back to the office. I just hope I have enough fuel.”
“Maybe you’d better take my truck,” Brody said, drawing a startled look from Ranger, though he didn’t say anything.
“Oh, I couldn’t do that!” Julie Anne protested.
“It’s got city diesel in it,” Brody said. “So, why not?”
“I really don’t think I have enough fuel… The warning light came on last night.” She was hesitating, but Brody decided his silence was better than more encouragement. It was.
“Well, since it is city fuel, I will take it. But you’ll be compensated in some way in the future for its use, and the work you’re doing now,” she said firmly.
Brody took the keys out of his pocket and handed them to Julie Anne. “Uh… It’s bigger than your car, by quite a bit. Be a little cautious about getting into small spaces with it.”
Ranger chuckled.
Very seriously Julie Anne said, “I will. Thank you for this.”
Brody watched anxiously as Julie Anne got into his pride and joy and started up the truck. She backed it up just fine, but when she put it into drive, she chirped the tires when she pressed the accelerator. It had a lot more ‘go’ to it than her little hybrid.
“I never would have believed it if I hadn’t seen it,” Ranger said as Brody watched his truck disappear, driven by what amounted to a total stranger.
“Yeah,” Brody said, turning back to his bicycle with a sigh. “Me either.”
Brody breathed a little sigh of relief when he and Ranger biked up to the garage and saw Julie Anne pulling into the cemetery just before seven that evening. Brody thought she looked as bad as she had that morning when she climbed down out of the truck.
“How’d it go?” he asked as she walked wearily up to the two men.
Julie Anne sighed. “No end in sight,” she said and sighed. “I can’t thank you enough for doing this.”
“Yeah, well, what about you?” Brody asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll get paid next month. Maybe there will be some food deliveries. And fuel. And the electricity will come back on. And the water will come back on. And…” She was starting to get tears in her eyes again and obviously hated the fact. She wiped them away angrily.
“I’ll be fine,” she said after a pause.
“Do you have enough fuel to get home?” Brody asked.
“I don’t know… Even if I get there, how do I get back? The Mayor is expecting all of us to do our jobs, despite everything.”
“Well, if it were me, I’d tell the Mayor where to get off,” Ranger said. “Either get me the tools I need, or the job doesn’t get done.”
“Ranger isn’t too fond of the Mayor,” Brody explained when Julie Anne looked shocked.
“But I have to do the best that I can with what I have available,” Julie Anne insisted. “It’s part of my job. And besides, you are doing the same as I am.”
“Yeah… Well… I’m doing it for Brody. Not the Mayor. And… well… for you, too. You’re showing gumption that… Never mind,” Ranger said. “We just need to figure out how to keep going. If these bodies aren’t buried or burned, there is going to be an epidemic, for sure. The city doesn’t need that. We don’t need that. I don’t need that.”
“Burned! We couldn’t possibly…” Julie Anne looked horror struck. “Even the mass graves…”
“There is the problem of fuel to burn them, anyway,” Ranger said. “Bodies don’t burn well on their own.”
“That’s enough, Ranger,” Brody said softly. “Look, Ms Baumgartner, we will continue to do what we can, but there is a limit.”
Julie Anne sighed. “I know. And I’m almost at mine. I honestly don’t know what to do. I may not even be able to get home.”
“You should stay with us until things get better,” Ranger suddenly said.
“What? That’s preposterous!” Julie Anne said, rather outraged at the suggestion.
Brody quickly entered the conversation. “Wait,” he said. “Ranger does have a point. You obviously don’t have any food at your place, no electricity, no water, out of fuel to get around... We need to conserve resources, not only for this job, but for our own well being.
“You’ve helped us out above and beyond the call, at your own detriment. Sure, we’ve been working, but we’d probably be helping out in some way, anyway…” Ranger harrumphed.
Brody looked at him, but looked back at Julie Anne. “Ranger and I are…” he looked over at Ranger again and Ranger gave a slight nod, after a moment’s hesitation.
“Well,” Brody continued, “Ranger and I are preppers. We have equipment and supplies stored for emergencies.”
Julie Anne looked shocked. Her anger was obvious when she started to respond. “You’re survivalists! You mean to tell me…”
But Brody cut her off. “We are not survivalists the way the media describes them. Yes, we have food and water. But without the additional supplies you provided, the work that has been done, wouldn’t have been done. Ranger and I are helping. You can’t deny that. If we let ourselves go the way you have, what good would we be?”
Julie Anne was frowning, trying to understand. “Okay. Yes, if you hadn’t agreed to help I don’t know what I would have done. But hoarding… at a time like this.”
Ranger stiffened and Brody saw it.
“Is it hoarding to have made preparations beforehand for something like this? We took only enough from you to get by while doing the job. You know good and well all the city departments that had the means were doing the same thing you were doing to get the job done. Providing needed supplies to those doing critical work. That food wouldn’t have been distributed to the masses. It was for internal use from the first. So it isn’t hoarding in any way, shape, form, or fashion.”
“Well…” Julie Anne was thinking about it, Brody could see. “I suppose there were several of us using in house supplies to help maintain a working group. Perhaps I was a bit harsh in my judgment.”
Ranger began to relax.
“But that doesn’t mean…” Julie Anne suddenly continued. “What would people say, my staying with my employees?” She blushed.
“Who’s to know?” asked Ranger. “I’d bet you a mint people are grouping up and helping each other wherever they can.” He suddenly smiled. “Of course there are those that are holed up, waiting this out. That’s what I would be doing, except for Brody. And you.”
Brody could see she was wavering. “But I’d still need to get some things from my apartment…” She said.
“We can take care of that,” Ranger said, much to Brody’s surprise. “We leave your rig here until we can find fuel for it. Same with mine. Take Brody’s rig to your place, and then mine, to get what’s needed, then find you a bicycle so you can still get around. We fill up Brody’s truck and the equipment one last time, and then what fuel is left in the cemetery tank is for life and death emergencies.”
Julie Anne looked like she was trying to find fault with the plan, but couldn’t. She closed her mouth and nodded.
“Brody?” Ranger asked.
“Best plan I’ve heard all day,” Brody replied with a smile. “Let’s do it.”
Resigned to the plan, Julie Anne locked up her vehicle and joined Brody and Ranger in Brody’s truck. “Where do you live?” Brody asked her.
When she told him, Brody said, “We’ll go there first. Ranger is further out.”
They were all silent as Brody drove. Once they were stopped by a city police officer on horseback. He was going to commandeer the vehicle until Julie Anne showed her ID and said it already was commandeered.
“Pay’s to have friends in high places,” Ranger said with a grin when Brody started up the truck again and they continued on their way.
The two men waited outside while Julie Anne went into her apartment to pack some things. She came out carrying one large suitcase, and one small one. Brody and Ranger put them in the back of the truck.
Then they headed for Ranger’s house on the outskirts of town. Brody had to do quite a bit of weaving around, avoiding cars whose owners had simply run them until the fuel tanks were empty, rather than parking them with a useable amount of fuel. For emergencies.
Ranger had Brody stop at a house near his in the darkness. All of the block was dark, except for the house where they stopped. “Better let me go up alone. Harvey is a bit touchy,” Ranger said.
Rather cautiously, Julie Anne thought, Ranger started up the walkway to the front door of the house. He didn’t get far before several bright lights came on and illuminated the entire front yard.
Through the open window of the truck Julie Anne and Brody heard the challenge come from the house. “State your business. I am armed and will shoot to kill if you make any aggressive moves.”
“It’s Ranger. Code word ‘memorabilia’.”
“Okay, Ranger. Come ahead. I see others. They staying put or coming in?”
“Staying put,” Ranger replied and entered the house when the front door opened and the outdoor lights went out.
Ten minutes later the garage door opened and Ranger pushed a bicycle toward the truck. The garage door closed, there never having been any light shown while it was open. Ranger put the bike in the back of the truck and climbed back into the cab beside Julie Anne.
“Got you a bike,” Ranger said with a smile. “You owe me ten bucks face value junk silver coin. When you can come up with it.”
“Okay,” Julie Anne said, “Thank you.” Ranger just shrugged and looked out the open window, a slight smile on his lips.
When they arrived at Ranger’s, all three went in after Brody parked the truck, bed toward the garage door. Ranger turned on a battery lamp in the living room when they entered. “Be just a few of minutes,” he said, heading for the bedroom. “You guys can start moving stuff from the garage. Brody, you’ll know what to take. The containers area marked.”
“Sure thing,” Brody said, pulling his compact flashlight from a pocket. “Let’s go.” He pointed the flashlight toward the kitchen and led the way to the garage.
After opening the garage door, Brody checked the shelves against one wall that held much of Ranger’s preps. Checking each container, he pointed out one to Julie Anne and she headed out to the truck with it, followed by Brody with another.
They met Ranger at the truck. He’d carried another of the totes from his bedroom and headed back for more, as Julie Anne and Brody did the same. By the time Brody closed and locked the garage door and went outside through the kitchen and then living room, Ranger had the last tote he wanted in the truck, too.
