Chapter 18 –
A country divided
I spent the afternoon watching TV news in my room. It didn’t take long to learn where all those LNA trucks had gone. Canada now had a second border that extended across the northern edge of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Colorado. Essentially they had a line across the country from the Appalachians to the Rockies. Now having Colorado in the alliance made some sense.
The news was showing lines of LNA trucks blocking highways at every point they entered the southern provinces. A few soldiers with guns stood at every location, but the weapons were not pointed at civilians, and the southern news was showing pleasant looking LNA soldiers having polite conversations with drivers. The message was that the highway closures were just temporary while some customs processes were worked out. Please be patient and come back in a few days when the Southland will welcome you. I wondered how the northern stations were covering the event. I doubted they were showing patient drivers who had just been cut off from family and work.
It occurred to me I was now blocked in as well, although as an American I might be able to travel over the border to Georgia or Florida. That got me thinking about our family business. What was happening to our cross-border freight? I called Philadelphia. Dad was out but Catherine was in. It took a couple minutes to get past – are you hurt? Are you safe? – and then we were able to get down to business.
“All our trucks are getting into the northern provinces. There are some delays getting from Georgia into Louisiana, but usually they get through. We have no idea how much longer that will be true, and our drivers tell us the customs people they meet at the border are confused as well. Most of the customs people are employed by Canada, so they want to do what they have always done, but now there are LNA soldiers at the crossing points, and the soldiers want to participate in the process too. As you would imagine, that just leads to lots of confusion. No one is sure who is really in charge. For what it is worth, our customers down there are equally baffled. Can a Louisiana company export to the U.S.? Yes, at least for now. Can they ship to customers in Illinois? No.”
“Interesting point,” I said. It seemed time for me to say something useful. “I have some contacts in the Huguenot Business League. I might give them a call and get their take on all this.”
“I suggest you make it a quick call, little brother, and get the hell out of there. We have been monitoring our friends the Fosters and things have just gotten much, much worse. They just filed the creation of a new sub-unit of one of their publicly traded companies. Guess what? They are now in the arms export business. They have set up a unit in Tampa. Their public announcement does not name specific customers, but everyone guesses they will be shipping to the LNA. The stock in that company nearly doubled the day of the announcement.”
“The weasel in charge of the LNA military is Thomas LeBeck. You might see if he comes up in any connection with this new unit. It would not surprise me if he is on some advisory panel, or a consultant.” I was pretty sure Catherine would find something on him. “These guys are dirty. I know they are. Foster is pumping cash into their pockets. A consultancy might be one way to do it and still avoid the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.”
“I doubt the Fosters care much about the FCPA, but I will check. Who knows, we might get lucky.”
“We are long overdue for some luck. Tell everyone I am fine, and I’ll get back to you again soon.”
What a mess. So the roads into Georgia were open, but the roads into Illinois were closed. What genius made that call? What was next, barbed wire for a thousand miles? And what was the point? How were LeBeck and Andrees benefiting from closed highways? No doubt they would have some public statement justifying what they had done.
In the meantime, I thought it might be time to call Philippe Joubert to see how businesses on the border might be faring. Given his place on the board of the Huguenot Business League, he might be especially engaged in any business response. I pulled up my phone directory and tried to reach him. I went straight to voice mail. No surprise, a guy starting a new business at a time like this, he was a busy man. I left a message and hoped I would hear from him eventually.
“Eventually” turned out to be about fifteen minutes, but it was Marguerite who returned my call. Given how quickly she was speaking, and how breathless she sounded, I guessed her stress levels were off the chart.
“Shawn. It is good to hear from you. Philippe is taking calls from suppliers and from other members of the HBL. He asked if I would call you. We are hoping you can help with your friends in Green Bay.”
“Actually I am in New Orleans.”
“I hope you are safe there. But you might be even more helpful. Can you explain to the people there how much they are hurting business? If this is just for a few days, okay, we can handle shipping delays that long. But we were just recovering from the flood and the fires. We are trying to stock our new store. You should see it, Shawn.” “Suddenly her voice changed entirely. You would think she was describing one of her children. “We found a larger store available in the eastern suburbs. Traffic flows are ideal. The rent was high, but when we look at costs per customer, we think this could be our best store ever. We put thousands into redecorating, and the place is beautiful. But we were only half through with stocking the store. We open in two weeks. Where are we going to get shoes?” Her stress levels were back, and I could hear her words speed up and her voice rise nearly an octave.
“There has been no announcement down here. No one has said how long the border will be closed.”
“Border! Border! Have those people lost their minds? And when I see those LNA trucks after what they did to our stores…” At this point I was holding the phone farther and farther from my ear.
“What is the HBL saying?”
