"Today Was the Day" from A Mysterious Evening in Vienna
Today was the day. For 37 years the Cedrians had been living in fear – in hiding – preparing for the day that the soldiers would find them. Escape procedures had been planned in detail, years and years in advance. In advance of today. When the army would finish eliminating them.
37 years ago, a new governor-general was nominated to lead the province. Every day that he was in power he encroached further and further on the Cedrians. They were a minority group making up 25% of the population. Then, suddenly, plague struck. Panic ensued. To unite the people and find a common enemy, the governor-general declared all Cedrians to be outlaws. They were the scapegoats. Was the governor-general aware that the Cedrians had nothing to do with causing the plague? Was he cruelly – and unjustly – blaming this powerless minority to find a scapegoat and bolster his support by uniting the people against an enemy – even if it is a made-up enemy?
Or was he just not connected enough to this soft-spoken minority group – so small that you would never even notice them. If every single Cedrian wrote a letter to their representatives at the Provincial Assembly, the letters would be unopened because there were so few of them compared to all the other mail received on a daily basis.
So was the governor-general cruel and destructive? Or was he uninformed – both about his subjects and about the fundamentals of epidemiology?
To be honest, it doesn’t matter. He still did what he did. Even if we want to delve into his head and study the decision-making of his psychology, psychology is the study of behavior, not intentions. Whether he was cruelly wanting to hurt the Cedrians or whether he just was such a stupid politician that he sincerely thought the Cedrians had brought on the plague – either way he did the same thing. And what he did was start a genocide.
The Cedrians lost their citizenship. Police were replaced with heavily-armed soldiers from the army trained to gun down men, women and children identified as belonging to the Cedrian ethnicity. More humanity was killed by the purge than ever was by the plague. The Provincial Assembly re-elected the governor-general – partly because he had united the province on this witch hunt, bolstering his power. And partly out of fear. Because anyone who speaks up – any assemblyman who does not whole-heartedly endorse the governor-general’s re-election – is a traitor, an enemy, and will probably end up massacred as mercilessly as the Cedrians.
And then it ended. The victims were purged. The massacre accomplished what it wanted to. And for 37 years nobody ever heard about the Cedrians. Except the Cedrians themselves. A group of them had survived and went into hiding, vowing never to be seen publicly again. The minority that was 25% of the population is now 2% of the population. Although the census officially says 0%. The governor-general needs to be able to say that he successfully eliminated the Cedrians. And the people all thought their Cedrian neighbors to be all but eliminated.
37 years in hiding. And then it happened. A soldier was exploring the Northern Ridge of the Andonese Mountains when he found them. And the Cedrians prepared to evacuate their secret mountain hideout.
Bam! Bam! Machine gun fire was exchanged. Provincial troop reinforcements would be arriving shortly. The Cedrians defended their positions, but alas – their rifles were 37 years old.
The first helicopter was boarding, ready to take as many Cedrians as could be crammed in to their far-away safety destination. Aristide, a ranking member of the Cedrian civil defense committee, hooked up his radio, as he had been training for 37 years, awaiting this fateful moment of getting as many people to safety as possible. “Ludwig, do you hear me?” “Aristide, copy 5x5. At the Northern Ridge, things are getting critical.” Machine gun fire was making it hard for Aristide to hear Ludwig on the radio. Ludwig continued to speak. His voice was raised not so it could be heard over the gunfire, but simply out of panic. “The provincial guard’s reinforcements have arrived. We are losing men left and right. We’re holding out as best we can but won’t last much longer. As soon as the planes get here we are told they will be bringing heavy bombers. Send out the helicopters to evacuate civilians as outlined in our escape protocol. Today’s the day, man. Let’s make our future Cedrian generations proud. Today is our time to shine. Over and out.” “Over and out,” Aristide replied, then turned back to the evacuation helicopter.
Three members of the Cedrian civil defense committee were pushing – shoving – their people into the helicopter. The goal is to fit as many civilians onto the helicopter without having so many that the helicopter is weighted down and can’t fly.
“Ok, that’s it. We’re full. Let ’er rip.”
“No!! No!!” a woman cried. “Daniel!! Daniel!! If he’s not going to live, I’m not going!” She tried to jump off the helicopter to be with her lover. It would be better to die together than to live the rest of her life without him.
Aristide said, “There will be another trip. We just need this full one to leave now so we can drop you all off at the secret safety destination and come back."
“Daniel!”
“Christine, stay on the helicopter!!”
“No, Daniel! Not without you!”
Daniel suddenly saw his brother, sitting next to Christine on the helicopter. The brothers’ eyes met. Without uttering a word, they both communicated, and Daniel’s brother knew what to do. Daniel nodded, to thank him to infinity.
Christine jumped, to be reunited with her lover. Daniel’s brother immediately reached out and grabbed her by the arms, pulling her back on board.
“Daniel! Daniel!” she screamed.
