Pandemic Reboot_Survivors

by J. F. Krause

  Kevin had just gotten Dinah to sleep and Chad had gone to sleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. We went to the front of his motor home and sat at his small kitchen table. His motor home was about the same as mine with similar extensions. Extensions really make a difference.

  “You know, you just took a giant step into leadership of the community, and probably not just here in SLO. I’m guessing all of California, maybe even more.”

  “Yeah, well, that wasn’t the plan. Just between us, the first time I shot my mouth off, it was because of that George guy. I don’t think he has a clue what we are facing here. Most of these people can barely get themselves out of bed in the morning, and they’ve been working their butts off trying to help people they don’t even know. And here comes George. To tell you the truth, I don’t know what he wants. He’s just against everything. I get the feeling he hates me or something.”

  “Do you want him to like you?” Kevin asked.

  “I don’t think I care. I don’t like being disliked, but it doesn’t matter, especially if it’s George.”

  “I think he just wants to be in charge, and he isn’t. I would have said no one was in charge until today, but I definitely think you’re in charge now. I hope you’re okay with that, because I don’t think you can do much about it. If you try to back out now, a lot of people are going to be really distressed. You’re giving them hope. When you think about it, it’s pretty hopeless right now, you know. I’m even feeling a little better. You did a good thing today.” Kevin was giving me that nice feeling again.

  I wasn’t sure how to handle it so I changed the subject. “What happened in your group today?”

  “Oh, we had good discussions. We have a couple of doctors, registered nurses including me, LVN’s, and EMTs. We also had a couple of dentists, a dental hygienist, and a physician’s assistant. Oh, and an optometrist. About what you’d expect for 1200 people or so. I understand we’re getting even more coming in tomorrow. Todd said Zach turned up another doctor in Newhall. Looks like the airplane tail sign is working. He said they’re starting up another plane tomorrow, too.”

  “Do you guys have any plans yet?”

  “We’re going to go look at St. Francis. It’s pretty new and practically on the university campus. As a matter of fact, it’s just across the street from the student clinic. I’m sure it will be a mess, just like Hillcrest. Marco said the sanitation crews will get both of them cleared out first thing.” Kevin and I were both yawning by now.

  “Breakfast tomorrow?” I said as I was standing to leave.

  “Sure, eight?” He stood too.

  “That’ll work.” We hugged and I stepped out and over to my own motor home.

  I stepped inside and was in bed and asleep without another complete thought.

  Sunday

  I got the boys ready for kid central and myself ready for what was becoming my job. Kevin and his kids stepped out on the pavement with Dinah hanging from his chest and Chad looking anxiously up at our windows. We were already at the door so he didn’t have to wait. Charlie and Chad were particularly close and took off on the path to the food court on their own. My shout to slow down eased their pace, but they stayed ahead of us. Jerry walked beside me on the left and Kevin and Dinah were on the right. The walk only took a couple of minutes since we were in the closest parking pad. Irma and a young woman were right in front of Chad and Charlie. She turned when she heard my voice calling to the boys. I knew immediately that the women were related, the resemblance was very clear.

  While Irma was a good-looking woman, her younger companion was beautiful. Before I could speculate on their relationship, Irma was introducing her to us.

  “Bobby, this is my daughter, Cynthia. Cynthia, this is Bobby Caldwell.”

  “I’m happy to meet you, Cynthia. Have the two of you met Kevin Turner? And this is Dinah, and here are Jerry, Charlie, and Chad. Charlie and Jerry live with me and Dinah and Chad live with Kevin. Kevin started everything for the Orange County Group by sounding the siren on his ambulance at the hospital.” Chad looked up at Kevin with eyes bright with pride. “Kevin found his two companions, and Jerry and Charlie found me.”

  We shook hands all around, and found ourselves at the fairgrounds. “Would the two of you like to join our little breakfast club this morning?” Kevin is much more socially adept than I am. He’d already spotted our usual table where Jane, Julie, and Kyle were getting ready to sit. Without even hesitating he already had the kids pointed to the table adjacent to ours and was beckoning to Lydia and her girls to join us.

  Cynthia looked vaguely familiar so I asked her if we’d already crossed paths.

  “You might have seen me working with Todd in the work room. Todd and I met online last week back when this was just starting. Now we’re working out of the workroom at the main hall.” As soon as she said it, I remembered seeing her with Todd yesterday. Small talk ensued and since I’m not so good at small talk, I started planning my day and the meetings ahead.

  Suddenly remembering that it was Sunday, and not wanting to ignore people’s religious sensibilities, I asked Jane if we had any pastors or clergy members to lead people in some sort of religious observation. She said there were three who had identified themselves and they all worked in supply procurement. We talked about how to work this out and came up with a simple plan if the leadership group gave the go ahead.

  After breakfast broke up, we all walked together the short distance to our work groups. Most of us were going into the main hall where the leadership team met, so we said our good byes to Kevin and the children at what I now referred to as kid central. Kevin would be going on to the medical group, which was meeting just behind our meeting hall.

