Nathan Jones - First Winter

Matt grimaced. “I’m guessing you don’t want the job back, then.”

The couple laughed. “You’re doing fine,” Scott said. “Whatever my wife says, not everyone in town is going to be as bad as that.”

“No, just the very vocal majority.” Catherine pulled Matt into another hug. “But you’re up to the challenge either way. Again, good job.”

At the former Mayor’s suggestion they started for the town hall tent to start with the daunting task of cataloguing. But they’d only gone a few steps before being flagged down by Lewis.

“Nice speech,” his friend said first off, clapping Matt on the back.

“Thanks.” Matt replied. He waited for Lewis to say more, but that seemed to be it. “Listen, I didn’t get your input on this surplus before the meeting. I know it’s a bit late for it, but do you have any thoughts?”

His friend shot him a thoughtful look, then glanced at Catherine and Scott. “Actually I do. There’s something I’ve been considering for a while that didn’t seem practical before. But now, with this food, it might just be.”

Matt held back a grin. Of course his friend had an idea ready. “Let’s hear it.”

“Okay.” Lewis took a breath. “I think we should consider doing some recruiting.”

That was the last thing Matt had been expecting. “Seriously?” His friend nodded, and he could only shake his head in disbelief.

“I’m with Matt,” Scott said. “Even with the surplus we don’t have enough to feed everyone in town, and you want to bring in more people? You gave the exact opposite advice back when the refugees showed up right after the Gulf burned, and I agree with past you. We can’t afford to.”

Lewis didn’t look daunted by the opposition. “I’m not sure we can afford not to.”

Matt’s disbelief turned to confusion. “Okay, you’re going to have to walk us through your reasoning here.”

His friend flashed a brief grin. “I was planning to. By recruiting I don’t mean just snagging anyone looking for a home and inviting them in. We’re living near a refugee camp filled with thousands of people, and at least some of those people have some specialized education and skills this town seriously needs to survive short term and prosper long term. I’m suggesting we search around for twenty or thirty people who could help this town most, then set up a committee to interview them and see what they have to offer us.”

Well. Matt had to agree that if they were going to take in people, better to pick out the best and brightest. But he wasn’t sure that was the necessity his friend suggested. “What sort of skills are we lacking? We’ve done fine so far.”

“How about a trauma surgeon, for one?” Lewis asked. “We’ve lost people to injuries who might’ve survived with better care.” He caught Matt’s glare and hastily added. “Terry’s been doing a remarkable job, I’m not saying otherwise. But don’t you think he could benefit from having someone with more specialized knowledge and experience to work with?”

“Maybe,” Catherine agreed warily. “Is it worth the extra food we’d be giving out, though?”

“Ask those who need treatment what they think,” Lewis said. He hesitated, looking almost guilty. “The town could also use an OB/GYN who specializes in childbirth complications. You know we’ve already lost children and mothers.”

For a brief moment blinding rage surged through Matt. Was his friend seriously preying on his worries about Sam and their baby to push for this? It took physical effort to bite back the stream of obscenities he wanted to toss Lewis’s way.

He wasn’t the only one who felt that way. “That’s low, son,” Scott said, while Catherine glowered in disapproval.

“I don’t blame you for being ticked off at me for bringing it up,” Lewis said quietly. “But you know it’s true, and my motives aren’t entirely selfish here. You think I don’t worry about what might happen to Jane once we’re ready for kids? And Mary and Linda when they get to that point? And I really do care what happens to Sam.”

That calmed Matt down a bit, but he didn’t trust himself to open his mouth just yet. He nodded for his friend to continue.

“There are some problems no amount of planning and research and preparation can guarantee success in solving, unless you already have the requisite practice and skill. Only professionals can really handle them. Professionals who can be the difference between life and death for hundreds of people at the cost of food for one.”

In spite of the earlier tension his friend seemed to be winning over the Tillmans, who were nodding thoughtfully. Matt supposed there was some merit to the suggestion. “Okay,” he said, trying not to sound grudging. “I’ll admit you make a lot of sense. We can run it by the other town leaders and see what they think.” He paused, then grinned wryly. “I’m guessing you’ve already been working up a list of skill sets to look out for?”

Lewis grinned back. “A few dozen. There are probably some I haven’t thought of, though. You and the other leaders know best what we really need. Ideally if you can find people who tick more than one requirement off the list that’s even better, and if they happen to have families then if whoever they bring with them also has useful skills that’s better still. And of course we want to consider things like health and what resources they already have to care for themselves, for a start.”

“Fair enough,” Catherine said. “But have you considered how we’re going to get in contact with these potential new community members?”

“Sort of. Chauncey’s been making a lot of friends on the radio, so he might have some suggestions. We probably want to avoid word of mouth through the camp itself, unless we can trust the people we talk to to only pass the invitation on to qualified recruits.”

Scott chuckled. “You think?” he said dryly. “The last thing we want is a stampede of refugees with false hope or, even worse, false promises passed on through rumor.”

Matt shuddered. The town had already had more than its share of problems with refugees hoping for something that wasn’t there. A lot of that could be blamed on the town’s previous Mayor John Anderson and the City Council, who before the Gulf refineries attack had spent the emergency money FETF gave them on other things, rather than preparing the supplies for the refugees from Utah Valley the town had agreed to take in. So when all those people arrived expecting a refuge they’d found themselves turned away from the sheer pragmatism that the town couldn’t help them, which had led to plenty of suffering and resentment on both sides.

Still, whoever was to blame it was a situation he wasn’t eager to repeat.

“Anyway I just thought the idea was something to consider,” Lewis said, straightening. “Now, how can I help out here?”

Another one of Lewis’s road trips, and only five days after his last one. Trev would’ve thought his cousin had more than enough to do without grabbing his bike and riding off every few days, especially with the work he was doing building a room for him and Jane taking up every moment of his spare time.

But no, here they were again. And from the sounds of it a trip with Trent to scavenge for vehicle windows and windshields was in the works, too.

Although Trev wasn’t really complaining. For one thing Lewis had been more than happy to invite Deb along this time, and for another they would be going out to the battle front along Highway 6 to gather even more spent shell casings. His cousin wanted to get his hands on as many as possible before someone else had the same idea, and Trev was glad to be part of the venture.