“Get what we need?” Brody asked Ranger.
“Yep. We should be good for a while, except for water. And we can get that from some of the ponds and lakes in the city parks.”
“The Mayor made an announcement about not doing that,” Julie Anne said. “People started doing that and got sick, right off the bat.”
“We won’t,” Brody said. “My filter will clean it up more than necessary for use.”
“Ditto mine,” Ranger added.
“I think they may be guarding them, to keep people from getting the water and getting sick.” Julie Anne looked worried, though the two men couldn’t see it, even in the dash lights.
Brody looked past Julie Anne at Ranger, and then brought his eyes back to the road. “Not going to be a problem,” he said. “Ranger and I will be able to get the water, even if there are guards.”
“I can be pretty sneaky, if the situation calls for it,” Ranger told Julie Anne.
“I just don’t want anyone hurt or arrested on my account,” she replied.
“If it comes to that, we’ll be careful. There could be other options.”
There was silence the rest of the way back to Brody’s apartment building. It was approaching midnight and all three were exhausted by the time everything from the truck was carried up to Brody’s third story apartment.
Brody showed Julie Anne the bathroom and chemical toilet, along with the small basin for hand washing. Brody opened up some meat spread and a box of crackers for their late supper and then changed the sheets on his bed for Julie Anne to use. He and Ranger would flip for the sofa. The loser got the floor. They were all asleep by one in the morning.
(you will get the rest of the story next Saturday. If you can't wait till then you can find the story at http://frc4u.org/phpbb/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=70 )
VP-Shock: Biden Less Popular than Cheney
Double take. Joe Biden is less popular than Dick Cheney. Well, in the first half year of the first term that is.
A slim 51 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Vice President Biden. Cheney was at 58 percent in July 2001. Al Gore, 55 percent in April 1993. The veep comparison comes courtesy of the Pew Research Center's latest report.
The public's favorable take on Biden declined 12 percentage points since January. And don't blame the GOP. Democrats' favorable view fell from 87 to 76 percent. Independents' view fell from 58 to 46 percent.
In time, it will likely prove no challenge for Biden to stay ahead of Cheney. Less than a third of Americans held a favorable view of Cheney when he left office in January.
http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2009/04/23/vp-shock-biden-less-popular-than-cheney/
Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home
HAMAMATSU, Japan — Rita Yamaoka, a mother of three who immigrated from Brazil, recently lost her factory job here. Now, Japan has made her an offer she might not be able to refuse.
Franck Robichon for The New York Times
Sergio Yamaoka, left, and his wife, Rita, came to Hamamatsu from Brazil with their three children three years ago, at the height of the export boom. But in recent months, the Yamaokas both lost their auto factory jobs. The government will pay thousands of dollars to fly Mrs. Yamaoka; her husband, who is a Brazilian citizen of Japanese descent; and their family back to Brazil. But in exchange, Mrs. Yamaoka and her husband must agree never to seek to work in Japan again.
“I feel immense stress. I’ve been crying very often,” Mrs. Yamaoka, 38, said after a meeting where local officials detailed the offer in this industrial town in central Japan.
“I tell my husband that we should take the money and go back,” she said, her eyes teary. “We can’t afford to stay here much longer.”
Japan’s offer, extended to hundreds of thousands of blue-collar Latin American immigrants, is part of a new drive to encourage them to leave this recession-racked country. So far, at least 100 workers and their families have agreed to leave, Japanese officials said.
But critics denounce the program as shortsighted, inhumane and a threat to what little progress Japan has made in opening its economy to foreign workers.
“It’s a disgrace. It’s cold-hearted,” said Hidenori Sakanaka, director of the Japan Immigration Policy Institute, an independent research organization.
“And Japan is kicking itself in the foot,” he added. “We might be in a recession now, but it’s clear it doesn’t have a future without workers from overseas.”
The program is limited to the country’s Latin American guest workers, whose Japanese parents and grandparents emigrated to Brazil and neighboring countries a century ago to work on coffee plantations.
In 1990, Japan — facing a growing industrial labor shortage — started issuing thousands of special work visas to descendants of these emigrants. An estimated 366,000 Brazilians and Peruvians now live in Japan.
The guest workers quickly became the largest group of foreign blue-collar workers in an otherwise immigration-averse country, filling the so-called three-K jobs (kitsui, kitanai, kiken — hard, dirty and dangerous).
But the nation’s manufacturing sector has slumped as demand for Japanese goods evaporated, pushing unemployment to a three-year high of 4.4 percent. Japan’s exports plunged 45.6 percent in March from a year earlier, and industrial production is at its lowest level in 25 years.
New data from the Japanese trade ministry suggested manufacturing output could rise in March and April, as manufacturers start to ease production cuts. But the numbers could have more to do with inventories falling so low that they need to be replenished than with any increase in demand.
While Japan waits for that to happen, it has been keen to help foreign workers leave, which could ease pressure on domestic labor markets and the unemployment rolls.
“There won’t be good employment opportunities for a while, so that’s why we’re suggesting that the Nikkei Brazilians go home,” said Jiro Kawasaki, a former health minister and senior lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
“Nikkei” visas are special visas granted because of Japanese ancestry or association.
Mr. Kawasaki led the ruling party task force that devised the repatriation plan, part of a wider emergency strategy to combat rising unemployment.
Under the emergency program, introduced this month, the country’s Brazilian and other Latin American guest workers are offered $3,000 toward air fare, plus $2,000 for each dependent — attractive lump sums for many immigrants here. Workers who leave have been told they can pocket any amount left over.
But those who travel home on Japan’s dime will not be allowed to reapply for a work visa. Stripped of that status, most would find it all but impossible to return. They could come back on three-month tourist visas. Or, if they became doctors or bankers or held certain other positions, and had a company sponsor, they could apply for professional visas.
Spain, with a unemployment rate of 15.5 percent, has adopted a similar program, but immigrants are allowed to reclaim their residency and work visas after three years.
Japan is under pressure to allow returns. Officials have said they will consider such a modification, but have not committed to it.
“Naturally, we don’t want those same people back in Japan after a couple of months,” Mr. Kawasaki said. “Japanese taxpayers would ask, ‘What kind of ridiculous policy is this?’ ”
The plan came as a shock to many, especially after the government introduced a number of measures in recent months to help jobless foreigners, including free Japanese-language courses, vocational training and job counseling. Guest workers are eligible for limited cash unemployment benefits, provided they have paid monthly premiums.
“It’s baffling,” said Angelo Ishi, an associate professor in sociology at Musashi University in Tokyo. “The Japanese government has previously made it clear that they welcome Japanese-Brazilians, but this is an insult to the community.”
It could also hurt Japan in the long run. The aging country faces an impending labor shortage. The population has been falling since 2005, and its working-age population could fall by a third by 2050. Though manufacturers have been laying off workers, sectors like farming and care for the elderly still face shortages.
But Mr. Kawasaki said the economic slump was a good opportunity to overhaul Japan’s immigration policy as a whole.
“We should stop letting unskilled laborers into Japan. We should make sure that even the three-K jobs are paid well, and that they are filled by Japanese,” he said. “I do not think that Japan should ever become a multiethnic society.”
He said the United States had been “a failure on the immigration front,” and cited extreme income inequalities between rich Americans and poor immigrants.
At the packed town hall meeting in Hamamatsu, immigrants voiced disbelief that they would be barred from returning. Angry members of the audience converged on officials. Others walked out of the meeting room.
“Are you saying even our children will not be able to come back?” one man shouted.
“That is correct, they will not be able to come back,” a local labor official, Masahiro Watai, answered calmly.
Claudio Nishimori, 30, said he was considering returning to Brazil because his shifts at a electronics parts factory were recently reduced. But he felt anxious about going back to a country he had left so long ago.
“I’ve lived in Japan for 13 years. I’m not sure what job I can find when I return to Brazil,” he said. But his wife has been unemployed since being laid off last year and he can no longer afford to support his family.
Mrs. Yamaoka and her husband, Sergio, who settled here three years ago at the height of the export boom, are undecided. But they have both lost jobs at auto factories. Others have made up their minds to leave. About 1,000 of Hamamatsu’s Brazilian inhabitants left the city before the aid was even announced. The city’s Brazilian elementary school closed last month.
“They put up with us as long as they needed the labor,” said Wellington Shibuya, who came six years ago and lost his job at a stove factory in October. “But now that the economy is bad, they throw us a bit of cash and say goodbye.”
He recently applied for the government repatriation aid and is set to leave in June.
“We worked hard; we tried to fit in. Yet they’re so quick to kick us out,” he said. “I’m happy to leave a country like this.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/business/global/23immigrant.html?_r=1
Brody Cunningham watched the news, fascinated. He didn’t quite believe that the north east coast of the country, and the southern coast of California got what they deserved, but the thought wasn’t far from his thoughts.
