Thursday, November 24, 2011

A Day Like Any Other

Today we don't get any turkey, pie, mashed potatoes, or any of the other delicious things that usually go along with Thanksgiving. I wouldn't even have remembered it was today if Rachel hadn't reminded me.

It doesn't bother me anymore, losing the holidays. Thanksgiving is important, but the longer we manage to survive in this new world the more I become convinced that just as society has changed and begun to evolve in a different direction, so must the old things eventually fade with them.

So today I'll think about all the people back home I miss, and reflect on how thankful I am for the members of the team who remain. Not to mention Bill, a new friend and companion.

Really, I'm thankful for a lot. I wasn't intending this post to be a predictable list of those things, but I guess it's sort unavoidable given the season. I'm happy and grateful for the people of Georgetown, who have been courteous, polite, and helpful toward us. The zombie plague has had hundreds or perhaps thousands of secondary consequences including distrust of strangers. For these people, as it is with many, this is especially true. For them to allow us to stay for so long, to work with us fairly, is amazing.

At the same time, I'm really happy that there's no prohibition against us fraternizing with people. The man thrown into the box the other day, whose name is Greg, is one of the few people here who will talk to us openly. He doesn't have the guarded demeanor most of the natives share. I've tried to ask him about some of the more curious elements we've noticed around here, but he didn't seem comfortable talking about a lot of that.

He's really personable as long as the conversation stays away from what are apparently sore subjects like the lack of children and pregnant women here. He's funny and expressive, and he's a demon at playing cards. He spent a while with us last night. I didn't smell any booze on him, so maybe his days in the box helped him kill that demon.

We should be wrapping up here in the next day or two. We've actually already finished hammering the trade deal out, the team and I are just waiting on a group of traders to come in tomorrow from our next stop on this leg of the trip. We'll be following them home, and their business here won't take more than a day. I'm happy with what we've done here, and happy to be moving on to the next stop.

The only concern I have is that the part of the country we're headed into is very heavily populated by zombies. Worse, it's painfully clear that the new breed is spreading quickly and is going to cause problems for us. They're already causing disruptions in the local trade, and it isn't going to get better as they spread.

We'll fight them, of course, but they're strong, clever, and difficult to kill.

So I guess more than anything this Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for long-range weaponry and well-calibrated sights.

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