Preface
This is the history my father wrote of the great famine as he experienced it and recorded in his diary. Here and there, he makes references to things from the Before Time which may not make sense to today's readers. In those instances, I have added my own explanatory notes in [].
***
December 21, 2026 - Crossville, Tennessee
I awoke to a sound like thunder that was softer, but lingered much longer. As I've never heard such a thing before, I went online to check the news [It seems there used to be a reliable, worldwide communication network powered by electricity, but we are a long way off from rebuilding it.]. The headlines all blared "WORLDWIDE VOLCANO ERUPTIONS" and others were all variants of "THE END OF THE WORLD?" I texted my parents who live a few miles away, and they urged me to come immediately. Although I live in small town, the thought that panic, riots, and looting could be imminent led me to pause a few minutes to consider what I should take in case I could not return to my apartment. I took warm clothes, my two rifles and ammo, a hunting knife, my collection of silver coins, and a jar of vitamins. I loaded my car in a rush and drove a few miles to my parents' home. We all hugged briefly before our eyes were drawn to the news broadcast on the TV. The parade of doom and gloom continued as the hosts and the crawl recited the grim statistics. The ash from the eruptions would block out the sun, causing much cooler temperatures and making it impossible to grow enough food to feed everyone for several years.
We are one of the lucky countries with vast stores of grain and herds of livestock, but even with careful rationing, all that will be gone in two months or less. Most Americans have only about 3 days worth of food at home and there was another 3 days worth on the shelves of grocery stores. We discussed whether it was worth it to try and buy or loot what we could. We decided I should stay behind to guard the house while my parents went out to see what was happening at the stores in town. It was agonizing to wait for their return even though they were only gone for less than an hour. They were visibly shaken when they returned empty handed. The stores were already mobbed when they drove past them, and panic buying had quickly devolved into looting and armed skirmishes with the police. The police regrouped to guard the industrial bakery in the middle of town. That set the tone for what I expect to follow: people with guns who stick together live longer.
My mom began calling her friends from church. There was an organized distribution from the food pantry to all the parishioners. It was better to give all the food away at once that to try to protect it from looters and maybe get killed. I think they made the right move. Dusk came early that evening, and the sunset had forbidding hues of red and orange I'd never seen before. I couldn't sleep, so I spent most of the night online researching similar events. It turns out in 1816, a volcanic eruption caused something called The Year Without a Summer. But this is going to be much worse. I wonder how long the power will stay on.
December 22, 2026 - Crossville, Tennessee
We watched the news as we ate our sparse breakfast slowly. Around the world, there was the same initial panic and rioting, but things have calmed down somewhat. Several countries announced that they would resume whaling to get food. My parents' house was next to Lake Tansi. I didn't know how many fish lived in it, but at least it was a natural food source close by. I told my parents I was going into town to get fishing gear, and they gave me their pistol for protection. The roads were empty as I drove into town, except for the cop cars parked outside the big bakery. The Walmart parking lot was empty and so was the story when I went inside. The guns and ammo were all gone, but there was still fishing gear. Out of curiosity, I checked how much pet food was left, but there was none. Most of the vegetable seeds were gone from the gardening section, but I took what was left. In a flash of foresight, I also took a bicycle. I felt guilty about taking it all without paying, but it was clear that money did not have much value anymore. All the expensive jewelry and electronics in the store were left untouched.
I drove past the farm on the way back to my parents' house. The sign said "PORK LAMB TOMATOES". I thought that farmer was a lucky man if he could protect his resources. Right now, he'd probably shoot any stranger on sight. I wondered how many other people had done what I have - fled to either family or a source of food. On the news, we heard that most of the world's leaders and rich people had vanished, probably to secret bunkers. The Secretary of Agriculture was the acting president of the United States [the once great and prosperous country on whose land we now live]. He announced that the country was now a command economy, with the military protecting food production and distribution. I wondered how long that would last if the government couldn't keep its soldiers fed.
