Chapter 17

"How much do you know about the situation in the world today?" Jessica asked. "Especially here at home."

It had been after dark when they arrived home. Jessica made some sandwiches and they sat at the kitchen table after eating. Alex wanted a drink and a cigar.

A year without and now I want it every day. Maybe the rest of it it'll come back.

"Let's go in the living room." he said. "I need a smoke and a drink."

Jessica smiled.

Happy smile. Not like the ones she's had for so long. Kinda forced, wanting to smile, not quite ready yet.

"Sure, go in and sit down, I'll have them in a minute."

"I like the way you're picking up your old habits," she said as she set the brandy down and handed him the cigar. "Even if they aren't some of the good ones."

She set the glass of brandy down.

"Hang on a sec."

She went to the thermostat in the hall.

Turning on the vent. Get the smoke out. My smokin' bother her? Apparently not.

Take a sip, pleasant taste, peachy, little burn at the end.

Set the glass down. Light the cigar.

Guess I remember. Or something. Seems normal. What's happening in my brain? Anything, besides putting in new stuff?

Nah, seems like something stirring in there. A cable got unplugged, found it, put it back? Be nice if it worked that way.

"OK, time for today's lesson." Jessica said. She took a sip of brandy. "This is a nice way to end the day. You always liked to do it.

"Anyway, about preppers and all that."

Suddenly serious.

"I haven't been looking forward to this," she said, "or at least not so soon. But you need to get back to normal as quickly as possible.

"With your faculties compromised, you missed a lot.

"You know something about Covid, as they call it?"

"Yeah, I guess. Bad flu virus of some kind, killing millions of people. Everyone wearing masks. Shut the country down. Just what I've read. Seen on the web. I pretty much slept through it."

"You missed a lot, but without your previous experience for context, this will be a little hard to digest on short notice. I'll try to be brief.

"Society as been in decline for a long time. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, really. Or earlier, as some people see it. In any case, we essentially have a puppet government controlled by the corporate-political machine that's been around for ages. They used to call it the military-industrial complex, now the military is merely an appendage. We're in a lot of trouble if things don't change, soon.

"And you were one of those who saw it long ago, back in the eighties. It's why you were a prepper before they were called preppers. You're always ahead of the game."

Great. I go into a coma for a few months and wake up in... what they call civilization gone to hell. Dystopia. Books and movies back... whenever.

"Is now what we were prepping for?"

"It's beginning to look that way." Jessica said. "At worst, in the socio-political area, we may be about to go into a long dark night. I hope not, but even if we don't fixing it will take a long time. So prepping means preparing for a lot of things. At this point I'd say we're in for some bad times, economically. Food, energy, basic essentals of life are no longer assured. A lot of people are going to suffer, in a serious way, if that happens.

"We're in good shape in most respects. Financially, you're in good shape, you just need to get as much cash as possible converted into other assets. And I'm fine. Dad left us quite comfortable, Mom's got plenty of help out there, but depending on how her health goes I may have to have her move closer to here."

Jessica's mom. Where is she?"

"Mom lives near Blue Eye, our family home for several generations." Jessica told him when he asked. "You went out there with me a few times. No memories?"

"I was about to ask you where Blue Eye is."

"I'll get us out there as soon as I can. She's a cancer survivor, so naturally I worry a lot. But she has regular checkups, and they have good medical resources out there."

Pause. Wry smile.

"That sounds strange, with what I've seen lately. Anyway, Blue Eye is way over on the other side of the state, on the Missouri line. Which reminds me, we need to get your library unpacked and set up. Once you decide where you want to live.

"Some books you enjoyed a lot back in the day, had a character from Blue Eye. Reading some of your books might help restore your memory."

Library?

"It's out in the garage." Jessica said. "That's why I park outside."

Reading my mind. Comes in handy. All those boxes. Must have read a lot in my other life.

And where do I want to live?

"I'd like to look at those books." Alex said. "As soon as possible."

A garage full of books I remember nothing about. What's in there? My past? Any of it might help.