Assignment: Paint a word picture of Michigan Hist 313

A week before I had told him that I had joined the Army.  He shook my hand firmly and said, “Congratulations! When do you leave? We got time to get on the lake?” I told him that I left in seven days.  Six days had gone by since then and today was the perfect day for it.  We had started early; the sun comes up at around seven in the morning this time of year.  The mist that hung in there air made my shirt cling to my body and allow the mosquitos access to a quick meal.

     “Come on Bob! The bugs are killing me!”

     “You’re leaving for Boot in twenty four hours and your Crying to me about bugs!?”

     “Well A, it’s not “Boot”, you Navy bum and B, I won’t get to complain about it there, now will I?”

     I opened the door of his pickup and slid into the seat, and let Bobby finish with the trailer.  It’s quiet in the country.  I had been staying with Bob for the past week and had gotten used to how quiet it was. When he started the truck I hardly noticed.  The sun had just started to crest the horizon, blinding us as we pulled out of the drive.  The sound of the wheels on the dirt road reminded me of being a teenager.  I had long since moved to the city but my teen driving was on country dirt roads.  As punk teenagers, we would drive at speeds way beyond our abilities, racing side by side down West Road. We would kick dust in the air with the radio blazing, raising all sorts of hell.

     Bobby of course was driving much slower and hanging out the window, like a twelve year old, I took in the cornfields and lush August woods  When I was a kid my dad had a Ford Fairlane 500 and we used to go for Sunday drives, nice and slow just like this.  The deer know they have this last bit of time and the almost flaunt it.  They watch us without fear, as we pass a field.  The ride is bumpy and it seems that Bobby is trying to hit every rut he can find.

     This inland lake was our favorite.  When we had backed up the trailer, I got out and looked at the water. It seemed almost a shame that we had to disturb the perfect surface by launching the boat.  Even though Bobby was in the Navy, you couldn’t tell by his boat.  It was a small little row boat barely big enough for the two of us.  I bout this small always affords opportunity for casting mishaps and I have caught a couple of Bob fish.  Bobby is bigger than me and has trouble sitting at the bow so that’s usual my spot.  This time he climbed right up to the front of the boat.

     “Well? Shove off, sailor.”

     “The Army Bob, I joined the Army.”

     “Well whatever they are all the same, you get to do all the work. Now get rowing.”

     I shoved away from the dock and dropped the oars in the water and pulled us away.  “Fine! Just to let you know, you start singing Anchors Away, I swimming back to shore.”

     We headed toward a spot at the other end of the lake where Bobby had pointed out a few cranes had gathered.  There wasn’t any one on the lake today and the swish that my oars made was the only proof our existence. Even that could be argued because the cranes paid us no mind and share the fishing spot with us.

     “When will you be able to take some leave? Cause I got tickets to the Michigan vs. Ohio State game.” Bob had set up his rig while we rowed out and gave me a cocky smile, knowing that he got his line in the water first.

     “I don’t know Bob, they didn’t really say.  Besides I’m not really sure about this Brady guy.”

     “We’re gonna tailgate before the game.  It will certainly be a party.

     I finally got my line in the water, I like to fish for the smallies.  You tie a Small Mouth Bass, tail to tail with a Trout and that smallie will pull that trout all over this lake.  Bobby he likes to go for the Pike.  Nasty looking fish kind of like a fresh water Barracuda.  The get really big and that’s why Bob likes them.

     “Bob, did you get that ice fishing shanty you were talking about?”

     “Yeah, I figure I’ll bring the kids out, let them ice skate and I’ll fish.”

     “That’s how I learned how to skate.”

 We spent all winter playing pond hockey behind our house.  My dad would light a fire in this fifty five gallon drum and we would skate all night. Just then I felt a strike.  It was only a little Blue Gill and Bobby made a comment about catching bait but, I ignored him.

“Hey, I heard that they are having this big electronic thing in Detroit this spring.” 

“Yeah, I think they are calling it DEMF.  It would figure, we finally get an electric music festival and I go and join the army just in time to miss it.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s the way it goes.”

