Children of The Free States #2

Young lovers of the future across two worlds.

The first letter from Olivia (Oregon) to Jacob (Texas) was published here in February. Please share these letters with other Good Citizens if you enjoy them.

---

“I know what’s out there. I’ve seen a different time. I’ve seen a different world with my own eyes.” - Olivia

“I guess people around here ain’t never been easy to push around. They tried it many times and each time they pushed, people around here just pushed back harder.” - Jacob

United States of America
Guthrie, Texas

June 18, 2049

Dear Olivia and Francine,

Your letters came a couple weeks ago and I was meaning to write you back sooner but I started a new job and they got me working long hours on the ranch. I’m on a different ranch now near Guthrie, which is on the other side of Lubbock. It’s a bigger outfit and they’re giving me lots of responsibilities pretty quickly so I got to constantly be on top of things.

I’m sorry about using the wrong vaccine box to hide the chip with my letters last time. I’ll use the ones you sent from Oregon just as you said. I couldn’t bear the thought of getting you all in trouble because of my carelessness. You have to understand it’s much easier here to send things, to do anything. We just don’t need to be sneaky about nothing.

It makes me sad thinking about all those vaccines they give you there. We got all the same viruses but nobody takes none of those shots here. At least nobody I know. They still have them but people get to choose if they take it or not and since there was so much lying in the past, a lot of people just don’t trust that those shots do any good at all. From what I seen they do nothing but harm. I can send you all kinds of studies and digital books that show most of these shots increase the chance of death in healthy people. And that’s why it makes me sad that they risk harming you over there for something that don’t even do nothing. A person ought to be free to decide what they put in their body. They ought to at least be told the truth about what it is they’ll be putting in their body. At least that’s how folks around here feel about it.

I know they keep all this from you with your own networks and all that, but you should know most people here believe the state ain’t got no right to tell them how to live their lives cause the state gets their power from the people and only the people. The people don’t get their rights from the state. And our lives come from God or nature and those laws are different, they’re sacred and not to be messed with by the government. That’s what my grandpop George always taught me, from a young age. You said you really wanted to know what makes free states so different, well, that’s probably it.

When I read those words in your letter, “They can take away my body, restrict my movement, but my spirit will always be free” well that’s just about one of the most beautiful things I ever read. I think folks around here take their freedoms for granted sometimes. They don’t think too much about what you all deal with in them blue states even though most people there don’t know they ain’t free.

We know all the things they do to you over there, and whenever we learn something new it makes us more determined to stay free. At least it ought to, but like I said, sometimes people get caught up in a spell, where life just keeps going and they get stuck in a routine and the blue states and free states grow farther apart and the liberation movement dies down.

The liberation movement was a group of free states that was planning to combine their armies and go in and liberate neighboring blue states. For many years it was being planned, but the federal government put a stop to it believing that a few blue states secretly had nuclear weapons. The separation agreement said that all socialist states had to get rid of those weapons in order to peacefully leave the republic and declare their independence. But they say China pretty much controls you all now and they gave you nuclear weapons and that ended the liberation movement. Though there still are some patriot movements planning actions, especially in the Arizona panhandle to cut off New Mexico and Colorado since they could be liberated from all directions. There’s also lots of people against liberating blue states. They say it’ll be too big of a shock to the people there and cost too much money in reintegration. They think blue state folks dug their own graves, and now they best lay in them.

I don’t know what people there think about all that. I assume not much at all if they don’t know anything about it. It’s probably easy to keep you all in the dark there if they allow only certain stories to be told about what happens in the world.

I honestly don’t know what to tell you sometimes. I just worry if I give you too much information too fast it could be like a shock or something. Well, I ought to not spend so much time on depressing subjects. I told myself before I started writing to stay mostly positive and here I am rambling about liberation movements. I guess I just see horrible injustice in how they treat you all there and to know we used to all be one people and one nation. I just don’t see why we can’t go back to that again.

Those photos you sent of you and Francine are really something special. I printed the one of you in that pretty white dress and keep it inside my locker at the ranch. That way I get to see you early in the morning when I start my day and again at dusk when the day ends. You said your ma calls it the Marilyn dress. That’s a reference to the hollywood movie star from last century Marilyn Monroe. I don’t know if you knew that or you get any information from back then. I assume not. But you sure as heck look way prettier than she ever did in that dress.

