It hit during the night. No one knows exactly where. I heard someone say we might not see the Sun again.

Because it’s dark all the time the looting has been bad. The people with generators can protect themselves. When the gasoline is gone no one knows what  will happen.

After we used everything from the freezer we decided to try to live off the land as much as we could. We’ve been eating salads but the plants are starting to turn yellow. Someone told me that ‘s called etiolation. They are going to die soon, the plants I mean.

We’ve decided to try hunting. I bet squirrel will taste alright. I hope the geese stay around. We always hated them because they pooped everywhere. Now I see families roasting birds in their backyards.

One nice thing  is the quiet. Since there is no electricity or Internet we have lots of spare time. We read by the fire and talk.

We never talk about the ash that falls over everything.

The rooster sounds like it is next to my ear. I sit up in bed and rub my eyes. A donkey is braying in the distance. “What fun, today we start on the walls,” I think to myself. We all eat dishes of porridge. The tea is milky and filled with sugar.

My job is to carry rocks. I have a burlap bag about a yard long. I pry the first stone out of the crusty soil and drop it into the bag. “Great, only ten thousand more to go.”

I found it in the back yard. I turned over the spade and there it was. The stone was egg-shaped and it looked man-made. I dusted it off and held it in my hand.

…

The old man struck the flint with the hammer stone. With each blow a thin flake fell onto the ground. He finished the blade and then he bound it to the polished wood with a length of sinew. He hefted his new tool and smiled.

One is all it takes:

One man scorned and covered with scars still strove with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable stars; and the world was better for this.- Cervantes (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra), Don Quixote

I woke at the crack of dawn. I leaned against the wall and my dirty blue sleeping bag covered my chest.

It sure is hot and steamy today.

I rose onto an elbow and the cardboard shifted. Damn, this is the best piece yet. I looked at the gigantic sheet of corrugated paper. It must have come from a big appliance or something.

I propped up my sign and put the plastic bucket in front of it. I have a feeling. Today is going to be a good day.