Luxury
When society collapsed, the fires in Northern California died down on their own, despite the run-down reactors, storehouses of fireworks, and loose electrical wiring from the sparse homes. Life began to flourish again in the natural rain forests, it was actually quite fast. When human interference began to falter, life grows terrifyingly swiftly.
It’s weird after the collapse, things seem always awry. As if all of human history was a fleeting glimpse of something, praying for something. But in the end the glimpse was lost, and everything just withered away. All returning to the nature that the globe seemed to gyrate towards.
But electrical fires still happen. Jane and David did their best to disengage electricity that wasn’t going to be used, both to troll other survivalists, as well as to keep battery cells from melting overtime.
Also, it was fun. They liked to have fun and play these games. There were the few classics like I Spy, and BINGO, but those became boring after a while. During big road trips, they loved to write MadLib's.
MadLib's were these quirky series of fill-it-yourself books. They were all about verbs, adjectives and nouns, as well as a few outliers. They were a quintessential game for any road trip. There was never any winning, the point was to create a mess of absurd nonsense. They were fun like that.
Jane and David were collectors. The two would loot gas marts for MadLib’s since most survivalists thought children’s books wouldn’t be useful. Another favorite game was 20 questions, David and Jane liked to tell each other stories about themselves, and what they did that day. And after a few days or even weeks they would test their knowledge and memory on those small details, and laugh.
A more obscure game they played, they would keep tally marks of different graffiti tags, collecting the tags in a journal. Both pre and post collapse. People with the means to vandalize, even with no opposition, will still do it. Jane is one of those people, but hasn’t gotten the opportunity to do so in a while. Every general store had spray cans out of stock.
Jane used to be quite the rebel in her younger years, and after the collapse, that side of her was brought out. David liked that.
The two of them were out in California for one thing. The Giant Redwoods, they were ecstatic about hugging one. It was that kind of basic idea, but to them it was more than a bucket list. It was a little dream from childhood, something you saw people on TV do. Little hearts and waves of good energy would radiate off them as if the Great Redwood could produce an anti-depressant so powerful that, even if the world fell apart, there would be nothing but good vibes.
David and Jane weren’t in any kind of desperation though, it was just a little dream or drop of childhood they were enthusiastic on pursuing. And they would gladly roll over these windy wild roads by the coast, journaling, singing, vibing… loving.
They drove a 2018 Jeep Wrangler they stole-, or “Acquired.” from a parking lot in Colorado. It was an easy thing to fix up and get the smell out of, that was two years back. And only a few months ago, they came upon a little hatch trailer that could barely fit a person inside. Compact, versatile, and it freed up space in the car. David dealt with the innards of the car, the mechanics, and general maintenance. While Jane went crazy on the decal, tons of stickers, intricate paint jobs, and even a few poems. She welded on these metal bulls horns on the side right above the wheels, she declared the car be named: Duchess.
Duchess was a beast on the road. Though the crown jewel of Duchess had to be the CD and Cassette Stereo David scored in Nevada. After that the two hit the town “Acquiring” music of all genres. They also acquired old radio shows, pod-casts on both history and nature, and even a few recordings of major league sports. The stereo was not turned off, ever. David and Jane loved that stereo, because of what the sounds it played represented.
It was that little human connection that made life alright. They had each other, and that will aways be true. But it was the reminder of that little humanity, that allowed the profane and scourging thoughts of dread and pain to rest. Before they had the stereo, how could they bare the silent globe. And now, David and Jane were blessed by their precursors, the ability to sing.
And they sang. They tinkered together a decent speaker system, and they sang. When they drove down those windy hills, and straightaways they sang. When they chored around, with dishes, clothes, and fixing a fire, they sang. When they spent the night gleaming up toward those heavens above, they danced.
This is how they were, it was all a promise between the two of them. A kind of luxury that’s hard to find even when things were normal. When everything’s all said and done, they would live.
