Jericho: A Road Not Taken By Merryann Phillips Author's Note: The television series has Jericho affected me deeply. I am still obsessing many years after the second cancellation, and hoping for another network to pick it up. In the meantime, I have scoured the internet and enjoyed all of the fan fiction pieces I have been able to locate. I have particularly enjoyed The Tucker Series by JT, Different Circumstances by Marzee Doats, and On a Dark Horse by TarnishedArmour and the collection of stories by Tanaqui & Scribbler. Each author corrected plot holes noted in the TV series, as I hope to do here. I must admit that I enjoyed Season 1 of Jericho far more than Season 2 (although I am certainly thankful for Season 2, for the Seasons 3 and graphic novels, and look forward to the upcoming Season 5 with great eagerness, if it is released!). I found that I appreciated the characters and their stories, and Season 2 did not have the luxury of time for much of those. Even if Jericho were to continue, it would probably focus on the second civil war and not so much on the personalities. This story is how I would have imagined the back-stories of the characters we know and many we never got to meet due to the early demise of the show. The other thing Jericho did for me was to make me serious about being prepared for such an event. After Y2K, 9/11, and Katrina, it is within the realm of possibility that the folks of Jericho decided to make a few preparations rather than letting the shelters go to the rats. I've done a lot of research for this story that is also good to know in real life (writing the story just makes it more fun). Chapter I: In the Beginning August 6, 2001 E.J. Green had lived through The Great Depression. He had a finger on the pulse of national politics and an eye on the economy more than most did. He did not like what he saw developing. He tried to discuss his concerns with Johnston, but the current mayor of Jericho was too busy with the day-to-day turmoil of the town to pay much attention. E.J.'s contemporaries were busy with their golf games and grandchildren and didn't want to be bothered with what they perceived to be conspiratorial nonsense. So E.J. kept his council for the time being. Slowly but surely, he did what he felt to be the right things to prepare his family for the coming calamity, in whatever form it might come. E.J. enjoyed having Jake live at the ranch with him when Jake returned to Jericho after finishing college at Embry Riddle. From the time Jake was a child, E.J. could count on the boy to help out as he was asked without asking too many uncomfortable questions. E.J. didn't want to burden Jake with too much information, but rather tried to instill within him a need to be prepared for any contingency. Realizing that skills were just as important as goods, E.J. taught Jake as many skills as he knew. (He would have been delighted to teach Eric as well, but Eric never showed the aptitude or interest.) Thus, Jake started flying the crop duster at the tender age of 10 and helped to rebuild the engine of the 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner at the age of 12. Jake helped him care for the horses including breeding when it became appropriate. As E.J. was able to buy up adjacent pieces of property, Jake helped E.J. fence and cross-fence it so that the Green Ranch sprawled a bit more into the countryside as the years passed. Johnston and Gail, busy with the affairs of Jericho, were only peripherally aware of the details. In the spring of 2001, E.J. had Jake till a sizable plot of land and help plant a variety of fruit and nut trees, rows of berry vines, and a small grape vineyard. He tried to plant things that weren't already available in Jericho. The orchard, as he called it, was a considerable project. Jake had questioned E.J. about it, particularly considering that the latter had been experiencing some health difficulties of late. E.J., still not wanting to go into details, had mumbled a story about always dreaming of living off the land. Jake did not entirely believe E.J.'s story, but he was preoccupied with something he and Jonah Prowse were working on. Jake left soon after to hash things out with Jonah and ended up leaving Jericho without returning to the ranch. E.J. missed Jake desperately - both from a companionship standpoint, and because Jake had become his partner-in-crime even if Jake had not fully realized it. It took E.J. a few months to regain his equilibrium and set about the next step of his preparedness plan: Beekeeping. Bees would be a necessary step for the pollination of his new fruit orchard, and the honey was a side benefit to which he also looked forward. One early August Monday afternoon, E.J. took himself to the Jericho library to start research on his future career as an apiculturist. With the help of the librarian, he located a few books to get himself started. Unfortunately, these books were considered "reference material", and he would not be allowed to take them home. "I don't understand. Why do you have a "lending library" if you aren't going to lend out books?" He asked the librarian in a voice that was a pitch too loud for a library, and clearly showed his disapproval. The disinterested librarian shrugged her shoulders and turned away. At this point, a dark-haired girl approached him with a kind smile. "I may be able to help you," she suggested. "Why don't we go sit down and you can tell me what you are looking for." They found a vacant table in the corner and sat down. E.J. introduced himself to Heather Lisinski, a teacher who had just moved to town to take a position at the Jericho Elementary School. The two talked, in hushed library voices, all afternoon. E.J. learned that Heather did not know a soul in Jericho. While she had grown up in New Bern, she had been out of state at college for five years and hadn't maintained any ties there, either. Following the death of her Father, she had been intent on getting her degree and her teaching credential, leaving little time for a social life. Her best friends were her books and her young students. Heather, for her part, learned that E.J. was lonely in a town filled with friends and family with whom he could not speak freely. He did not tell her all of the details of his concerns, but he mentioned that he was working on a project, and could use some help and research. These were all of the words that Heather needed to hear. Someone in need of help, especially a potential kindred spirit like E.J. Green, would certainly receive all of the help she had to offer. The librarian began to flicker the lights, and then pointedly announced that the library was closing. E.J. and Heather hurriedly stood and exited the building, apiculture books left forgotten on the table as they spoke excitedly about their plans to meet at the Green Ranch the following day. Heather knew just how to provide an end-run around a lending library that would not lend books! ~ Getting Acquainted - August 7, 2001 ~ Heather arrived at the Green Ranch promptly at 11am the following morning. She balanced a bowl of piping hot peach crisp in one hand and had a worn leather messenger bag slung from one shoulder across to the other hip as she approached the front porch. E.J. opened the front door and came bounding out toward her with more spring in his step than he'd had in quite a while. "Heather, my dear, I can't tell you how delighted I am to have met up with you yesterday," he started out, taking the towel-wrapped bowl from her hand and leading her into the house. "I made chicken salad sandwiches and fruit salad for lunch, I hope that is alright?" he asked anxiously. "That sounds delicious", she responded, reassuring him. "The Jericho Motor Inn, where I am staying until I find an apartment, only has a microwave. I had to improvise a bit with my mother's peach crisp recipe, but I think it will taste about the same", she ended with a chuckle, putting E.J. at ease. They enjoyed their lunch at the kitchen table, chatting companionably about Heather's college years in upstate New York, and her extended family who had taken her under their wing following the death of her mother when Heather was 12 and her father the year she started college. E.J. cleared the table following lunch and Heather brought out the contents of the messenger bag: her laptop computer. E.J. had recently celebrated his 76th birthday, and was the first to admit that he was woefully behind the times then it came to "modern gadgets". "I think we will find everything you need to know about beekeeping right here", she said with a smile as E.J. gave her a sour look. "I just don't know about this," E.J.