From her church friends, my mom learned that the cops in charge of the bakery would distribute food on a case-by-case basis. I suspected it would be rife with favoritism, but at least there was an attempt to preserve law and order. My dad wondered if we should try to raise chickens. It seemed like a decent idea, although what would we feed them? The production of animal feed had also been disrupted. Even when spring comes, there won't be enough grass to feed all the cattle, assuming any survive the winter without being eaten first. There were cattle herds around town, but the total number of animals couldn't be more than a few hundred at most.
December 24, 2026 - Crossville Tennessee
The churches were packed, which was a comforting sign. Everyone seemed strangely eager to eat together and share food with others. It was proof that basic human decency still existed. Still, the outlook is grim. If food is the only motivator, how would the power stay on? What about schools and hospitals? The government announced a ban on non-essential travel, but many people have stopped going to work anyway. The only thing that matters was food production and to a lesser extent, distribution. The major cities have turned into death traps and there was a mass exodus to rural areas and the coasts. I remember reading that during the Irish potato famine, the surrounding seas were full of fish, but the Irish lacked wood to build enough fishing boats.
No one seemed to want to go home from the Christmas Eve dinner at church. The event was a shred of normalcy they desperately clung to. I was reminded of the pandemic a few years earlier, but at least there were no worries about having enough food then. As we drove home, I wondered when there would be no more fuel left. At this point, the only things that mattered were water, food, ammo, medicine, and fuel, and the last four were all running out fast. Another problem were what to do with all the old and sick people. When survival is at stake, the usual rules go out the window. I tried not to think about it. My mom needs insulin to live, and how will we get that when the trucks stop rolling and pharmacies are stripped bare?
I never liked Christmas much as an adult, and this one seemed particularly bleak, like some cruel cosmic joke. Will there be a wave of suicides and murders as the remnants of civilization slowly dissolve? We drove past an animal shelter on the way home. Good lord, I hope it's a long time before I'm hungry enough to eat a dog or a cat.
The kids seemed happy, however. This is the one year were every kid got all the toys they wanted for Christmas, and nobody had to pay for them [Christmas was once celebrated on a gargantuan scale with every town decorated in electric lights and a mad scramble to buy gifts of all sorts].
January 1, 2027 - Crossville, Tennessee
We cooked the last of our food today. A military convoy delivered flour to the bakery and soldiers supervised the distribution of bread. A few soldiers took the opportunity to desert, and no attempt was made to stop them. Just about all the grain stockpiles have been taken from storage. I expect that soon no more flour will arrive and the bakery will shut down. The schools were put on indefinite hiatus like many other things because of power outages and the need to conserve fuel.
The acting president said the military will also escort convoys of fresh meat. but that won't last long. At least we'll have some food for the coldest part of winter. The news reports mass escapes from prison. The guards abandoned their posts and friends and relatives of the prisoners facilitated the jailbreaks with little resistance. I expect it is now very dangerous to travel alone, at night, or over long distances. The news anchors still on the job said they will continue to broadcast as long as the power stays on. Earlier today, I went back to my apartment to retrieve my handcrank-powered survival radio. Someone had broken in, but took nothing except a water-purifying pitcher.
We spent Christmas filling up every container we could find with water. I don't know when the running water will cut off, but it seems inevitable. When I was in the Peace Corps in Africa, I boiled a few liters of water every week so I would have something safe to drink. Although I slept under a mosquito net religiously, I still got malaria. But even there, I never worried about having enough to eat. There are flying termites there called kumbikumbi in Swahili. I wonder how many Americans are now pondering insects as food.
The pet food ran out at my parents' house today, and my mom was very distraught. My dad and I have both privately discussed eating the dog and cats later or setting them free. Earlier, I read the asteroid impact which killed the dinosaurs kicked up enough dust to block most sunlight for at least 2 years and 75% of animal species went extinct. Those are depressing numbers, but there is a faint ray of hope in them. If life on earth survived that, so could humanity.
I was nuts for dinosaurs as a kid, and later learned a great deal about natural history. I saw a famous dinosaur movie [like a stage play, but recorded by machines] and one of the characters said that life finds a way.
