October 2020…
Five months after my arrival, I was pretty much settled. I even had a few vegetables growing in a little patch behind the house, not enough to get me through the winter, but I could get the rest of what I needed when I went to town. I had done a lot of work, tidying up around the place, even made repairs to the little metal shed in back where I now kept my new lawn mower and trimmer That had been a new experience, since I had never needed such things before. Paint was needed on the inside, but I would deal with that during the winter months.
There had been one death since my arrival – not thought to be pandemic related. A 90-year-old man had suffered a heart attack and died in hospital several days later. I knew everyone in the village now and would often stop for a chat on my daily walks. One in particular – Bernie Small – had told me many stories about this place. His cottage had been a retirement home for several generations of his family. When he was a boy he spent time here with his grandparents every summer and loved to hear his grandfather tell the old stories.
I had recorded every story Bernie told me, and those of other people I talked with as well. I had also researched the village on the Internet, but there wasn’t much available. I mentioned that to Bernie one day and he told me to talk to Mrs. Wright. She had worked in the City Archives, sorting and cataloguing historical information about the entire area before she retired and moved here.
Mrs. Wright turned out to be the answer to my prayer, the inspiration I needed to bring a half-formed idea into being. She had a large collection of binders, filled with copies of every story and article she had collected during her years with the Archives, sorted and labelled by community. She had thought about writing community histories, but soon realized that writing was not her thing. Gardening, knitting and quilting took up her time. So she gave me the entire collection.
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May 2039…
She is gone and I am now the last – and only – resident left in Second Eden. Should I remain here… or is it time to leave and take my chances like the rest of humanity?
There have been many changes in the past twenty years. Slowly, most of the other residents have succumbed to the latest mutations of the pandemic virus that have plagued the world periodically since the first one. Each death has felt like another part of the village itself has died. Almost as if the village was being wiped from the face of the earth, one person at a time.
