The Rising. Stephanie Doyle-Cocchi

cut them off. She kept in touch with their parents, but only briefly on holidays and such. Elizabeth had 5 children and so Marilyn's twins were Robert and Maria's 6th and 7th grandchildren. They were excited. but not as much as Jack, Mark's dad.The twins took their time arriving and seven hours later Mark came out sweaty and exhausted to announce the Arrival of Liberty and Peace. The family shuffled down the hall to see mommy and babies. Bobby and Mark helped Jack move the giant bears. Mark left the room offering to get coffee if anyone wanted, Bobby followed him down to the cafe. "They are beautiful!"

      "Yeah, thanks but we both know they get that from their mother." they both laughed.

      "I want to talk to you about what I said last night. I have been networking with people across the country. I have found hundreds of people like me who are tired of what is going on in this country. People of all walks of life who want a serious change and together we have started to create small groups and each group is a small cog in a larger plan. We are planning a rebellion against the government."

      Bobby waited for the punchline,the chuckle the just kidding man" but it didn't come. He was serious and Bobby knew it, but it scared the crap out of him. He hated what was going on but he never really thought anything would change and here was Mark talking about networking with people to bring about a revolution. Were we really there? He paused in his thoughts. Yes, they were. He thought about his nieces growing up in today's society and he knew they needed to try, because what we had now doesn't work and it would only get worse without change. "Why not just run for a government position?"

      "I am too old to work my way up into the system to create change that way and besides we all know the elections are fixed. We have dead people voting, non-citizens voting, people voting more than once, however they continue to vote down any thought of allowing a felon to vote once they have paid their debt to society. We have a system where parties change the rules to ensure the election of the candidate they decide should be running. The opinion of the people doesn't matter, the popular vote doesn't matter. The people are not only being ignored they are being cheated." he took a breath and looked around. "Besides , I want change at all levels. I can't be at all levels without help. This plan works. I have been recruiting people across the country. We have been obtaining meeting locations and each local group recruits it's own members. We are extremely careful about whom we recruit. I don't want a bunch of crazy, half-cocked psychos. I want men and women who are fed up and want change. Once each group is large enough I will give them a piece of the plan. It is one big puzzle. The groups work in their space to prepare for the action that needs to take place in their assigned area. Each group has one piece, no one but me sees the whole picture. Until now, I want you to see the whole picture Bobby."

      Bobby was still silent. He was shocked by how much effort was really put into this. He originally thought it was a drunken rant, but it was more;so much more. He wondered if he should walk away, tell Mark he wasn't interested? The problem was, he was interested every word that was spoken pumped him up and created enthusiasm and fear. He wanted the changes that Mark was talking about, he wanted real, representative government. A government where the people elected were fighting at all levels for what the people needed and wanted, not what they were being paid off to vote for. He wanted a country where the elderly were covered. People who had worked their whole lives shouldn't have to worry that they wouldn't be able to live comfortably after they retired. He wanted the handicapped citizens of this country to truly be cared for, get the medical they needed and the education and services they were entitled to without every step being a never ending battle for the parents or caregivers of these people. The veterans of this country who had placed their lives on the line for this country were homeless, hungry and without proper medical care. These men and women should be a priority not an after thought and the truth was the current government didn't even consider them a thought. Actors and singers were running programs and fundraisers. They were creating foundations to help these men and women, but where was the government? The worst was the children. Millions of people especially children were hungry. The welfare system was a train wreck, it needed to be revamped and monitored. The child protection agencies were chasing ridiculous calls while other children were starved and beaten to death without even a home visit. The system was messed up, but no one in the government really wanted to fix it. He wanted there to be less taxes, study after study has proven that less taxes meant people had more money from their pay checks to take care of themselves. There was a large group of people in this country who were angry at and consistently knocking big box stores that paid their employees too little,in their opinion, because they couldn't live on what they were being paid. However, no one EVER mentioned that if the government didn't take almost 50% of their wages in taxes, they COULD live comfortably on what they earned. Bobby's thoughts were interrupted. He realized that Mark was still talking and he had gone on his own tangent thought about what needed to be fixed.

      "I have really thought hard about this and it works. It will take time to set everything in place, but it will be better in the end." Mark finally took a breath.

      "What does Marilyn think?" Bobby suddenly thought about his sister and her new baby girls. What this whole thing means to them.

      "I am keeping it from her. She already knows my opinion on all of these matters, but I am not involving her. If something goes wrong and I am arrested or something she needs to be able to say I had nothing to do with this and be there for the girls."

      "OK, where do we start?"