As with any triumph in life, time has a way of slowly causing it to become almost irrelevant. The weeks stretched into months. Christmas passed without so much as a nod. Where were they going to travel? It was a pandemic, and all they had were each other.
Ted, Allison, and Lawson continued their potent hunting party. Together they would find ways to provide the necessities of life to the rest of the community. In return, they were able to eat what they needed and not have to search in vain for employment. This left much of the community feeling discouraged, depressed, and jaded. Ted was used to seeing these qualities in himself. It was another matter when it came to other people. What was once the single greatest accomplishment of his life, now became routine. Nobody that he was trying to help really saw the significance in what he was doing for them every day. They seemed content with having no forward motion in their lives at all. After several weeks of not failing, something entirely new for Ted, but also not trying anything at all, Ted became disgruntled. Ted was disgruntled to such a degree that he decided to air his grivences in front of his two trusted friends. Well, Lawson was a friend. Ted was still waiting on Allison to fully commit. Before this author goes down a rabbit trail of complications, we must get back to Ted’s problems.
“So, we’re just supposed to exist here for the rest of our lives?” Ted screaed
“Pretty much.” Allison shrugged, “You’ve only been here for a few months. You haven’t seen anything yet.”
“I go to bed freezing every night.” Ted complained.
“So what? So does everyone.” Lawson deadpanned.
“And everyone is just ok with that?” Ted said, feeling increasingly frustrated.
“What can we do? We’ve pretty much tried everything.” Allison said, feeling equally frustrated. “We’ve done the post about it on social media thing. Protests get met with violence from police. That park bench you were sitting on when I met you was probably the last in the city. The city officials don’t want the homeless to sleep on them. It looks bad. Sure, they’ll let cerial killers lop off the heads of the general public night after night, but it is the sin of sins if someone tries to get some sleep on a bench. There’s nothing we haven’t tried. It’s useless.” Allison said, resigned to their collective fate.
“What if we fool them?” Ted asked.
“Come again?” said Lawson.
“There are thousands of us in this community. If everyone got together and walked with purpose down to the court house. We interrupt whatever case is in session. Due to the sheer number of us, the judge will have to listen.” Ted explained.
“You don’t understand how bossy authoritative people can be!” Exclaimed Lawson.
“Have you tried this before?” Ted asked.
“Well… No.” Allison said.
“I have failed at many things in my life. Since this is something new, I think it’s worth a try. What’s one more sting of rejection at this point?” Ted said.
“When you put it that way, it almost makes sense.” Said Lawson. “How are we going to get everyone else in the community involved?”
“We won’t have to.” Ted said. “We will go to Vernon. He has the ear of the people. He can organize them for us.”
When it appeared that they had a half decent plan put together, the big three headed over to Vernon’s tent. It only took ten minutes to find it this time.
Ted tapped Vernon on the shoulder. “Hey, Vern!” He exclaimed. “Get the rest of the community together. We are all going downtown.
Vernon gasped. Nobody ever interrupted him from his solitaire game, and told him what to do. Today was definitely. a first.
Ted turned on his heel without waiting for Vernon to respond. He immediately got his foot caught in a tent rope, causing him to fall flat on his face. Everything temprarily went black.
While they were waiting for Ted to come around, Allison and Lawson explained Ted’s plan to Vernon.
Then there was a rustling. Ted woke up. “What did I miss?” he asked.
“Our fearless leader has a bloody nose!” Vernon laughed. “You two will have to carry him into the city. Ted is so clumsy and weak!”
“We will if we have to.” Lawson said.
“Get the community ready.” Allison demanded. “We are going downtown. We are going to change our lives.”
Vernon just wanted them to leave so he could play cards again. At this point, he would do anything to attain the peace and quiet he had twenty minutes ago. Complacency aling with an in charge by default attitude had caused him to enjoy tent life. Suddenly, he was put in a situation where he had to do responsible adult things again. He didn’t like being told what to do. After some more prodding, Vernon agreed to play his part. The plan was put into motion.