Brian
& Kelly Anderson:
In a world where the cannibalistic undead are looking to chow down on the
living, it is quite easy to forget about the basic tenants of humanity. And the
first element of survival is family. Family above all. I think all of us have
banded together as a loosely tied family at this point. But let’s look at our
“families.” You have Alex and myself, initially you had Janet and Kim, and then
later you had Janet, Kim, and Brad. Now,
we also have Kasondra and Brad. Aside from those pairings, everyone else was
alone. But then that brings us to when our rolling band of vagabonds rolled up
in their SUV. They brought us Brian and Kelly Anderson.
Brian and Kelly had a home on the
outskirts of Claremore and they were the ones that took in Justin, Erik, Kimber
and Nicki when that quartet made it out of Tulsa. They stayed in the small
community, scavenging what they could until it was time to move on. Their
mantra was that slow and steady wins the race. That got them this far and it is
good enough for me. I can’t place Brian in the same category as someone like
Kanen or Lance. I wouldn’t categorize any of our people as reckless but they
are more likely to be aggressive in a situation where Brian is much more
calculating and defensive. I don’t know if this analogy will make any sense but
if Brian was in World of Warcraft he would be a Paladin. If he was making a
deck in Magic: The Gathering, his primary color would be white. For all my
non-geeks out there who need an explanation, Brian may not beat you with his
offense but you are not beating his defense. Some people attack a situation
wanting to win and others defend a situation not wanting to lose. Brian plays a
defensive game.
We thought we were pretty good and set
when it came to our defenses before. Brian and his big brain came up with
contingency plans for our contingency plans. He was coming up with plans for
when things go wrong and I have yet to find flaws in his logic. Brian will be
the first to tell you that he is not a front line guy. I don’t criticize him
for that. I think it is a smarter man that knows his place in the world and
acknowledges his weaker areas. Brian would be the guy back at base watching the
satellite feeds and telling the Special Forces groups where to go. That isn’t
my analogy. That is one that he said openly.
But what sets Brian apart from the
others is that he is fighting for someone else. Not that we aren’t all in this
thing together but Brian has a little more skin in the game than most because
he is fighting for his wife.
Kelly Anderson is originally from
Texas. (Being that the rest of us are from Oklahoma, we try not to hold that
against her.) She and Brian were married last year and she moved up to live
with him in Claremore. During their courtship, Kelly was one of those big
muckers in some corporate gig and she couldn’t just walk away. So she was
closing out all her accounts and such while they were planning their wedding. I
think theirs is one of those rare couples that did not live together before
they got married.
I will say this for Kelly. Despite
working in a corporate office and seeming to be one of those professionals, she
sure does know her way around a garden. She has been really instrumental in
tending to our garden that we have created on the roof. This is a pretty cool
thing because that is not an area that I am even the least bit versed with that
sort of thing. I am leaving that in their capable hands. This has really helped
her bond with Demo Judy and Jenny as both of them have really been working hard
to get that off the ground. Kelly is the perfect example of the “Adapt or Die”
adage.
While they have not talked a lot about
it, I have deduced that Kelly has some family up north. It wouldn’t surprise me
if at some point down the road, Brian and Kelly decide to pull the same thing
that Wes and Kyndall did this afternoon. I could see them loading up and making
a push north… But that could be way down the road. For now, I am very happy to
have them within our group.
