Out of Gas

by Randy Dyess

  “What do you mean ‘you believe them’?” Bill responded.

  “I’ve told you before; our retirement has been cut more than once in the past few years, but you don’t listen to anyone if it’s not about sports. I’ve also seen the price of about everything we buy start to creep up and it’s getting harder and harder to make ends meet each month. I don’t know if it’s what Mark is talking about, but there’s something going on besides normal inflation. Besides, don’t you remember me telling you Martha’s son was let go after all those years at the oil company. She said a bunch of people in the field division he worked for were laid off as well. Andy told her they couldn’t find anywhere else to drill for new oil so they cut the whole division. He went all over the world looking for new drill sites and couldn’t find anything. She said he is really worried about the future as the current fields are drying up and they can’t really find any new sources.”

  “Ok. Ok. I’m listening now. You said a bunch of people have been laid off because they can’t find new oil sources? What about all that talk about tar sands, oil shale, and deep sea drilling?”

  “Martha said Andy told her they did research into those methods and the cost of getting oil using them is so high, no one will be able to afford it. He said most of the oil from those sources has been slated for the military and other government needs. We shouldn’t expect any oil they do find to be available to us. Martha told me Andy is so worried he moved his own family to some small town where they could walk everywhere. I think he started some small grocery store or something that sells only local products.”

  “Really? Why didn’t I know any of this?” Bill asked.

  “Because it didn’t have anything to do with some sports figure or football team,” Sharon responded back with a tone in her voice. “I’ve also tried to tell you about the other things everyone at my club has been talking about. In the past year, there hasn’t been anyone at the club who doesn’t have a kid, grandkid, or relative who hasn’t lost their job. Almost half of the women there either have kids or grandkids living with them because of the economy. If grandkids are not living with them, they are living with their parents. Even the ones who graduated from good colleges are moving back in with some relative. Most of the elder population has had to move back in with their own kids because of cuts in social security and pensions. I doubt if there are more than ten out of the hundred people in the club who live only with their spouse like we do. Most of the other ones live with relatives for some reason or another.”

  “You always look at me funny every time I call the news people liars,” Sharon said, “when they say the economy is recovering and there are plenty of jobs. There may be jobs, but they either don’t pay enough or no one I know seems to be able to find them. ”

  “Don’t you think someone would have figured this out and tried to tell everyone?” Helen asked.

  “I thought that, too,” Mark replied. “There are people who are trying to tell everyone about an upcoming depression or a financial meltdown. They are being called a whole lot of different names by the press and government and none of the names are good. I’m probably on some list because of the sites I use for my research. I’m convinced and my boss is convinced. Neither one of us believe our jobs will be around after the offshoring because we don’t think the airline will be around more than a few years before folding. The execs are having some big retreat this week in Vegas to talk things over. I haven’t heard anything back from Owen, but it’s kinda spooky not a single executive or person at the meeting has sent any emails this week. Those guys live for emails and memos.”

  “Is that why you two are selling your house?” asked Helen.

  “Yes. We are taking a stab at getting the house sold before the meltdown happens. If we can’t sell it soon we are going to walk away from the mortgage. We are so convinced of the upcoming crisis we are going to risk ruining our credit to keep from wasting money on this house. I don’t think the house will be worth anything in the future because the house is too big and uses way too much electricity to heat and cool. No one will be able to afford it except for the rich and they already have their houses.”

  “I still don’t know what to say,” Bill said.

  Kelly looked at her dad and said, “Dad, you are awfully quite about all of this.”

  Ted looked at his wife and daughter. “Well, I’ve been trying to figure out some way to tell you we are turning out just like those people in Sharon’s club.”

  “What do you mean, sweetie?” asked Helen.

  “I got a letter from the city council in Whitesboro. They are having a lot of financial problems and to prevent bankruptcy they have cut all pensions in half starting next fiscal year. We only have about four more months before my pension will be reduced so much we won’t be able to pay our bills. I’ve been trying to figure out something, but just can’t.”

  Everyone looked at him in shock, and Kelly went up to him and hugged him. “I know how you feel. Why don’t you come back over on Tuesday and we can work through everything. You are not going through anything Mark and I have not already figured out and started planning for.”

  After the announcement, everyone was ready to head back home for their own private discussions. Mark and Kelly knew the night did not go as bad as they had thought it might and at least his mom and her dad were on their side. All they needed to do was get his dad and her mom on the same page as the rest of them.

  Chapter 17

  The Memorial Day party went well. Mark and Kelly were so busy entertaining everyone they did not get a chance to go into any detailed discussions on their beliefs and plans with anyone at the party. They did manage to talk to RJ and set up an appointment to meet him at his dojo next Saturday to discuss self-defense. They would bring up the collapse and the need for guns when they were alone with him. Mark and Kelly wanted a day free of worries or having to explain how their whole world was going to end in the near future. Mark did manage to talk to Owen for a few minutes as Owen and his family were leaving the party. Owen didn’t say much, he asked Mark to come in early on Tuesday and they would talk then.