  We walked into the lobby and there was fresh coffee waiting so I took a cup and proceeded to what I thought of as my place in the conference room. Carl was already there having a heated conversation with George. My stomach turned as I saw them. It was just as bad as the first day I actually taught school on my own. Worse actually. Jane was just a few steps behind me.

  As soon as I had seated myself, Carl and George’s conversation turned in my direction. I found out immediately what they were talking about.

  “Why weren’t we informed that our meeting was being recorded and broadcast. Who gave you the right to broadcast our conversations everywhere. It was even on the radio!” George was livid, splotchy red face, vein standing out on his forehead, neck muscles contorted livid. Yep, he pretty much personified livid.

  “I think we were all surprised by the recording bit. As for the radio, I didn’t know about that either, and I didn’t hear it. But I don’t have a problem with it since I don’t believe in secrets. Now that I know we are being recorded I’ll probably be a little more careful,” I said suspecting even this conversation was being recorded. “As for being played on the radio, I don’t suppose there’s a lot of news happening lately. Why don’t we bring this up in the meeting. I think all of us should talk about it.”

  “I agree. This is of concern to everyone in the room.” Irma came in just after Jane and heard what George’s had to say.

  “And who gave you the right to turn everyone’s dinner into a political rally last night. Which one of you is playing the puppet master?” George gestured to

  Carl and me.

  Somehow, the picture of Carl being some kind of puppet master with me dangling from a set of strings was too cute not to smile at so I did. That sent George into a paroxysm of rage. He actually took a step in my direction. I heard a couple of gasps and saw movement coming from my left as Marco took a couple of steps in my direction, presumably to contain any commotion. Carl also took up a more defensive stance.

  “What on earth is happening! Everyone, please sit down. We’ll talk about this in a minute, but right now, George, sit down, please, and let’s take a minute to relax before we start our meeting.” Nothing makes me look calm better than someone who isn’t.

  “It looks like we’re all here so I�
�m calling this meeting to order. Let’s make a quick agenda for this morning if you don’t mind. We were discussing the jobs of the various work groups when we adjourned yesterday, and we will continue that. I think we need to discuss the recording and broadcasting of these meetings, and that should come first on the agenda. Since it’s Sunday, I’d like to give people some time free from work responsibilities to participate in religious services of their choosing, or not. I’d like to propose that we break at 11 for lunch and come back at 1:30 this afternoon. That should give everyone some time to participate in a religious service if they like. We can talk about it more in a few minutes if you like. Are there any other items we’d like to discuss this morning?”

  “I’d like to discuss you’re duties. As far as I can tell, you just sort of took over, and the rest of us got railroaded into letting you. I think that was your friend Carl who pulled that off. And of course, you have your own hired gun slinger to make the rest of us fall in line.” George was at least down to a manageable growl now.

  I looked at Marco and saw that he was calm but watchful. Right beside him was Lydia, and she was actually stifling a laugh. Most of the people in the room appeared about to laugh. I guess being on the receiving end of George’s diatribe kept me from seeing the humor in his comments.

  “I’ll put that down on the list for discussion. Anyone else?”

  “Yes, I know we are following Robert’s Rules, at least generally, but I’d also like to make it known that discourtesy is unacceptable. Bobby spoke about kindness last night at dinner and I want us to set an example. By the way, I am not being railroaded nor am I falling in line because of a ‘hired gun slinger’.” Irma was the picture of cold anger at that moment.

  “I think Irma is referring the responsibility of the chair to call someone out of order for insulting or discourteous behavior. Something I haven’t done, but I will if that is what you would like. Did I understand you correctly, Irma?” I know my Robert’s Rules thanks to years of church business meetings when I was growing up, that, and a class on Robert’s Rules that I took in college.

  “That’s exactly what I would like. I’d like it noted that I also know my Robert’s Rules. Should I make a motion to that effect?” Irma was loaded for bear.

  The motion was made and seconded and voted on. We now had a special rule that would be in effect more or less permanently unless a majority voted to remove it. Who, after all, was going to vote to let people be rude? Actually, that’s already part of the chair’s responsibility, but it’s nice to have it reiterated. My teacher in college said that one of the best ways to calm people down was to impose strict use of Robert’s Rules. We’d get to see if it worked on George.

  “Ok, let’s start with breaking at 11 o’clock so people can participate in religious observances. Do we all agree with that? Seeing no objection, Jane, would you let the people who listed themselves as faith leaders know what we are doing? And let’s ask Todd to make the announcement over the speaker system.”

  “Next, we have the matter of recording and broadcasting these meetings. George would you like to speak to the group about that?”

  Boy, did George want to talk about that! But he did it in a reasonably calm voice. I didn’t have to say much, but after about three minutes, I asked him if he was planning to make a motion. That seemed to catch him by surprise and he actually asked me how to do it. I explained that once he made his motion, he’d need a second. Then he would be allowed to give a “yes” position speech, followed by someone else with a “no” position speech, followed by a “yes” position speech, followed by a “no” position speech and so on or until someone called for the question or one side or the other failed to produce a speaker. Then I helped him make a motion. The problem for George came when no one seconded his motion. When I told him his motion to stop recording the meetings died for lack of a second, he almost flipped out again, and I was ready to call him out of order.