The two lovers would never be reunited. Daniel died that day. As soon as the provincial air force arrived, those who had not left on the first 3 trips of the escape helicopter never left alive.
But who died? Was it Daniel? Or Christine? Daniel is in peace, in everlasting life, no more suffering or pain. He leaves this world knowing he has saved his lover’s life.
Christine lives yet she is dead. Her lover who she has devoted her life to has perished. What good is it to live if you cannot love?
Her memory of Daniel – who gave his life for hers – shines bright in her heart. And she knows that soon she will join him for eternity.
But enough about 2 individuals. This is the whole Cedrian nation that is at stake. Let us return to their situation.
“Aristide! The provincial air force! They’re here!”
“Copy 5x5. Ludwig, how many are there?”
“They’re coming en masse. Aristide!! Shut the gate! Seal the escape module and push the self-destruction button for our classified library. Execute protocol 571. Look out for –”
Suddenly, boom. Another explosion. Boom, boom. Then: static.
Ludwig was no more. Nor was the radio control base at the Northern Ridge. The Cedrians had a short time to board the third – and last – escape helicopter.
Panic ensued. “Order! Order!” Aristide screamed. Fellow Cedrians fought for a spot on this last helicopter – and fought for their life.
“Ok, that’s it. Any more and she won’t be able to fly.”
The pilot nodded. “All aboard!” And the helicopter took off. Cedrians grabbed ahold of the landing gear, desperately trying to get out before the provincial guard arrives – or the provincial air force bombs them out – or both.
A mother who was not on the helicopter lifts her baby – only 1 year old – and places it in the arms of a man and woman on the helicopter. Before they could say no – before they could return the baby to its owner – the helicopter took off. There was no turning back. The man and woman looked back at the mother. The gaze in her eyes said it all. Save her life. Raise her. Then: ka-boom. The provincial air force zoomed overhead and dropped enough bombs to destroy New York and Los Angeles at the same time. The helicopter survived but no one else did. Including the baby’s mother. The 2 people holding the baby watched as she suddenly disappeared into the smoke and fire of the explosion. There was no family planning. They were parents now and loved their baby girl with all their heart. At the new secret safety location, the Cedrians sealed their gates. They stuck together as a community. The baby grew to a girl to a woman. She lived a long, happy life with her new loving family. 37 years passed. The Cedrians waited for the future, planning their next escape and vowing to keep hiding.
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If you liked this story, then you will definitely like the rest of the book. Order your copy of A Mysterious Evening in Vienna on Kindle and Amazon.com today.
A Mysterious Evening in Vienna
By John R. Teevan III
ISBN 9781548922870
37 years ago, a new governor-general was nominated to lead the province. Every day that he was in power he encroached further and further on the Cedrians. They were a minority group making up 25% of the population. Then, suddenly, plague struck. Panic ensued. To unite the people and find a common enemy, the governor-general declared all Cedrians to be outlaws. They were the scapegoats. Was the governor-general aware that the Cedrians had nothing to do with causing the plague? Was he cruelly – and unjustly – blaming this powerless minority to find a scapegoat and bolster his support by uniting the people against an enemy – even if it is a made-up enemy?
Or was he just not connected enough to this soft-spoken minority group – so small that you would never even notice them. If every single Cedrian wrote a letter to their representatives at the Provincial Assembly, the letters would be unopened because there were so few of them compared to all the other mail received on a daily basis.
So was the governor-general cruel and destructive? Or was he uninformed – both about his subjects and about the fundamentals of epidemiology?
To be honest, it doesn’t matter. He still did what he did. Even if we want to delve into his head and study the decision-making of his psychology, psychology is the study of behavior, not intentions. Whether he was cruelly wanting to hurt the Cedrians or whether he just was such a stupid politician that he sincerely thought the Cedrians had brought on the plague – either way he did the same thing. And what he did was start a genocide.
The Cedrians lost their citizenship. Police were replaced with heavily-armed soldiers from the army trained to gun down men, women and children identified as belonging to the Cedrian ethnicity. More humanity was killed by the purge than ever was by the plague. The Provincial Assembly re-elected the governor-general – partly because he had united the province on this witch hunt, bolstering his power. And partly out of fear. Because anyone who speaks up – any assemblyman who does not whole-heartedly endorse the governor-general’s re-election – is a traitor, an enemy, and will probably end up massacred as mercilessly as the Cedrians.
And then it ended. The victims were purged. The massacre accomplished what it wanted to. And for 37 years nobody ever heard about the Cedrians. Except the Cedrians themselves. A group of them had survived and went into hiding, vowing never to be seen publicly again. The minority that was 25% of the population is now 2% of the population. Although the census officially says 0%. The governor-general needs to be able to say that he successfully eliminated the Cedrians. And the people all thought their Cedrian neighbors to be all but eliminated.
37 years in hiding. And then it happened. A soldier was exploring the Northern Ridge of the Andonese Mountains when he found them. And the Cedrians prepared to evacuate their secret mountain hideout.
