There Is Life

I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.

Anne Frank
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Hello Stuart
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Miguel Figeroa parked his Ford as close as he could to Fairton, or what had been Fairton. Torn apart by a massive tornado followed by an earthquake there was nothing left of Fairton but rubble. smoke, ashes and blood.

Miguel was there to inspect the ruins for the state. Those who had survived had been evacuated to shelters and hospitals. Those who did not were still strewn about or lost under piles of destroyed and collapsed buildings. Looking up Miguel could see the horizon in the distance, thee was nothing left of Fairton to block his view. There was a sharp and suffocating smell, worse than any aroma rising from a dump. And Miguel walked.

He picked his way through the rubbish and broken dreams as best he could, noticing odd things. A children's playground swing lying sideways atop a crushed car, a string of laundry one end still attached to the side of a demolished porch, the other end buried under broken glass and dented cans, a twisted street light which had fallen across a dead dog, a smoldering pile of clothes. Still Miguel walked. He saw what had been a school, caved in and with books and papers filing the spaces around the broken bricks, on a large chunk of wood he saw a welcome sign gently waving in the breeze as if beckoning him, a farmer's supply store had it's roof blown off and revealed burst bags of seed and farm equipment smashed up against each other.

He walked. He came to an almost completely torn down concrete wall. Lying next to it was a Maxwell House coffee can. He picked it up. Inside was a small blue flower. Miguel didn't know what kind of a flower it was but it was holding its small head bravely up to the sun while it's roots were busy drawing their needs from the still damp soil in the can.

Miguel placed the can upright, in the sun, on a part of the wall that was still standing., and walked on.

There is survival. There is a town that will grow again. There is life.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
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