The Maiden Maverick

By Todd Daley

The Maiden Maverick

As a result of Hal’s untimely death, Nancy Perez is living alone in a post Covid-24 world, where the country has lost three-fourths of its population. Basic government services like police, fire, sanitation, and post office are nonexistent—along with electric power and phone service. Coal stoves are used to cook food and heat homes. The Elm Park neighborhood has banded together to obtain food, shelter, and security. Reminiscent of the old west, everyone carries a gun – the ubiquitous 22-caliper handgun. On a nighttime walk to the Kill van Kull, Nancy meets Sam Worthington, a husky black man, with a troubled past. He becomes a guardian – stopping abuses of Darren Trupp’s Brown Shirts who barge into people’s homes – stealing valuables and assaulting women. The Truppers use drones equipped with cameras and lasers to surveille and attack individuals they deem to be rebels.

The Resistance is coordinated by Gerald Hopkins from his office in Wolstein’s factory. Hopkins and his aide, Mason, provide Nancy and Sam with guns, bullets, grenades and dynamite to fight the Truppers. There’s a plan by the Truppers to sabotage a coal-powered generating plant – shutting down power to the North Shore. Nancy, Sam, Freddy, Billy, and others engage the Brown Shirts in a gun battle outside the plant – routing them into the swamps of Travis. After the gun battle at the power plant, Sam moves in with Nancy. Soon, an old Army tank appears on Eggert’s Field, the grass-and-flower filled field across the street. A well-aimed grenade takes care of the tank, but a new challenge appears in the form of a refurbished World War Ii destroyer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9798823011860

Todd Daley

The author grew up on Staten Island – attending CCNY, Johns Hopkins University, and NYU earning BS, MAT, and PhD degrees respectively. He taught physics and mathematics many years in the high school and junior college levels. As a teacher, he tried to make abstract principles concrete by connecting them to everyday life. Ideally, the student should come away with essential information and the ability to solve problems, think rationally, and act ethically. The author has written the following nonfiction books: Apples and Oranges, Mathematical Concepts , and A Brief Guide to Philosophy. His novels include: 1950s-1960s Fable, 1960s-1970s Fable, The Mariners Harbor Messiah, Blue Collar Folks, The Pulaski Prowler, Love in the Days of Covid-20, The Maiden Maverick, and The Elm Park Time Travelers.

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© 2023 Todd Daley. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 07/18/2023

ISBN: 979-8-8230-1187-7 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-8230-1186-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023913355

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Hal’s Notebook

Chapter 2 Mendeleev and Avogadro

Chapter 3 Baseball Immortals

Chapter 4 A Visit to the Wolstein Factory

Chapter 5 The Saints and Basketball

Chapter 6 Quinn and Bubba

Chapter 7 A Stickball Game

Chapter 8 Contest at Kaffman’s Bar

Chapter 9 Looking at the Stars

Chapter 10 Fantasy, Reality, and Poetry

Chapter 11 An Unpleasant Visit

Chapter 12 Shooting Down a Drone

Chapter 13 A Childhood Dream

Chapter 14 A Trip to Brooklyn

Chapter 15 Where’s Billy Bumps?

Chapter 16 A Visit to the Wolstein Factory

Chapter 17 A Plan to Rescue Billy

Chapter 18 A Plan to Save the Power Plant

Chapter 19 Power Plant Showdown

Chapter 20 An Overnight Invite

Chapter 21 Grazing on Eggert’s Field

Chapter 22 The Brothers Grey

Chapter 23 A Thomas Hardy Novel

Chapter 24 Nancy and Sam Seized

Chapter 25 Gloom and Landum Juiced

Chapter 26 Dr. Emil’s New Home

Chapter 27 Blowing Up Big Things

Chapter 28 The Moulin Rouge

Chapter 29 A Change in Venue

Chapter 30 A Daring Plot and a Good Doctor

Chapter 31 A Drastic Plan

Chapter 32 A Modest Plan

Chapter 33 Dropping Leaflets

Chapter 34 Trip to Miller Field

Chapter 35 A Biweekly Newspaper

Chapter 36 Gun Battle in Port Richmond

Chapter 37 Disassembling a Laser

Chapter 38 Return to the Moulin Rouge

Chapter 39 Zapping from Above

Chapter 40 Doing Something Nice

About the Author

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive, but

it is lightning that does the work."

