One person picked up the garbage while another started a cooking fire.  Position after position had been eliminated and the (i)areas of concern(i) were becoming more like Swiss cheese than (i)what it used to be(i). 

     It was around sunset each day that people made way to the camp.  Most brought a (i)feeding bowl or food bowl(i) if they were feeling down or bitter, but some chose to go the opposite way with their language.  "Time for high tea," and "Break out the china, supper's almost ready."  The food would be what people had found salvagable, been given, or the last of...."Eat it or die." 

     "As long as I don't die by eating it!!" 

     Most people had been sticking "together", loosely.  Not like a family or a band of a tribe, but in a caring way.  There'd been (i)blow outs(i) like, "How many times do I have to tell y'all...." 

     "But you're NOT IN CHARGE!!!!"  And, moments of falling apart.  But survival forces the hand and people get through whatever comes up. 

     There hadn't been any food for a few days when one of the guys brought up hunting.  This brought up an ethical debate about licenses and "illegal" and brought more and more people to not-reveal too much about their "past lives" but, pull from their toolboxes of experience and knowledge. 

     "That was how I started writing," a person said.  "Made my books better." 

     "We pooled our resources to start our own." 

     "It came and went fast, our youth." 

     "Don't really keep in touch much." 

     "I have some.  But I have an idea, then forget it."  Someone gave the person pens and a little notebook. 

     Over time the fireside chats brought news and information, gossip and laughs.

     Then everything started to get going again, the economy settled into (i)here(i), (i)doing it(i).  Possibilities became more realistic as different fields focused on priorities and longer term goals.  Some people had paid attention to what they'd witnessed and felt and experienced.  Some refused to "get back in the game" 

     "But...."