PRICELESS

Not too long after the start of the new year, I got a hold of “After the fire” by John Lockley. Ordinarily, I would have done a review but I have decided otherwise. This time around, I would be highlighting some of the truths in the book that resonates with reality. A general idea of the storyline would be necessary so, here it is.

  As a result of some little mistake that was suspected to be easily overlooked, a rat gets electrocuted and trips of the electricity supply to a refrigerator holding bacteria cultures in a laboratory. That was the beginning of an epidemic in the city of London. The bacteria got out, being extremely contagious, many people got infected. The mutated nature of the disease which was dubbed Legionnaire’s made an infected person unaware till about 5-30 minutes before the bacteria killed them. Professionals advised Londoners to stay put and have minimal contact with people. An antibiotic was also said to be able to treat it. As expected, people took the advise in the opposite direction and began fleeing the centre of London in a bid to save themselves whereas they putting themselves in harm’s way. There was looting of the antibiotic and later on, it was in short supply. As the exodus peaked, multitudes were dying in their vehicles causing traffic jams and along the pedestrian walks, as they struggled to get out of London. Essentially, some survived as a result of staying put or being on the antibiotic prior to the outbreak or having survived Legionnaire’s earlier.

  Down to my extracts from the book, some of the survivors eventually bumped into themselves and settled in a small market town called Ampthill. It’s their life after surviving plague that informs my most of extracts.

The strength of family and love: After the plague there was the Jones’ family that happened to be vacationing on a canal at the time of the outbreak. Then, Paul (a stockbroker) and his pregnant girlfriend Jane (a TV producer) who escaped by virtue of a Flu that kept them both indoors for days. These two sets of people were able to get their acts together being that they had each other to fall back on. Others like Martin the reverend found the days after the plague hard for numerous reasons including the absence of a support to lean on. This sounded the importance of family and loved ones. How they can be enough to keep one’s sanity intact in unbelievably rough times.

Health/the volatile nature of life: I’m certain that most of the victims would not have imagined dying within split seconds and unexpectedly. They won’t have imagined dying near the peaks of their careers. The truth still stands that life is like a whiff of breeze, it’s here today and gone tomorrow. It’s like a flower blossoming in the day and withering at night. Also, health is wealth indeed. Some would have been chasing their careers and businesses and other personal interests when the outbreak came to be. Some would have considered their businesses first and themselves fleeing to other parts of Britain in a bid to keep body together when in actuality, staying put would have saved more than fleeing.

Willpower: In the course of building a new community of survivors, the absence of a medical personnel soon became a course of concern for some members of the community. In the end, it was decided that Derek Jones became their doctor though he was an engineer by profession. As expected, he declined the offer fearing being responsible for the lives of others. Later on though, he began studying books on medicine, anatomy, pathology and the likes. And, by his dedication to the study of medicine he was able to help with minor injuries and fractures in the community. His will also made it possible for his daughter to spend some extra days alive as a diabetes ii patient without proper health care. As expected, it was not all calm and clear skies for him. Knowledge doesn’t particularly translate to skill and that made him lose a mother and child during childbirth.

  Bottom line, willpower goes a long way to making us attain certain height and, it was one of the things that made the Ampthill community grow and survive after the plague.

Peace: the book found Martin,the reverend having a serious crisis of faith right after the plague caused the death of thousands. He began drinking, was often separated from others in his new community all because what he had come to know and built his whole life on began to feel like a lie. Though he was still alive and in good health, his lost peace made him troubled till he was able to understand and come out of his crisis.

Nature/ natural occurrences: “The sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night” is a well known verse from the beginning of the Bible. Modernization and the nuances it has brought about makes us forget at times how much of a role nature plays in our existence. From the moon being put in the background by streetlights and now artificial moons. To genetically modified foods that make us oblivious of the effects rain has on crop produce. And fertilizers and modern farming tools that shades the tediousness that could be agriculture. At times, we forget that nature has her own timing that should be tampered with minimally.