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Amerikan Sunset

by Jennifer Ladewig

190 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #99-0068; ISBN 1-55212-318-9; US$18.50, C$24.53, EUR16.00, £11.10

What would happen if the Federal Governement defaulted on the national debt? Who would survive and how would they do it? And who would rise up to fill the void of power?

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about the book      about the author      sample chapter      catalogue info

About the Book The airlines aren't flying. How are three people supposed to travel a thousand miles and then leave the country after the federal government defaults on the national debt? Alexandra, beautiful and spoiled, decides to leave her home in Ohio to join her fiancé, Michael, in Mobile, Alabama, from where they plan to depart the crumbling remnants of america. On her journey, she is accompanied by Liz, a close family friend who's reason for making such a dangerous expedition is to join her mother in Montgomery and to offer her assistance through the coming economic and social crisis. Nick, Alexandra's brother and platonic friend to Liz, joins the mission of offer protection to the two women. Their adventure begins as they depart Ohio in Nick's truck, but as all forms of government checks begin to bounce, including payroll and welfare, the economic structure of society breaks down to the point that gasoline becomes unavailable and lawlessness is the norm. When gasoline beomces unavailable, the trio must continue their daring mission on bicycles. As their haszardous expedition progresses, they encounter armed thugs roaming the highway, a rapist who fears nothing from police who no longer have any authority, and junkies who have taken possession of a remote pharmacy. Only after Liz endures the harrowing ordeal of a violent assault, followed by the unjustifred murder of her mother, can her sarcastic, tough-as-nails attitude erode to reveal the true and deep feelings that she has for Nick. Even as the very fabric of society unravels, a glimmer of hope sparkes as regular citizens try to reorgnaize and go on with their daily lives, attending weddings, a birth, and a funeral. When the three travelers finally reach their destination, the struggle to get there has transformed them in surprising ways, just as the country has been transformed, forever.

About the Author Jennifer Ladewig was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1966. Her family moved to Hudson, Ohio in 1978, after a few years in Virginia. Today, from her home in Birmingham, Alabama, Jennifer enjoys writing, photography, traveling, and chasing after her two children, Dylan and Alexandra. When everyone is asleep, she can sometimes be seen with a plate of cheese puffs and a magazine, catching up on the week's events.

Sample Chapter

A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.
- Chinese Proverb

Chapter 1

Michael slammed on his brakes as he triple parked his car on the departure/drop-off ramp at the airport in Birmingham, Alabama. Without looking to see if another car was approaching from behind, he hurriedly opened his car door and jumped out. He was instantly greeted by the indignant call of a car horn and the screech of tires on the pavement as a car swerved aruond him, avoiding a collision by mere inches. Paying no attention to this or to anything else in his surroundings, he slammed his car door and ran behind his car and then through the automatic sliding glass doors into the terminal.

Looking quickly through the crowd which stood between him and the ticket counters, he took the shortest route possible to the nearest ticket agent that he could see. Amid the irritated pleas of other potential passengers that he could go to the back of the line, he nevertheless elbowed his way to the front of the line where he planed himself directly in front of the exceedinly exasperated ticket agent who stood behind the counter.

"I need to buy a ticket from Cleveland, Ohio, to here." Michael shouted above the din of the crowd which echoed through the cavernous halls of the airport.

"Get to the back of the line, buddy!" shouted a voice from behind him.

Sir, you'll have to wait your turn in liine, just like everyone else," said the ticket agent with an irritated tone to her voice."

"No, I can't wait," replied Michael, insistently. "I need a ticket that leaves in a couple hours, from Cleveland, to here. The party who will be flying can pick the ticket up at the airport in Cleveland, before the departure." He lowered his voice. "I am not going to shuffle through your cattle gates like a cow on its way to slaughter. Punch the ticket up on your computer, now."

"Look," replied the ticket agent, "I don't know who you think you are, but you aren't going to get that ticket. We have no flights scheduled for the rest of the day, so you might as well get to the end of the line and wait like everybody else."

Michael looked at his watch. I t was only five o'clock in the evening, far too early for the airline to be done with the day's flights. Without bothering to ask why there were to be no more flights that day, Michael asked if the other airlines were flying.

"No," replied the agent, "none of the other airlines have any flights scheduled for the rest of the day. So, now you can go to the end of any of these lines and get the same thing that I can give you here," she said with a saccharin-sweet smile.

"What about tomorrow? Will there be flights tomorrow?" asked Michael.

"I hope so," replied the agent with a sigh. "There are a lot of stranded people who want to get home."

"Thank you," said Michael absently as he walked away, calculateing in his mind how he would get Alexandra there. Maybe she could drive instead.