  “How’s it going?” Mark asked as he stepped into Owen’s office early Tuesday morning.

  “Not so well. How’s everything going with you and Kelly?”

  “As good as can be expected. So I take it you are about to give me some bad news,” Mark said with a frown.

  “The board has approved the IT department move. They already lined up a provider and want it done by the end of the year. The CEO is going to make the announcement Wednesday in an all-hands-onboard meeting and put out a press release after the announcement. I figure we have about seven or eight more months before we are gone. “

  Mark whistled, “That’s fast. I thought we would have at least another twelve to eighteen months of hanging around.”

  “Well, you can blame yourself. You put together such a good plan, with the whole virtualization idea, they wanted the time table moved up,” Owen said with a grin.

  “Ok. Ok. My bad. Did it take all week to make the decision?”

  “Not really. I forwarded your presentation to Damian and the decision was made before we even got there. Damian told everyone at the meeting on Monday about the IT move and the new time table. There was no discussion and no push back. They accepted it without commit.”

  “What? This company does nothing that fast. It took them six months to decide if they should give out red or blue napkins with the first class meal. What’s going on?”

  “The rest of week is what was scary,” Owen continued. “After the move is completed, the airline is going to announce the outsourcing of all back office departments, not just us. Human Resources, finance, planning, training, scheduling, reservations, even the cleaning staff will be gone by FY 2015. Anyone not under a union contract will be let go after their departments are out-sourced.”

  Mark looked at Owen with a blank look on his face as Owen continued, “It gets even worse. They are going to
drop all routes that cannot be done with the fuel efficient 787s we purchased. If the route doesn’t require that size plane or can’t be adjusted to accommodate the plane, it will be dropped. All smaller planes are gone, along with the routes they covered. Only large airports and population centers will be covered.”

  Mark turned white in the face and creaked out, “Everything. Plains will end up being half the size it is today.”

  “More like a quarter of the size it is today,” Owen corrected. “I spent all week with a bunch of people who told me I will not have a job in eight months.”

  “And you just told me the same thing,” Mark said.

  “Yea, they also want to try to bust the unions. They will use a bankruptcy and the reorganization of the routes as an excuse to break the pilots and attendants unions and outsource the airplane maintenance staff completely. They do not even want them around since an outsourcer is already lined up to take over the maintenance. Hell, they are even going to get rid of the building and move to something much smaller.”

  “Damn, will anything be left? The stock will take a nose dive when the bankruptcy is announced. Everyone will not only lose their jobs, they will lose retirement pensions, and the value of their stock portfolio. And they’re not telling anyone below your level are they? ”

  “No, they understand it will cause a mass exodus and end the airline before they can gracefully shut down most of it. We spent the week trying to figure out how to do this without it getting out and getting us in trouble with the SEC or ruining everyone’s stock options. They think they have a plan.” Owen continued, “There were several ‘off the record’ discussions on how the people at the meeting could sell their stocks before the bankruptcy. They don’t want to lose money after the bankruptcy is announced, but they do not want to get busted for insider trading. That is why they are going to take two or three years to shut things down. This gives everyone at the meeting a chance to ‘schedule’ their stock sells with the SEC and not raise suspicions.“

  “What’s going to keep you quiet if you and a few others will lose your jobs as well?” Mark asked.

  “A huge cash bonus when we are let go. They showed us a piece of paper with the amounts they are promising us if we stick around and it equals to two years of my salary. The bonus will be large enough most of the executives and people like me could retire and not worry about finding new jobs. At least that is what they are promising. I don’t trust them so I am preparing a ‘keep your word or I’m going to spill’ package over the next few months.”

  “And the rest of us are screwed. Those son-of-a-bitches,” Mark cursed out. “After all these years I have given them. All the family time I missed because I was working fifty, sixty, and even seventy hour weeks to get the job done. I stuck with them through a bankruptcy that left my retirement accounts ravaged. I stuck around when others bolted for better paying dot-coms a few years ago. I know I make a good salary now, but back then others doing the same job I did left and made 30-40,000 more than I did and now I’m going to be left high and dry without anything to show for it.“

  Owen let Mark settled down before he continued, “I understand. I’m trying to figure out how to get the word around without stirring up anything, but no one is listening. Sometimes I think I should start firing people without cause so they can at least sue and get something from it. All our people will be given walking papers one day without anything as a ‘thanks for working here’ present. Not even severance packages unless they have something in their contracts.”

  “Like that happens here. This is a right-to-work state so no one except executives and union members can count on a contract to help them during times like this,” Mark countered. “I can tell you one thing. Don’t look for me to be here more than a few hours a week. What little work I have left to do before being kicked out will be done from home. I have about seven months right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ve already done the planning. I will kick off this move and disappear until someone notices. I’ll do what little I have to in order to keep the move somewhat on schedule but nothing more.”

