We are a strange, little town that will, with lots of help from clients overseas, one day have a greater say over ourselves and our way of life. You see, for years, there have been whispers that we should be our own country. I know that sounds a bit far-fetched, but hear me out.

As a planned community, we have always asserted control over our borders when other municipalities tried to encroach into our backyard. We have, at times, bought property that was endanger of being annexed. We have litigated to high courts to maintain our ability to expand our own borders, thus keeping other cities away from us and preventing them from taxing us to death, as they have done to other smaller communities.

Since most of our income comes from our work with other countries and businesses in other countries, we have been able to squirrel away some money to help us finance our endeavors ~ legally, of course.

We have the greatest lawyers in the world who have been looking into this for us. We have a really good shot at accomplishing our sovereignty. Our little community has bought out a smaller community far to our east, which sits on the Gulf coast. We did this for our resident aquatic researchers to have access to the Gulf waters. It also affords the rest of us a place to take turns with our families to relax.

Between these two points lie miles of farmland that we have also acquired, for our agricultural researchers. We own an airfield and have plans for an elevated monorail.

I know what you're thinking. Yes, this is just a possibility, but, wouldn't you want to live in a different country right about now?

Better than before

In case I have not explained this before, Rollo is a very progressive little town. I will be so bold as to say we are on par with Switzerland and the Netherlands when it comes to social welfare and work/life balance. Everyone has opportunity and options to express themselves, to do for themselves as they see fit. This also goes for anyone who wants to opt out of vaccines. We are extremely aware that vaccines have done well for lots of people. They may have even saved the world population once or twice.
The major issue with modern vaccines is that they are not yet tailored for each person. Our researchers are getting close to doing just that. But, as it stands, some people have bad reactions to those vaccines. Still in the experimental stage, our researchers are getting better at determining who will benefit and who will not from getting different vaccines. Basically, we can be informed whether or not our bodies will react poorly or not from getting some of these preventative treatments.
This brings me to why I haven't written in a while. I opted to have the flu vaccine. The last time was about 20 years ago. I almost died ~ or, at least, I wanted to die, I was so sick. Any doctor who says you don't really get sick from the vaccine is an idiot. Getting sick is how we describe our body's reaction to fighting what does not belong.
So, YES, we do get sick from the vaccine. In some people, the illness is shorter than it would have been without. Anyway, there's my two cents.
I'm going back to bed.

    For years, Rollo, Texas has relied on other municipalities and companies for our Emergency Medical services. We rarely had need of such services, as we had our own doctor. But on rare occasion when Doc was out of town and half of our volunteer fire department was home sick and the other half working out of town, we needed to call for help. And that help took almost 30 minutes, round trip, not counting how long to work on patients.

    So it was, ten years ago, the idea was floated around the council meetings of enlisting high school students for help. Eventually, someone did the research and found that 17-year-old residents could actually be certified EMT’s as long as the municipality was in need. We explained the process to the students and their parents, and the benefits for everyone. You see, Rollo had set aside a sizable retainer for EMS services.  The town would save lots of money if we had our own volunteer Emergency Medical Service.

    The training was not cheap, but each emergency we didn’t have to call out, was actually worth one student’s training. Plus, Doc could give extra lessons, and authorize treatments via mobile phone, for simple issues to these trainees. The extra money goes towards scholarships and grants for college or other training the students choose. Along with the money is a letter of recognition and referral for their services.

    Well, today we had a going away party for three of our first EMT’s. Two are going to college under a pre-med programme. The third is going straight into work as an EMT in Houston.

    We had 10 students working in the programme. The other seven were a mix, mostly juniors when they started out. The two others have decided to stay on as paid interns, with Doc, for another year before applying to a college, finding a job or even traveling. Best of luck to them, though I doubt they need it. They've had a great start with this programme and the programme has had a great start with them. 

    I’m sure there are times when everyone wants to re-write their history. Become the hero, or, at least, not fail so badly. Well, this is not really about me, but the town my father grew up, and where my siblings and I were brought to, against my will, when we were young.

    You would be right in saying I harbour ill-feelings towards the townsfolk ~ most of whom were my relations. I’ve had my fair share of fantasizing of razing the town and turning it into a landfill. But then, about a decade or so ago, I had another dream. The town was prime location for some of my stories and I figured, since I already was used to recreating worlds, why not try my hand with this little town.

    Once I made up my mind, I remembered an old teacher telling me the town’s real name was never officially changed. The townspeople had simply adopted a name near the beginning of its creation. No one questioned it, since the company that built the town left long ago.

    For this, my alternative version of the town, I re-adopted the original name. I also created a persona for myself, living in this town ~ and actually proud of it.

    What follows are unreal stories and events. They may have connections to the “real” world, but that is mostly coincidental.