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Chapter 15 — Keeping the Faith

Andrew Gaertner
7 min readOct 5, 2021

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A serial novel in the form of correspondence among a family while the world as we know it collapses around us. I recommend you start at the Introduction:

https://medium.com/climate-for-change/climate-for-change-introduction-5331d5ab9313

But you can start anywhere you want.

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Chapter 15:

Website chatbox (Translated from Bulgarian)

Dear Dad,

Weeks have come and gone. There is still no word about Benji. He is just a boy! I go to our neighborhood military base every day, and they are not able to help. They did say that I could go to the Capitol and ask there.

On Saturday, Mel and I took the bus down to the State Capitol building. There were hundreds of people there outside. There were tents set up and people walking around with signs and holding photos of missing loved ones. There was a perimeter set up around the main steps, with razor wire and cement barriers. Up against the barrier were many makeshift memorials, with stuffed animals, plastic flowers, candles, and photos. So many photos. There was one opening in the center of the barrier, guarded by dozens of soldiers, with a line extending out from the opening that snaked down the street. Mel and I staked out a spot at the end of the line. And we waited. In line, we met several families like ours. Almost everyone we met was here looking for information about a missing family member. It took several hours to reach the opening and…

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Andrew Gaertner
Andrew Gaertner

Written by Andrew Gaertner

To live in a world of peace and justice we must imagine it first. For this, we need artists and writers. I write to reach for the edges of what is possible.

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