We spent the next few ours out on the water, talking about all the things I was going to miss.  When the sun got midway in the sky the air become too hot to fish.  We hadn’t caught anything but, that small gill, so we called it a day.

Back at Bobby’s house we sat in lawn chairs under the shade of a large tree, cooler between us.  He pointed out all the projects he had worked over the summer.  I had actually helped him put in the garden and fire pit. As the sun went down Bobby looked over at me raised his bottle and said.

“To a good day on the water.”

“To a good day on the water.” I toasted.

     I left the next day for Ft. Leonard Wood and a year and a half later I was staring at the stars in the Republic of South Korea.  It was the middle of January and I was on guard duty at 04:15.  The army affords you all sorts of chances to ruminate on how miserable you are.  My particular misery this morning was the cold.  It was the coldest winter they had on the peninsula since the Korean War fifty years before. To try and fight off the cold I thought of times I was warm.  I first thought of visiting my grandmother in Florida but, I was only there for brief time and the memory began to fade.  As the cold Russian wind came down from Vladivostok and crept in to my mind it was forced out by this picture of Bobby and I out on the water.  The sun is beating down on us and the locusts humming.  The Russian wind became a gentle cooling breeze on a hot late summer Michigan day.  I smiled looked up at the sky and said.

“To a good day on the water.”

The Table

   

The board they played on was a marble inlay table, they

Made it the year Declan got divorced. It happened in the fall and as winter crept in, Liam watched as Declan looked deep into the abyss. Liam knew that he had to somehow channel Declan’s negativity the same way the army had done for him before they met. Liam had never really been in charge of any one before but, he was good at it. He showed his friend the artistry of wood working and Declan let go of his thoughts and focused on the warmth of the wood instead of the cold in his heart. When the snow melted they sat their effort out in the yard among the tulips and have done so ever since.

“Charlie and Hayden… are the well?” Declan asked as Liam began to set up the board. Then grabbed he grabbed two beers from the cooler, opened them and sat them on opposite of the board.

“Hayden is at university and Charlie… she’s… well you know,

my little girl.” [Move]

Declan smiled and gave a half chuckle. Half because Liam

Knew only three openings and this was his favorite and the other

half because he always liked Charlie. When the children’s

mother died she took it the hardest. Declan understood her loss

and in secrete supported her Bohemian life style, much to the

dismay of her father. Hale had gone on a bit of a quest,

himself, after that spring and now was giving lectures all over

Europe.

[Move]

“I see you brought a red head home with you this time” the

sarcasm was thinly veiled and Declan began to laugh.

[MOVE]

“Yeah, I met Siskia in Leiden…” Declan went on to tell the

story of Siskia

[Move]

The two had met by design if you ask some. Declan and

Kimbo, the wonder dog, where relishing in the sun in the park

after, a long grey Dutch winter when, Kimbo bolted off with the

Frisbee. After 20 min of walking through the park he found the

beast sitting next to her. He walked up and with his boyish smile said.

“gootendag das ist mijn hounda… “

She laughed loudly and whispered something in the dog’s ear. Kimbo looked up and gave a dog smile.

“Bent u zeker hij is van de joue?”

Declan blushed because he had about exhausted his knowledge of the Dutch language.

“Mijn Nederlandse ist neit goot.  Sprect u Engels?”

“Of course!” she replied and laughed again.

Liam loved these stories.  He was always so amazed at how easily Declan could fall in love.  He was also envious of how quickly he falls out of love.  Liam never remarried… he just couldn’t fall out of love.

“Are you going to keep her around?”

[Move]

“I think the question is really… how long will she keep me around?” Declan laughed and the two men raised their bottles toasted and took a long drink.

[Move]

Liam reached into the coolers and pulled out two more beers sat them on the table and then stared intently at the board.  What was Declan doing?  It was hard to play Declan because he had no idea how to play.  Sure he knew how the pieces moved but he had no real strategy.  It was all a mess of rash decisions and random ideas.  It frustrated Liam and every once in a while Declan would win.

[Move]

“That boy of yours? He still playing ball?”

“Yeah!!! He got a full ride @ University… he wants you to come to one of his games while you’re in town.”

[MOVE]

“I would like that.”