Some of the guys at the ranch saw it and were whistling and making a big fuss about how pretty you are. They joke that I cut it out of a magazine or something. The older fellas joke that there ain’t no pretty girls like that left around here no more. You probably don’t know this but you’d be the prettiest girl in Texas, hell all the free states, and that’s because everyone eats too much around here. Most of the ladies are twice your size because of all the food they eat. I read stories that food is luxury there where you live and the state controls it and keeps it from you. Only allows you certain amount each week. It’s the opposite here. For a long time here it’s been a pleasure that too many people can’t stop abusing and that makes them all fat and ill. That’s another one of them life lessons George taught me before he passed on. Self-control and temperance. Too much food or alcohol never did good for nobody. I don’t always do well to take that advice myself, especially on a Saturday night after a long week of work when my whole body aches down to the arches of my feet, it’s nice to just settle down with the fellas and have a night of cold beers and poker. Though I don’t always make it to Church the next morning and never feel good about that.

I’m glad you found a bible in your uncle’s garage. Sounds like he’s got a treasure trove of forbidden books there that would be useful for you understanding the past. The ones they hide from you. Be careful not to get caught with anything that would get you into trouble.

By now you’ve probably gone through a bit of the bible and read a lot dark stuff. I’ve sent you the ten commandments before, but you should start with the gospels of John, Luke, Mark and Matthew. You don’t got to know everything in that book chapter and verse, though people around here do. I think in the gospels there’s a lot of useful material to learn about Jesus Christ the Son of God and all he taught about life and how we ought to live and treat one another. And in the book of wisdom, job, psalms, proverbs, you’ll find some guidance and words to live by.

Anyway you asked me about my plans for the future and going to college. I just don’t think that was ever in the cards for me. I wasn’t a strong student. I did okay but that just ain’t good enough since they reformed the college system and shut down half of them that was just running degree mills for money. It ain’t like over there where everyone gets a phd in something and works for the state. Here it’s competitive. You are either in the top of the school and got your choice of university scholarships or you come from money and mommy and daddy will pay for a spot with a nice donation. Since a four year degree costs more than the most expensive homes it don’t really make sense to keep going to school here. George told me it used to be that anyone who wanted to go college could go and then it became worth less and less. People just went to socialize and waste time and the schools were flooded with government money but nobody learned much and most of them subjects were just made up so the schools could sell more places and get more government money.

It just didn’t make sense for me and I actually never finished my last year of high school. I’ll go back and get my certification sometime soon, but it don’t make no difference to me either way. I’m a ranch hand and been trained to work as one since I was a boy. It pays pretty good and I get to be outdoors and ride horses all day which I love.

And if ranching doesn’t pay enough some new possibilities might be on the horizon for me. You see, an older fella, Hank, at my new outfit talked me into trying something recently. Said because of my build and flexibility I might be good at it. He took me to his friend’s ranch outside Lubbock and shoved me on top of a big bull and off it went. I did pretty well the first few runs. Well enough that the ranch owner got me a qualification spot at the rodeo in Abilene.

I was scared as hell that night. The first run in the qualifications I ended up getting one of the two spots for the finals. In the finals I was slated to go dead last on the random draw so I had to watch all them other professionals for what seemed like forever. They’re all sponsored by big name companies and they do this full time for a living. Plus I was the youngest guy there by a few years at least. Well when my time came, Hank helped up on that bull and I could feel the lights and the crowd and the pressure was really getting to me. Maybe he could see that, so he grab me real hard by the vest and says, “Listen to me good now. You’re either a man with nothing to lose, or you're a loser. You got that?”

I think he was trying to be inspirational and all that but it sounded like a contradiction. After I had a few moments to really think about what he said I grab him by his vest and ask, “If I ain’t got nothing to lose, ain’t I already a loser?”

And he just look me cold dead in the eyes and said, “Exactly.”

Damn if it didn’t make sense then. The only way to go was up for me, so long as I didn’t fall down.

And the gate opened up and away I went for 7.7 seconds with nothing to lose. I hardly remember any of it. Just the crowd growing louder and louder the longer I stayed on that beast.

My ride was good enough for third place and some Bitcoin. One of the organizers said I was the first qualifier to come top three in thirty years. Hank said he might be able to get me some sponsors now and by placing in a regional I automatically qualified for Fort Worth later this summer. I’ll send you some photos of me riding at that rodeo in Abilene and some from the new ranch I’m working.

Rodeo ain’t exactly a career calling but I made more in them eight seconds than I do in three weeks on the ranch.

After rodeo and meeting you I feel like my life finally has some purpose again. When George died last year I didn’t know what to do. I knew school wasn’t much for me so I kept working his land for a while and then found out from his lawyer that he had left the farm to me. George passed so suddenly he never told me nothing about it. Even though I was the new owner it didn’t feel right living there without him, so I rented it out to a nice family and decided to hit the road. I didn’t know where I was going or how long it’d take me to get there. I just drove north and then east mostly thinking about George and all the things he taught me and how proud my mama and papa would be if they was still alive.

