Solutions: The Dilemma for Men - James Gerard (read out loud books .txt) 📗

all things processed by the villagers were sent to transport to various locations.  Louis had heard about the compound but had never seen it.  He only worked at the plant that processed the wheat into all its edible forms and had nothing to do with the shipping process.  Some of the workers at the Village were truckers that transported the goods to the compound and had briefly described it with vague detail, so he could only assume that is what he was looking at.

 

It appeared as if the buildings started to move.  The movement seemed to be that of large trucks moving together.  They were lined up from front end to back end in what seemed like one, long, continuous line.  Upon closer inspection, however, he recognized the shapes as a railroad locomotive and the cars as described by some of the truckers.  Sure enough, he thought, this was the compound he had been told about.  Among the mighty machines a man had just stepped out of the cab of the locomotive but appeared not to have noticed Louis walking steadily towards him.

 

“Good morning,” shouted Louis.

 

Louis thought the man looked confused.  He realized his back was to the sun and the man had to throw a hand up to shield the glare.  He appeared to be looking for the voice that yelled just beyond the fence of the train yard.  The man stared for a moment and then waved.

 

Louis waved back and raced over to the fence separating him from the man still looking puzzled by his appearance.

 

“Hi,” said Louis.

 

“If you don’t mind me asking,” responded the man, “what in the world are you doing on that side of the fence?”

 

“I slept by the ocean last night and when I woke I saw this place off in the distance and decided to walk here to see what it was.”

 

“Ocean?”

 

“Yeah, it’s right there.”

 

The man laughed.  “That’s not the ocean.  That’s a lake.”

 

“A lake?”

 

“Yes, a lake; and a pretty big one at that.”

 

Louis had heard of lakes, but to his or any other worker’s knowledge there was no lake anywhere near the Village.

 

“Are you from the village?” the man asked.

 

“Yes sir.”

 

“Did you escape?”

 

“Not really.  I just got tired of all the complaining and decided to get away for the day.”

 

“Complaining?  Really.”

 

“Yeah.  They’ve been cutting back on the scrapple more and more.  And yesterday being Saturday—that’s when Cookie usually cooks us scrapple gravy and biscuits for breakfast—all we got was some cantaloupe and a scoop of scrambled eggs.”

 

“That’s understandable,” stated the man.  “If they didn’t tell you yet, a bunch of you are being moved out further east to restore the ruins of some of the bigger cities so they’re cutting back on the rations.”

 

“Of course,” exclaimed Louis.  “I thought there was a good reason why they cut back the food.  Most of the restoration workers have been stuck in the Village doing all sorts of maintenance work on their equipment so of course they don’t need a bunch of calories anymore.”

 

“You got it Louis.”

 

“What about you guys?  Are they cutting back your food?”

 

“I’d hate to tell you this, but there’s been no cutting back on food here.  We always have more than enough of the really good food we like.”

 

“Even scrapple?”

 

“Well, scrapple is not exactly anyone’s favorite when it comes to meat.  In fact, our cooks won’t even touch it.”

 

“Wow.  That’s all the meat we ever get.”

 

“That figures,” the man laughed.

 

Louis looked over the train and the tops of the buildings behind.  He could see the tires of all sorts of vehicles and hear their engines humming from the view underneath the boxcars, but he could not see what they were loading.

 

“By the way, my name is Louis.”

 

The man smiled.  “Good to meet you Louis.  My name is Hector.  Well, do you plan to stand outside the fence all day or would you like to come in?”

 

Louis looked at the roll of barbed wire sitting atop the fence, “I don’t think I can climb over that.”

 

“Don’t have to.”  Hector walked over to a gate in the fence and pointed.  “See, the lock has been busted for years.  It makes me think that if they wanted to keep people out, they would’ve replaced it long ago.”

 

Louis smiled and strolled through the gate.

 

“Welcome to the shipping and receiving yard.  Would you like a tour?”

 

“Actually, if you don’t mind, I’d like to see more of the train if that is okay with you.”

 

Hector smiled and led Louis around the locomotive.  Louis looked to the forklifts that were transferring pallets from warehouses to the box cars.  He was amazed how the trucks zoomed in and out of the cargo bays so fast without colliding with one another.  He heard the men shouting directions to one another as another used hand gestures to orchestrate the movements of the busy day.

 

Hector led Louis to the ladder hanging off the side of the locomotive and invited him to climb aboard.  The space inside the cab of the locomotive was cramped.  Two big comfortable chairs sat in front of an instrument panel.  Multiple levers and metal wheels and switches used to adjust the various aspects of the engine’s movements were attached to the sides.  The cab’s big bay window, smartly wrapped around the top of the engine, offered nearly a full panoramic view of the surrounding landscape.

