The Year 2050

The world has become a dark and grim place. The year 2020 had wiped out a large portion of the world’s population. Birth’s were not able to keep up with the death rates. This lasted for about five years before some college kid in his basement discovered a vaccine. The scientist around the world were baffled. Ever since then the World Health Organization had begun to fund anybody that might have an idea of how to defeat a deadly virus. I was only two in the year 2020 so most of the stuff that happened are just things that I had read in history books.

The WHO continued with funding the public when the cure for cancer was discovered in 2045 by a single mom who had found out that she had stage two breast cancer. You could say she was a little bit motivated to find a cure. Who would have known that all it took to cure cancer was some marijuana mixed with onions, honey, and a strict Keto diet? Go figure.

It is now the year 2050 and things only seem to be getting worse. This year we are facing an issue that’s not new, we are just finally seeing the devastation. Scientist and doctors have predicted that we will lose at least ten million people in the world due to bacteria’s that we use to scoff at and just throw an antibiotic at it. The damn things stopped working about a year or two ago. Everyone built up a resistance over time. People’s children were born with immune systems that filtered out the antibiotics and the bacteria had also changed in a way that made the drug ineffective. There is now a race to find something to replace antibiotics so we can preserve humanity. If you ask me, God has been sending a lot of messages the past two decades that make me believe that he doesn’t want to preserve us.

“What up Tony? Do you have it?” I had just walked into my homemade lab to set some ingredients down when I saw Tony eyeballing my stuff. He better not had been snooping. He was only supposed to be here to deliver some goods.

“Uh…yeah…sorry bout that Lilly.” Tony’s cheeks flushed red and he looked down at his shoes. Maybe I could have softened my expression. My face always gave away what I was thinking. I am sure I was giving poor Tony the full on stank eye.

Tony was a good-looking tall man with a square jaw line and dark eyes that sucked in any unsuspecting girl. I’m not entirely sure, but I think he is Italian. If I weren’t so busy trying to save the world, I would certainly give him a spin. Men tend to love my tiny size and curvy body. I have been told that I am easy to spoon. I brushed my lavender hair off my tan cheek and looked him up and down. The thought of getting him upstairs to my apartment made me bite my lower lip.

Shit, I hope he didn’t catch THAT thought that crossed over my traitor face.  

“I have a lot of work to get done Tony. I will call you when I need more stuff.”

“Anything for you Lilly.” Tony grabbed his coat and went out the door. A part of me was irritated with myself for not making a move. He was only a few years older and he was single. It was hard to find good men when the world was so sparse. From what my mom tells me, it has always been hard to find good men, now there’s just less of them.

               I wasn’t a scientist by no means. I was a librarian with a history degree. I had access to a large database of old scrolls and doctors’ manuals that other people couldn’t get a hold of without a lot of money. The internet became obsolete a couple of years ago due to a dot com war between the United States and China. Russian and Canada got involved and then everyone came to an agreement that the World Wide Web was causing more trouble then it was worth. It worked out great for small business owners since they no longer had to compete with an online platform. The scroll that I was studying was a medieval scroll that was over a thousand years old. Scientist had begun to look at it in 2020 as a possible solution to the antibiotic issue. It had been tabled once Covid-19 had spun so far out of control that all funding went to trying to find a vaccine. Probably another reason most scientist was bitter that they couldn’t take credit for making Covid-19 no longer a threat. The scroll was placed a way and then forgotten again. I stumbled upon it and the thirty-year-old notes from the other scientist while I was cleaning cobwebs in the old file room.

               The world was short on supplies and natural resources. That’s what I needed Tony for, he was my dealer. I didn’t do drugs are anything like that. He was part of a black market for farmers. He was able to get a hold of things that were short in supply. Today he had dropped off my final agreement. Garlic was like gold. It was almost impossible to come by without having a connection. My connection happened to be easy on the eyes. I had met him at a reenactment of the war of 2025, that was the year that the Democrats and Republicans finally went into another civil war. It only lasted a year before everyone got bored with it and moved on to a new issue. Each side blamed the other for why the United States had become a third world country.

               I watched my concoction boiling on the stove while I skimmed over the ancient text. The putrid smell of garlic, onion, wine, and bio salts assaulted my noise. I wandered if Bald’s Leach book started off as a weird cookbook that they later found to be helpful for healing what ailed them in ancient times? I carefully placed the leather-bound book down on the table beside me. I did not want to be responsible for destroying one of the oldest medical journals in existence. Plus, I still had a lot to learn from its delicate pages.

               My father was a diabetic that was about to lose a foot to infection. It was part of what motivated me to enter in the race to find a new way to kill bacteria. He used to be a runner and was becoming depressed because of his grim situation. I hadn’t always been the perfect daughter. The least I could do was help him the best that I could. I volunteered to come help my clean off his feet and prepare him for bed for the next few weeks. I planned on sneaking my concoction onto his feet and tracking the results in a journal. I didn’t tell them what I was doing. I felt it would just give them false hope.

               The night had sped by quick, too quick. I had bottled up a month’s worth of my herbal remedy and ran out the door. My parents where thirty minutes away on foot and twenty minutes away by bike. Only the rich could afford horses with a carriage. Cars were illegal because of the amount of pollution that had ruined the water, earth, and air. This was part of a twenty-year plan to start the world on a path to replenish all the resources we lost. Past generations had destroyed the Earth and now it was our job to restore it. Climate change is what got us into a majority of these messes, that an the damn politicians brushing the warnings under the rug for so long. No wonder God was upset with us.

