The small mind movie finally quit running in Ira's head, and he rubbed his eyes with relief. "I guess things are pretty balled up okay," he said.
"You look as though you could use some of this coffee yourself," the young man said. "There's a small Red-Cross-deal, set up in the court house. Been there since the start it seems. You know coffee, sandwiches. You oughta take a walk over and get yourself some. Also the paper got dropped off there; of course it's only two pages long."
Ira raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Paper?" He asked.
"Yeah. Pretty strange, huh? The Press Times is just over there," he turned and motioned with one hand at a large building that sat on the same side as the court house about a block away. "There're about seven people over there, and they put out the paper. It struck me as odd, but sort of not also. I mean, it keeps everybody calm sort of. They only been doing a couple of pages, no comic section mind you, but still, it keeps us just a little more sane. If you want a real good idea of what exactly happened, read it. They printed what they could find out anyway, and they been dropping it off at the court house for whoever wants it. In fact, that's where that Frank Morgan guy you were asking about said he was going. Over to the Press that is. If you want to find him..."
"...We've had people coming in the last couple of days from everywhere I guess. You'll find that's pretty much what the Paper's basing their articles on. It seems that Rochester is about the only place with power, and I wouldn't bet that will last for much longer, but who knows? Long as it does, I guess people will keep pouring in."
He sipped at his coffee, and then continued as he looked out the windshield at the large crowd of people. "There has to be a couple thousand people here already," he shook his head slowly as he spoke. "I lost count two days ago. Hey, go get yourself some coffee, what did you say your name was?"
"Ira Pratt," Ira said as he stuck out his hand. "From Seattle, well, used to be I guess. Pleased to meet you."
"Jimmy Johnson," the young cop replied. "Same here. You mean Seattle Washington? You are from the state of Washington?"
"Yup," Ira said. "I been, well... Sort'a living somewhere else for a while, but Seattle's my home, or was."
"Well either way I'm still glad to meet you," Jimmy said as he released his hand. "I guess if there isn't anyone here by tomorrow I'll probably give this job up. Climb out of this car and walk away. What are you going to do, Ira?"
"Well the first thing I'm gonna do is go get some of that coffee, then I guess I'll try to find that guy that come in this morning," Ira said and shrugged his shoulders.
Jimmy nodded his head. "I guess I'll be seeing you, Ira." He paused for a second. "If you come up with a plan, you know, what to do," he waved one hand at the crowd and the buildings outside. "Let me know. I don't want to sit in this car forever." He sighed. "It's pretty much all gone, isn't it?" he looked back at Ira with his tired eyes.
"I ain't sure it's gone so much, Jimmy, as changed a whole lot. I will look you up though. I want to talk to that Frank guy first. Sort'a have to, you see. But, you're right. Sitting in that car ain't gonna bring any of it back, and I don't think anybody's coming to tell us what to do. I do think we gotta make some choices though... God helps those who help themselves, ever hear that saying, Jimmy?" Jimmy nodded his head. "Well, it's a true thing, and we need to start helping ourselves, and not waiting for someone to come along to do it for us. They ain't comin'. You believe in God, Jimmy?"
"I... don't know, Ira. I never used to. I'm kind of afraid to start now. Sort of like I'm only believing because times are really bad, you know? It makes me feel like it would be kind of dishonest," he finished.
"It ain't," Ira said. "I kin understand how you feel about it, but it ain't. That's when we're supposed to call on God, when we need him. Course that probably should be a daily sort'a thing, but hardly anyone ever calls on God unless they need him. To me it's the best time to call on him, and he doesn’t seem to mind much. So I guess what I'm saying is, that it's the believing that's important, not when the believing starts. Boil down yer Bible and you'll see it's so. After that point you just do the best you kin. God never said you wasn't gonna sin, but I can't count the times he said he'd forgive you for it. Give it a try, and see if I'm right, Jimmy."
Jimmy nodded his head. What Ira had said made a lot of sense to him, and, he wondered, if there is no God, what's left to hope for? Aloud he said, "I believe you, Ira, you make a lot of sense. I don't know where else we could go with this life if there was nothing
