R. Ruggiero - Brushfire Plague

Cooper smiled impishly at his friend, “Does that mean you’ll stay around here, then?”

Without looking up, Dranko stuffed a dollop of hash browns into his mouth and waved the empty fork in the air, “For now. For now, brother.”

Cooper thumped the table with an open-palmed hand, spilling coffee as the table bounced in response, “Nice! Very nice! I can’t tell you how much it means to me. As the last few days have shown, I need you around to make it through. Last night being Exhibit A,” he paused and took a swig of coffee.

His tone turned serious, “But let me apologize to you. I shouldn’t have been so stubborn about all this, I know part of it is crazy and doesn’t make sense to anyone else. But it makes sense to me. And, I could have done a better job of explaining it to you instead of just getting angry. I owed you that.”

The two men looked at each other in the eye, catching the deep gaze that only longtime friends can exchange.

“So, we’re good?” Cooper asked.

“We’re better than good, brother.”

They ate the rest of their breakfast in companionable silence, only the sounds of slurping coffee and chomping of sausage links to punctuate it.

Dranko helped Cooper clean the dishes from the table, rinse them, and put them in the dishwasher. As they turned to clear the remaining items from the table, Dranko stopped in mid-stride.

“We need a redo.”

“A what?” Cooper asked.

“We need to reassemble everyone. Since I screwed up the meeting yesterday, I’m going to help make it right. I’ll make the rounds, tell everyone what happened last night, and get ‘em all here at noon today.”

Cooper thought for a moment, “That’s right. After last night, it’s more serious than even I thought. Go get it done.” Dranko launched the towel he’d been holding toward Cooper and rose to leave.

As he reached the door, Cooper called out, “Oh, wait. Can you visit Calvin and make sure he’s on board with pulling another meeting together?”

“Yeah, got it,” he said and scampered out of the house at full speed.

The scene at Cooper’s house looked almost the same as the meeting yesterday, except the sun was shining brightly and there were a dozen more people clustered around his front yard. A brisk breeze brought the faintest hint of spring to his nose and goose pimples on his bare arms.

He was ready to begin addressing the crowd when Dranko leapt onto the steps and nudged him out of the way. He looked at the small crowd, grew nervous, and began awkwardly.

“Ah, this isn’t easy for me. But, I need to apologize to everyone. I was wrong yesterday. We can defend our homes and neighborhood and keep ourselves safe. Most of you have heard this by now, but we stopped three attackers last night. Three. In a surprise attack. So, we all should listen to Cooper today. I should have yesterday. We all should have listened.”

A smattering of unsteady applause broke out as Dranko jumped down to the ground like a man fleeing the porch after a bad first date. He hated having attention focused on him. Cooper smiled and stepped to the front again. He motioned for Calvin to join him on the steps and he did so.

“Last night was my worst nightmare. Waking up to the sound of intruders in your own home is terrifying. I was armed and I’ve had some experience. Dranko’s right, we can defend ourselves. But, last night I got lucky. It could have been much worse. If Dranko hadn’t been awake, heard the gunshot, and come over, I would be dead and Jake would be an orphan, or worse.” Remembering his father’s advice, Cooper paused to let the words sink in. Whispers broke out and several people clutched their hand to their mouth in fear.

“Some checkpoints and patrols could have stopped that from happening. At a minimum, we’ll have some warning before anyone is inside our home.”

Heads began nodding furiously throughout the group. Cooper interjected before it rose to a crescendo, “I know Calvin, the President of our Neighborhood Association, was wise in recognizing our divisions yesterday. For any plan to work, we must all be behind it. I’m sure he has good insight to share as well today.” Calvin recognized political graciousness when he saw it and winked at Cooper as he stepped forward. Cooper’s gleam in his eye was the only response that Calvin needed. What little political chops I have, I owe to my father. Cooper smiled to himself at the thought.

Calvin turned toward the audience, “First, I want to thank Cooper and Dranko for their heroism last night. Because of them, one punk was dealt with and the other two were run out of our neighborhood on a rail!” Everyone began clapping at once and pumping their fists in the air at Cooper. Dranko, in the audience, was thumped on the back by several men and hugged by a few women. His face turned bright red and he looked intently at the ground.

Calvin adroitly waited for the noise to subside, “Second, what happened last night gave us all new information. We have never had a home invasion situation in this neighborhood before last night. Third, after due consideration of this new evidence, I now fully support yesterday’s plan to defend our neighborhood.”

More applause greeted this announcement and he continued without pause by raising his voice, “Any discussion?” People looked at each other and shook their heads.

A moment later, Gus Varela called out, “I like the plan, but let’s include nominating Calvin as our Defense Captain, too!” Cooper couldn’t tell if he’d imagined a sly glance between the two men just before Gus blurted out the suggestion.

Calvin bellowed, “All in favor say ‘Aye’.” A thunderous chorus of “Ayes” rang out.

“All opposed say ‘Nay’.” Dead silence.

Pandemonium broke out. A few hats were thrown into the air. Some started to applaud. Others embraced in tight hugs. There was lots of backslapping. Hands reached up and pulled Calvin and Cooper off the steps to shake their hands. Cooper found himself being hugged and palms thudding against his back. It was a sea of smiling faces and a chorus of “thanks” and “I should have listened to you yesterday.”

The overwhelming reaction made Cooper pause in confusion. Then, it hit him. Catharsis. All the pent up stress and emotion from the last several days is being released. The community has come back together. People are planning for tomorrow again. He knew this was what was eliciting such emotion. He stood watching it all unfold. His body ached to join in and get lost in the emotion and enthusiasm, but he knew the possible bloodshed, terror, and horror that awaited them; that awaited anyone who had to pick up weapons to defend themselves. Here I go again, worrying about tomorrow, he mused to himself. He recalled his father’s words,

“Men like us lose a bit of today, because we are always thinking of the needs of tomorrow.” His father had accepted this trait, even embraced it. Cooper had never been able to do so. So, he stood apart, watching wistfully at the joy erupting around him, which he could not lose himself in.

As if on cue, Dranko was at his side with a clipboard. He thrust it into Cooper’s hand, and he looked down at it.

It was a sign-up sheet for the checkpoints and patrols, broken down by shift. Thanks dad, the needs of tomorrow indeed.

Dranko whispered into his ear, “No time like the present to get volunteers.”

Just like that Cooper was back at work.

The crowd outside his home lingered. Pairs and small groups stayed put and continued in conversations. Periodically, the groups would dissolve and then reassemble with others, like at a party where everyone is having such a good time they look for excuses, and new people to talk to, in order to stay. They would first talk of matters relevant to the crisis of the plague, but then would move on to mundane matters: the weather, hobbies, or sports. Their faces started off grave and serious, but then would morph into smiles, laughter, and loud voices of exclamation. Cooper watched, wondering at the display. Slowly, it dawned on him. Having overcome their fear of disease and embracing the welcome emotion of community, everyone was loath to leave and return to their isolated homes. Their homes were now a place where most faced the presence of a loved one ill and dying or a fresh memory of one who had died. Death awaited them at home, in one way or another. Here, they could live. This meeting had transformed from a necessary evil, into a welcome escape from the plague and the isolation it had wrought.