Cold as Thunder by Jerry Apps

Author:Jerry Apps [Apps, Jerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780299315986
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press

Twenty

Liz Carall nodded at John Owens. “Taken care of,” said John, indicating he had disabled the Social Responsibility bug.

Despite the glorious July weather, nearly the entire membership of the Crystal River Oldsters was in the room. “First, I have some personal news,” Liz said, smiling. “Andy, would you come up here?” She beckoned to Andy Schmidt, who was seated a few feet away. Andy was smiling as he walked to the podium where Liz stood.

Liz took his hand. “Andy and I were married last week. Pastor Larry did the honors.” After a moment of surprised silence, everyone jumped to their feet and clapped loudly.

“Congratulations,” said Emily. “I’m so pleased for both of you.”

“Sorry for keeping it so quiet. We didn’t want the OSR to know—the less they know about us the better,” said Liz. “And now, back to business,” she said as Andy returned to his seat still smiling.

“I have some other news, but first, does anyone else have news that we should know about since we last met?” Liz asked.

“I met a fellow yesterday,” began Emily. “He stopped by the kiosk. His name is Joe Vogel. Said he just retired and moved here from Chicago. Seemed like a heck of a nice guy, maybe a potential Oldster member.”

“Can you follow up?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” said Emily. “Other than that, Eagle memorabilia sales are going wonderfully well. People keep buying this stuff. Believe me, I don’t know why. But I keep selling it because I know what we earn goes to a good cause.”

“Well, my news is much worse,” said Liz. “For those of you who may not have heard, Onthaway Academy is no more.” Several members were shaking their heads in confusion and shock. Obviously the word had not gotten to everyone. Even with their coded message system, it was difficult to keep everyone informed. Several members, even though they were required to have their SPED communication devices with them at all times, occasionally forgot to turn them on, or to keep them in bright light long enough so their solar batteries would remain charged.

“Lightning struck the main building while we were there, and it burned to the ground. At least that was the official take on what happened. To make things worse, the word is the Canadian government has become squeamish about the whole idea of the academy and its purpose. Apparently they don’t want to create any more waves with their neighbor to the south than they already have, so they don’t plan to rebuild.”

“So what are we going to do?” asked Emily. “Onthaway has been the single most important way to train our Oldster Associates.”

“The academy has done an excellent job,” Liz agreed. “But the results haven’t been that good, I’m sorry to say. Our educational system has changed very little. An Oldster Associate teacher or two in a school just isn’t enough to make a difference. Everything that every teacher does is watched by the OSR people. Our Oldster Associates try to do

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.