It was the 1989 Liddy scenario almost verbatim. At least in the actions. The probable perpetrators were more likely Iranian sponsored Islamic Extremists rather than a communist cell.
The results were the same, plus a degree, due to the additional attacks in California that weren’t in Liddy’s memo to the president.
The terrorists had hit EHV transformers, shutting down the entire electrical grid to New England. The same thing in California, isolating it, too, from the electrical supplies produced in the middle of the country.
Choke points on the railroads all over the country were destroyed, limiting rail traffic to mostly local use, which wasn’t that much in demand. Coal fired power plants began to run out of fuel all across the country.
Enhanced EMP devices were used in New York City; Washington, D. C.; Houston, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; and Los Angles and Sacramento, California. Fortune 500 Corporate records, Federal reserve banking information, IRS and Social Security records, California and New York State and City welfare and entitlement records, and much private information was wiped from computers. Depending on the degree of secure back up, which wasn’t much for some of the systems, it would be months to years before computer records were re-created from paper records.
Almost every major natural gas pipeline was hit and either the lines blown where they crossed rivers, or the pumping stations taken out. More power plants went down.
Refineries in California and all along the Gulf coast were hit with RPG’s, creating explosions and starting fires that burned for days.
Fully two dozen aircraft were shot down just before landing or after takeoff. Flight was restricted to military aircraft, with fighter escorts that could use countermeasures on the shoulder fired missiles that had taken down the commercial craft. At first that seemed unnecessary, when the attacks stopped for a day, but three more flights, given special permission to fly, were shot down. All commercial traffic was stopped then. For the duration.
The attacks took place over three days, near the end of June. The Federal Government’s first and third benefit and Social Security checks for July did not go out. That’s when the riots started in Washington, D. C., all over California, primarily in Los Angeles, and in New York, when the state entitlement checks didn’t go out, either.
Brody had gone in to work the first day of the attacks, at the big box home improvement store where he was a warehouseman. The power went out around noon, when another section of the power grid, trying to carry the load around the blown transformers, had a cascading fail that blew many of the primary power interconnect transformers.
As news of the widespread attacks became known, one employee after another was sent home, with the instructions to call in an hour before shift during the following days to see if the store would be open, and if so, where the individual employee would be needed.
Brody knew he was low man on the totem pole at the store. He went in and signed up with a temp service again. That was what he had been doing since he got laid off at his previous job and got the warehouseman’s job.
The people at the temp service weren’t too hopeful. More and more information was coming in about the countrywide effects of the terrorist attacks. So Brody stayed home, conserving his cash, calling in to the store every morning, and staying by the phone the rest of the time, hoping for the temp service to call.
Getting low on fresh food on day six after the attack, Brody walked to the local grocery store where he normally shopped. “Should have known,” Brody said under his breath. The shelves were bare. With limited fuel, not many trucks were going anywhere. That included grocery store supply trucks, though they were getting priority over everything except fuel deliveries, and medical transport.
Brody turned around and walked out without buying anything. “Prep time,” he said to himself, going back to his apartment to get his mountain bike and trailer. He still had a month’s worth of LTS food in the apartment, but he decided to move some from the storage room he rented in case non-motorized travel was restricted, too. Better to save fuel for more important needs.
It took him three trips to get what he wanted, getting the manager from the office each time to open the gate to the facility. It was electronically controlled and wasn’t working, though the power was on. Supplied for a few days, Brody continued to try to find work. Then work found him. The temp service called and asked if he could operate small construction equipment like backhoes, skid steer loaders, and such. Brody said, “Yes, I can.”
It had been several years since he had, but he figured he could pick it up again quickly. He didn’t ask where the job was going to be, but he shrugged after he hung up and decided it really didn’t matter.
The next day Brody checked the address three times when he arrived at what he thought he’d read. He was right the first time, too. It was a cemetery. There was no office, as such. Only what looked to Brody like a garage. Which, Brody decided, only made sense.
After locking his truck, Brody walked over to the building. Sure enough, it was a garage, with the access door on the other side. There was an elderly man there tinkering on a Case tractor backhoe.
“Wha’cha’ doing here, boy?” the old man asked.
“I’m Brody. The temp service sent me down here to work.”
“’Bought time they brought in somebody. You ever dug a grave before?”
Brody shook his head.
“Well, come on along. Got the old goat to going.” The Case rumbled to life and the old man put away his tools. Climbing into the seat of the open ROPS cage, he started to pull out of the garage just as Brody started to step up and ride beside him.
“No riders, boy,” the old man said. “OSHA don’t like it. You walk. I’ll ride.”
Brody nodded and easily walked along side the old backhoe. The old man wasn’t pushing it very fast. He watched as the old man used the backhoe to carefully dig a grave, where the sod had already been removed. Brody knew enough about running equipment to know that the old man was an expert.
The old man maneuvered the backhoe away from the grave. There was another plot with the sod removed. “You do that one. Just like I did this one.” That was all he said before he turned around and walked off.
Climbing onto the backhoe, Brody worked rather slowly, until he’d acquainted himself with the eccentricities of the backhoe. Then he was able to dig a bit faster, though he knew he was nowhere as fast as the old man, nor as precise. He’d just finished the grave when another man, dressed in soiled coveralls, came up and pointed off in another section of the graveyard.
“Hop to it. We got nine more today.”
“Nine?” Brody asked.
The fellow hurried off without answering. Brody put the Case in gear and headed in the direction in which the man had pointed. It didn’t take him long to find the next plot needing to be dug. He worked steadily until after one and then went to his truck to get his lunch. He slipped out of his shirt, leaving on his T-shirt. It was really getting hot.
Brody had barely taken a bite of his sandwich when the old man came walking up slowly. “Hurry it up, boy. We gots lots more to do.”
“Don’t I get a lunch?” Brody asked, a bit annoyed.
“You got it. Now hurry up. I hope you know enough to stay out of sight during the ceremonies.”
“Sure,” Brody said, not having had a clue. But it made sense. Still eating his sandwich, and grabbing a bottle of water to take with him, Brody headed back to where he’d parked the backhoe. “Where next?”
“Pick a spot without a headstone, that isn’t already a fresh grave. Do the best you can peeling and saving the sod. Quantity is now the goal, over quality.”
Brody shrugged. “Sure thing. What’s your name, anyway?”
“Emit Smith. What’s it to you?”
“Nothing,” Brody quickly said. “Just wanted to know what to call you.”
“Don’t call me. This is my last day. You’re on your own as of right now,” Emit said. “Just gotta get my lunch bucket and I’m out of here.”
“But… What am I supposed to do? Who will sign my timecard?”
“Take it to the coroner’s office. He’s in charge of this mess. This part of it, anyway.”
Brody was confused. But when he took on a job, he completed it. Doing as Emit had said, Brody picked random undisturbed plots and kept digging all afternoon, until six. He had well over his eight in, without a real lunch, plus.
There was no one around when he parked the Case backhoe in the garage and closed the door. Another hearse was pulling into the cemetery as he pulled out. He had to stop and look at a telephone book to find out where the coroner’s office was. He drove down to the city morgue and asked for the coroner.
The person was on their way out the door and just pointed down the hallway. Brody went down it and found the office door marked Coroner’s Office. He knocked on the door and went in when a voice said, “Come in.”
“Yes? What is it?” The man looked up then. “Oh. Who are you?”
“Brody Cunningham. I’ve been digging graves at the city cemetery. I’m a temp. I was told you would sign off my time card.”
“For crying out loud! This should be taken care of by the City Cemetery Administrator. Who told you me?”
“Emit Smith. He said it was his last day.”
“You’re kidding! That old geezer is quitting? He’s been grave digger at that cemetery since he was nineteen.”
“He told me it was his last day. I’ve no way of knowing if he means it or not. He sure looked like he did.”
Brody held out the time card to the coroner. According to the name plate on his desk his name was Dr. Steven Crane. “Dr. Crane?”
Crane essentially snatched the card from Brody’s hand. “Let me see! I might as well… Wait. This card goes through Sunday. I’m not about to sign it and let you put any hours on it you want. Looks like you’re already fudging. Nine and a half hours today?”
“Emit had me work through lunch, and I had to finish the grave I was on. He had me dig a bunch of them. What’s going on?” Brody’s inquisitive nature had gotten the best of him.
“People die. They need graves. Here. Bring this back when you have Saturday and Sunday entered.”
“You want me to work the weekend?”
“People die every day of the week, or didn’t you know that?”
“Yes, sir. I know that. But…” Brody needed the work. Why not? At least he wasn’t digging the graves by hand. “Okay. Saturday and Sunday it is. Can I take a lunch?”
Dr. Crane suddenly looked thoughtful. “Well… Of course you’re entitled to a lunch… But make it a short one.”
The telephone rang and Dr. Crane answered it. He hadn’t given Brody the time card back so Brody waited. And listened to one half of the conversation.