- MarkTwain

CHAPTER 1

HAL’S NOTEBOOK

The sun peaked through a dissipating fog above the yellow stucco house as Nancy stood on her front porch. It was a preternaturally warm day in early February 2028. Except for one big blizzard in January, it had been a mild winter. Global warming was an undeniable reality. The Elm Park neighborhood was eerily quiet except for a barking dog and an occasional car passing on Pulaski Avenue and turning down Walker Street. With gasoline going for eight dollars a gallon, the pothole-filled streets were traversed by pedestrians and bicycles alongside deer, raccoons, and foxes. Cars and trucks were rarely seen. It brought to mind the remark of Hal’s grandmother, made so many years ago: A car is a luxury. Problem was bus service, despite promises of its return, was nonexistent—except for in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Staten Island, the outermost of New York City’s five boroughs, hadn’t seen a TA bus in five years. As far as electricity was concerned, it was off much more than it was on.

The words think positive echoed in Nancy’s mind. Her deceased common-law husband, Hal Haley, would have urged this. Upbeat, hardworking, and bookish, Hal put a positive light on any obstacle life placed in his path. He was shot on Pulaski Avenue scarcely twenty feet from their front porch by those thugs. It was four years ago, but it seemed like yesterday. Hal’s untimely death was like a nagging toothache that would never go away. She had heard that death transforms you from a person to an idea. His last project—his unstructured school for the neighborhood kids—was probably his best idea. She had tried to keep it going with Hank and Freddy, but neither were teachers. As with Hal, his unstructured school was destroyed by the flash of a gun. Thankfully, his ideas from the reading of literature, history, and philosophy were preserved in the notebooks he had compiled over many years.

From time to time, she’d read Hal’s notebook on the ancient Greeks and Romans and tried to explain some of it to the neighborhood kids. Hal had mentioned the Roman Stoics, like Epictetus and Seneca, who stressed virtue and love. The early Christians had been influenced by the Stoics. She recalled Plato’s parable of the cave, in which prisoners can only see shadows on a wall. One of them escapes and observes the real objects casting the shadows. Plato said that idea, not objects, were ultimate reality—timeless, unchanging, and perfect. Alfred, the Black kid who collected coins, had asked about a quote from Socrates. After searching though Hal’s notebook on the ancient Greeks and Romans, Nancy was able to find it: The unexamined life is not worth living.

Near the end of this notebook were some non sequitur items. The difference between simile and metaphor was explained. Simile is a comparison of two different things using like or as. The sprinter ran like a deer. Metaphor is a comparison using a figure of speech. The tanker ship plowed the sea.

Then there was an explanation of the difference between physics and metaphysics. Physics is the science dealing with matter, gravity, energy, sound, light, radio waves, and the laws of motion. Whereas metaphysics examines the ultimate reality of the universe beyond the laws of physics.

In another notebook, Alfred found a section on Pascal’s law that interested him. The law stated that pressure applied to an enclosed liquid is transmitted internally in every direction of the liquid. The kid said it was the principle behind the hydraulic lift. Nancy looked at the notebook with Alfred—finding the material on Blaise Pascal interesting. He appeared to have wide-ranging interests in science and mathematics. In algebra, Pascal’s triangle derived the coefficients of the binomial expansion. She recalled Hal explaining that a binomial is the sum of two algebraic terms, whereas a trinomial is the sum of three algebraic terms. With regard to the existence of God, Pascal asserted that God does not mark his presence in the world with indelible footprints. So, he made an interesting argument for God’s existence—referred to as the religious wager.

