Small Town Survival -Epilogue

Epilogue:

From the journal of Samantha Cooper Flannery:

“Well, I hope the story of that fateful time reaches the eyes and ears of future generations. I ended up marrying Matthew Flannery, son of Patrick and he is a most wonderful husband and father to our five kids.

The kids from St. Jude’s all are healthy now. How can one not get healthy with Momma Sue looking after you? She stuffed them with Essaic Tea and many other herbs and concoctions. Boy did she have many go a rounds with Dr. Rutherford. But of course in the end, Momma Sue won a new admirer and between the two of them, they managed to educate many in the healing arts. As a matter of fact, healing is learned by all here. Although Momma Sue has since passed away, she sure managed to cram her knowledge into all of our heads, so now we each carry her in our hearts and minds always.

All of us kids grew up in a wild and dangerous time. We had many problems to tackle. But as a community, we tackled them. We had some losses and we had some troublemakers and yep FEMA did come but didn’t find much. Granny Gibbs managed to put about another half dozen bad people in their graves before she fell asleep in death.

It was an EMP that hit the world that day. It seems that Korea was to blame and since China and Russia didn’t have a clue what was going on, they set off all their missiles.

Many of our major cities were hit, why Memphis wasn’t; I don’t know but I am thankful since that is where my Matthew was. The US government managed to set off all of our missiles also and let’s just say that in another couple hundred years, we may just get to rediscover the east.

About a year later, a real bad flu swept the country. Thanks to our isolation, we managed to escape it. Our friends in Payneway also faired well.

The signals off of the cell towers are still used today, even though Payneway now has two doctors of their own. Mostly they are now used to signal for gatherings and good times.

Daniel, the young boy who managed to hook himself to Doc; well he was and is a real sweetie. He began talking about one month after Doc brought him home and has not shut up since! He also ended up marrying my name sake; Abigail, who I’ll talk a bit about in a moment.

Things are quite different now. Oh yes, we are still the United States of America, but I like to think we are a better country. We now once again value the good things like dignity, honor, and integrity. We value each person for their strengths and help all to over come any weaknesses. No we are not a perfect country, but with the help of our Creator, maybe someday we will get pretty close. There is a lot less greed in the world now. People are more content with the basics and good company. Children are once again considered a great blessing and we have lots of kids running around town now a days.

Our little community has grown to a whopping 1500+ and we all help each other out with the planting and harvesting. We still tend to keep to ourselves for the most part.

We have a school again, although not like any government school there ever was. We teach courses that allow the kids to live in this new world we find ourselves. Much learning is done at home from the parents and everyone is welcome at school. The rule is “you’re never too old to learn something new” and we all take it seriously.

Every so often one of us will go out into the world and come back with new stories to tell, new books to share, and usually a bride or groom. But we all come home. Even Miss Gracie came home. See a couple of months after my mom and dad got home from Memphis; our house was struck by lightening and burnt to the ground. Miss Gracie gave us her home to live in and she went to Colorado to check on her sisters. She packed her a few things on her bike, and gave us everything else she had, including the kids! We sure missed her. She was gone for two years! During that time I got a new baby brother, Randal Gavin Cooper, Randy for short.

Back to my namesake: the baby girls that Miss Gracie helped Mrs. Montgomery deliver were named: Victoria Grace and Abigail Samantha. Would you believe they ended up having two more boys after that? Lord, bless them!

Maggie and Tucker took in four of the kids from St. Jude’s and even managed to have four more of their own!

Brooke raised JJ and JP and after just a year, they sent her back to Memphis to find herself a husband! She agreed to go and wouldn’t you know it, she came back with a really neat guy that was just as awesome at martial arts as Brooke was! They were a perfect match and JJ and JP welcomed a new baby brother shortly after Brooke married Lance.

Did I mention that Gracie came back with a husband also? Well, I’ll mention it now. She found this guy in Colorado, seems he is ‘Rony’s husband’s brother. And since Kevin has come into Miss Gracie’s life, she is even more content and happy than I’ve ever seen her. They had a brood of kids of their own, seven to be exact. The youngest was named Sammie Sue…..I guess that means I have two namesakes.

We all are older, wiser, and happier now. A new generation of kids roam freely and unafraid through out our community. And they are welcome at every home. Life is sweet and life is good. Life is worth living.

Now I’m going to close this journal, mostly because I hear many of my grandkids hollering for me. I wish all happiness and peace.

Sincerely, respectfully, and peacefully
“Sammie”