“How many?” Pause “Aren’t we going to get Federal help?” Pause. “I imagine so, but…” Pause. “Have you seen the weather forecast?” Pause. “That means we’re going to have to go to extreme measures.”
Dr. Crane hung up the telephone slowly. Suddenly he looked up at Brody, startled. “You didn’t hear any of that. You understand?”
Brody nodded. Something was up. Not only was he curious, he did need the money.
“Oh. Here. Have Julie Anne take care of this tomorrow.”
“Julie Anne?” Brody asked, taking the card when Dr. Crane held it out.
“Julie Anne Baumgartner. She’s the Cemetery Administrator. She’ll be out there in the morning to give you some instructions. If she isn’t, you give me a call. You have a cell phone?”
“Doesn’t everybody?” Brody asked, taking out his Motorola and showing it to the doctor.
“Take my card. Call me if she isn’t there and start doing what you were doing today.” With that Dr. Crane put his head down and began reading the material he’d been reading when Brody had gone in.
Taking the card, Brody left. “Something is up,” Brady said to himself as he went back out to his pick up. It seemed even hotter now with the sun going down than earlier in the day. Brody hadn’t seen the weather forecast that morning. He turned up the AC in the truck and the cab was just getting cool by the time he got home.
Brody flipped the light switch when he went into the apartment, but noting happened. He turned on the battery lamp on the bookcase by the door of the apartment and then, without thinking, tried the TV remote. “Dummy!” he said to himself and tossed the remote back onto the sofa. Brody pulled a small flashlight from his pocket and began checking boxes that were stacked along the wall of the apartment. It took him only two tries to find the small battery operated TV. He had thing organized fairly well.
There were batteries with the TV and he put them in and turned the unit on. All five local stations were broadcasting. Just to find out, Brody hooked the cablevision cable to the TV. Nothing. He went back to the TV’s built-in antenna. He watched his favorite station. They were running on backup power the anchor woman said.
“The best information we have is that this is a cascade failure related to the terrorists’ attacks on the electrical grid in other parts of the nation. The city authorities are asking that everyone that doesn’t have a critical job function to stay home until this situation is rectified.
“Anyone in critical need of food should call one of the food banks that have been set up. The numbers are scrolling across the bottom of your screen. The hospitals are already overloaded. Only in the most serious cases should you call 911 or take someone to the hospital.
“Mike, how is the weather going to cooperate?”
The scene changed to the weather set. Mike didn’t look too hopeful. “Janice, I’m afraid the weather is not going to cooperate at all. The temperatures from this new system will continue to climb just slightly tonight and then zoom to over one-hundred tomorrow. Janice.”
“Thank you, Mike. Definitely not good news. As with those needing food, a few ‘cooling centers’ have been set up around the city. Those numbers are now scrolling at the bottom of the screen. Please…”
The TV screen went snowy. Brody tried another channel. They were still up and running. But saying the same things. Hot and hotter the next few days. With no word on when the electricity might come back on. Limited fuel and food deliveries, if any.
“Not good,” Brody said. He opened up the windows of the apartment and got ready for bed. Not much to do but sleep. He didn’t want to waste battery power reading or watching what TV there was. He set his alarm for the next morning just before he went to bed.
Brody was bathed in sweat when the alarm woke him up the next morning. Crossing his fingers he went to the bathroom. There was no water pressure. He used the bathroom, realizing that after the one flush, he would have to start using the chemical toilet.
He used some of his bottled water supply to take a quick sponge bath and then got dressed. The roads were a mess, with all the traffic signal lights off and not enough police to direct traffic at all the major intersections. A few civilians were trying to do the directing, but they were ignored for the most part.
Brody had expected it and took the long way around to get to the cemetery to avoid the grid lock. He had the garage opened up and the Case running, after a bit of fiddling with it. A few minutes later, Brody was about ready to call Dr. Crane, but he saw a car pull in and park next to his truck.
“Miss Baumgartner?” Brody asked when he met her halfway to the garage.
“Ms, if you don’t mind. And you are?”
“Brody. Dr. Crane said you’d have some instructions for me this morning?” Brody lifted his cap and ran a sleeve across his forehead. It was already hot.
“Yes. We are… to be blunt… having a burial crisis in the midst of this larger crisis. We are going to have to stop doing individual graves, except for those that are willing to pay extra. The bodies are stacking up in refrigerator trucks and we’re running out of diesel for them. I will show you where I want slit trenches dug for mass graves. You’ll dig one for immediate use, and then start on the others, filling the first as bodies are added.”
Brody was stunned. They were turning to mass graves already. It was inconceivable. “There are that many deaths already?”
“Yes. Now don’t stand around. Get the tractor and follow me.” Julie Anne Baumgartner was all business.
Brody followed slowly behind her as she walked to several places in the cemetery and pointed out what she wanted. After the fifth spot she motioned for Brody to join her on the ground. He stopped the engine on the backhoe and hopped down.
“This is the one I want you to start with. Come back to the car with me. I have gloves, masks, and Tyvek coveralls for you. You’ll have to help with the bodies. We’re short of body bags so many of the deceased will be in the clothes they were in when they died.”
“But I didn’t…” Brody started to protest. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be handling dead bodies. Even with personal protective equipment.
“Look, mister, if you don’t want to do it let me know right now and I’ll get someone who will.”
Brody suddenly noticed how haggard Julie Anne looked. Despite the professional business clothes, the perfect makeup, and tidy bun her hair was done up in, Julie Anne was on the edge of collapse. Brody felt sorry for her.
“No. I’ll do it. But I want a couple of things in return for going well above and beyond the job description.”
Julie Anne’s lips were pursed angrily, but she said nothing.
“I want all the PPE required. If you don’t have a large enough supply, I suggest you get one. I won’t work without it. And bottled water. It’s going to be hot. I’ll need a very large supply. Finally, things may get way out of hand here. I want to be paid in pre-1965 US junk silver coins.”
“You have to be kidding me! Why pre-1965 coins and where am I supposed to find them, even if I did agree to this… blackmail?”
“Careful throwing around words like blackmail. You need me more than I need you. I’m not out to gouge you. You can convert at whatever the last spot price was on silver. Several of the local coin stores have junk silver coins.”
“You’ve worked temp before. You know we don’t pay you. We pay the temp agency and they pay you. You’ll have to work out that deal with them.”
“See ya,” Brody said and started walking toward the parking lot.
“No! Wait! Okay, okay! I’ll see what I can do.” She joined him and the two continued toward the parking lot to get the initial set of PPE for Brody. When they got to the car Julie Anne used the remote and opened the trunk.
Brody was satisfied with the quality of the PPE. The protective hooded and booted coveralls were the good stuff, as were the rubber boots and gloves. There was a box of 3M P-100 masks. “Try to get me a Millennium full face CBRN mask and a box of filters. I’m afraid the P-100’s might not be adequate.”
Julie Anne’s brow wrinkled. “You seem to know something about personal protective equipment.”
“I’ve used it before. I want the best. This is going to be a risky job before it’s over.”
“That’s fair. I’ll see what I can do. The water shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll pick up a case…”
“Three cases to start. At least. It’s going to be over a hundred for days, I expect. I’ll drink almost a case a day. I’ll stick with you as long as this takes, if you look out for my needs. I’m not going to have the time, it looks like. That includes food. It’s hard to come by. MRE’s are okay if you can get them. They can come out of the pay.”
Julie Anne had started to frown, but at Brody’s assertion he’d stick with her made a difference to her. She believed him. “Okay. I’ll make it at least a case a day. And some food. For each of you.”
“Each of us?” Brody asked.
“Isn’t Dwayne here?”
“Didn’t see anybody else. Oh. You must mean the guy that was here yesterday. No. I haven’t seen him today.”
“I’ll have to try to find someone else if he’s left. Emit I understand. He’s way past retirement age. No need for him to endure this situation.” Julie Anne sighed.
“Um… I know someone that will probably do it. Same terms as me.”
“If you can get at least one more reliable, hard worker, I’ll do everything I can to get you the silver coins in payment. If I have to take it out of my own salary.”
“One I can pretty much guarantee. Two maybe. More than that, I don’t think so, though I’ll ask if you want me to.”
“Please do.”
Brody took the boxes out of the trunk and carried them to the garage. Julie Anne carried the rubber boots. There were six pairs, two pairs of three different sizes, still tied together in pairs from the store.
“Will you trust me enough to go ahead and start working?” Julie Anne asked. “The first two or three… deliveries… will be going in the private graves.”
“Give me your word you’ll give it a real try, then we have a deal,” Brody said.
“I do. Give you my word I’ll do my best.” She held out her hand.
Brody just said, “Your word is good enough. Don’t wait too long on that water.” He turned and headed back to the Case to start digging. As he walked he pulled out his cell phone, mentally crossing his fingers that cell service was still up. It was.
“Hey, Ranger! Yeah, it’s Brody. Got a gig for you if you’re interested. Hard, nasty work, PPE provided, possibly pay in silver. Don’t you want to know what it is?”
