Marci: Politics
Ashurn went out looking for food to keep the people in town peaceful. They seemed to have calmed down for a little bit once they had moved out of the shelters and began squatting in the various buildings in town. Unfortunately cabin fever was not the only problem they had.

A couple was killed today in the street because they had been caught last night stealing from the cache of food Ashurn had brought back the day before. The food was supposed to be free but apparently they took almost all of it back to hide for themselves. I could understand better if they were shot to keep them out or shot by guards watching the food. Killing them today after we had all night to think about it seems a bit Stalinistic to me. A bit like the behavior of rats.

This seems to be sinking in gradually in the community. People are beginning to seem to begrudgingly realize they were a little out of line, unless they are one of the extremists. About a quarter of the community in town seems hell-bent on turning life into some kind of dog eat dog hardship, but most people seem to want to try and keep things present. The divide is growing gradually deeper and I worry for the future.

On a lighter note people seemed excited to see me again after I was the only person injured in defending the food. I've lightened up on the painkillers and only use one crutch now, but I'm getting sick of the limited mobility, especially in a place like this. I hope Ashurn finds that station wagon he was hoping to find so he can haul more food off from his finds.

Since it's so breezy here I've started building a wind powered machine to churn Ashurn's butter out of Abel's milk. Basically it's a large aluminum propeller blade driven by the wind operating a piston made out of a broom handle, moving a potato masher up and down in a bucket of milk all night. The only part I haven't worked out is how to lubricate the turbine so it's easier for the wind to turn; I think I'll make a graphite powder out of crushed pencil lead.

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