Arks of America

by D A Carey

  The building burned to the ground. Hours later, a fire engine was dispatched, however, they only had time and resources to spray down the smoldering embers and ensure the fire didn’t spread. Adnan’s body wouldn’t be found for many weeks.

  << Liz >>

  Liz and her entourage occupied most of the seats in first class. They were making their final approach in to Chicago for her shoot of the holiday mini-series special. Sitting next to Liz was her personal assistant Carol. Carol had talked Liz into letting a friend of hers named Jennifer come along as Liz’s hair and makeup stylist. Jennifer was young and a little exasperating with her awe of stardom and Hollywood. Her saving grace was that she was very good at what she did. Liz was confident Jennifer would get used to all the glitz and glam in time. She herself hadn’t been famous so long that she’d forgotten what it was like to be star struck. She’d insisted Bill take some time off and spend it with his son. Bill would have never accepted if he wasn’t strongly missing that father-son time. He assured her that his handpicked replacement, Frank Smith, was an old friend and very good. Frank was a large, dark-haired, broad-shouldered man with dark eyes. For extra measure, they added a young man who recently left the Marines as back up. He was a tall, sandy blond-haired, blue-eyed man with the physique, face, and square jaw to be in front of the camera instead of protecting her. Frank introduced the young man as Junior. Liz didn’t know if that was his given name or a nickname. Things were becoming more and more chaotic around the world. Even though she thought John might be overreacting when he referred to Chicago as Beirut, Liz wasn’t about to complain about more security after the events leading up to the awards show earlier this year.

  It was unusual for Liz to feel like the older, world-wise person in the group. She was only a little over thirty herself. In this group with Junior Newton the young Marine, Jennifer, and Carol, who usually acted young despite her age, Liz felt older than her years. Referring to the young Marine as Junior didn’t help.

  The plane bounced into Midway Field in the chilly wind blowing in from the lake. Chicago citizens were overwhelmed by the number of riots. Tensions between residents and police were high. A number of small explosive devices planted at different water and electrical substations in the Chicago area wreaked havoc, though no terrorist organization claimed responsibility. Experts believed it could be the act of a terrorist group probing the U.S. response times. Others believed it was the act of domestic groups as a part of their protests.

  During the drive from the airport to the hotel, Liz tried to make small talk with Frank and Junior. Their eyes were constantly moving and focused on everything except her when they spoke. It wasn’t that they were being rude; they were merely very intent on their job, always keeping watch behind her out a window. When they were out of the cars or around people, the men stood on opposite sides of Liz so they could protect her from all angles. When they stopped to unload luggage, Frank and Junior stood between Liz and the crowd. Junior always managed to put himself between her and the bulk of the crowd. They were constantly moving and changing positions to sometimes stand at a ninety-degree angle from each other. She did notice that this kept both men close enough to be in each other’s peripheral vision and able to exchange signals while watching the people behind each other’s back.

  Liz enjoyed this city and agreed to lower her fee for this venture, provided her team had the best of accommodations in Chicago. Since she’d gone through a public breakup with another actor, she wanted some fun time. She’d always said she would never date an actor, but he was very attractive, and they had gotten along for a while. When it ended, she found she didn’t miss him.

  Furthermore, she thought it might be fun to bring some family up from Kentucky toward the end of the shoot to explore the city with her. She was excited to find her manager was able to get her use of the Waldorf Astoria Penthouse Condo for the entire time. While most of the team would stay in the hotel proper, Liz was thrilled with the penthouse condo. In addition to the hefty fee paid by the studio, she had been asked to allow the real estate agent take some still photos of her in different rooms or on the balcony, which would later be used to show potential buyers of the several thousand-square foot, thirteen million-dollar condo. It was a special level of luxury and pampering above what she hoped for. A few years ago, she would have been a stuttering, awestruck girl at the opulence.

  Shooting would start in a few days and probably last longer than planned with the social unrest going on in the city and the reputation of this director. That wouldn’t leave Liz much time to shop or enjoy the town. It was St Patrick’s Day this weekend, always a special time in Chicago. She enjoyed the festive mood of the city as the rivers and canals turned green with food coloring.

  ***

  Before they could leave the penthouse for a day of filming, a grim-faced Frank approached Liz, telling her he thought it would be best if she stayed in today. There were shootings near the filming location and not far from the hotel that worried him. Liz was warming up to argue that she didn’t want to let anything stop her work, and she was prepared to go to work regardless, when the phone rang. It was the studio calling to tell her that the shoot was cancelled for the day, ending the debate. Liz was still not happy and imagined she could see a bit of triumph in Frank’s craggy face.