Expected Value = (Reward Value) (Probability)

Even if the probability that God exists is low, the reward value of infinite happiness makes it worthwhile to bet that God exists. Thus, people ought to kind, humble, generous, and sincere. And a person risks nothing by living a virtuous life—virtue has its own rewards.

Alfred was called upstairs by his mom, but Nancy continued reading Hal’s notebook. There was extensive material on probability, which stated that probability ranges between 0 and 1:

0 ≤ prob ≤1.

An unusual event was also defined by an equation:

Prob (Unusual Event) ≤. .05.

For example, the probability of tossing a coin and getting four heads in a row is

Prob = ½ x ½ x ½ x ½ = 1/16 = 0.0625.

An unlikely event, but not considered an unusual event. Lightning strikes and meteor hits were unusual events.

The probability of being struck by lightning is

Prob = 1/1,000,000 = 0.000001.

The probability of being hit by a meteorite is

Prob = 1/250,000 = 0.000004.

Amazing, she thought, I’m more likely to be hit by a meteor than to be struck by lightning. Nancy’s readings were interrupted by Freddy von Voglio.

Hey Nancy. I got some coffee and donuts—fresh from Harty’s.

The slender young woman stepped off the porch onto the sidewalk and took the coffee and donuts. She thanked him and sipped on the coffee. I don’t know about the donuts.

What? You worried about getting fat? Freddy smiled his wry smile and rubbed his hands—habits that signaled his contentment with the world.

After hesitating she took a donut and nibbled on it slowly. How old are you Freddy? If I may ask.

Sure you can ask. I was born in 1943. You do the arithmetic, Freddy replied, rubbing his hands vigorously.

Pausing momentarily and then counting on her fingers, Nancy exclaimed, Wow! You’re eighty-five. Do you believe in God?

Sure. The guy upstairs has been good to me. And I still throw that Spalding speedball. You can count on one hand the losses I had in fastpitch stickball. Harry the Horse beat me twice, the Messiah guy smacking the ball into the cemetery, and Tom Haley—Hal’s dad—beat me on a blooper I dropped.

Very impressive, Freddy.

Now when it comes to basketball. I never had that soft touch that Hal had. But I gave them a good run for their money, Freddy said with his wry smile.

Suddenly, they heard a whirling sound above. It was a tiny drone a hundred feet up surveying the neighborhood. Nancy grabbed Freddy and pulled him up the front steps to the porch.

Scrutinizing the drone, Freddy shrugged his shoulders. This one just has a camera. The drones with lasers are bigger, with a barrel, Freddy remarked with his mirthless grin.

They’re all scary to me, Nancy said grimly.

At that moment, Hank Anker ambled down the street and stopped at the porch. Drone alert. Big Brother snooping. Brown Shirts on Morningstar Road.

Hank, a telegraph operator, had a laconic style of speaking. He was a wiry, high-strung young man who fidgeted. Hank nodded to Nancy and Freddy and continued walking about—stopping in some of the houses to warn them about the Brown Shirts.

I heard it through the grapevine that Trupp’s coming back to New York. He’ll stomp on anybody who talks against him. Freddy smiled his goodbye to Nancy.

Somebody should shoot the son of a bitch, Nancy called out.

You’re the best shot around. Hold that thought, Freddy said, rubbing his hands and rushing off to catch up with Hank.

When Hal was alive, Nancy took target practice in the little woods behind the flats. He accompanied her—shooting the .22-caliber pistol with nearly the same accuracy. Nonetheless, she was aware that Trupp traveled with a coterie of bodyguards willing to take a bullet for their leader. Unlike most politicians, Trupp didn’t enjoy meeting the folks. He avoided crowds, traveled in a bulletproof limo, and hated big cities. In private, he spoke disparagingly of the ghetto and people of color.

