Population: One, Me by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

My world

I now explore my area. I hike for months but always find my way back to home. Most fuel for my van has lost its properties and won’t combust. I tried deasil but that was a chore to me, so I started to walk. It was better for me because now I can stop and enjoy what I am doing.

What I am doing! That is something that I read about in an old book in a deserted library. A children’s book that I read as a child, caught my eye and I read it again, Jonny Appleseed. A tale about a man who walked the country and planted apple seeds.

On a whim, where I found fruit trees, I saved the seeds from those I ate. Now I have enough of the various seeds to be able to just hike and each day, at intervals that suit my mood, I plant seeds. I will sometimes go weeks before I turn to return home.

Now when I go to walk, for some reason, there are always fruit trees in the early stages of growth. It still will be many years before they produce but I can wait. After all, I have nowhere to go and all the time to get there.

Feeling the need to record what has happened, I now have a small solar panel on my backpack and it charges my laptop. I don’t know why, but I feel that it will be something that I will need in the future. Maybe because it will be a reminder to me of what is happening.

On my hikes, I have saved a house in every few days walk. That way I have a place that will be a roof over my head in bad weather.

For the first few years, it seems that this world enjoyed being free again. Like a good long shower after a hard day’s work, it feels relaxing. That is what the world is doing right now. The torrents of rain in the warm weather and the snow in the winter made me keep those houses to get out of the weather. It has now been five years and the weather seems to be settling down.

The wild life has now almost returned to its previous levels and may exceed those levels. The population took a lot of the domesticated animals but not all. Those cattle, pigs and chickens that were left now roam free. I am able to catch what I need.

Old ways are reborn. Drying, canning and smoking meats. Root cellars and such for storing. Gone are the fast junk foods that caused problems but now, the luxury of a rare steak is gone. I do not know if those bred out parasites or pathogens’ have returned.

In my travels, I do see the outdoor pets that have now gone feral. In a lot of the still sanding houses that I have not destroyed, I gave up on that grand idea, I find the remains of those poor pets that their owners just walked out and closed them in like they were going to return shortly.

On the ship, they were not allowed so the pet owners that were caring did leave doors open.

I wonder if they made it.