               “Hey mom. Hey Dad.” I walked in the door to a dim room with both my parents reclined on their sofa. Dad’s poor feet looked like a creature had eaten several holes on the bottom of his left foot. I sucked back tears and tried to be strong for them both.

               Behind me the news rattled on about some nuclear explosion in the Middle East. The French had taken over Iraq and now Germany was trying to steal it from them. This all happened a few years back when the Iraqi government had declared war on France. This was a shock to everyone since France had done so much for Iraq. Nobody really knows what happened. Some say it had something to do with a conflict that took place between the Iraq Embassy in Paris and France’s Embassy in Baghdad. Germany must have knowledge that the U.S. doesn’t have. Why else would they want to get involved? That’s enough of a history lesson, it was already getting late and dad looked exhausted.

               I walked to my father and placed my hand on his knee. “I love you dad. I know it’s not pleasant, but it’s time to clean your wounds.”

               Dad grunted and shifted to his right side while extending his left leg. I gently braced his foot in my hand and began to cleanse it with a warm rag my mother had handed me. I slipped one of the vials from my bag and messaged it into his foot.

“What is that God awful smell?” My mother asked while pinching the bridge of her nose.

Dad snickered and gave me a wink before adding in his commentary, “Honey, that’s just my feet. Are you trying to get out of sleeping in bed with me tonight?”

Mom gently nudge him before planting a big kiss on top of his bald head. It always warmed my heart to see that they still were so in love after forty years of marriage. Dad always said it was because he knew how to romance a woman with clean dishes and folded laundry. He was such a great guy. He didn’t deserve the amount of pain and suffering he was dealt. I am praying that this medicine works.

The Journal of Lilly Ward

Week 1: I have rubbed a tablespoon of the mix on his foot once a night for seven days. It looks like one of the gaping holes has gotten less irritated, but it is still hard to tell.

Week 2: I have now increased the mix to two tablespoons once a night. It has been another seven days. The largest hole in the center of his foot looks like it is growing a layer of skin. When I pair this with an extra massaging it takes out some of the purple in his skin.

Week 3: I have kept it two tablespoons for the past seven days and have increased the time that I massage it into his foot. I think mom has finally gotten use to the smell. She hasn’t complained in a few days. I might have to test it with something that can overpower the smell of the garlic. Tony might now of something.

Week 4: I am running low on supplies. I have enough wine, but the garlic is getting scarce and Tony isn’t sure he can get a hold of any more for a while. This past seven days have shown tremendous success. I kept it at two tablespoons and have given a vigorous foot massage once a night. I have taught my mother the method and she has been doing the same routine in the morning. She thinks I bought some weird herbal stuff from a neighborhood drug store. His feet have a beautiful pink glow and the holes are almost closed entirely. He is even wiggling his toes at me!

Week 5: I used the last of my batch this week. I kept with the same routine but had to cut down to one tablespoon in the morning and one at night. Tony called at the beginning of the week and said he found some garlic. He is one state over so it will be a few days before he makes it back to me in Indiana. Ohio is dangerous territory with gang activity, so I hope he makes it back okay. He knows to travel by a single horse. Carriages get robbed in the rough areas. The good news is that the holes are closed, and dad is starting to put some pressure on his foot again. He started to try to walk again a day ago. He needs assistance, but I think he will have it mastered soon.

Week 6: Tony never made it back. His horse was found abandoned in an abandoned Wal-Mart parking lot. They hadn’t been in business in years. I wasn’t sure why there would still be a building standing and why Tony would have stopped there. I’m praying that they find him. I made a new batch without the garlic. The past seven days have been pleasant, but I am not sure if it is making a difference. His feet look great, but for how long? I need to get a hold of more garlic.

Week 7: Tony showed up to my door soaking wet with his clothes shredded. He looked like he had been in a fight with a mountain lion. He had been carrying more than garlic on him when he was attacked. Someone had heard that he had obtained watermelon seeds. That was a dangerous find. That was more than a piece of food. That was the possibility of multiple watermelons. The seeds were gone, but his assailants didn’t care about the garlic. I was able to get back on track. I started on the old routine but kept it to one tablespoon a day. I taught my dad to do this on his own. His foot looks amazing. I think it is time to send my research and findings into the WHO.

It had been a month since I sent in the letter with my findings before I had heard anything back. They sent me a return letter that read:

Dear Miss Ward,

               Your trials on your dad and the findings sound incredible. It is such a simple but powerful solution. We however are not able to fund this project or use this recipe as an antibiotic alternative. We have no way of getting a hold of enough garlic to make this a reality. It would take several years to regenerate enough crops to use for medicinal purpose. If you are interested, we can fund you and supply an acre of land to start growing garlic to slowly replenish what has been lost. We commend you on your efforts and are happy that your father will not lose his foot.

Thank you,

Kevin Patson

World Health Organization

               I guess I am going to become a farmer for a decade. Tony has agreed to become my partner. Maybe our relationship will become something more from there. My dad was able to be saved, but so many other innocent people will lose their lives while I am trying to replenish the Earth of natures medicine. If only the generations before me had done better. If only they had taken care of the beautiful land God had blessed them with instead of dumping on it like they did everything else. If only…