Nancy heard Torte, the big male tortoiseshell cat, purring through front screen door. Torte had been found wandering in the street by Hal. The cat was cherished for his friendliness and his ferocity when it came to fighting rats. From time to time, a rat would find its way into their dungeon-like cellar. Torte would quickly detect the rodent’s presence and dispatch the gruesome creature quickly. It had been Hal’s job to bag the dead rat and carry it out of the house. Currently, Nancy relied on Freddy to do that job for her.

Years ago, Hal had showed Nancy a big grassy field near the Bayonne Bridge where semi-tame, light brown rats roamed around. They were offspring of white laboratory rats who took residence in a small abandoned house in the field. Hal had done a maze-learning experiment for his master’s degree at CCNY. His findings that rats raised on a high-protein diet were smarter than those on a low-protein diet was no surprise. The ramshackle house had been the domicile of a red-bearded hermit a long time ago. Hal’s dad had delivered the Herald Tribune to the man—even after he could no longer pay for it. Years later, the police had discovered the remains of the hermit in the house. He had lived alone and died alone. One of many people in New York City living lives of silent desperation.

Hal had compiled material on the new COVID virus—COVID-24—and its devastating impact on millions of people in America and across the globe. Throughout the world, the effects of the virus were catastrophic—from country to country, the population was roughly one forth its pre-COVID levels The lucky survivors possessed a gene that resisted the virulent COVID-24 virus. America, once a prosperous nation of 330 million people, had become a third-world country of 88 million people struggling to eat, clothe, and shelter themselves. Governments at all levels clamped down on people’s rights of free speech, free press, assembly, and privacy. The country’s falling population drove the government to enact even stricter laws prohibiting abortion. But the tiny police departments in nation’s cities made enforcement of such laws a moot question. In fact, the operative word for government—whether local, state, or federal—was anarchy.

Viruses, one of the simplest forms of life, mutate easily as a result of gamma rays, ultraviolet rays, X-rays, and chemical agents. Apparently the COVID-19, the COVID-20, and the COVID-24 viruses were cousins with many similarities in terms of symptoms, but one key difference. The vaccine for the COVID-19 virus was partially effective against the COVID-20 virus, but not at all effective against the new COVID-24 virus. With the high death rates, falling tax revenues, survivors fleeing the cities, and crumbling infrastructure, advanced countries no longer had the technological wherewithal to develop a vaccine for the COVID-24 virus. Hence, most of the developed world functioned at a preindustrial level. Hal, a student of science and literature, was no longer alive to witness this stunning regression. It would have upset him to see technological, political, and cultural collapse on a global level.

On the last page, there was a list of essential vitamins and minerals:

Nancy went inside to prepare a light supper. Never a big eater, she’d had to force herself to eat since Hal’s death. She told herself Hal was watching her from above—silently urging her to endure. Checking the pantry, she grabbed a can of Campbell’s soup chicken soup and a box of crackers. The kitchen stove served a dual purpose—cooking and heating the first floor. It burned coal. Hal had said that coal was the dirtiest of the fossil fuels. But with broken pipelines and deteriorating infrastructure, oil and gas were in scarce supply. Hal had talked about installing a solar panel on their sloping, flat roof to provide power to LED lights in the house. Sadly, he never got around to it.

Thus, coal, the fossil fuel of choice, was strip-mined in Appalachia. Basically this was done by shearing off mountain tops to get at the coal seams. Deep-pit mining was largely a thing of the past.

There was a similar coal stove upstairs. Hal had accumulated a large pile of coal in Perry’s junkyard for the neighborhood to share. He also transported some coal to the cellar, so Nancy could use it when needed. But more coal could be obtained from the mountain of coal in the abandoned Riche coal yard on Winant Street.

Hal had made sure there was a large stock of canned goods in the pantry. Rummaging through the shelves, Nancy came across a one-pound can of five vegetables—peas, green beans, lima beans, carrots, and celery. It was an unfamiliar brand name—Layer-Pak. Since the can appeared slightly swollen, she tossed it in the garbage.

