I read the notice. “Why aren’t the dates filled in?” I asked.

“This is a standard form,” the young lady said. “There are condemnation proceedings in progress among several different apartment blocks in the area. The dates are not all the same. If we leave out the dates we can print boilerplate. That saves money. We are always conscious about saving tax payer money.”

“Oh.” I said. “I suppose I would expect something like that. I notice that the telephone number isn’t filled in either.”

“Do you have a phone?” the lady asked, she was visibly put-off by the remark that I would expect no less. No less what? She was hurt that I didn’t respect her.

“No I don’t actually.” I lied. She certainly wasn’t getting MY phone number. “The deposit was too large.”

“Well there you have it,” she said, “please sign here.”

She indicated a signature block.

I stared at her for a moment. There I have what?” I asked.

“Yes. I’m so glad that you understand. You would not believe how hard it is to get simple facts across to some people,” she replied. “Please sign. There are other people I need to speak to.”

I once again hesitated. “No. I don’t think I will. If you are going to rip my residence from beneath me you don’t have my blessings.”

“Oh it’s not like that at all.” She stuttered. “The good of the many must take precedence over the needs of the few. Surely you must see that?”

“Don’t call me Shirley. What do the needs of the many intend to do with this land?” I asked.

“An Ostrich race track will be built. It will bring in a lot of tax revenue. Everyone will benefit.” She said.

“Ostriches?” I asked

“It’s the latest thing,” the young lady said. “We are assured by the developers that it will be wildly popular.”

“I’ve never heard of Ostrich racing.” I said in astonishment.

“Oh, we will be the first” she said. “Isn’t that exciting?”

“Where will I live?” I asked her. “All the low cost housing is being demolished.”

She just blinked at him, unable to process the question. I waited for her to answer. When it become apparent that she could not or would not I turned away and climbed the stairs.

“What do you think? Was she legit?” I asked Elvira as we topped the stairs.

“I have no doubt.” Elvira said. “No one could be that stupid who didn’t work for the government. Time to move out.”

“I was hoping that you would say that.” I replied. “I’ve just been looking for an excuse.”

On the weekend before the eviction date, I moved. Pretty much all I had to move were books and a few clothes, there were only a few other items. Everything was packed into the pill-bug carts. That was the name that Chad, the young vet, had called them when he had purchased several. Chad had said that they resembled pill-bugs with small baskets on their backs. The name had stuck. I had since discovered the ssmoke. I didn’t bother with legs or wheels any longer, everything floated on the ssmoke. Me and a swarm of pill-bugs drifted silently along the sidewalks and alleys at a fast walking speed. Elvira flew high guard.

If any of the surviving gang-bangers saw the move they did not interfere. I was not molested. Unknown to me at the time the Dragon Lady was looking out for me. She, in the persona of the Ryujin had ordered her minions to make grisly examples of those survivors who’d not ‘got the memo.” Her minions, some called them Ogres, seemed to enjoy their work. Word got around and the survivors were more diligent. They escorted me unseen and made damn sure that I wasn’t bothered. I knew that becasuse Elvira saw them. I arrived at my shop without hindrance.

“That should do it, for now.” I said. The move-in was complete. I’d conjured ssmoke bookshelves almost instantly, along with anything else that I wanted. Oddly enough I was discovering that I needed less and less asI became more and more used to the smoke. Unfortunately that didn’t apply to books. I had ebooks by the thousand but they didn’t weren’t the same as the real thing. Not to me, not then. An area behind my shop resembled a small library. Not so small actually.

While I was “out back” of my workshop later that day I noticed activity in other parts of the huge old factory building. Elvira went to look.

“Guess what,” she said when she came back.

“Yup, I know,” I said. Of course I did. I’d been watching through her eyes when she made the surveillance flight. It made sense actually. I’d never considered myself to be especially bright so it should be no surprise to me that others had come up with the same idea that I had.

The old building had other displaced people in it now.

To Be Continued

I hope you are enjoying this
Yarn

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Perhaps you might also enjoy
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that I have written.
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That's my Blog
in which I pontificate on Technology,
Philosophy, Religion,Politics, Economics
and occasionally
ShantyBoats
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In my Blog I write about,
and hopefully engage my readers in discussions about,
the possible lifestyles that we will encounter after
TEOTWAWKI happens.
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It WILL happen, one way or another,
probably something in between.
One thing is for sure and for certain though,
the world will NOT remain the same.
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So Come on Down!
Sit a spell.
I got the Coffee on.

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The Hobo Picture is a Public Domain image from
Samantha at the Worlds Fair
by Josiah Allen's Wife (Marietta Holley)
Illustrated by
Baron C. De Grimm published by
Funk and Wagnall's Company 1893
Unless noted
All other Illustrations are from
Pixabay

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