Preface
The is 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 these instances, I have added my own explanatory notes in [ ].
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June 1, 2028 - Manatee Springs, Florida
Though our legal system is informal, Lord Humungous is the final authority. When men of our tribe have a dispute, often over women, they have the option of settling it with a duel. We discourage that, as we need every man healthy and working. One man makes the challenge, and if accepted, the other side has the choice of either bare hands or a bamboo stick. The challenged man has the option of declining the duel, but the loss of face from that is so great that it almost never happens. Most of the time, when the two sides meet for the duel, they are reminded that honor has been satisfied and they are free to walk away without any fighting. Since a few days usually pass between the challenge and the duel, tempers have cooled, and their desire to fight has waned. But sometimes a fight is inevitable. It lasts five minutes or until the first man falls. The last man standing is the winner and is not allowed to fight another duel for a year. If both men are still standing after five minutes, the fight is a draw. These rules help keep the peace.
If two women have a dispute, it is settled with an archery contest. We've found that this is good way to encourage women to practice archery in their spare time. It also provides our tribe with a reserve force in case we are outnumbered in an attack. Likewise, if a man and a woman have a dispute, it is also settled with an archery contest. The shame of losing to a woman is so great that men either practice archery until they master it or are very careful around women. Because our band ended up with many single mothers, polygamy was allowed, but with a limit of four wives. I think monogamy is better, as it reduces social friction and stabilizes both the man and woman. But alas, sometimes there is not a lid for every pot, so we have some bachelors and single women. Everyone knows we need to build up our numbers for safety and continued survival, but there are limits to what laws, customs, and peer pressure can accomplish.
Homosexuality is tolerated, but rare and frowned upon. The vast majority of survivors are cisgender and heterosexual. For whatever reason, not many LGBT people survived the collapse, probably because they were concentrated in cities, which became death traps when the food ran out. Birth control can still be scavenged, but no one bothers to. Everyone sees the need to repopulate the world, even though our children will grow up in harsh circumstances. I'd like to have children of my own, but the opportunity has not come up. I have a certain amount of status as our tribe's shaman, so some women approach me, but they have all been single moms. I'm not keen to raise another man's children, but I have much respect for the men who do. It's a tough job with a lot of risk and few rewards. We haven't had any divorces, but the process is simple. Men get all the property and women get custody of the children. Thus, there is no incentive for woman to marry a rich man with the intention of divorcing him later.
Alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana are legal and freely used, though alcohol is the drug of choice. Tobacco is hard to come by these days, but it can be scavenged here and there. It wasn't a priority for looting during the collapse. Marijuana can be grown here, but people would rather spend time growing food instead. Use of other drugs is rare, though some people have looted painkillers from pharmacies and hospitals. We can only provide basic medical care, but we do try to help the sick and injured. At first, there were a lot of underweight and malnourished people, but that's mostly gone now. Still, a disease outbreak could wipe us out. I've lectured people on the need to keep our drinking water clean. Most people filter it through cloth, but some boil it to make sure. Others mix in small amounts of chlorine or bleach and hope for the best. Down in Cedar Key, people make their own solar stills with plastic.
There are occasional crimes, mostly theft. Those accused are given a chance to defend themselves at the court of Lord Humungous. Both sides present evidence, and then Lord Humungous, me, and a few others chosen as judges decide the case. The usual punishment is restitution to the victim and a public beating with a stick for the thief. The beating stick cannot be thicker than the thumb of the person wielding it, but came be of any length or type of wood. The strike zone is the convicted criminal's bare butt when they are on their hands and knees. A maximum of 10 strokes is allowed. For some other crimes, shunning or banishment is used. We talked about using the death penalty, but it hasn't come up yet. If it does, we've agreed to do public hangings and leave the corpse on display for a few days. The hanging tree has been picked, and a noose dangles from one of the limbs as a warning. I hope we never have to follow through with it.
On the whole, life is good, or at least a lot better than it used to be. We are safe and there is enough to eat. I remember times in my life before the collapse when I wasted so much time worrying about trivial things. These days, I'm just happy to be alive. When you have it easy, it's easy to be upset over what you want and don't have or whatever little thing goes wrong. With hardship comes a more mature perspective. My basic goals are to stay healthy and stay alive. I figure if I do that, most of the other stuff will come automatically.