As a teacher, Hal realized the importance of planning one’s next step—actually one’s next one hundred steps. Nancy perused a notebook devoted to environmental issues. In 2020, the USA emitted sixty-eight million tons of air pollutants into the atmosphere—particle pollutants plus gases like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, and particulates like lead. Much of this pollution originated with the burning of fossil fuels, natural gas, oil, and coal. In addition, 545 tons of solid wastes were produced—68 percent wound up in landfills, 5 percent was incinerated, and 27 percent was recycled. An estimated 50 percent of the fresh water in the USA was too polluted for swimming, fishing, or drinking. The Great Lakes, representing one-fifth of the world’s fresh water, were becoming polluted as a result of human wastes, chemical fertilizers, and industrial runoffs.

In this notebook, Hal had argued that the country should replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources like sun and wind. It would benefit the country economically and reduce air, water, and soil pollution. Solar energy is the ultimate renewable energy source. Throughout the world, the solar constant averaged 1.36 kilowatts per square meter. If just 1.2 percent of the Sahara Desert was used for solar panels, it would be sufficient energy to power the entire world. With regard to wind energy, the average wind speed worldwide is 10.3 miles per hour. However, wind velocity varies from place to place on the globe. In South Dakota, average wind speed is 21.3 miles per hour, while in New York it’s 15.4 miles per hour. Like solar energy, wind energy is a clean renewable energy source. The country’s appetite for fossil fuels in lieu of renewable energy was puzzling to Hal.

Next, Hal defined efficiency with an equation:

Efficiency = Output/Input.

The average gasoline engine is 30 percent efficient, while the diesel engine is 40 percent efficient. But due to internal friction, road conditions, and air resistance, the overall efficiency of the average automobile is 20 percent. A fuel-burning engine would be 100 percent efficient only if the exhaust gas in its tailpipe was at a temperature of absolute zero. No such internal combustion engine has ever been invented, so efficiency improvements have always been marginal.

In another notebook, Hal tabulated information on tall structures. In 1889, the Eiffel Tower, made of steel and cast iron, was built. It has a height of 986 feet or 1,083 feet when the spire is included. Originally painted red, the Eiffel Tower is a bronze color. In the summer, it is about six inches higher due to thermal expansion. The Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure in the world until 1908 when the Chrysler Building was erected. It was a seventy-seven-story art deco skyscraper with a distinctive spire. Then in 1931, the Empire State Building, another art deco skyscraper, was constructed, consisting of 102 stories and standing 1,250 feet high—1,454 feet with the TV antenna. In 1973, the ill-fated World Trade Center was built. It had consisted of twin towers—110 stories each, standing 1,380 feet high. They were destroyed by maniacs flying airplanes into both buildings. The lesson Nancy gleaned from this notebook was that a few crazies can destroy the good work of thousands of people.

In the same notebook, there was a section devoted to the contributions of immigrants to America. The Russian immigrant Adolph Levitt conceived of that irresistible snack—the donut. In 1920, he invented the automatic donut machine, which turned them out like hotcakes. Before that, in 1871, Levi Strauss, born in Belgium, made the first blue jeans out of cotton twill fabric, calling them waist overalls. In the early 1900s, Canadian immigrant Joseph Kraft invented American cheese—to be eaten in thin slices. At the same time, German immigrants from Hamburg created the perfect match for cheese slices—the hamburger. Another Canadian immigrant Dr. James Naismith invented the game of basketball at a YMCA gym in 1891 to give baseball players something to do in the winter. More recently, Hedy Lamar, an Austrian-Jewish immigrant, fled the Nazis to become an American movie star. Trained as an engineer, Miss Lamar worked on sonar transmission and detection underwater. She invented a submarine sonar detector, which was useful in World War II. Her ideas were applied to WiFi technology in the latter part of the twentieth century.

