Posts that include snippets from my upcoming novel, BIG SKY FALLING, are few and far between. What can I say? I like teasing people. But I’ll let you have your next fix to illustrate my latest point about preparing for bad times.
In this excerpt, two of the main characters are playing chess and talking about sending a patrol outside their property for the first time since the world came to an end:
“Manny snickered as he examined his dwindling options for moves. “After a long and cold winter trapped indoors, you’ll be fighting off volunteers with a whip and a chair—that is, until they learn that the catch is that they’ll be led by your stupid ass.” He moved a tan pawn one space forward. “We’ll start simple and make contact with our immediate neighbors to see if they’re still alive. Sorry to say you’ll probably be talking to corpses, hermano.”
Eric took a sip of his increasingly precious coffee. “Don’t care—we’ve been cooped up here for seven months, and I’m going stir crazy. And this is a big house! Can you imagine how people holing up in small homes are dealing with this? If they didn’t think to stock up on games, books, and other diversions, it would be like living in the waiting room of a doctor’s office and its thirty-year-old magazines, multiplied by a million.”
It’s easy when you’re stockpiling supplies to forget that you have to feed your brain as well as your body. You’re setting yourself up for failure if you don’t – especially if you have children.
The Idle Mind is the Devil’s Playground
If you’re going to be hunkering down somewhere safe to ride out whatever is coming at you, you have to have things to keep everyone occupied.
You have to think worst case. Don’t expect that you’re going to have grid power and Disney Plus so that your survival group can watch Marvel and Star Wars movies. Some common-sense items include:
- Books. Remember those? Especially the old-fashioned ones made of paper? Please don’t rely solely on Kindle or other e-readers – you don’t have to plug paperbacks into the wall to recharge them.
- Board games, cards, and items the entire family can play. Make sure you plan for small children – they’re going to be much more into “Candyland” than Texas Hold’ Em poker.
- Coloring books, crossword puzzles, sudoku, and other items to exercise your mind. Of course, you have to make sure you have pens, pencils, crayons, markers, etc.
- Handheld electronic games that can either run on rechargeable batteries or can be recharged with a portable solar panel, like GoalZero.
You get the idea. Your survival plan has to include diversions and other mental health items. Remember – if you’re trapped inside for a month because of a pandemic disease, so are the cable guy and the linemen who keep the power flowing. Do not assume that you’ll be able to rely on the idiot box as a source of comfort.