 

“I have to take off soon.  Do you want to see some of the boxcars?”

 

“Take off?  Where to?”

 

“Los Angeles.”

 

“Wow, that’s where the central government is isn’t it?”

 

“Sure is.”

 

“How do you get across the lake?”

 

“Don’t actually.  The tracks go around it then up and over the mountains.”

 

“Really, you get to go to the mountains?”

 

“I’ve been up and down them thousands of times.”

 

“I’ve only seen them from a distance.  I’ve never seen them up close.”

 

“I’ll tell you what.  What are you doing this week?”

 

“This week?”

 

“Sure.  It’s a week’s trip back and forth.  I’m inviting you along.”

 

“I’d better not Hector.  I sort of better get back to the Village.  They might be mad that I left.”

 

“You know, I wouldn’t worry about that one bit.  I think it’s about time you see the mountains up close.  The ocean too.”

 

Louis’ eyes lit up at the prospect of seeing things he thought he would never have a chance to see.  “You know what Hector, if you don’t mind one bit I think I’ll take you up on that.”

 

Before Hector left the cab to see to some last minute details concerning the boxcars, he instructed Louis not to touch a thing.  Louis sat in one of the engineer’s seats and stared ahead at the track that curved along the lakeshore.  His imagination started to conjure up all sorts of new and strange sights that never had been seen by anyone back in the Village.  He concluded that they would have no choice but to listen to him when he got back to relate to them all the wonderful things that their Creator had brought forth into the world.

 

Worries over his unexplained disappearance and the fear of how they might punish him vanished.  The affirmation of wanting to escape from the frustration was made anew.  A close up look at the mountains and a firsthand look at the city that hosted the seat of power waited.

Comparing Histories

 An excitement fell over Louis as he awaited the adventure that was ahead.  Even though he had to admit the ride would be a pleasure in itself, it was not so much the ride in the locomotive that led to the thrilling anticipation.  It was all the answers to the wild imaginations of his fellow workers and him, the discussions that led to wonderings over what was out there, and what was beyond the horizon that stretched far ahead into the unseen landscape.  The imaginations prompted many a rumor.  They were all mustered up in the vivid imaginations of his fellow workers.   But then the enlightened truth of what might be encountered turned to gloom as warnings from his dad came into memory.

 

“’Son,’” he remembered his dad saying, “’keep in mind that whatever men do in what they believe is good, the same will corrupt it.’”  The excitement was now tempered with caution.  Hector’s invitation, which at first produced thoughts of a fun filled adventure, now was riddled with doubts.  He remembered that his dad’s advice did not just extend to the men’s implementations and procedures and onset of the ideas they conjured up with their minds, it also extended to all who turned away from the Truth in order to enjoy as many of the fruits the men offered.  Louis, now, had to consider if his choice would lead into corruption.

 

His dad’s warning came further to light as he remembered having succumbed at times to the suggestive taunts of his fellow workers.  Although the warning was both well known and understood, a guiding force in the way he chose to live, it now served as a reminder to be leery of the lustful thoughts that had sometimes percolated in the mind and came to fruition.

 

Louis had believed that every day he sought out any around him that appeared to be overcome with the temptations of the world, and every day he reminded the very same that the struggle, the conflict, dealt with the choice of either walking by Faith or by sight.  He now realized that in asking others to follow the advice, he forgot at times to abide by it.  He suddenly realized the reminders to follow the Truth were in themselves a reminder for him as well.

 

As per Hector's instructions, Louis quietly sat staring at the mountains in the distance.  With the self-realization wandering in and out of the thoughts, he considered additional advice and information given by his dad.  His dad had related to him that they separated the villages situated east from the seat of government to the west, other than that they only represented towering figures seen from afar.

 

His dad had also informed him vaguely about the rulers dwelling in Southern California.  From particular information his dad had deduced that the mightier of the rulers chose Los Angeles as the place to wield their power, while lesser leaders chose the south and the quaint confines of San Diego.  In between the two there had once been a thriving population and continuous link between the two cities, but the rulers themselves chose to leave the stretch untouched.  The area was given back to the wilderness that long, long ago had consumed it with the abundance of life other than man.

 

Holding to the truth, however, Louis’s dad spoke of the Truth.  It was a continuous reminder that they or any man or women who chose to enter into leadership were not the enemy.  Through his dad’s teaching Louis could see the enemy much like the plague that brought death to billions: it came upon the Earth unseen and attacked those who were too weak for the body’s defense to fend off.  It came as a lie.  It was a lie that influenced the mighty in acting in a manner that they believed was good in the name of compassion, but was in reality a distorted truth perpetrated by one that only came to destroy the children of God—the leaders at the time had been manipulated and were too victims of the destroyer.

 

It was made clear that the Truth extended to all.  While