A man can think about a lot of things out there on the open road. I just drove and drove. Through Tennessee, North Carolina. Did some camping in the great Smokey mountains. Little by little I just kept zig zagging north and south and a little more east until I ended up in the capitol. As with fate or whatever it is in the universe that decides such things, you just happened to be in the capitol at the same time, and at the Lincoln memorial at the same time. That’s gotta be fate. If George didn’t die, and I never went on that road trip than you and I never would have met.

You said it was weird seeing me bare faced. It was a strange encounter for me too. I’d never seen so many people with masks on before and so married to their masks as if it were some kind of security blanket. But when I’d seen your eyes, your pretty green eyes, I was captivated. I knew the instant I saw you, I had to see you with your mask off. I suppose it wasn’t very polite of me to just pull yours off like I did, but I don’t regret it for a minute because I got to see your pretty face.

Your group really looked at me like I was some kind of evil that infiltrated your sacred circle, like I was some kind of virus. What do they tell you all about us? I suppose it’s nothing very polite, or truthful. That other group I was with was from Georgia. I just met them all there that day and jumped in with them and followed their guide because they were all without masks.

It don’t seem right that you had to go back to Oregon. I don’t know what you know of where you live. I can only assume they don’t tell you much about the past but where you live used to be a free state. You should really dig through your Uncle’s books and learn as much as you can. All the socialist states were once free states. That’s why the liberation movement’s motto was “Let’s bring them home again.”

The way you know you ain’t free anymore is because they try to hide things like this from you and forbid you from reading books. The more you go searching for the truth, the more harsh they get in how they keep it from you. That’s all them masks are too. If they can keep you wearing those things that don’t do nothing, they can make it so you’re not even human. You just do whatever they tell you to do so that you stay out of trouble. If everyone in one place acts like that, just goes along to not get into trouble than they keep pushing everyone around until there ain’t nobody left to stand up to them. They know they got you. They know they own you. I guess people around here ain’t never been easy to push around. They tried it many times and each time they pushed, people around here just pushed back harder.

I know you talk about leaving that place and it makes me happy to know that you’re aware of this world out here that exists in the free states and that you want to take Francine and save her by coming here. You want to give her a free childhood and that seems as great a thing as you can give a child anywhere. She’s lucky to have big sister like you.

If that’s ever something you decide I want you to know that I’ll do everything I can to help get you both get out of there. I been reading up a lot on runners and how they escape blue states. Here’s just some of what I’ve been learning.

If that’s a decision you make you’d better not share it with anyone, especially over any digital communication. They watch everything there. Plan it out with precision but don’t ever plan it out on any networks. You got to plan for things to go wrong and to be able to improvise and change directions if needed.

You asked me about what you’d do if you got to Idaho and the money here. I mentioned Bitcoin is what they paid me when I placed in that rodeo, well that’s one of the digital currencies we have here in free states. We use silver coins too to buy goods in person. Different sized ones. Vendors often prefer that. Since the Greatest depression of the 2020s, just before we split apart, they amended the constitution to make sure that only gold backed or silver backed currencies were possible and it was up to the states to decide to mint money. They could only be minted based on economic factors so there was never too much money out there. They took that power away from the government and it solved a lot of our problems pretty quickly. I think you all use some chinese central bank currencies. They don’t tell you it’s chinese. They tell you it’s from the USSA central bank in San Francisco but it’s controlled by the Chinese Communists. None of that will work when you cross the border. Especially since they can track what you spend and where. It’s a curse for your journey. I assume most of it will be on your chips in your hand, so you won’t be crossing with it anyways.

Since I can’t send you silver coins I’m going to send you Bitcoin with these letters, using the same chip you sent me with those photos. It will ONLY be for bitcoin, so never use this chip again for anything else. On the chip will be the passphrase in a text file and instructions on how to send Bitcoin if needed. It ain’t tied to anyone’s name and it ain’t controlled by anyone. I’m sending the equivalent of two thousand silver dollar coins. There will be enough Bitcoin there for you to stay in a nice hotel in Idaho for weeks, or until you can contact me. My phone number is also in that text file. DO NOT try to call me from there. If you call the free states from there it will not go through and the government will track you down so fast, and who knows what they will do to you and your family. I’ve read stories about people being placed in camps, like the ones you mentioned, but then never seen or heard from again. Only call that number when you get to Idaho and you’re safe there.

You should plan to have money there to get you to the border. Since they can track the digital Chinese money, you’ll need to find precious metals - gold, silver, jewelry - whatever you can use to buy influence. People there will respond better to your need for help if you bribe them with precious metals. I know it ain’t easy to get metals there but you’re going to have to try. And you should never keep them all in the same place. Hide them in different parts of your clothes or bags. Sew them into different items, but you gotta remember where.