Toward the end of this notebook were a few pages devoted to America’s legal system. On it, Hal tabulated data on the heavy role lawyers have in the government. As of 2022, 170 members of the House (435 total) were lawyers and 60 US Senators were lawyers (100 total). With regard to state governors, 26 of 50 were lawyers. Altogether, there were 1,328,000 lawyers in the USA—three times as many per capita as Great Britain. The over-abundance of lawyers might have explained the fact that there were 2.2 million Americans incarcerated, with another 4.5 million on parole. Although the USA represented only 5 percent of the world’s population, it had 25 percent of the world’s prisoners.

While heating the chicken soup, she continued to read this notebook, which also tabulated Darren Trupp’s doings. The former NYC real-estate tycoon from Queens had been elected president, though he’d lost the popular vote. He enacted a tax cut for the wealthy and embraced authoritarian regimes over the globe, but did little to curtail the COVID-19 and COVID-20 epidemics. The subsequent presidential election was a different story: Trupp was defeated by veteran politician Bo Jargon. By and large, Trupp’s supporters refused to accept the election results, becoming known as election deniers.

Failing to be reelected, Trupp vowed to return to power by ballet or by force. However, the emergence of an even more virulent COVID-24 virus drove him out of the country. With his own private jet, he could go anywhere in the world he chose to live. The narcissistic politician withdrew to the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, plotting a return through a coup d’etat. It was reported that Darren Trupp liked to visit Bikini Atoll because of its scenic beauty and the fact that it was relatively uninhabited. Neither Mr. Trupp nor his followers had any inkling about the atoll’s radioactivity and the strontium-90 in its soil and well water.

Putting Hal’s notebook down, Nancy wondered about the country’s future. Unlike Hal, politics was a subject for which she had neither interest in nor knowledge of. The newly elected president, Bo Jargon, seemed to be a nice man. But he had rarely been seen in public after his swearing in. There were rumors circulating that Jargon was incapacitated from a severe bout of COVID-24. Other rumors had spread that Bo Jargon had been kidnapped by vigilantes loyal to Darren Trupp. When the president turned up at a White House event—speaking in his customary inarticulate manner—those rumors also proved to be false.

Nothing would surprise Nancy about Mr. Trupp. Like all despots, he seemed to believe that the end justified any means at hand. With millions of dollars at his disposal, Darren Trupp had built a cadre of followers in every region of the country. With regard to the Trupp phenomenon, most disturbing was the millions of followers he had in every region of the country. He had purchased brown uniforms for the Truppers to wear at his rallies, calling his supporters Brown Shirts. When an aide pointed out the connection to Hitler, Trupp replied that he wasn’t going to pay for millions of new shirts and trousers for his supporters.

Like many demagogues through the ages, Trupp operated according to the equation:

Fear + Hate = Power.

Nancy recalled Hal reading Machiavelli’s The Prince to her. Darren Trupp must also have read Machiavelli, who was the first to say that the end justifies the means. A sixteenth century Italian diplomat, Niccolo Machiavelli asserted, It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot have both; the successful leader uses force and cunning to stay in power; people judge by appearances rather than the underlying reality. Nevertheless, Machiavelli urged caution to politicians: never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception. Most of all, leaders should appear to be upstanding, honest, and moral—even if they’re not.

Hal believed that Americans had an instinctive dislike of demagogues and that eventually Trupp would wind up in the dustbin of history. Yet Darren Trupp was popular in the south and in the business community. An enthusiastic Trupp supporter was Ike Loondell, creator of My Cushion—a portable cushion you carried in a knapsack. It had a battery-powered heater and vibrator for ultimate sitting comfort. But there had been problems with the battery—sometimes it spontaneously burst into flames. Hal declared, With friends like that, Trupp doesn’t need enemies. Lacking Hal’s sunny optimism, Nancy was frightened by the Trupp movement. Hal had made light of her concern. Don’t worry. It can’t happen here.

On the fridge, Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 was pinned:

Or I shall live your epitaph to make

Or you survive when I in earth am rotten,

From hence your memory death cannot take.

Although in me each part will be forgotten.

Your name from hence immortal life shall have,

Though I, once gone, to all the world must die.

The Earth