Truth be told he would love that.  Declan loved baseball.  His father taught him how to play and it was some of the only time they got along.  It made Declan sad that the family secret, the knuckle ball slider, would die with him.  Then Hayden started showing interest in baseball.  Declan jumped on this buying Liam’s son everything a little leaguer could ask for.  Most fathers would be upset with the intrusion, but Liam knew he didn’t know the first thing about baseball and he could see how happy it made Declan.  So all through little league he was Hayden’s coach.  In Hayden’s final game his senior year, he pitched a know hitter.  No one could tell who was prouder of him Liam or Declan. It was hard for Declan though.  He had always wanted what Liam had… a family.  Sure the kids treated him as an uncle, but it wasn’t the same.  Every time he would go to these family functions he would hurt inside reminded of his own failed attempts at happiness.

The two men sat that whole afternoon telling the same stories they have been telling for the past twenty years until, finally as the sun started to go, down Liam made the final move.

[Move]

“Check mate ole buddy”

“Damn you Liam!!!”

     He knew that his fly by the seat of your pants strategy hardly ever worked on Liam but, he was sure this time he had him.  He stared at the board for a long minute then finished his beer and looked Liam square in the eyes and said:

“Why do we play this stupid game?”

“Because you suck at it.”

The Bus Stop

This guy here, he’s pretty good.  Always gives me something.  Usually good for cigarette. 

            “Hey man can I get a smoke from you?”

            “Sure Sam,  the damn bus is late again.  Damn things always late.  I can see my boss now, just sitting at his desk waiting for me to walk in late.  Son of a bitch has been after me ever since his wife hit on me at the Christmas party.  Finally!!! See ya later Sam”

            Man I’m glad I don’t have those kinda problems.  That guys stomach is always in knots.  I see all sorts of things sitting here.  It’s still prettyearly right now, I try to get here early.  Mostly folks on their way to work.  I get here early.  These white colar types always buy a coffee and a paper on their way to work and I can just hear that change jingleing in their pockets. 

            I’ll work for it, sing em a song.  I used to be a huge rockstar.  I played with all the big names.  Hopefully I can get enough by ten so I can get a forty and a pack of smokes when the corner store opens.  Every once in a while, on a good day, I can make thirty bucks before the kick me out of this spot.  Here comes Meridith, she’s a sweet old lady.

            “Did you eat today Sam?”

            “No mam, I did not but, I’ll sing you a song for a dollar.”

            “Ok then Sam let’s hear it.”

There is a girl

Sitting at a bus station

Her dark hair in braids

She’s getting on her bus

I didn’t even smile

            “Well that was just lovely Sam, here ya go.”

            Cool she gave me a five.  I must remind her of her kid or something.  Almost there man.  We just need two dollars.  Some guys hustle a little more than I do.  They tell some lame story about how they are stranded.  To me that just bring s the heat.  These people don’t want deal with us.  They want to drop and forget all about it.  I figure the less I intrude into their little bubble the more likely they are to give up the change.

            Shit man here they come.  Come on kid let’s move, security can be real assholes.  It’s cool, the store about to open any we can just get a thing of rollies instead of real smokes.  There, that way, across the parking lot.

Chapter one

“Look, It’s going to be 10,000 or nothing... It’s your choice.

Cornelius eased back in his chair and looked at the fifteen or sow kilos sitting on the table in front of him.  It was pretty good quality, but considering all he had to do to get here, the price was a little insulting.

“Seems a bit high.  What’s to stop me from wasting you and your little sister here and just taking the whole damn thing?”  As Cornelius said as the thug of a body guard growled at him.  You don’t bring a guy that big unless your trying to make a statement.  Cornelius knew this a postured accordingly. 

“I do appreciate that sharp wit of yours...Careful you don’t cut yourself.”  The smaller man said from behind his thick dark glasses.

Cornelius smiled and slowly leaned forward and picked up one of the baggies and held it in his hand as if he was weighing it.  It wasn’t a bad deal and with this last score he would be done.  He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a large stack of bill and tossed them on the table. 