  Owen looked at him and said, “Fair enough. I doubt if anyone will notice. Damian is going to resign this week and take the fall for the computer bug. They have given him enough of a cash bonus he bought a house in the Bahamas and is going to move there next month. Even when they find out he lied about everything, he will be out of the country. You are looking at the new CIO for all it’s worth. There will be no one here who will even realize you are not working the next seven months. Your staff will think you have moved up a notch and are spending all your time in executive row. They will not even know you are just buying your time at home.”

  “I’ve already started dumping my stocks. I don’t trust them on the bonus thing, so even being the new CIO I’m going to do as little work as possible. I’m going to ride things out as well. Even if you came in, I doubt if you would see me here. I’ve got seven months more or less and I’m going to use it to get the farm up and running to its full potential. This is it for me. I’m done with corporate America. Even if the world doesn’t end like we both know it will, this is my last job. I’m going to spend the rest of my life on the farm enjoying my wife and kids.”

  Mark just grinned and Owen asked, “What?”

  “Kelly and I took over her grandmother’s 287 acre farm in Madill. I’ve already started the cleanup and I plan on being done by this time next year. I have the same plans as you do. I might have to get some type of job somewhere in the future, but it will not be anything which interferes with my family and life.”

  Mark and Owen ended up spending the rest of the morning discussing the farm and the financial collapse. They did not even notice they skipped several meetings each one had on their schedule. Apparently no one else noticed either as they were not disturbed with requests to join any other meetings. At lunch time, Owen looked at Mark and asked him if he wanted to go out for lunch.

  “I thought you never went out for lunch?” Mark responded.

  “I don’t usually, but I have something I want to talk about and I don’t want to do it here. There’s a small organic place up the road that is pretty good. I think they are the only place in the DFW area which sources their food from local growers.”

  “Ok, let’s go.”

  After eating light lunches of locally grown vegetables and meat, Owen looked at Mark, “I wanted to talk to you some more about my plans for when things fall apart. I know you talked to RJ and are going to see him on Saturday. I wanted to fill you in on a few things before you went to his dojo.”

  Mark thought it was strange Owen already knew they talked to RJ but didn’t say anything. “Ok.”

  “I’ve already told you about my change a few years ago due to my father’s death. What I didn’t tell you at the time is both Donna and I were studying at RJ’s dojo at the time. One night, I ended up telling him the same thing I told you. He looked at me and began telling me about a community he had started about fifteen years ago. RJ said when he came back home to start his dojo after working overseas, he started discussing his concerns with a few students. One thing led to another and soon he had over one hundred people in his discussion groups. Apparently, there were quite a few of his students who felt like the world had started going to pieces. They felt everyone needed to be prepared for the day society started to fall apart. The actual membership changes every few years because some of the members become more radical and moved on to militias and more extreme survivalist groups. Other members drop out after being lured by big salaries and fancy homes in the city. Over time a small group of about thirty members decided they were ready to do more than talk about things and wanted to form their own survivalist group. They decided they didn’t want the structure and risks of a traditional survivalist group as many of them believed in different versions of the future. Some believed in a downturn and hard times like we believe in, while others believed in a complete collapse of all society with thin
gs going back to the feudal times. They believe they will be fighting armies of bad guys every other day. Some believe if they want to keep their families from becoming slaves to some warlord, they need to be prepared to fight it out. Luckily, they are mild enough they’re tolerant of the rest of the group who only believe we need to become homesteaders to survive the future. The structure they came up with is more of a mutual support society than anything else. They wanted everyone close enough together to act as a group, but everyone is free to do what they want. There is no formal structure or leadership and no formal requirements. After forming their group everyone decided to start buying land around Madill. The land was cheap and met their needs. It is close enough to the DFW area you can still work and live in the city.”

  “I would have thought they would buy land far away from any city. What is the common belief ‘six hours drive away from a city of any large size’?”

  “A few did and left the group, but the rest talked about it and realized all of them still needed jobs in town. They couldn’t afford to retire and live on the retreats full-time. If the retreats are too far away, it would be too hard to drive up and do a few things after work or on the weekends. My place would still be empty land if I had to drive all the way to Kansas every time I wanted to do something. Having a retreat in Madill allows us to take care of animals and gardens even though we are not living there.”

  “Your place?” Mark interrupted. “No wonder you and Donna looked funny when I mentioned Madill. How long have you been a member of the group?”

  “I joined the group right after my discussion with RJ. The farm we talked about is west of Madill on Linn Rd.”

  “You’re kidding,” Mark interrupted. “Our new place is on Bowlin Rd and one side borders Linn Rd. Where exactly are you?”

  After telling Mark where he lived and asking him the same question, Owen knew exactly where Mark’s property was. He drove by it every time he went to the farm. He told Mark his property was a few miles to the west of Mark’s and there were three other families in the group within walking distance to both their places.