continued

I awoke. There were bandages over my shoulder. I could tell by the pain levels that nothing much had happened. Lacy was standing over me licking my face and Bella was pawing at me. It was time for them to go out. They still won't go to the restroom indoors unless they are left to it for a very long time...more than over night. I rolled over and saw that the barricade to the front doors was down. I jumped up and walked out the door, dogs in tow.

She was unloading one of the three trucks. She has black hair cut in an old school style...bangs short, the rest long. She had on blue jeans and a black tshirt, black cross trainers. She let out a yell of fustration and yanked harder on one of the boxes. It fell to the ground, and collapsed open. I approached her silently as possible. She was still an unknown quantity. Was she injured, had she been bit? She knelt down and started putting the contents of the box back in.

I was ten or so feet from her...
"Hey"

She looked up and covered her eyes from the sun.

"Hi"

She went back to repacking the box. I looked at the contents on the ground and realized they were personel possessions. The woman had saved her stuff some how and was not going to let it go easy.

"We can move that stuff into the rental area."

She stopped what she was doing momentarily and shot me a look.

"I will just keep moving on."

"Where?"

She threw a small trinket at me and kept packing.

I scuffed the ground with my left foot for a moment. Willing the rocks to move left, but of course, no.

"Do you know anything about what caused this?"

She stopped what she was doing and sat on the ground.

"As far as anyone knows it was the contagions in the serrano, jalepeno peppers, the contaminated beef from krogers and the tomatos. It looks almost purposeful. How would all these things carry contagions if not on purpose. The U.S. has supposed regulations, am I correct?"

The rock finally moved left. I stopped messing with them and sat down.

I remember the first reports, though I never watch the news, my mom had called me and told me not to eat the tomatoes. Then it was e. coli infested meats from krogers and then the peppers.....jalapeno, serrano, bell peppers, you name it. I heard some say that it was traced back to Mexico, then I was told it was Texas. I grew up in Texas.

I was born in a small town called Alpine. I grew up 80 miles to the east of there in a town called Sanderson. I was raised on a sheep ranch. They had to constantly vaccinate the animals.......but that didn't always work. Remember the "mad cow" outbreaks in England? They said things couldn't jump species, but I know that to be untrue. When I was about 11 years old my step mother Phyllis contracted soar mouth on a cut on her ring finger. It was from letting a doggie lamb suck her finger, something we all did. It was helpful in getting them to take the bottle. Since then I have been increasingly more interested in epidemic, pandemics, well, disease of any kind. I remember people saying foot and mouth disease also couldn't jump ship, but it could.

Back to Phyllis. She finally went to the doctor after the sores on her finger started running red lines up her arm. Blood poisoning. The doctor told her she had in fact contracted sore mouth and had to have the finger amputated before the infection spread further. That was the same week i got stuck in a corner for two hours after saying the word "crap". My parents weren't just real brilliant all the time. They thought the punishments the languished out on me would make me stop saying words like "crap" and the shortened term "b.s". They were mostly wrong.

Two years later, after witholding sex from my father....believe me, he deserved it, she left. In that time, i remember the sheep coming down with several diseases, all of which they treated by vaccination. In that time as welll, we found the first antibiotic i was allergic to. I had recieved a wasp sting on the side of my head. As things were, most f us were alos allergic to bee and wasp stings.. I remember laying on my grandfathers couch, my head swellling and my breathing becoming irregular. He fnially dictated taht he couldn't help me and since i was sent to the closest hospital......60 miless away. They adminstered all the regulars....also penicillin in case of infection.

I bring this up, duelly noting that the human culture as a whole has over administered anti biotics for over 50 years. We have been plunging ourselves into a world were germs specific and non have become more and more immune to our defenses. Now the vegetables are even sick. What the hell?

Before i get going on a long memory lane, let me jump back to where we are now.

UPDATED......excerpt coming shortly..........