Bam! Bam! Machine gun fire was exchanged. Provincial troop reinforcements would be arriving shortly. The Cedrians defended their positions, but alas – their rifles were 37 years old.
The first helicopter was boarding, ready to take as many Cedrians as could be crammed in to their far-away safety destination. Aristide, a ranking member of the Cedrian civil defense committee, hooked up his radio, as he had been training for 37 years, awaiting this fateful moment of getting as many people to safety as possible. “Ludwig, do you hear me?” “Aristide, copy 5x5. At the Northern Ridge, things are getting critical.” Machine gun fire was making it hard for Aristide to hear Ludwig on the radio. Ludwig continued to speak. His voice was raised not so it could be heard over the gunfire, but simply out of panic. “The provincial guard’s reinforcements have arrived. We are losing men left and right. We’re holding out as best we can but won’t last much longer. As soon as the planes get here we are told they will be bringing heavy bombers. Send out the helicopters to evacuate civilians as outlined in our escape protocol. Today’s the day, man. Let’s make our future Cedrian generations proud. Today is our time to shine. Over and out.” “Over and out,” Aristide replied, then turned back to the evacuation helicopter.
Three members of the Cedrian civil defense committee were pushing – shoving – their people into the helicopter. The goal is to fit as many civilians onto the helicopter without having so many that the helicopter is weighted down and can’t fly.
“Ok, that’s it. We’re full. Let ’er rip.”
“No!! No!!” a woman cried. “Daniel!! Daniel!! If he’s not going to live, I’m not going!” She tried to jump off the helicopter to be with her lover. It would be better to die together than to live the rest of her life without him.
Aristide said, “There will be another trip. We just need this full one to leave now so we can drop you all off at the secret safety destination and come back."
“Daniel!”
“Christine, stay on the helicopter!!”
“No, Daniel! Not without you!”
Daniel suddenly saw his brother, sitting next to Christine on the helicopter. The brothers’ eyes met. Without uttering a word, they both communicated, and Daniel’s brother knew what to do. Daniel nodded, to thank him to infinity.
Christine jumped, to be reunited with her lover. Daniel’s brother immediately reached out and grabbed her by the arms, pulling her back on board.
“Daniel! Daniel!” she screamed.
The two lovers would never be reunited. Daniel died that day. As soon as the provincial air force arrived, those who had not left on the first 3 trips of the escape helicopter never left alive.
But who died? Was it Daniel? Or Christine? Daniel is in peace, in everlasting life, no more suffering or pain. He leaves this world knowing he has saved his lover’s life.
Christine lives yet she is dead. Her lover who she has devoted her life to has perished. What good is it to live if you cannot love?
Her memory of Daniel – who gave his life for hers – shines bright in her heart. And she knows that soon she will join him for eternity.
But enough about 2 individuals. This is the whole Cedrian nation that is at stake. Let us return to their situation.
“Aristide! The provincial air force! They’re here!”
“Copy 5x5. Ludwig, how many are there?”
“They’re coming en masse. Aristide!! Shut the gate! Seal the escape module and push the self-destruction button for our classified library. Execute protocol 571. Look out for –”
Suddenly, boom. Another explosion. Boom, boom. Then: static.
Ludwig was no more. Nor was the radio control base at the Northern Ridge. The Cedrians had a short time to board the third – and last – escape helicopter.
Panic ensued. “Order! Order!” Aristide screamed. Fellow Cedrians fought for a spot on this last helicopter – and fought for their life.
“Ok, that’s it. Any more and she won’t be able to fly.”
The pilot nodded. “All aboard!” And the helicopter took off. Cedrians grabbed ahold of the landing gear, desperately trying to get out before the provincial guard arrives – or the provincial air force bombs them out – or both.
A mother who was not on the helicopter lifts her baby – only 1 year old – and places it in the arms of a man and woman on the helicopter. Before they could say no – before they could return the baby to its owner – the helicopter took off. There was no turning back. The man and woman looked back at the mother. The gaze in her eyes said it all. Save her life. Raise her. Then: ka-boom. The provincial air force zoomed overhead and dropped enough bombs to destroy New York and Los Angeles at the same time. The helicopter survived but no one else did. Including the baby’s mother. The 2 people holding the baby watched as she suddenly disappeared into the smoke and fire of the explosion. There was no family planning. They were parents now and loved their baby girl with all their heart. At the new secret safety location, the Cedrians sealed their gates. They stuck together as a community. The baby grew to a girl to a woman. She lived a long, happy life with her new loving family. 37 years passed. The Cedrians waited for the future, planning their next escape and vowing to keep hiding.
--------------
If you liked this story, then you will definitely like the rest of the book. Order your copy of A Mysterious Evening in Vienna on Kindle and Amazon.com today.
A Mysterious Evening in Vienna
By John R. Teevan III
ISBN 9781548922870