“cash ok”

The man nodded and Cornelius started shuffling the baggies into his duffel.  He stood up slowly and stared into the mans eyes.  This was always the worst part.  There wasn’t anything stopping this man from shooting Cornelius in the back as soon as he turned, except for the honor among thieves.  He stared long and hard, then turned his back and walked away.

“James!” Cornelius called out as he boarded the ship.

The ship came to life and responded, “Yes sir.”

“Get me off this freaking rock!”

“home sir?”

“Sure what ever that mean.”

“I don’t understand sir.”

“Forget it...yeah home sweet moon.”

    Cornelius sat in the captain's chair and prepared the pre-flight checks.

    “I’ll tell you what James.”

    “what’s that sir?”

There are no shortages of shit holes in this system.”

“You’ve made your disdain for mars and the Martian people quite clear sir, but considering that this is your last run, have you decided what you are going to do now?”

“You know James... I’m sick of all these seedy colonies.  They’re all metal and artificial.  Nope... Now my brother has a claim out on the frontier.  Clean air and real dirt.  I’ve never seen real dirt.”

“Nor I sir.”

*************************************

Cornelius threw the duffel on the bosses table.  The boss reached into the bag and pulled out one of the baggies, opened it, poured a small pile of the powder on the table and began cutting up two lines.

“So this is it huh?” he snorted one and offered the other to Cornelius.

“No thanks.”

“You’re an odd sort of boyscout aren’t you? I mean for ten years now you’ve been running this stuff for me and yet I’ve seen you take so much as a bump.”

“I tried it once, never really understood the appeal but, I’m not going to quit being a drug dealer to work in the mines.  What I do find apealing is the money you owe me.”

“Of course...Al business Cornelius.”

“I’m in a bit of a rush, my transport leaves in twenty minutes.”

The boss reached in his desk and pulled out a thick envelope and waved it at Cornelius.

“Sure I can’t get you to stay?  We made a lot of money together.  It’s hard out there on the frontier.  Those people are crazy.  Why would any one leave the luxury of technology to live out there like savages?”

Finally, the boss tossed him the envelope. Cornelius snatched it out of the air, turned his back and walked away.

Hale's Tribe

 Hale Gordon had originally cursed his luck, when he was reassigned to a remote Midwest missile silo, but the Air Force knew best.  He sat day after day alone watching the news.  The smiling faces on the LCD screen where his only connection to the outside world.  Better for it, Hail thought, as the world slowly crumbled under the weight of the new flu epidemic.  Day be day the world crumbled on his TV screen, inching ever closer to man’s natural state of nature.  John Locke wrote of this “State of Nature” saying it would be “… a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions, as they see fit…” This is not what happened.  One day the broadcasts stopped and man turn on himself.  The world had turned in to exactly what Hobbes had predicted.  The world had become a pit of despair.

     Soon, Hale noticed them.  One or two at first but, then they arrived in droves.  They just camped themselves at the front of the compound.  Hale did nothing at first, in hopes that they would go away.  They did not and Hale realized he had to go out and deal with this problem.  They looked fairly harmless, dressed in rags and carrying with them what looked to be all their belongings, but Hale grabbed his pistol and headed to the gate.

     When Hale reached the front gate the crowd, which now numbered in the hundreds, all started shouting at once.  They were cries for help, food, water and Hale was over whelmed.  He pulled out his pistol and raised it high.  He let one round fly and the crowd was silent.  He picked one man, who looked half way intelligible and asked him why they where here.  The man told them that they saw they saw the flag and knew they would find help.  Hale cursed himself for forgetting to take that thing down. 

     Hale knew that this problem was not going to go away, he had to do something.  All of these people need him.  He agreed to let them stay, but he had three laws.

Everyone works.

If you leave you cannot return.

I have final say on all matters.                                                                                                                      

     Karl Marx wrote “…bourgeois society ought long ago to have gone to the dogs through sheer idleness; for those of its members who work acquire nothing, and those who acquire anything, do not work.”  Hale was going to make sure this did not happen.  All of these people need to be busy; Hale knew from the military that idle hands can be dangerous.  He set to dividing up the labor.  He surveyed all of them and separated them into four groups: farmers, engineers, educators, and useless.  The first three groups where essential for Hale’s world to work but, the last group he had known idea what to do with.  Bankers, CEOs, and politicians were all useless to him.  They had no monetary system; he was the politician and CEO of this land.  So he gave them a choice.  Start over with out favor or leave.   Most of them choose the later.

