Chapter 2-continued, part 3

"Memories of the past hundred years"
June 29, 2059

Isaiah 1:23 Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them.

PRAISE BE TO GOD!

I just got a telegram from 'Texas Department of Census' that my granddaughter, Sarah, is still alive!!!! ---I'm so incredibly happy! You have no idea what a huge, black hole fills a person's heart when you lose contact with your family!!! As I wrote before, my grandson Seth, returned to my life after the Dark Years but all my other children and grandchildren had disappeared---dropped off the face of the Earth for all I knew.

Sarah is the oldest child of my youngest daughter, Mary. Sarah and her family were living in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma when the first nuclear terrorist strike hit Washington, DC. Her parents were called up in the first wave of the mandatory draft and disappeared from contact. The last I heard was that she and her siblings were relocated into a government care center somewhere in Texas. That's all the information I've had these past fifty years........the memories of not knowing what happened to them and not being able to help them in any way are still sooooooooo painful! It was such an overwhelming feeling of darkness, dispair and sheer helplessness!

Now that telegraph service has been opened up to private messages, questions on 'missing persons' have totally overwhelmed the wires and the services trying to help relocate all the millions of displaced persons. I put in my request for information over 3 years ago. After all this time, I had given up hope of ever hearing about any of my family again. "Praise God!"

Sarah was five years old at the time of the Great Crash which means that she would be an old woman of fifty-five right now. There was no information as to her address or any personal information on her life. For now, it's just so wonderful to know that she survived!!!!!!!!!

I'll write about Seth's life and about my great-grandchildren in a future chapter. As for right now, my great-great grandchildren all pestering me for attention. Seems that I've become the family's built in babysitter, story teller and teacher--loving that role!

I'm back........

The old 'United States of America', for all practical purposes, ceased to exist after the collapse of the dollar. With deliveries of food and fuel greatly disrupted, most areas dissolved into riots, looting and then anarchy. When Marshal Law was declared in an effort to suppress the lawlessness, our old Constitutional form of government dissolved as well. The Dakotas became the 23rd Military District with its headquarters at the Minot Airforce Base. This military district was made up of the prairie region of Montana east of the Rockies, both Dakotas and the prairie region of eastern Wyoming. The military government was especially interested in controlling this area because of its wealth of coal, oil, food production and electrical generating capacities!!

Our new Dakota Territory grew out of this military district. After the Dark Years, civilian rule was allowed to return to Bismarck as capital of the newly declared 'Dakota Territory'. General William McDonald, Supreme Commander of the 23rd Military District needs to be praised for relinquishing his dictatorial control!!! His name needs to be placed beside George Washington in honor of his leadership in forming the civilian government of 'Dakota Territory' which was modeled after our original U.S. Constitution.

Outside of Dakota Territory, the Federation of the Central Plains, the Sovereign Nation of Texas and a loose federation of communities in the Pacific Northwest and along Lake Superior, all the rest of this country dissolved with the anarchy and chaos as far as I know. These three regions govern themselves but there is a push to reunite in a new 'United States' in response to the potential for foreign invasion across the Rockies.

It sounds like some areas along the Pacific coast from Alaska thru Mexico are occupied by either the Japanese to the north and the Chinese to the south. After the collapse of the dollar, China, Japan and many other countries were left holding trillions of worthless American dollars, Treasury Bills and other worthless paper promises. In their anger, they joined forces in an attempt to recoup their losses. India, Russia, many oil rich countries, South Korea and even Brazil joined in a coalition to attempt to regain their losses.

First, they froze all American assets within their countries. Then after observing the loss of global power projection by the U.S., China invaded Taiwan and Japan seized Guam, Saipan and eventually reoccupied many of the Pacific Islands in a replay of their power projection World War II. After the outbreak of the Mid-East War, the terrorist attacks on U.S. cities and the collapse of the U.S. central government, Japan made claim to a number of coastal territories in Alaska and China claimed several coastal areas from Seattle to the Baja Penincula as payment for U.S. debts owed---but I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll write more about this in another chapter.....

For all I know, it sounds like the Chinese don't venture too far inland after suffering substantial losses each time they attempted to send scouting parties across the mountain passes. Between the destruction of most key bridges by local militias after the crash and the existance of well armed and extremely hostile bands of mountain peoples protecting their territories, the Chinese can only venture into these mountain areas in considerable force. You have to remember that few military machines function due to the lack of transportation fuels. Seems that they are content to stay close to their boats and supply ships and focus on pillaging the remaining fishing grounds and develop the agricultural areas near their settlements. But that sounds like it is in the process of changing as these peoples are in great need for more productive farmland---that's a subject of another chapter.

I'll write more when I can, God willing!