“Philippe called an emergency meeting for this evening. This madness has to stop. I am sorry those people were shot. That was a tragedy. And I know Louisiana has real concerns about how they have been treated as part of Canada. But this? And the LNA running the show? This is insane.” Suddenly I worried about her.
“Marguerite, remember what happened to your stores? Be careful with these people. Protect yourself and Philippe.”
“Oh don’t worry about that. We have more guns in the car and in the store. Just let those thugs try something again. Just let them try.” At that point I could well imagine her going toe to toe with the bad guys and coming out on top. I certainly hoped it came out that way.
“I will call again if I learn anything down here. Take care.” And I got off the line.
What had I learned? It was one thing to know people were sitting in a room and talking about creating a new country. It was quite another to see soldiers blocking roads. I wondered if the Heritage Party had overstepped.
I had lunch in the hotel dining room, not so much because I was hungry (although I was), but because I wanted to get some sense of how others were reacting. There were fifteen or sixteen people in the dining room, and the border was the sole topic of conversation. While it seemed rude to talk about a massacre, travel restrictions were fair game. After all, everyone in a hotel is there because they are traveling. What are travelers concerned about? Traveling. Could they drive out? Could they fly? Did they need a passport now to go from New Orleans to Chicago? I heard irritability all around me. Good.
Back in my room I checked email traffic while also keeping an eye on the TV. Surely whatever passed for a government these days would make some announcement about the new border. They did, but not until nearly four. For a group that had been choreographing events better than any Broadway show, this delay of an explanation seemed odd. Had they lost their stage director in the shooting yesterday? Or had the shooting pushed them to speed up an agenda? Clearly they were off their stride.
A few minutes before four, the local stations all announced there would be a statement from
the President’s office at four. The President’s office? I suspect I wasn’t the only one who wondered if we were going to get an announcement from Green Bay. That might actually have been helpful. The folks up north had been unbelievably silent. Statements from the national government were as absent as Canadian troops at the “border.” I was going to have to ask Elise about that.
But four o’clock came and it was clear we weren’t going to be hearing from Green Bay. The station switched to a studio with a large Heritage Party flag covering the back wall. In front of the flag was a small desk and a beautiful woman. I would guess her age to be about thirty – old enough to be taken seriously, but still young enough… well… I have no idea what beautify pageants she had won, but my guess was the number was large. She had very light brown hair, large brown eyes, and an oval face. She was dressed in white, of course, with a modest neck line and long sleeves. On one sleeve was the party arm band; on the other was the black band of mourning. She paused long enough to give everyone a good look at her, and then she began speaking,
“Hello. I am Catherine DuNuef, press secretary for Governor Andrees. The Governor has asked me to describe a number of events that have been brought on by yesterday’s tragedy. First, he wishes to thank the millions who have responded with prayers and best wishes. He has spent much of the day in prayer with his pastor as he seeks to understand those who have committed such a heinous crime. Second, he wishes me to announce a memorial service which will be held tomorrow evening at the Holy Redeemer Church here in New Orleans. Equipment is being installed that will allow the service to be shared in all Southland churches as we all seek to recover from this event. Unfortunately we have learned that yet another victim has succumbed to their wounds, bring the total to eighteen martyrs. We pray that the remaining survivors recover. We know they are receiving the best care possible here in Southland’s leading hospitals. Third, acting in his role as Louisiana governor, and with the concurrence of the governors of Arkansas and Colorado, Governor Andrees has asked the Louisiana National Army to take up positions along our northern border to protect us all from additional attacks. We must stop additional terrorists from entering our country. Procedures will be quickly adopted to enable Southland citizens who may be visiting Canada to come back to their homes. Canadian citizens will be allowed to enter our country once normal relations have been established between our countries. Fourth, millions of citizens have implored Governor Andrees to reconvene the constitutional convention as quickly as possible. While heartsick from the loss of so many close friends, Governor Andrees has agreed to reconvene the convention as soon as replacement delegates have been selected by each of the provinces. In the meantime, given the dangerous times we live in, the governors of Arkansas and Colorado have asked Governor Andrees to assume the role of President pro tem of Southland. He has reluctantly agreed to accept that title during this period of emergency. Lastly, he asked me to read these words to you: ‘Citizens of Southland, pray for your country. Our land is beautiful and bountiful. Our land is now free. It is ours to make safe for ourselves and for our children. That is our duty, and that will be our joy. God bless you all.’” She sat looking confidently into the camera for several more seconds, and then the scene faded to black.
So Andrees was President – and governor. Busy man. Apparently he was too busy to ask his fellow citizens to stop killing priests, but then, every man has limits on his time.
The person I most wanted to talk to was Elise. The view from Green Bay must be amazing. But I also wanted to respect her time. I would bet dollars to donuts she was sitting in a conference right that moment analyzing the speech we had all just heard. I would wait until evening and try her then. In the meantime? Maybe I would take another look around the Provincial Library.