Brody laughed at Ranger’s response and then told him the address of the cemetery. Next he called two more of his acquaintances. Neither one was interested. They preferred to stay holed up where they were and wait out the troubles. Both were well enough equipped and supplied to do so.
It was almost noon when Julie Anne and Ranger both showed up within minutes of each other. Ranger introduced himself there in the parking lot and Julie Anne had him carry the water and other items from her trunk to the garage.
“Please tell Brody that I made the arrangements he wanted. You should be able to find him. He’ll fill you in on what you are required to do.”
“Very good,” Ranger replied and took off at an easy trot, despite the heat, to find the source of the sound he was hearing. It didn’t take long.
When he trotted up to the Case backhoe Brody saw him and shut down the machine. “Hi, Ranger! I see you found the place. You still okay with the work?”
“Why not? Just a job. Met the boss lady. She said she’d made the arrangements you wanted. That the silver?”
Brody nodded. “You want to take over. I need a break, a bottle of water, and a bite of lunch.”
“Sure, buddy. Looks like an eight foot wide slit trench. Going to be a mass grave, I take it.”
Brody nodded, and climbed down off the backhoe. The ROPS threw a little shade, but it sure would have been nice to have an air conditioned cab instead of the open framework of the rollover protective system.
Ranger was an experienced heavy equipment operator and went right to it after getting on the backhoe. Brody didn’t have to worry about him and headed for the parking lot to get his lunch out of the truck.
He saw three hearses pull in as he was walking. They were headed for the individual graves that were still open. After getting his lunch box from the truck, Brody went up to the garage. He saw the six cases of bottled water and three cases of MRE’s. There were two boxes, each containing a Millennium CBRN respirator, and two boxes that contained ten replacement filters each.
“You really came through,” Brody said aloud. He sat down after pulling one of the bottles of water free from the case and slowly ate his sandwich. It was the last of the fresh food he’d had in the fridge when the power went out.
The freeze bottle in the insulated lunch box was still cold and he ran it luxuriously over his face and his arms, relishing the coolness as he ate. He used the porta-jon that sat on the back side of the garage and washed his hands with water from the bottle he’d been drinking.
The hearses were leaving when Brody headed back to where Ranger was working. He stopped at each of the three graves. The caskets were still sitting on the lowering apparatus at each one. Brody checked it out and figured how to operate the equipment. He lowered the caskets in turn and took the equipment back to the garage, making several trips to get everything moved, including the mats covering the mounds of dirt.
After that, Brody used his truck to carry stuff. Apparently Emit had used the backhoe bucket to move the stuff around, but with it tied up constantly, Brody decided he could invest a little in the effort. The diesel tank by the garage was full, so he could get replacement fuel.
The dreaded sight of a semi truck pulling into the cemetery came just as Brody was going to join Ranger, in the truck, after getting sidetracked with the graves. The driver of the truck saw Brody and drove up and stopped beside him. “Where do you want me?” he asked.
“Follow me,” Brody said and headed for the first slit trench. He’d loaded the PPE he and Ranger would need to handle the bodies safely.
Ranger saw them coming and moved the backhoe out of the way. He met Brody at his truck on the narrow lane that ran through the cemetery. “Got the… Oh. I see it in the back. Fun starts now, I guess.”
“Yeah,” Brody said, giving a bit of a sigh.
The semi driver was getting parked where it would be the easiest to unload the bodies from the trailer into the slit trench. He was opening the trailer doors, wisps of frozen vapor trailing out as they opened. Brody and Ranger had the protective equipment on and began to move the bodies.
“Aren’t you helping?” Brody asked the driver through the voicemitter of the Millennium respirator.
“Not bloody likely,” replied the man. “These are all yours. I’m just the transport. Here’s the manifest.”
“After we’re done,” Brody said. It was a struggle to get the body bags out of the truck and carried down the slope at the end of the trench and laid out side by side. Brody managed not to gag at the idea of the frozen bodies inside the body bags and wondered how much worse it was going to be if the coroner did run out of body bags.
With the last body in the trench, Brody and Ranger each took an independent count, both of which matched the manifest the driver handed Brody. Brody signed it and the driver hurriedly left, having closed up the trailer as soon as the last body was out.
Brody wished he’d waited. It would have been nice to spend a few minutes in the reefer trailer to cool off. But he couldn’t so he went back to work on the backhoe, giving Ranger a chance to go get water and take a rest.
Brody covered the bodies they’d just laid out, leaving a ramp so they could do the next batch. When he’d finished that he filled in the other three graves and met Ranger back at the slit trench.
They took turns running the backhoe and resting, unloading one more truck late that afternoon. Julie Anne showed up to tell Brody that it was the last load for the day, but there would be more the next day. “Can you work a while long and get more trenches dug?”
Brody looked at Ranger, who nodded. “We’ll get done what we can. It’s actually easier on us to do the digging in the cooler hours of the evening. Not that it’s that much cooler. But it helps. Is there any chance you could get us a rental machine? Just a Bobcat if not another backhoe. We waste quite a bit of time moving the hoe back and forth. If we had something with which to backfill that we could leave at the trench in use, it would be easier.”
Julie Anne nodded. “Makes sense. I’ll see what I can do.”
Julie Anne left and Brody and Ranger went back to work.
The two men switched off and on until midnight, taking turns napping and digging. Since Ranger lived quite some distance away, he went home with Brody and stayed at his place. They were back at the cemetery, working, when Julie Anne showed up the next morning.
“My! You two have done an amazing amount of work! How late did you work last night?”
“Midnight. It was a lot nicer, even at eighty-five degrees, than it was earlier in the day. Not as hard on the Case, either.”
“That should be better. The Bobcat skid loader should be here any minute. Is there anything else you need?”
“I’m a little uncomfortable burying these people with no good ID to each location.”
Julie Anne’s face fell and she looked about to cry. “I know. But we just don’t have the means. The manifests indicate which trench, but that is all. We have to be careful to make sure the trenches are marked as to which each is.”
“There is a map in the garage I’ve been marking with what I know,” Brody said.
“That’s good.”
All three turned when the rental delivery truck showed up, right on the heels of the first reefer tractor trailer. With sighs that Julie Anne noted, Brody and Ranger suited up for the handling of the bodies.
“Just have them park it here,” Brody told Julie Anne. “We’ll come get it when we need it. Oh. And I’m using my truck to get around faster. Just replacing the fuel from the cemetery tank. I hope that’s okay. Speeds things up a great deal.”
“I suppose that will be all right. But just what you use. Fuel, even for the city services, is almost gone.”
Brody nodded and he and Ranger got into the pickup and led the semi to the slit trench. It was as hard as Brody thought it would be when the body bags ran out and the frozen bodies were in only the clothes they’d died in, in most cases. A few were wrapped in bed sheets or blankets. It made the bodies much harder to handle, too. The body bags had handles. The bodies didn’t.
Julie Anne, good as her word, showed up Monday morning with several tubes of silver coins. “I thought we’d better just do it and I’ll work out the required financial details with the city later.”
“Excellent!” Ranger said, as Brody counted out his share and then pocketed his own.
“Thank you,” Brody told Julie Anne. “I know this was a bit out of the ordinary, but it was important to us.”
Julie Anne shrugged. “The price of things is going up and even cash isn’t taken everywhere. I’ve already seen one service station that has their sign posted ‘No checks. No credit cards. No cash. Gold or silver coins only.’ I guess you aren’t the only one with the same idea.”
Brody and Ranger exchanged a glance. She had no clue.
“What is the cause of all these deaths?” Brody asked the question that had been on his mind for days.
“Heat and dehydration for the most part. Without power there’s no AC or water. The cooling shelters are full, but even they are limited as to what they can provide. Without fuel the generators aren’t running. There have been several deaths from people on electrically powered respirators and other critical life support systems. Even those with battery backups are dying as their batteries die and can’t get recharged. The hospital generators are out of fuel for the most part and the city hasn’t been able to get more.
“I was in the EOC this morning before I came out here and it’s like this all over the region. All over the country.” She looked down at the ground for a long moment. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep our bargain. I’ve got all the water I could round up, and MRE’s. The silver… Well, to be honest, I bought all the junk silver, as you called it, three coin stores had. Two more didn’t have any. They’d already sold out. Only numismatics were left, and I didn’t think you wanted those at that value. “What I have is only enough for another full week for the two of you.”
“Well,” said Brody slowly, “Let’s just get through this week and see where we stand.”
“You’ll continue to work this week?” Julie Anne asked. Her body language was saying she had her doubts.
“I said I’d stick by you for this,” Brody said. “Ranger?”
“I’m good. As long as I can stay at your place,” Ranger replied. “My rig is half full, but I don’t know when I’ll be able to get more fuel.”
“Okay. That’s settled,” Brody said. “You have your crew for the week.”
“Thank you,” Julie Anne replied. “It means a lot to me.”
