From the journal of Nathan Sanchez, May 20

May 20, 2017

It's been a couple of days since we met the student band members. Our group went back to the ranch and then called a group meeting for that evening after dinner. Fernando took the lead and explained everything that Sheila had told us. He told our family about the trip they were on, the attack at the emergency center and losing a large part of their band then. He explained how they had been surviving and how they had seen us and thought to watch us.

When the floor was opened for everyone to express their opinions, of course Consuela had to bring up any possible bad things that could happen. She talked about how if we brought them in, they could bide their time and then kill us and take over. Never mind that we had more people and weapons then they did. She talked about how we would have to make room and find jobs for them and if someone doesn't like what they are assigned, they could cause trouble. Maria jumped in and said they could cause trouble for no reason at all. We didn't know those people and they could be dangerous. We had only met a small part of their group and didn't know who else was with them.
Fernando said we weren't just going to bring them right to the ranch and give them a key to the place. We would have to meet with them on neutral ground to work out all the particulars, but we needed people who weren't related to us to join our community, that is, if we wanted it to grow and survive. Only a couple of the cousins were young enough to have kids and married. Otherwise, we were all single and had no one that wasn't related to us all. This group was needed to bring in new blood and they were sounding like college kids and would be a good option. Anyone else we find could be out of the optimum age range or not interested in pairing up, of couse, we didn't know if these kids would be willing. We needed to meet with them and talk it all out.
The discussion went on for a couple of hours, with no one really changing their opinions. Finally, it came down to us meeting with the band kids again and asking them about some of the stuff brought up. We decided that when we did meet with them, we would set up a meeting to bring more of our people to meet the kids.
The next day, we went back to the farm house to run out drill through. After we were done, Shiela came with a few more people from her group and they took us back to the others. We sat down and talked about some of the things that were brought up at the meeting and then we set up a meeting for us to bring more people from our group, including Consuela, so they could meet these kids and we can arrange for bringing them in, if that is what is decide.

The time we spent with them was nice, they played music and we ate food and just talked. It has been a while since I had even had a chance to talk up a girl not related to me, so it was fun to flirt and tell jokes. Darren, having been in jail for while before the pandemic hit, was really out of his depth and just stood around at first. But, a couple of the girls didn't let him keep to himself for long and then they were busy talking and laughing.
I have a good feeling about these kids and hope that Consuela and the others can see that too. They need someplace to be safer and learn how to survive in this new world. We needed the new blood and more people to get our community off the ground. It could be a win/win situation, if we let it. Here's to hoping!

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.