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an idea of the new structures and people, reviewing the terrain and building placements for defensive purposes. Roman walked with him. As they passed yet another new cabin, Adrian said, “Looking at this place It’s hard to believe I was only gone a year. It’s three times bigger, and I see so many faces I don’t recognize.”
    Roman replied, “It could have been ten times, maybe twenty times bigger, but we’ve been extremely picky who we let in on a permanent basis. There are still many just looking for an easier ride, people who would be anything but an asset. Some of the grid survivors are just plain loony, also. As it is, we’ve still grown too big too fast. What was a tribe is a small town now. We’ve gone from the original handful to over two hundred. It’s unwieldy, but we let in people who have skills we need. I don’t know which I am prouder to have here: the doctor or the shoemaker. It’s unbelievable how fast we wear out shoes now, walking everywhere we go, working in the fields, going out hunting. We’re going to have to change our setup soon, though. Tribal meetings don’t work well anymore, and the majority of the villagers are new. The newcomers have been patient with me running things, but it can’t last much longer. We need to be better organized.”
    Roman stopped and bent down to retie one of his shoe laces that had begun to come loose. He straightened up and resumed after a short pause, reminding himself of where he was in his talk.
    “Thinking about that, I invited two new families in—old friends of mine. Perry was a lawyer, best one I ever knew, smart as hell and extraordinarily honest for any man, much less a lawyer. I asked him to come and write us a new constitution and a new set of laws. He’s been here a bit over six months and says they are almost ready to publish. The proposed laws are written in plain language that anyone can understand, but that didn’t make them easy to write. It’s amazing how hard it is to write a simple declarative sentence that can’t be twisted to suit anyone’s needs, tortured into a meaning it was never intended to have. There’s nothing more diabolical than the human mind when it is in trouble. But if anyone can do it, Perry can. He’s borrowing a lot from the old Constitution, but he’s plugging the holes in it. The new one won’t be warped into what the old one was turned into. We’re intent on Learning from our past mistakes, so that this one will be much clearer, simpler, and harder to ruin. Along with the constitution, he’s writing an instruction manual on how to follow it, getting into more detail on the thought process and philosophy behind it and using concrete examples. It’s sort of like the Federalist Papers, but his are officially binding because they are referred to in the constitution itself as such. Then the instructions refer back to the constitution, making a loop that’s going to be damn hard to break. I’m looking forward to reading it from corner to corner when he’s finished. It’s a hell of an undertaking.
    “When the new constitution and laws are published, they’ll be distributed to each resident of voting age to study. By the way, voting age—at Perry’s suggestion—has been set at sixteen. In this brave new world, you’re an adult at sixteen, like it or not. A few years from now, we’ll begin having elections as the first appointed office holder’s age or die. I’m appointing the first office holders to make sure this gets off to a solid start, the way we want it to go.”
    “The new constitution will be the law; anyone who disagrees can pack up and leave—and damned fast, too. I started this village, and I intend to put into place a solid system before I let go control. Perry has also created a code of laws that is fair and simple. There will be only a few criminal laws; they are written in plain English, and they have teeth. There are three forms of punishment: community service or reparation,