If you plan your run for Idaho in advance and let me know exactly when in your next letters I can round up some horses and hire some help to meet you at the border, just on the other side of the Snake river. We’ll have to find a place where it’s safe to cross on horseback. But you’ll need to get those chips out of your hands before you even get near the border crossing or they’ll be there with agents so fast to capture you, and if I’m there they’ll try and get me too.

You also need to pick the exact crossing in advance so I can be waiting for you. They say somewhere near Ontario is where most people do it but you and Francine are going to have to hike some pretty rugged terrain for a day or two. They also have drones with heat signatures tracking the border at all times so you’ll need to get emergency space blankets and cover the insides of your cloths with them before you get near the border. Your entire bodies, even your head. I’ll have to do the same on the Idaho side. Them space blankets will prevent the drones from picking up our body heat. Have them clothes ready in a bag and change into them before you set out on your trek for the border. If you get within two miles of the border, them drones will pick up your body heat and track you.

You’ll need a good tent. Small enough to conceal and thick enough to protect from the wind. Something camouflaged. No bright colors. Some winter sleeping bags would be smart too and enough food and water for three days.

And it would have to be sometime before autumn comes. It can get cold in the mountains there after September. I’ll include some maps of that border region with topography and instructions on how to read them maps. If you want me to meet you there you’ll have to select a spot on the map and send it back to me with your next letters with the exact dates you’re planning. I know you know this but please do not open these maps on any device that’s connected to your network or they’ll know what you’re planning and don’t allow that device to connect to yours or Francine’s chips.

When you take them chips out of your hands, you’ll need a sharp scalpel and something to stitch up the cut. You’ll need some clean tweezers to take them out. Plan ahead for all that. You can keep the chip activated by quickly wrapping it around something warm that’s body temperature. So buy some of them hand warmers, activate them, put them in a sock, and dump your chips inside so the signal is still active and the chip thinks it’s still inside a body. The chips can also detect the electric current of a human heart beat but I was watching an interview with one runner who says if you leave the chip near an electric battery the current of the battery will fool the chip into thinking there’s still a human heartbeat. So if you dump them socks on someone else’s bags at the bus depot, someone who is headed back in the direction of Salem or Portland, make sure the bags are near the bus’s battery packs, as close as possible. Then when Dale and your Ma go looking for you, they’ll think you are on one of them buses going back to the city. That will buy you and Francine at least another day. By the time they realize you ain’t on that bus you should be near the border crossing.

I know this is all a lot of information to take in at once. But you have to understand just how dangerous and challenging a run for Idaho will be. You’re still going to have to find an excuse or government permission to travel toward Ontario from Redmond. You’ll have to go Pleasant Valley to Salem, then take the overnight bus to Redmond and John Day arriving in Ontario the next morning. You also might be able to hitch hike from John Day to Ontario if you bribe someone with gold or silver. I’ll let you figure all that out since there’s not much I can do on that. Your chips will be needed to board the buses all the way, so unless you give a good enough excuse to your Ma and Dale, they’ll eventually get suspicious and start tracking you at some point on the journey.

If you and Francine do this, you should really sit down with her and let her know what it means. Olivia, she needs to know she won’t be seeing Dale or your Ma again. Maybe ever. It’s not something a young girl her age might really understand, so just be sure you have a serious talk with her about all this before you make any big decisions involving her. I know you mean well and I know Francine will have a much better childhood here, but once you run, that’s it, there ain’t no going back from that.

I make this pledge again to you both, so you know if you make it, I’ll be here. I’ll have a home waiting for you. Maybe I’ll get George’s ranch back, let those people’s lease expire in October and move back there. No matter what happens, you and Francine will have your very own place here and I’ll do everything I can to make sure you have everything you need so you can make a new life. The most important thing is that you’ll be free, as God intended for all human souls.

Big love from Texas

Jacob

Galatians 5:1
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

The Good Citizen is powered by Good Citizens like you. Consider a paid subscription to support more works like this. If you can’t be a paid subscriber please share this post with other Good Citizens.

Fixed Income Pensioner Discount (honor system)

Student Discount (valid .edu email)

Visit shop.thegoodcitizen.live

Get 10% off for a limited time with code: FLOCK

Control Group T-Shirts

Donate to The Good Citizen
BTC: bc1qchkg507t0qtg27fuccgmrfnau9s3nk4kvgkwk0
LTC: LgQVM7su3dXPCpHLMsARzvVXmky1PMeDwY
XLM: GDC347O6EWCMP7N5ISSXYEL54Z7PNQZYNBQ7RVMJMFMAVT6HUNSVIP64
DASH: XtxYWFuUKPbz6eQbpQNP8As6Uxm968R9nu
XMR: 42ESfh5mdZ5f5vryjRjRzkEYWVnY7uGaaDPTm6bsYztSe3v9EbyzDWKEtzR6v9iGoRbc6EYgczXnfiVpPuoqVioZUFPBLXB