  The hotel arranged to send up catered food at Carol’s request. Liz decided to rehearse her lines, then relax on the computer or watch TV. Her mind was still on some things Dave said. The unexpected downtime gave her the opportunity to contemplate things she would miss if the preppers were right and some truly apocalyptic scenario happened. Even though she was swayed by Dave Cavanaugh’s plan and agreed to invest in it, she didn’t truly believe things would go as badly as some predicted. It was too improbable to contemplate things going that bad for that long on such a huge scale. Perhaps the biggest risk of all was that people couldn’t conceive of the need on this scale for that long. Because people didn’t think it could happen, they didn’t plan. People that didn’t have a plan would be the most desperate if things did go south. Liz supposed that was what made Dave’s plan so intriguing. It didn’t feel like giving up and hiding. It was more akin to weathering a storm on a societal level. At heart, Liz was a fighter and didn’t want to give up the trappings of modern civilization. There was too much good in the world not to try and save or protect it.

  Perhaps Dave was like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills; then again, maybe so was she. There was a sense of romantic hope in not giving up and fighting for something better and nobler that Liz was drawn to. This grand plan of Dave’s wasn’t about saving everyone or everything. It was preserving the seeds to rebuild. It was about medicines for diabetics, air conditioning for the elderly, vitamins, and clean drinking water. It was about art, science, and religion and a place where children could get educated and grow up strong so they could be the scientist who cured cancer or to be the man feeding that scientist. This was about all those things that people had been taking for granted for too long.

  << Vince >>

  The house was cavernous and quiet. Although Vince was somewhat a loner, this didn’t feel right. Without his family, this home reverted to just an empty house. People weren’t meant to be so isolated. That didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy his times of solitude; he just believed that God built mankind to be in a pack. That was when humans were at their best.

  Vince finished talking with Ellie and hung up. He had wanted to talk with Kate, but she was leaving to go out with a group of her friends. Vince only got a moment to say he missed her and was sorry he didn’t get to see her more often. Kate quipped that he could send her a new Dooney & Bourke, Kate Spade, or Coach purse and all would be well. Sometimes the things that were funny to Kate tore at his heart.

  Kate was a good kid who was well on her way to becoming a great adult. She had been raised with solid moral and ethical values from both sides of her family. Kate had both the advantage as well as the weight of being an only child. She’d been
raised in an upper middle-class family in a great neighborhood without exposure to the harsher side of life. She hadn’t been around the rougher people Vince had in his life, nor had she spent much time with the blue-collar people of her mother’s side. There was much in life and the world Kate hadn’t been exposed to and wasn’t ready for, no matter what she thought.

  She was getting good grades and growing into a beautiful, accomplished woman. It hurt a little that Vince worried that they were drifting apart. As a child who had grown up without much hardship and with access to some of the finer things in life, Kate gravitated more toward the real housewife and debutant lifestyle than more ordinary or practical lifestyle choices. She liked the latest designer skinny jeans or a Mercedes and didn’t see anything cool about some of the more traditional values and things her dad espoused. Vince hoped he was overreacting, that it was merely his melancholy at missing her that made him feel this way. When they spent more time together, these things didn’t bother him as much.

  Vince lingered on the phone with Ellie a little longer than he needed to. He wasn’t under any misconception that she wanted him back; he just liked hearing her voice. He wanted to feel that perhaps she didn’t hate him so much, even though he probably deserved it. He enjoyed hearing her talk about routine everyday things and could acknowledge that, although he was doing well, he hadn’t totally moved on yet.

  Ellie talked about Kate’s social schedule and her school work. She also mentioned some things about her own life with Malcolm. She shared some of the little things Malcom did to help them get settled into their new life. Eventually the conversation slowed and turned awkward, so Vince made his excuses and hung up.

  Vince didn’t want to dwell on family stuff and decided this new project for his uncle was a blessing. It occupied a lot of his time outside of his day job and didn’t allow him to dwell on things that were over and done. He planned to take some time off from work and spend it at the charter town site in Carrollton. It was a critical time with the Carrollton project. Construction was moving fast, and he was impressed by how well everything was coming together, a little like Camelot without the high turrets.

  ***

  It was his turn to walk the perimeter of the subdivision with Luke. After the demonstration he made to get patrols agreed to, he definitely couldn’t let his neighbors down and not do his part. When Vince got back from Carrollton last night, Luke was excited. Most of the men did what Vince suggested, and Luke asked what Vince would do about the few that didn’t.

  “Right now, I’m tired of fighting with them. We have enough men to secure the place. If this stuff goes on a few weeks longer, we’ll have to deal with them. For right now, let’s just do our shift. I’ll try to mend fences later.”

  “Honestly, Vince, from what I saw last night, you’re getting a lot more support in the homes behind closed doors than you realize,” Luke said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, outside of a group of hardcore liberals, most of the women support what you did,” Luke snickered. Unable to contain his excitement, he kind of danced sideways as he spoke. “I would have thought your approach appealed more to men than women, but I was wrong. The scoop I’m getting is that more than a few men got home after the meeting and caught holy heck from their better halves.”

  “I guess that makes sense when you think of it,” Vince said thoughtfully. “Throughout history, chaos and anarchy has always been much harder on women than men. I don’t say that to be a chauvinist; it’s a simple fact. We need to work together as couples, the same as we need to as neighbors. We need the other perspectives to balance us. There is wisdom in protecting our homes and families first. It’s good to see that people were able to swallow their pride and come to a good decision.”

