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Show Their faces seemed scarcely aged, the mothers seeming ich as I remembered them in my childhood. Lines of disappointment nd suspicion marked my skin, t e l l i n g about war and loss, about rebellion and i s o l a t i o n . The skin of my brothers and sisters was supple, s l i g h t l y blushing against identically-fair hair. They seemed children to me. It ha been said that saints never age, and I thought they must be saints -- these people I had l o s t when I descended to- the balefully human. I wondered if I could build a Jacob's ladder to climb nightly, back to love and s e c u r i t y . Or would I only be saved from my dreams of d e s t r u c t i o n by grace. "I'm c a l l i n g on you t o n i g h t , " my father cried out, "to settle our community up north." Everyone quieted i n s t a n t l y. "We must have enough r e s i d e n t s to qualify for a township immediately, or w e ' l l never be able to get one. The new state constitution being drawn up r i g h t now i s s o c i a l i s t i c , depending almost t o t a l l y in one way or another on the federal government. If we don't e s t a b l i s h our owTgovernment, we won't have an ounce of control over our l i v e s up there. Water, electrical^ power, even roadways will be denied. Our only a l t e r n a t i v e will be subjection to corrupt leaders in Washington." I was i n t e n s e l y i n t e r e s t e d , for my thoughts and dreams , , „ -pn+iiTp The enlarging threatened a s i m i l a r climate for the future. + • Q n v usurp individual respon-of government power would automatically USUI^ s i b i l i t i e s and freedoms. And most Americans were only too ^rro-p^tpd a time when glad to r e l i n q u i s h them. My nightmares suggested A rt-n a vast computer-everyone on the eaarth would be numbered on a va i^ -ho -rpad bv electonic, system - when a l l p r i v a t e information would be read by l d he t a tooed with identifying digits eyes, when each person would be taxo |
