Survivors Read Online Free PDF

couldn’t find a
way to leave.”
    “You know Blaine, I think we’re all going to
find out money can’t buy anything anymore. My
wife had an insurance policy; I’m not going to collect on that. How am I going to access the money
in my checking and savings accounts? And even if
I could get it, what good would it do. You know we
could probably get into Fort Knox and steal all the
gold, but what would that get us?”
    Mary showed up with Carla who was demanding some formula. I held the little girl while
Mary prepared Carla’s dinner. Mary said, “I’ll find
Carla a crib tomorrow. There’s an upscale baby
store over on Fifth Avenue.”
    Mary sat down out on the lanai and fed
Carla her bottle. The little girl was guzzling the liquid like there was no tomorrow.
    Others began to arrive, and we set up dinner on the lanai. Stan offered to cook the tenderloins on the barbeque. Blaine explained a large
propane tank buried in the ground still powered
the stove and barbeque. Blaine walked into a large
walk-in closet off the kitchen and returned with
four bottles of wine. I looked at the labels. Gaja
Barbarosa, I recognized the brand and knew each
bottle of the excellent Italian wine was worth well
over $200.
    The dinner was special. We were all eating
together and enjoying the wine. I guess we were all
trying to move on from the personal loses and horrors we had all experienced in the last few weeks.
Margaret stood up and gave a toast. “In the Jewish
religion when we toast we say l’chaim ; it means to
life . So, let me toast my new family with the simple
words l’chaim .”
We all raised our glasses and said l’chaim .
    Jack and Bobby clicked their glasses of apple juice together and half the juice spilled on the
table. Everyone laughed, so Jack and Bobby did it
again, and the rest wound up dripping onto the
Travertine pavers. Nobody seemed to care.
    By the time we finished dinner, we had
gone through six bottles of the wonderful wine.
Stan asked how much each bottle cost, and when
Blain said $300, he almost choked.
    I said, “Listen everyone, why don’t we go
around the table and tell everyone about ourselves.
We need to know what each of us can do. We all
have skills we’re going to need if we’re going to survive. I’ll start.”
    Margaret stopped me. “Wait, I’m going to
write down everyone’s skills. I’ll prepare a spreadsheet, and when we need a skill we’ll know who to
talk to.”
    Margaret returned a few minutes later, and
I began. “I grew up in Chicago and studied Business Administration at Northwestern University. I
had a good friend in college. Bruce was an engineer, and he had an idea for a new way to injection
mold those plastic cups you see all over. Anyway,
we started a company, and it was an instant success. We sold out a couple of years ago and moved
down to Naples. I lost my wife and daughter in the
plague. I don’t have a lot of skills. I know how to
manage a business, and I think I know how to
work with others to make things happen.”
It was Mary’s turn. “I grew up in Fort Myers. I studied at Florida State University; I’m a Registered Nurse. I used to work at Naples Community
Hospital, first as a Scrub Nurse and then in Orthopedics. I retired two years ago and did volunteer
work at the free clinic over on Livingston Road. My
husband Ralph died two years ago from cancer. We
never had any children. Up until today, I’ve been
all alone.”
    Margaret began, “I’m just a good librarian. I
grew up in Naples and started working at the main
library. I worked my way up and finally managed
the branch over on Orange Blossom Road. When
we lived in a house, I was a good gardener, but
when we moved over to Venetian Village, my gardening days were over. My husband died from the
plague, and I don’t know what happened to our
two children and grandchildren. I guess they all
passed away.”
    Ruth seemed embarrassed. I guess it was
due to her young age. “I go to the