Posted on 10/30/2012 7:23:16 AM PDT by GeronL
Semi-satire, er, educational fiction
(Associated Posers)- NEW YORK CITY, New York – Rodney Jackson sits in his darkened Queens apartment, huddled in blankets, listening to a portable radio given to him by a friend. He says his food supply and patience is wearing thin. The first floor of his building has a few feet of standing water.
“I have done everything I was supposed to” he says “I don't think this is how it's supposed to be”
His kitchen counter is littered with opened food cans and boxes, no chance to take out the trash and recycling with the storm raging. The power is out and Rodney wonders how his friends are doing, but he believes that the City of New York has his back.
“Big storms require big government” he says, repeating the mantra from the New York Times “But why does it have to be so slow, so inefficient, so inflexible?”
Rodney has faith that Mayor Bloomberg and President Obama will be there, delivering aid door to door, but the wait is already wearing thin. “This got old real quick” he says “I'm starting to understand my friends who went out looting last night”
Meanwhile a couple blocks away Samuel Sculley sits on the roof of an apartment building drinking coffee as a small generator sends power into his rooftop apartment. “The air has never felt so clean” he said sarcastically before the wind shifted and smoke from a fire comes.
Sculley has a well stocked supply closet, or rather the second bedroom has become a prepper's dream cupboard. “I have enough food to last me for months alone” he said “I know that the government would call me a hoarder or a possible domestic terrorist for having two soup cans to rub together, but I think a person should prepare themselves for disasters. You can't rely on others to save you”
“The subways are flooded, of course, and this hampers travel. The food stores were cleaned out by panic buyers, this leads to fear. Imagine showing up to buy food for your family and finding bare shelves, it'd be frightening. New York City is not self-sufficient, if a large scale disaster strikes, we'd probably all starve eventually” he explained “Those who didn't prepare an escape anyway”.
He wonders if New Yorkers and others didn't prepare properly because they have relied on government for so long. “I don't want to know what would happen if the EBT cards don't work in a few days. Things are bad enough as it is. Could you imagine if every place was as vulnerable as parts of this city? There wouldn't be enough help possible, thank goodness most people don't live like that, the death toll would be a lot higher than it is.”
The storm was a category 1, a weak hurricane. The size of the storm and the amount of precipitation is what got the attention. “Katrina was worse, really. If Katrina his New York City, yikes”
He says if it had been that bad he had an escape route. “I'm not going to stick around and wait for the Hunger Games to begin. People who think government is going to make everything better are the ones who sitting in the dark waiting for Nanny Vans with food to show up.” He said as he began preparing dinner of formerly frozen steak and canned vegetables.
“I am not waiting for FEMA”
Rodney Jackson and his neighbor Belinda Ramirez await word from the City on where the best shelters and feeding locations will be set up. Belinda wonders whether her sister will still get the dialysis she needs but “I haven't been able to talk to her today”.
“I went to the grocery store before it hit but everything was already gone. There was nothing left, I've never seen anything like that before. Made my stomach hurt. How can this happen? How can they let something like that happen?” Belinda Ramirez asked.
“Must have been a real shock” Rodney answered, comforting her. “It's just unreal. Unnatural to allow the stores to go empty, people gotta eat, dang hoarders!”
Meanwhile Samuel Sculley takes a different view “You have to take responsibility for your own life and your own survival. No-one else cares about you as much as you do, you will never be anyone else's highest priority in times of trouble”.
bump
What about water? I don't think you want to be drinking the flooded waters that include salt, trash and sewage.
Poor Rodney went to pieces after 12 hours...he had two days warning....ran out of food?....
What do you mean "they", you stupid idiot.
How could YOU let this happen? Why didn't YOU stock up on food and candles?
Are you even capable of wiping your own Biden or do you depend on "them" to do it for you?
Imagine what it would be like if your power came from windmills and solar panels.
Btt, good one
I hope you're proud of yourself.
lol.
I do have to feel sorry for the fools a little though. I know that horrible feeling in the stomach when you just know you %$#@!’d everything up.
Got a shotgun,rifle and a four wheel drive,a country boy can survive
High winds and storms make both windmills and solar panels useless. Plus if those are subsidized Obama solar panels that catch on fire in the sun, you really in trouble. lol
??
I even put the warning in the first line this time. heh
Bush's fault.
Yep!
I don’t imagine there is good fishing in Queens, but today I could be wrong.
These are people too trifling to collect their own trash and tie it up in plastic bags.
Let them drink Heineken.
“Rodney has faith that Mayor Bloomberg and President Obama will be there, delivering aid door to door, but the wait is already wearing thin. “This got old real quick” he says “I’m starting to understand my friends who went out looting last night”
This reminds me of something I heard last year. I live in Huntsville AL in the area that was hit by several tornados a year ago April. One of the local radio stations was 24/7 allowing people to call in asking questions like where can I get ice or gasoline. Where are there working ATMs, etc. One guy called in wanting to know how he could get someone to bring him the free food. The DJ said he hadn’t heard of any one bringing people free food and asked the guy several questions about why couldn’t he go get his own food, was he broke or disabled? The guy couldn’t answer any of those questions and kept saying he wanted his free food brought to him.
That mentality is out there and its becoming more common too
Good job. Your writing is improving.
I realize the piece is satire and your response humorous.
But for those that use this article as a reminder to be prepared:
If you intend to wait out an emergency period in an apartment building in a city, you need to plan on a significant amount of water. Even more so if you want to flush a toilet now and then.
What is the minimum quantity of water needed?
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/emergencies/qa/emergencies_qa5/en/index.html
Emergency Bath Tub Water Storage System
http://www.redcrossstore.org/Shopper/Product.aspx?uniqueitemid=513
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.