     Hale feared money, it had never done him much good.  He made sure that the results of all the labor where shared freely.  In Utopia Moore writes, “…that as long as there is any property, and while money is the standard of all other things, I can not think that a nation can be governed either justly or happily.”  Hale thought the same way and made borrowing, lending, and selling a crime.

     Even though Hale hated money he valued work.  Those that refused to work or poorly went about their duties were ejected from the compound.  Those that worked well were praised at weekly dinners.  The system worked well, all the people worked and they all enjoyed the fruit of their labors.  Hale never took more than any one else and lived with the people as one of them.

     Every one was free to do as the pleased so long as what they pleased would be ok if every one did it.  Politeness was the norm.  If one wanted to do something all he would have to do is ask the people around him if it was ok.  If they agreed they brought it to Hale weighed the issue, personal good vs. over all good and made a ruling.  He hoped by doing this the interest of the individual, the group, and the people would be protected.    The system was not perfect and sometimes crimes would happen.  No man was allowed to punish another man with out Hale ruling on it.  When Hale ruled the offended was the one to punish the offender.  The punishments ranged from public humiliation or banishment.  There was no death penalty, that is to say certain death.  A person could make it alone in the Bad Lands, but it wasn’t likely.

     Even though Hale was formerly in a military he feared a standing army.  He had seen in the past how standing armies could be raised under the guise of protection and used for aggression.  This was not the attitude he wanted his colony to have.  A standing army needs war to exist.  With out a conflict leaders create one often for no other reason than, they have the means to do so.  Hale did not want this temptation.  He favored a volunteer force that rotated ever year.  Well enough trained to defend themselves, but ignorant of how to advance.  They trained once a month.  Fighting was important, but not the reason for existence.  Hale headed the words of Thomas Moore, “For most princess apply themselves more to the affairs of war…they are generally more set on acquiring new kingdoms, right or wrong.”, and could not see any point in acquiring new land.  I don’t even own the land I have now, Hale thought.

     Hale’s little community flourished year after year.  The citizens took pride and responsibility in the actions.  They had children only when the elders passed.  This kept the society at the right size and discouraged surplus and want.  People lived together and shared each others life as a large extended family, with Hale as the patriarch.  Man unfortunately fades and Hale knew that eventually he would no longer be there for his people.  The problem that plagued him was how to choose the next leader.  He had known that long before him rulers left land to their children but, this was not his land to give.  If he where to choose some one, they may not be respected as he was and perhaps had done a favor for his position.  He could also let the people decide who would lead but, he had dealt with these people and he saw how they arrived, a mob of separate opinions and ideas, they could never agree on a leader.  If this mob was able to agree on a leader would he look out for every one or just the people that elected him?  John Locke wrote “Persons who have the Power of making Laws, to have also in their hands the power to execute them, whereby they may exempt themselves from Obedience to the Laws they make, and suit the Law, both in its making and execution, to their own private advantage, and thereby come to have a distinct interest from the rest of the Community”, this was a real threat to the Utopia that Hale had created. 

     Hale decided that the best way to choose a new ruler was to let the people select the applicants.  He let each of the guilds he had created choose one from among them.  Each one of them would hold an equal part of leading the tribe.  Hale thought that this was the best way to ensure that no one man could change his vision.  If all three leaders decided it was to change then the people on a whole would be represented.  The positions were for life.  This was to ensure that if change was to come it would be slow and methodical.

     Hale was satisfied with the way things had turned out.  He felt this way would work.  The last night of his life there was a huge party.  Hale was honored and gave a brilliant speech.  At the end of his speech he gave an insight to how he felt his legacy should be remembered.  He quoted Thoreau “The government is best which governs not at all; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.”  He closed by telling them they were prepared for such a government.

     It was a sad affair when Hale died.  His people mourned him deeply.  They buried him at the front gate, wrapped in the flag he had forgotten to take down.