So Brody and Ranger worked the week, putting in ten to twelve hour days, through Sunday. Julie Anne hadn’t shown up much. Only once with three more cases of water and a case of MRE’s.
Brody and Ranger lost several pounds each over those few days, between the work and the heat. They conserved water and food as they could, but couldn’t take the chance of becoming dehydrated or lose strength due to lack of food.
They used only a case of the water between them per day, and one MRE each per day, supplementing both from Brody’s prep stocks. Ranger would give him some in return, once he could go to his place and get them. To save fuel, Brody was leaving his truck in the garage at the cemetery and riding his bicycle back and forth. Ranger had his bike in the locked down in the back of his truck and they both rode.
It was a month after the attacks, and Brody had put in two weeks and three days at the City Cemetery, along with Ranger. The number of bodies they were burying went up every day. Fortunately the city had recently enlarged the cemetery and there was enough room for the slit trenches.
Monday after the two full weeks rolled around Julie Anne showed up at the cemetery right after Brody and Ranger rode up on their bicycles.
“You don’t look good,” was the first thing Brody said when she got out of her car.
“I guess I haven’t eaten in a couple of days…” her words faded away as she stood up outside the car and swayed slightly.
Brody grabbed her on one side and Ranger the other. They got her sitting down on the edge of the back seat of her car. Ranger ran around to the other side of the car and opened the doors on that side to collect what little breeze there was.
“Why haven’t you said something, for heaven’s sake?” Brady asked. He turned to Ranger. “Get one of the MRE cookies and a bottle of water.”
With a quick nod Ranger was off like a shot to the garage and was back only a couple minutes later with the requested items. Brody was fanning Julie Anne’s face. The heat wave hadn’t broken and it was already ninety-five degrees at seven in the morning.
Ranger handed Brody the water first and Brody wetted his bandanna with it and bathed Julie Anne’s face gently. She finally came around and Brody helped her get a sip of water and then took the cookie that Ranger had unwrapped. “Nibble on this,” Brody said and guided her hands with the cookie in them up to her mouth.
It took a few bites for her to come fully cognizant of what was going on. She tugged her hands gently from Brody’s. “I’m okay, now. Thank you.”
“Why haven’t you been eating?” Brody asked.
Julie Anne gave a slight shrug. “Sometimes I forget, and there just isn’t much around. And I can’t get any money out of the bank for what is available.”
Brody looked around at Ranger. “You bring the rest of the MRE?”
“Right here,” he said, handing the package to Brody.
Against Julie Anne’s rather feeble attempts to prevent it, Brody made sure she ate everything in the meal package, over the next hour. Ranger had gone on and fired up the equipment, getting ready for the expected deluge of corpses.
“Please stop fussing over me,” Julie Anne managed to say with a show of her old self. And you should have Ranger stop what he’s doing. I don’t have any more money to pay you.”
“Don’t worry about that right now. Why’d you come out here, anyway? Things are working fine.”
“I can’t let you work for no pay. I can’t even get you any more food or water. And the fuel must be about gone in the cemetery tank. I can’t find any to refill it. We’ll have to stop pretty soon, anyway.”
“Well, for the moment you just sit here and relax. Let Ranger and me worry about whether or not we get paid. The fuel could be a problem, but I have an idea about that.” Brody moved off, got on his bicycle and headed off to talk to Ranger.
When Ranger saw Brody coming, he stopped the Case. They were stopping it every time now, to save fuel.
“She’s doing okay, now,” Brody told Ranger. “Look, she’s admitted she can’t pay up anymore. No more food or water. And the diesel is about gone…”
“You want to keep going, somehow,” Ranger said. He knew his buddy pretty well.
Brody nodded.
“I’m okay with it, since we have food and water to eat. Need to be doing something, even if we don’t get paid. But I don’t know about the fuel. No way to dig all these graves by hand.”
“Yeah. About that. You’re right. But… You know… We could actually fill them by hand. Just dig them with the backhoe and Bobcat until the fuel runs out. Maybe hold onto a reserve for some kind of emergency.
“And this isn’t an emergency?” Ranger asked dryly.
“You know what I mean,” Brody said with a short laugh. “You in?”
Ranger nodded. “I’m in.”
“Okay. I’ll tell her. It should make her feel better.”
Ranger waved in acknowledgement and Brody rode back to the parking lot. Julie Anne was sitting in the back seat, her legs inside now, with her head back on the seat. Brody hated to bother her, but decided she would rather know as soon as possible.
“Ms Baumgartner…” At Brody’s words Julie Anne came awake abruptly. She looked around frantically for a moment and then relaxed when she saw Brody.
“I’m sorry to wake you.” Brody looked at her quizzically. “You not only haven’t eaten, you haven’t slept much the last few days, either, have you?”
She shook her head, too tired to put up a front.
“Well,” Brody said, hoping the news would cheer her as much as he was hoping it would, “Ranger and I came up with a plan. We’re going to keep working. The pay, if any, can be straightened out later. We have enough food and water to get us through for a while. To conserve fuel, we just going to dig the trenches with the backhoe and Bobcat. We’ll fill them by hand as we get more… deliveries.”
To Brody’s astonishment, Julie Anne began to cry. “I thought you’d be pleased!” he hurriedly said, having no idea how to handle a crying woman.
“I… I… I… am. It’s just such a relief… and I don’t know how to thank you… or pay you… or even if this is legal.” Julie Anne swayed on the seat and then fainted, leaning over to one side.
It looked uncomfortable and Brody reached into the car and straightened her up. She was breathing fine, and Brody decided she was just too tired and worn down. She’d be okay if she got some sleep. Working as gently as he could, Brody shifted her again, this time to a prone position on the back seat. He closed the doors all around, after rolling down all the windows. He’d check on her occasionally, but a semi was coming in and he needed to get back to work.
Grabbing his PPE, he climbed on the bicycle and headed for the semi. He gave the driver a ‘come with me’ sign and pedaled toward the slit trench now in use. Ranger saw them coming and met them there. Brody and Ranger suited up as the driver opened up the trailer.
After the bodies were laid out in the bottom of the trench, Brody rode back to check on Julie Anne, and got a shovel from the garage before he went back to the trench. Ranger was waiting. “Where’s my shovel?” he asked.
“Well, since this was my idea, I figured I’d do most of the shoveling, and let you do most of the digging.” Brody saw Ranger start to protest. “Don’t worry. There is going to be plenty of shovel work to go around, after we run out of diesel.”
“Okay… I guess,” Ranger said, rather reluctantly. He headed back to the trench he was working on.
It was hard, grueling labor in the heat, shoveling the dirt back into the trench. And it was worse when he had to put his PPE back on to continue. Some of the bodies had been well into decomposition when found, and now, as they began to thaw in the heat, since it was taking so long to cover them, the smell was terrible.
But with the respirator in place, and acting quickly to get at least an inch or so of dirt over the bodies, Brody was able to take off the respirator again, and shove the coveralls down to his waist, tying the arms to keep them from falling down to his boots.
He had to take a break or pass out himself, so he got on the bicycle and went to check on Julie Anne. She was still asleep. Brody got a bottle of water out of the garage and downed it. He took another down to Julie Anne’s car and put it where she would find it if she woke up before he returned.
Brody watched her sleep for a few minutes, as he rested, and then forced himself to go back to work. It was noon the next time he checked on Julie Anne. Ranger rode up on his bicycle and asked, “How’s she doing?”
“Okay, I think. She fainted and then fell asleep. I’m beginning to get…” Brody’s words faded when Julie Anne groaned and sat up, her face bathed in sweat.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. Seeing the water she reached for the bottle eagerly and drank half of it in a very unladylike manner.
“Oh, that is so good!” she said, between sips now. “How long have I been out?”
“It’s a little after noon, now,” Brody replied.
“Oh, my Lord! I should have been at the office hours ago!” She scrambled out of the back of the car.
“Wait a minute,” Brody said, laying a hand on her arm as she swayed slightly. “You’re going to eat something first, and drink some more water.”
“I can’t. I need…”
“You need to stay hydrated and nourished,” Brody insisted. “Come on. You can eat lunch with us.”
Brody didn’t exactly drag Julie Anne with him, but she would have had to struggle to break his firm grip.
“But this is your food and water!” she protested when Ranger tossed her one of the MRE’s.
“We’re in this together, now,” Brody said.
It seemed to satisfy her, for Julie Anne quit protesting and let Ranger and Brody help her get the meal pack open and the entrée in the included heater. She finished the first bottle of water, and after only a moment’s hesitation reached for another in the half empty case. There were two cases under it.
“It is so hot,” she said a few minutes later. “I really don’t want any more of this.”
Brody decided he’d pushed all he could. “Okay. At least you ate something. And don’t worry about it going to waste,” he said with a grin. “Ranger and I will finish it up.”
Julie Anne managed a small smile. “That’s good. Waste not, want not. Right?”
“Exactly,” Brody said. He reached into the case of water and handed Julie Anne two more bottles. “Take these with you in case you can’t find any where you’re going.”