  “I never thought about it that way,” Luke said. “I was surprised that it was the women who were quicker to recognize the truth in your words about how vulnerable and exposed we were. They were the ones who got past your rough exterior fastest and saw your solution as a good idea. A lot of women are much better at working together as a team than most of these men.”

  “At least that’s a start.”

  “Don’t get me wrong,” Luke snickered, “I don’t think any of these ladies are going to invite you home for dinner or bake you a cake. However, they do want their families safe and recognize what you did is the best route to that.”

  “That’s all I can ask for, and probably more than I deserve. If this goes on much longer and those men don’t have a well-stocked cabin in the woods to hide out in, they better improve their teamwork or listen to their wives more from the get go.”

  Vince and Luke patrolled the neighborhood, probing the shadows and listening for sounds that didn’t belong. Vince was pondering some thoughts related to a television story he saw earlier after his conversation with Ellie. The talking head was droning on about the impact of the attacks on police at three locations around Louisville. The officers had been ambushed by people with assault rifles. The police force was already gutted by several years of budget cuts and early retirements. The quality and volume of recruits wasn’t what it had been in previous years, because many policemen knew they were unsupported and always on the verge of being sued.

  The riots, civil unrest and general chaos in the city of Louisville followed a pattern seen in many other U.S. cities recently, most notably New York, Denver, and New Orleans. What was of interest and similar in these cases was that some of the same people were arrested in multiple cities during the civil unrest, prompting experts to suspect that some of the unrest was planned by agitators with the financial means to pay for travel and other support. While the belief was that these agitators were part of domestic social change groups, it could not be discounted that the possibility existed they could be foreign sponsored or inspired.

  Other cities around the country, such as Chicago, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, and Atlanta, were beginning to experience sympathetic marches for New York, Louisville, and Denver. Certain units of the Kentucky National Guard were being deployed to Louisville. In a rare move of cooperation, the Army chief of staff at the urging of the president agreed to augment the National Guard units with troops from nearby Fort Knox.

  Detractors warned that this move would violate the Posse Comitatus Act. A spokesman for the Army insisted it did not violate that Act because a previous administration’s presidential order cleared the way for U.S. troops to act in a support role for local police in times of emergency.

  << Dave >>

  As an industry leader, Dave tried to stay out of politics. He didn’t consider it good for business and had pretty much given up on his belief that people would do the right things regardless of party. Even with that said, he occasionally got drawn into a hot political topic in the course of business or his interviews.

  During the flight to Kentucky, Dave agreed to a phone interview about one of his reality programs in which he showed of some of his favorite hiking spots. Somehow the topic swung from outdoors and hiking to immigration. Before Dave could stop himself, he was sharing what he thought was a simple plan. As Dave told the on-air personality, something like this might have been easy to pass forty years ago. Today, no politician would cross the isle and no special interest group was paying for the vote, so it wouldn’t happen.

  “Some people want a wall built to keep immigrants out. Others want an open-door policy to let them all in. What camp do you fall in, Mr. Cavanaugh?”

  “It’s pretty simple to me. We need immigrants, but we need immigrants who value our country, ethics, way of life, and want to contribute. People who came into this country by breaking the laws and refusing to learn the language should not be allowed as well as those who don’t value our ethics and laws on gender, racial, and religious equity.”

  “That sounds like a harsh stance. You’re forcing people to assimilate. It doesn’t much sound like the melting pot.”

  “Perhaps you’re right. However, keep this in mind. I don’t think anyone i
s advocating open borders and taking in everyone. That means we should admit that there already is and should be a prioritization process and quota. We are merely discussing the mechanics of the priority and quota process.

  “That being said, the key word you mentioned is ‘melting.’ Historically, immigrants came here to melt into our society and become a part of it. Becoming a citizen of the United States should be recognized as an honor for special people and not a privilege or right for everyone in the world. We need to take a strong yet fair stand on those positions and have immigration laws that everyone understands. If we do that, the country would set firm immigration rules about contributing to our country, learning the language, and remaining crime free. There would be immigration quotas each year set by the appropriate department and ratified by the president. The mix of those receiving approval to immigrate to the United States would be based on job research. If we needed twenty percent of the quota to go to the agricultural fields, then those immigrants would be given the opportunity. Perhaps we would need thirty percent for technology or ten percent in medicine. There would be immigration caps set for each field. Studies would be rerun often to see what jobs were going unfilled in the U.S.

  “This plan would make it much easier for someone to come to the U.S. on work visas, provided there were jobs going unfilled by American workers. Those people would accrue more points toward a permanent visa by following our laws and rules. Countries that help the U.S. by preventing illegal immigration or by vetting immigrants with background checks would be given preferential treatment in the points for their people toward a prioritization process. Immigrants from those countries would accrue extra points when requesting temporary or permanent visas. By the same token, countries with a bad record of cooperation or a high amount of illegal immigration or crime from their immigrants would get fewer points or opportunities. In the end, the U.S. could continue a long and valuable history of immigration. Immigration could return to a healthy status. That’s the way it was originally intended for people who want to help this country grow, not tear it down or change it to be something more like what they left.”