Monday August 7th, 2017

The exercise:

Write something which takes place in: an occupied city.

Spent most of the day with Max and Miles so that Kat could get some work done. Hard being stuck inside for most of it due to the smoke, but Max and I did make it out to the garden to pick some veggies for the house late afternoon.

Met up with bakery folks for a couple drinks and some dinner tonight. Was good fun and I hope to do that again soon'ish.

Back to town work tomorrow. Not excited about the smoke.

Edit: well. That was interesting.

Had some people yelling and shaking our gate to get my attention somewhere around 12:30. Was pretty sure they were drunk... right up until they told me there was a fire in the hills behind my house.

I'll share a picture or two tomorrow, but long story short: woke up Kat, we packed up some things, the fire was getting closer, we woke up the boys and drove up to Kat's parents house to wait it out there. Were up there for maybe fifteen minutes before it became apparent that the firefighters had things under control, so came back home.

Just finished getting the boys back to sleep. It's now 3 am and I need to be up in about three hours for work. So... good night.

Mine:

It is a delicate balance, living in the sort of conditions I find myself in these days. Be polite to the soldiers, but not friendly. Don't want the neighbors thinking I'm working with the enemy. But certainly not hostile, either. My city, my home, my life is in their hands. No need to antagonize them.

I try to go about my daily business as usual, though every fibre of my being screams for me to stay inside and hide. Keep out of sight, keep out of their way. They would not see it that way though, would they? I would rouse their suspicions, perhaps they would think that I am working against them.

It's a fine line. I am still learning to walk it nearly two months after these men took over my city. I hate the line, and I hate them. I hate how powerless I feel in the face of it all.

I know others are trying to do something about it, but I am too frightened. The price for getting caught is... well, it's too horrific to contemplate. Better to keep myself to myself and wait for this nightmare to pass.

It will pass, right? We will be liberated. Even now our soldiers and our allies must be working to regain our freedom.

It is only a matter of time.

So I shall wa-

Who could be knocking on my door at this hour?