“But…”
“Take it,” Ranger said. “Brody and I can fend for ourselves pretty good.”
“Well, then, thank you both. I do have to get back to the office. I just hope I have enough fuel.”
“Maybe you’d better take my truck,” Brody said, drawing a startled look from Ranger, though he didn’t say anything.
“Oh, I couldn’t do that!” Julie Anne protested.
“It’s got city diesel in it,” Brody said. “So, why not?”
“I really don’t think I have enough fuel… The warning light came on last night.” She was hesitating, but Brody decided his silence was better than more encouragement. It was.
“Well, since it is city fuel, I will take it. But you’ll be compensated in some way in the future for its use, and the work you’re doing now,” she said firmly.
Brody took the keys out of his pocket and handed them to Julie Anne. “Uh… It’s bigger than your car, by quite a bit. Be a little cautious about getting into small spaces with it.”
Ranger chuckled.
Very seriously Julie Anne said, “I will. Thank you for this.”
Brody watched anxiously as Julie Anne got into his pride and joy and started up the truck. She backed it up just fine, but when she put it into drive, she chirped the tires when she pressed the accelerator. It had a lot more ‘go’ to it than her little hybrid.
“I never would have believed it if I hadn’t seen it,” Ranger said as Brody watched his truck disappear, driven by what amounted to a total stranger.
“Yeah,” Brody said, turning back to his bicycle with a sigh. “Me either.”
Brody breathed a little sigh of relief when he and Ranger biked up to the garage and saw Julie Anne pulling into the cemetery just before seven that evening. Brody thought she looked as bad as she had that morning when she climbed down out of the truck.
“How’d it go?” he asked as she walked wearily up to the two men.
Julie Anne sighed. “No end in sight,” she said and sighed. “I can’t thank you enough for doing this.”
“Yeah, well, what about you?” Brody asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll get paid next month. Maybe there will be some food deliveries. And fuel. And the electricity will come back on. And the water will come back on. And…” She was starting to get tears in her eyes again and obviously hated the fact. She wiped them away angrily.
“I’ll be fine,” she said after a pause.
“Do you have enough fuel to get home?” Brody asked.
“I don’t know… Even if I get there, how do I get back? The Mayor is expecting all of us to do our jobs, despite everything.”
“Well, if it were me, I’d tell the Mayor where to get off,” Ranger said. “Either get me the tools I need, or the job doesn’t get done.”
“Ranger isn’t too fond of the Mayor,” Brody explained when Julie Anne looked shocked.
“But I have to do the best that I can with what I have available,” Julie Anne insisted. “It’s part of my job. And besides, you are doing the same as I am.”
“Yeah… Well… I’m doing it for Brody. Not the Mayor. And… well… for you, too. You’re showing gumption that… Never mind,” Ranger said. “We just need to figure out how to keep going. If these bodies aren’t buried or burned, there is going to be an epidemic, for sure. The city doesn’t need that. We don’t need that. I don’t need that.”
“Burned! We couldn’t possibly…” Julie Anne looked horror struck. “Even the mass graves…”
“There is the problem of fuel to burn them, anyway,” Ranger said. “Bodies don’t burn well on their own.”
“That’s enough, Ranger,” Brody said softly. “Look, Ms Baumgartner, we will continue to do what we can, but there is a limit.”
Julie Anne sighed. “I know. And I’m almost at mine. I honestly don’t know what to do. I may not even be able to get home.”
“You should stay with us until things get better,” Ranger suddenly said.
“What? That’s preposterous!” Julie Anne said, rather outraged at the suggestion.
Brody quickly entered the conversation. “Wait,” he said. “Ranger does have a point. You obviously don’t have any food at your place, no electricity, no water, out of fuel to get around... We need to conserve resources, not only for this job, but for our own well being.
“You’ve helped us out above and beyond the call, at your own detriment. Sure, we’ve been working, but we’d probably be helping out in some way, anyway…” Ranger harrumphed.
Brody looked at him, but looked back at Julie Anne. “Ranger and I are…” he looked over at Ranger again and Ranger gave a slight nod, after a moment’s hesitation.
“Well,” Brody continued, “Ranger and I are preppers. We have equipment and supplies stored for emergencies.”
Julie Anne looked shocked. Her anger was obvious when she started to respond. “You’re survivalists! You mean to tell me…”
But Brody cut her off. “We are not survivalists the way the media describes them. Yes, we have food and water. But without the additional supplies you provided, the work that has been done, wouldn’t have been done. Ranger and I are helping. You can’t deny that. If we let ourselves go the way you have, what good would we be?”
Julie Anne was frowning, trying to understand. “Okay. Yes, if you hadn’t agreed to help I don’t know what I would have done. But hoarding… at a time like this.”
Ranger stiffened and Brody saw it.
“Is it hoarding to have made preparations beforehand for something like this? We took only enough from you to get by while doing the job. You know good and well all the city departments that had the means were doing the same thing you were doing to get the job done. Providing needed supplies to those doing critical work. That food wouldn’t have been distributed to the masses. It was for internal use from the first. So it isn’t hoarding in any way, shape, form, or fashion.”
“Well…” Julie Anne was thinking about it, Brody could see. “I suppose there were several of us using in house supplies to help maintain a working group. Perhaps I was a bit harsh in my judgment.”
Ranger began to relax.
“But that doesn’t mean…” Julie Anne suddenly continued. “What would people say, my staying with my employees?” She blushed.
“Who’s to know?” asked Ranger. “I’d bet you a mint people are grouping up and helping each other wherever they can.” He suddenly smiled. “Of course there are those that are holed up, waiting this out. That’s what I would be doing, except for Brody. And you.”
Brody could see she was wavering. “But I’d still need to get some things from my apartment…” She said.
“We can take care of that,” Ranger said, much to Brody’s surprise. “We leave your rig here until we can find fuel for it. Same with mine. Take Brody’s rig to your place, and then mine, to get what’s needed, then find you a bicycle so you can still get around. We fill up Brody’s truck and the equipment one last time, and then what fuel is left in the cemetery tank is for life and death emergencies.”
Julie Anne looked like she was trying to find fault with the plan, but couldn’t. She closed her mouth and nodded.
“Brody?” Ranger asked.
“Best plan I’ve heard all day,” Brody replied with a smile. “Let’s do it.”
Resigned to the plan, Julie Anne locked up her vehicle and joined Brody and Ranger in Brody’s truck. “Where do you live?” Brody asked her.
When she told him, Brody said, “We’ll go there first. Ranger is further out.”
They were all silent as Brody drove. Once they were stopped by a city police officer on horseback. He was going to commandeer the vehicle until Julie Anne showed her ID and said it already was commandeered.
“Pay’s to have friends in high places,” Ranger said with a grin when Brody started up the truck again and they continued on their way.
The two men waited outside while Julie Anne went into her apartment to pack some things. She came out carrying one large suitcase, and one small one. Brody and Ranger put them in the back of the truck.
Then they headed for Ranger’s house on the outskirts of town. Brody had to do quite a bit of weaving around, avoiding cars whose owners had simply run them until the fuel tanks were empty, rather than parking them with a useable amount of fuel. For emergencies.
Ranger had Brody stop at a house near his in the darkness. All of the block was dark, except for the house where they stopped. “Better let me go up alone. Harvey is a bit touchy,” Ranger said.
Rather cautiously, Julie Anne thought, Ranger started up the walkway to the front door of the house. He didn’t get far before several bright lights came on and illuminated the entire front yard.
Through the open window of the truck Julie Anne and Brody heard the challenge come from the house. “State your business. I am armed and will shoot to kill if you make any aggressive moves.”
“It’s Ranger. Code word ‘memorabilia’.”
“Okay, Ranger. Come ahead. I see others. They staying put or coming in?”
“Staying put,” Ranger replied and entered the house when the front door opened and the outdoor lights went out.
Ten minutes later the garage door opened and Ranger pushed a bicycle toward the truck. The garage door closed, there never having been any light shown while it was open. Ranger put the bike in the back of the truck and climbed back into the cab beside Julie Anne.
“Got you a bike,” Ranger said with a smile. “You owe me ten bucks face value junk silver coin. When you can come up with it.”
“Okay,” Julie Anne said, “Thank you.” Ranger just shrugged and looked out the open window, a slight smile on his lips.
When they arrived at Ranger’s, all three went in after Brody parked the truck, bed toward the garage door. Ranger turned on a battery lamp in the living room when they entered. “Be just a few of minutes,” he said, heading for the bedroom. “You guys can start moving stuff from the garage. Brody, you’ll know what to take. The containers area marked.”
“Sure thing,” Brody said, pulling his compact flashlight from a pocket. “Let’s go.” He pointed the flashlight toward the kitchen and led the way to the garage.
After opening the garage door, Brody checked the shelves against one wall that held much of Ranger’s preps. Checking each container, he pointed out one to Julie Anne and she headed out to the truck with it, followed by Brody with another.