  I think seeing that he was alone was a really hard blow for him. Before that, he had fancied himself to be the leader of an imaginary band of followers. Now, he knew he was alone, and so did we. Right then I wanted to call my Robert’s Rules teacher up and say “You were right!” But I didn’t have his number.

  Next, I decided to tackle how what my duties were. I was genuinely curious about this myself. I think that when George found himself alone in his anger at me, he sort of deflated. We actually had a very useful discussion. By the end of the discussion, I had a pretty doable list.

  I was now spokesperson for the SLO leadership body and the chair for all its meetings. Since I was the spokesperson, I was to be referred to as the speaker, and I was to follow Robert’s Rules. I was also to see that all decisions of the leadership team, now to be called the Leadership Council, were carried out, and I was to see that the community was fully informed of all deliberations and decisions. Also, for a term of six months, I was to do whatever needed to be done to secure community peace and safety, subject of course, to the expressed directions and limitations of the leadership team. Finally, I was to produce a community compact that guaranteed rights to community members while listing such limits to those rights as was absolutely necessary and set out some specific responsibilities. This Rights and Responsibilities document was to be voted on by the leadership group, and also by the community members. The leadership team would meet for a minimum of two hours each week, preferably on Friday starting at 9 AM. Despite having a productive meeting on such a sensitive subject, I had no illusion about Robert’s Rules fixing George. It’s not magic. I’m naïve, not simple.

  We adjourned at 11 AM.

  Since I’d already resigned myself to being a public servant for the next six months, I felt a bit of relief that at least now there was some definition to it. So I did what any other hard working twenty-three year old with two pseudo-sons would do when I had some time off, I went to the kid central play area to relieve any childcare people who wanted to go to a religious service. A few of the kids were picked up by their guardians to go to one religious service or other so the numbers of kids was slightly diminished. Surprisingly, only two of the thirty-two caregivers took advantage of the time for religious reflection. Moments, after I walked on to the playground area, Kevin arrived. I figured he had had the same idea as me, but he informed me that he had followed me.

  Once again, I felt a buzz of pleasure at his attention. But, I was here to play with kids, and that was what I was going to do. Ms. M was there almost immediately. She approached me accompanied by another woman who was introduced as Michelle Tsang, a former sixth grade teacher in eastern LA County. They apologized for interrupting my lunch and asked when a better time to talk to me would be. I told them if it was short, we could do it now.

  “We want to start elementary classes Tuesday. I know we still have children and teachers arriving today, but the kids are getting antsy just spending their days playing and laying around while we babysit. And the teachers are ready to teach. We’ve worked out all the logistics and know where to find the books and equipment. Marco said he’d see that we got help setting everything up. All we need is your go ahead.” Michelle was very direct in her problem solving approach and I like that. It saves a lot of time.

  “You got it.” I’m direct, too, when given the chance.

  “That’s it? We can get it started?” Michelle was a little taken aback but Janet wasn’t. She already had worked with me.

  “Yep. You want to start classes Tuesday for the elementary age kids. When will you be starting middle school and high school?”

  “We are going to start the middle school the following Monday or Tuesday and, hopefully, the high school through at least tenth grade the following Monday or Tuesday.”

  “Good. You need me for anything else? When it comes to kids, your work group is the boss, as long as the Council doesn’t say otherwise. I probably won’t either. I like hearing your plans though. Thanks for doing this. It helps us feel normal. How many teachers do you have?” />
  “We have 14 elementary classroom teachers, an art teacher, a music teacher, a band teacher, several classroom assistants, a secretary, and a librarian. We plan to cordon off space in the big room here for classes, and use the exhibition halls off to the left over there.” Janet motioned to several doors off the main hallway as she spoke.

  Michelle described the facilities they were using in a bit more detail. They would be opening the next building over to start the middle school. The high school would also be there. Eventually they wanted to use a couple of the regular school campuses, but that would have to wait until there was a plan for how to use all the facilities that were now available to us.

  The whole exchange with Michelle and Janet had taken only about three minutes but already Kevin had started a half court basketball game, with several adults and lots of children. Kevin was a good organizer.

  The break led to lunch and inevitably back to the conference room.

  After hearing about all the different work groups we decided to call it quits on the meeting for the rest of the day. We also decided to meet again on Friday unless I called for a meeting sooner.

  Marco informed me that my office would be the middle one of the three offices just across the hall from the council conference room, presumably because it was quieter. I suspected it was because it had a door leading to the outside, which the others didn’t have. Just outside were the motor homes housing the security offices. We had quite a number of trained military men and women including Marco, our ten Camp Pendleton personnel, seven police officers, four firefighters, several men and women from the National Guard, and retired personnel. In addition, we already had over eight hundred brand new volunteer reservists, people who had signed up to be trained.

  Training would start Monday for the volunteer reservists with a different group rotating in every hour or so. They would be training all reservists by work group so as not to disrupt more than one group at a time. The remaining people from that work group would be free to do other work while these people were gone. It was my understanding that most able-bodied men and women between 16 and 50 had volunteered. There were a few exceptions made on the upper end of the age for retired personnel and the age of volunteers actually topped out in the seventies for a few individuals.