As he walked through the terminal and toward the exit, he noticed for the first time the chaos that existed within. Indeed, every cattle chute to every ticket agent was overflowing with dour-faced travelers. Many stood with their arms crossed and jaws clenched in irritation at their predicament. Others had done the best they could to make themselves comfortable as they waited in the indefinite line, lying on the floor with hands behind their heads, using backpacks or duffle bags as pillows. Along a back wall, Michael saw several groups of women with their small children. Each of the woman wore a tired, worried look on her face as she tried to keep her children amused amid the waiting and chaos.

At a fast-food restaurant, a seemingly never-ending line snaked from its cash register, around a corner, and then out of sight. Amid protests from the multitude of unfed customers, employees inside pulled down the chain-link gate and locked it into their counters closing the restaurant as it ran out of food.

Michael had too many concerns of his own to worry abou the fate of these stranded travelers. He walked to his car, got in, and phoned Alexandra before he had even pulled out from his parking spot.

* * * * * * * * * *

"And in financial news today, a spokesman for the Federal Reserve has confirmed what many have suspected for the past several days: The federal government has defaulted on the National Debt. Economists disagree on what effect this will have on the economy, but, in general, are hopeful that his should cause only a small decrease in the economy's rate of growth......"

The phone rang, startling Alexandra who had been standing, staring at the TV, fixated on the news anchor as he nonchalantly reported some very big news. Alexandra reached for the phone to answer it.

"Have you had the radio or TV on today?" blurted Michael, the most charming man in the entired Eastern US, and Alexandra's husband to be, without so much as even saying "Hello."

"Yes, I have the evening news on right now," Alexandra replied.

"Did you hear the report about the Feds defaulting on the debt?"

"Yeah," answered Alexandra, slowly pronouncing the word with a foreboding tone to her voice. "Really scary, isn't it?"

"You aisn't kiddin', it's scary. They have been covering this up for several days, according to the news reports, and they have also obviously, been covering up the fact that we were heading in this direction..."

Alexandra interrupted, "And anyone who said that the country was heading into financial trouble was labeled a paranoid."

"Exactly. Anyhow, my point is this: the situation is already much worse than it appears. They are trying to downplay the significance of this development to avoid a panic among the population. I think the relative calm will only last for a couple days, at best. There are some places where panic is already beginning to erupt, such as airports. So, get your butt down ere, like now. Leave tonight. We can't wait."

"Tonight! You have got to be joking! There is no way to leave tonight! I haven't even begun to pack, and the moving van isn't scheduled to come until next month!" She looked around her apartment, wondering what she could cram into her car for the drive from Ohio, where she was, to Alabama, where Michael was. Alexandra's voice was rising with her mounting anxiety over the task that lay before her, at the disasterous turn of events which were irrevocably reshaping her life and her country. She continued, "Not to mention the wedding is in a month, too! We have already sent the invitations. I can't just run off and skip my own wedding!"

"Alexandra, get a grip on yourself. You can skip the wedding and so can I. A month from now the country will be in shambles and the wedding will be irrelevant. We'll get married by a priest, privately. Still what I want, more than anything, is you. That's why you have got to get down here right away. Please. Don't you get it? Those bastards in Washington have followed greed rather than common sense, and who knows what's going to happen from this point? We need to get you down here right away. I would love to be wrong about this, and if I am, we will go on with our original plans, but for now, get in your car, and get down here before it is too late. It's only 20 hours by car. Yo'll have to drive. I've just been to the airport and the airlines are not flying! None of them are. They say it's only temporary, but it's a result of the Fed's problems in some way, I'm sure of it. At the risk of sounding redundant, I'll say it again, anyway: pack your clothes, getin your car, and drive down here right away."

The implications of what Michael was saying were starting to sink in. "OK, I can leave in the morning. I need to tie up some loose ends here, say goodbye to some people. you know how it goes." She paused. "I need to ask you something..."

"Go ahead."

"If everything is as bad as you think it will be, then it doesn't sound we'll be able to have a normal life, you know? What will we do once I get there?"

"We're leaving. Leaving the country. I'm not sure where to, yet. I'm still working on that. I'm going to liquidate assets and transfer them out of here somehow. Anyway, you don't need to wory about that. I'll take care of it first thing in the morning; it's too late to anything about it anymore today. So, it comes down to thi: don't meet me at home; meet me at the boat, and we'll ail off into the unet to meet our destiny."

"Oh, geeze, Michael. That sounds like a line out of a bad romance novel." She was right, he knew, and they both laughed. "Anyhow, you have me convinced. I'll leave tomorrow, and drive straight on down to Mobile."

"Great. I'll see you tomorrow."

To read additional excerpts or find out more about the author, please visit the author's web site.

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