They met Ranger at the truck. He’d carried another of the totes from his bedroom and headed back for more, as Julie Anne and Brody did the same. By the time Brody closed and locked the garage door and went outside through the kitchen and then living room, Ranger had the last tote he wanted in the truck, too.
“Get what we need?” Brody asked Ranger.
“Yep. We should be good for a while, except for water. And we can get that from some of the ponds and lakes in the city parks.”
“The Mayor made an announcement about not doing that,” Julie Anne said. “People started doing that and got sick, right off the bat.”
“We won’t,” Brody said. “My filter will clean it up more than necessary for use.”
“Ditto mine,” Ranger added.
“I think they may be guarding them, to keep people from getting the water and getting sick.” Julie Anne looked worried, though the two men couldn’t see it, even in the dash lights.
Brody looked past Julie Anne at Ranger, and then brought his eyes back to the road. “Not going to be a problem,” he said. “Ranger and I will be able to get the water, even if there are guards.”
“I can be pretty sneaky, if the situation calls for it,” Ranger told Julie Anne.
“I just don’t want anyone hurt or arrested on my account,” she replied.
“If it comes to that, we’ll be careful. There could be other options.”
There was silence the rest of the way back to Brody’s apartment building. It was approaching midnight and all three were exhausted by the time everything from the truck was carried up to Brody’s third story apartment.
Brody showed Julie Anne the bathroom and chemical toilet, along with the small basin for hand washing. Brody opened up some meat spread and a box of crackers for their late supper and then changed the sheets on his bed for Julie Anne to use. He and Ranger would flip for the sofa. The loser got the floor. They were all asleep by one in the morning.
(you will get the rest of the story next Saturday. If you can't wait till then you can find the story at http://frc4u.org/phpbb/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=70 )
VP-Shock: Biden Less Popular than Cheney
Double take. Joe Biden is less popular than Dick Cheney. Well, in the first half year of the first term that is.
A slim 51 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Vice President Biden. Cheney was at 58 percent in July 2001. Al Gore, 55 percent in April 1993. The veep comparison comes courtesy of the Pew Research Center's latest report.
The public's favorable take on Biden declined 12 percentage points since January. And don't blame the GOP. Democrats' favorable view fell from 87 to 76 percent. Independents' view fell from 58 to 46 percent.
In time, it will likely prove no challenge for Biden to stay ahead of Cheney. Less than a third of Americans held a favorable view of Cheney when he left office in January.
http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2009/04/23/vp-shock-biden-less-popular-than-cheney/
Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home
HAMAMATSU, Japan — Rita Yamaoka, a mother of three who immigrated from Brazil, recently lost her factory job here. Now, Japan has made her an offer she might not be able to refuse.
Franck Robichon for The New York Times
Sergio Yamaoka, left, and his wife, Rita, came to Hamamatsu from Brazil with their three children three years ago, at the height of the export boom. But in recent months, the Yamaokas both lost their auto factory jobs. The government will pay thousands of dollars to fly Mrs. Yamaoka; her husband, who is a Brazilian citizen of Japanese descent; and their family back to Brazil. But in exchange, Mrs. Yamaoka and her husband must agree never to seek to work in Japan again.
“I feel immense stress. I’ve been crying very often,” Mrs. Yamaoka, 38, said after a meeting where local officials detailed the offer in this industrial town in central Japan.
“I tell my husband that we should take the money and go back,” she said, her eyes teary. “We can’t afford to stay here much longer.”
Japan’s offer, extended to hundreds of thousands of blue-collar Latin American immigrants, is part of a new drive to encourage them to leave this recession-racked country. So far, at least 100 workers and their families have agreed to leave, Japanese officials said.
But critics denounce the program as shortsighted, inhumane and a threat to what little progress Japan has made in opening its economy to foreign workers.
“It’s a disgrace. It’s cold-hearted,” said Hidenori Sakanaka, director of the Japan Immigration Policy Institute, an independent research organization.
“And Japan is kicking itself in the foot,” he added. “We might be in a recession now, but it’s clear it doesn’t have a future without workers from overseas.”
The program is limited to the country’s Latin American guest workers, whose Japanese parents and grandparents emigrated to Brazil and neighboring countries a century ago to work on coffee plantations.
In 1990, Japan — facing a growing industrial labor shortage — started issuing thousands of special work visas to descendants of these emigrants. An estimated 366,000 Brazilians and Peruvians now live in Japan.
The guest workers quickly became the largest group of foreign blue-collar workers in an otherwise immigration-averse country, filling the so-called three-K jobs (kitsui, kitanai, kiken — hard, dirty and dangerous).
But the nation’s manufacturing sector has slumped as demand for Japanese goods evaporated, pushing unemployment to a three-year high of 4.4 percent. Japan’s exports plunged 45.6 percent in March from a year earlier, and industrial production is at its lowest level in 25 years.
New data from the Japanese trade ministry suggested manufacturing output could rise in March and April, as manufacturers start to ease production cuts. But the numbers could have more to do with inventories falling so low that they need to be replenished than with any increase in demand.
While Japan waits for that to happen, it has been keen to help foreign workers leave, which could ease pressure on domestic labor markets and the unemployment rolls.
“There won’t be good employment opportunities for a while, so that’s why we’re suggesting that the Nikkei Brazilians go home,” said Jiro Kawasaki, a former health minister and senior lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
“Nikkei” visas are special visas granted because of Japanese ancestry or association.
Mr. Kawasaki led the ruling party task force that devised the repatriation plan, part of a wider emergency strategy to combat rising unemployment.
Under the emergency program, introduced this month, the country’s Brazilian and other Latin American guest workers are offered $3,000 toward air fare, plus $2,000 for each dependent — attractive lump sums for many immigrants here. Workers who leave have been told they can pocket any amount left over.
But those who travel home on Japan’s dime will not be allowed to reapply for a work visa. Stripped of that status, most would find it all but impossible to return. They could come back on three-month tourist visas. Or, if they became doctors or bankers or held certain other positions, and had a company sponsor, they could apply for professional visas.
Spain, with a unemployment rate of 15.5 percent, has adopted a similar program, but immigrants are allowed to reclaim their residency and work visas after three years.
Japan is under pressure to allow returns. Officials have said they will consider such a modification, but have not committed to it.
“Naturally, we don’t want those same people back in Japan after a couple of months,” Mr. Kawasaki said. “Japanese taxpayers would ask, ‘What kind of ridiculous policy is this?’ ”
The plan came as a shock to many, especially after the government introduced a number of measures in recent months to help jobless foreigners, including free Japanese-language courses, vocational training and job counseling. Guest workers are eligible for limited cash unemployment benefits, provided they have paid monthly premiums.
“It’s baffling,” said Angelo Ishi, an associate professor in sociology at Musashi University in Tokyo. “The Japanese government has previously made it clear that they welcome Japanese-Brazilians, but this is an insult to the community.”
It could also hurt Japan in the long run. The aging country faces an impending labor shortage. The population has been falling since 2005, and its working-age population could fall by a third by 2050. Though manufacturers have been laying off workers, sectors like farming and care for the elderly still face shortages.
But Mr. Kawasaki said the economic slump was a good opportunity to overhaul Japan’s immigration policy as a whole.
“We should stop letting unskilled laborers into Japan. We should make sure that even the three-K jobs are paid well, and that they are filled by Japanese,” he said. “I do not think that Japan should ever become a multiethnic society.”
He said the United States had been “a failure on the immigration front,” and cited extreme income inequalities between rich Americans and poor immigrants.
At the packed town hall meeting in Hamamatsu, immigrants voiced disbelief that they would be barred from returning. Angry members of the audience converged on officials. Others walked out of the meeting room.
“Are you saying even our children will not be able to come back?” one man shouted.
“That is correct, they will not be able to come back,” a local labor official, Masahiro Watai, answered calmly.
Claudio Nishimori, 30, said he was considering returning to Brazil because his shifts at a electronics parts factory were recently reduced. But he felt anxious about going back to a country he had left so long ago.
“I’ve lived in Japan for 13 years. I’m not sure what job I can find when I return to Brazil,” he said. But his wife has been unemployed since being laid off last year and he can no longer afford to support his family.
Mrs. Yamaoka and her husband, Sergio, who settled here three years ago at the height of the export boom, are undecided. But they have both lost jobs at auto factories. Others have made up their minds to leave. About 1,000 of Hamamatsu’s Brazilian inhabitants left the city before the aid was even announced. The city’s Brazilian elementary school closed last month.
“They put up with us as long as they needed the labor,” said Wellington Shibuya, who came six years ago and lost his job at a stove factory in October. “But now that the economy is bad, they throw us a bit of cash and say goodbye.”
He recently applied for the government repatriation aid and is set to leave in June.
“We worked hard; we tried to fit in. Yet they’re so quick to kick us out,” he said. “I’m happy to leave a country like this.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/business/global/23immigrant.html?_r=1
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