From the journal of James Cohen, May 17

May 17, 2017

We lost one of our elderly men today. Fred MacTavish was 91, a former postal worker, and he had a bad ticker. We had just started to eat lunch when Fred grabbed his chest and pitched over. He stopped breathing shortly after that. Jackie thinks he had a heart attack, but he had a DNR, so she didn't try CPR. We all watched it happen and there was nothing we could do. Most of us cried and we comforted each other. Then we buried him in the empty lot next to the park we had stopped at for breakfast.
All the other former patients spent the rest of today talking about Fred and telling stories about him. Apparently, he knew how to tap dance like Gene Kelly and would break into dance for no reason at all. He was known as the dancing mailman and would dance down the sidewalk to deliver the mail on a regular basis. Once he was in the Frank T. Weathers Care Center, he continued breaking into dance, frequently. He even taught some of the ladies how to be his partner and would create dance numbers for fun.
Fred also was an avid reader and would tell everyone weird facts, like bananas aren't a fruit but an herb. He would hold a trivia night and would gather questions from a bunch of sources, from Trivial Pursuit to books he had read. It would drive his wife crazy that he spouted facts to everyone.

Walter was the one who was hit the hardest with Fred's death. They had been best friends for over 85 years, ever since they met in Kindergarten. They went through school, sports, girlfriends and jobs. Walter looked ten years older in just under 24 hours. We were all worried about him since he was 90 and also not in the best of health. But in this new world, there are no hospitals and no ways to extend people's life, like pacemakers or medicine.
We decided to stay here for the rest of the day, unless a herde of undead come our way. Walter wanted some time to say goodbye and the rest of our group could use some time, too. We got a couple of the mattresses out of the trailer and set up a camp right outside the trailer.
Everyone has taken turns going to sit by Fred's grave and talking to him, saying their goodbyes. Walter has spent the most time and has gone back a couple of time. Hopefully, he gets what he needs today, because tomorrow we have to more on. We need to get back on the road to the Greenbrier Hotel.

As a writer and artist, I appreciate any readers and their comments. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. Please, come read the other blog I write for our artisan collective, Raven's Castle Creations, on our website at www.ravencastlecreations.com. It includes posts on art, the mythology of symbols we use in our art, history and more! Also, come see the art we produce in our Etsy store at etsy.com/shop/RavenCastleCreations. Follow us on Twitter at @ravencastleart and on Facebook at @ravencastlecreations.