July 1, 2028 - Jacksonville, Florida
Lord Humungous decreed that I take some men and ride to Jacksonville, and make contact with the people living there, if any. I went with Lee, some of his closest followers, and some of mine. We rode on bikes for over 100 miles to reach the city. Near the outskirts, I heard shotguns cocking, and some black men emerged from the foliage. I held the white flag of truce in my hand, and said I bring greetings from Lord Humungous, ruler of Manatee Springs and many other realms and territories. That was an exaggeration, but in these cases, it is often wise to bluff. One of the guards spoke. "Yo dawg, this be the turf of King Big Daddy. Whachu want?" I explained further that we wished to meet with the king, maybe discuss trade or making an alliance. The guards beckoned us to follow. We were led into the city into a church. Inside, it was oddly festooned with both Christmas and Halloween decorations. Flickering candles added to the voodoo flair. At the front of the church, where the altar has been, there was a throne. Upon it sat a large man dressed in a purple three piece suit and wearing a top hat. He was smoking a cigar as two women gently fanned him.
I approached the king, gave a polite bow, and repeated the message I gave the guards. The king was silent for a moment. He took a few puffs on his cigar and eyed us up and down. Finally, he spoke. He said we should not have come, as he suspected we were scouts for a hostile army. He could have us disarmed and killed, but that would surely provoke some kind of retaliation. The safest course of action then, was to keep a few of us prisoners and send the rest back. I said that Lee and myself agree to stay. As a counteroffer, I suggested that two of their men stay with our people while we remained in Jacksonville. That way there was an equal exchange of hostages. The king was intrigued by the suggestion and agreed to it. He gestured to his guards, who led the rest of our men back the way they came. As they left, I shouted to my men that they tell Lord Humungous to accept the exchange of ambassadors. The king was pleased with this sudden change of vocabulary. We may still end up going to war with them, but for the time being, I wanted to preserve the fragile peace.
The king ordered his servants to bring chairs for Lee and me. He said that as long as we answered all his questions truthfully and respected the local customs, we would be treated well and released eventually. He asked us many questions about our settlement, including its size, location, and how we survived there. He also asked about our weapons and how many warriors we had. I told the truth even though he would probably think we were lying. I couldn't think of a good way out of that predicament. He asked us about our background and beliefs. To my surprise and alarm, Lee was truthful about his racial beliefs, but the king was not offended. In fact, he praised Lee for his honesty. I asked if there had been a race war in the area. The king said there had been, and that black people from many areas had fled to Jacksonville to find safety in numbers. He also said there was a lot of lingering hostility and resentment toward whites, and that would be hard to change. Even so, he was hopeful for the future.
I asked about the church decorations. The king said that a disproportionate number of Haitian immigrants survived the collapse, and voodoo was the majority religion now. Ethnic Haitians were the ruling class. This led to a certain amount of pushback from other blacks, but they were put in their place, explained the king as he pointed to a row of skulls off to one side. The black man is different, he said, and requires the firm hand of a strong ruler. Otherwise, there is chaos. Lee nodded in agreement and said for similar reasons, he believed the races should stay separate, though some exchange is good and acceptable. The king wondered aloud how we might trade given the distance involved. There was also the matter of what to trade. In the end, I suggested that if we agree not to make war on each other, that is a good enough result of our relations. I told him about our brief war with El Jefe and his bandits. The king said I won a great victory and asked if I had taken El Jefe's skull. He was pleased that I had and made a totem out of it.
He said that I seemed to be a stronger leader than Lord Humungous and asked why I had not killed or banished him. Here I had to be very careful with my answer. I said sometimes it is better to accept a small defeat to avoid a greater one. Becoming an underling was the lesser of two evils if the alternative was a bloody power struggle. The king sighed and said he'd have a much easier time if only his people were equally sensible. He added that someday I will be forced to either kill Lord Humungous or flee from him. The king said we were like two roosters in a barnyard. In the end, one always kills the other. I asked the king how he dealt with his rivals. He said it's best to kill them, and the sooner the better. But when it is not possible to kill them immediately, you must terrify them so that they are too afraid to act against you. There is a delicate balance. The king also said it is best to eat your defeated enemies in public and invite your closest followers to do the same to test their loyalty. The king laughed when I said I hoped I would not need to follow that advice.
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