Abraham. A town where you have a greater chance of winning the lottery than you do being hit by a car. Why? Because there’s only about 20 cars in the entire town, 15 of them are home made. There are currently 3,000 people living here in Abraham. The town’s lack of cars is simply explained by the town’s motto, “Every raw product is free, except money and finished products.” Other than the absence of cars, the town is normal.



Some smaller shops sell finished products like clothes, candy, and food. But most stores sell raw products such as metals, fabrics, paper, cardboard, plastic, and foods. Some stores have mini kitchens/ Laundromats. They let you use sinks, blenders, dishwashers, and any other common house hold appliance. Services such as carpentry, black smiths, doctors, and other more complex services are available, except they come at a price.


Abraham is just like every other town, people work and have jobs because businesses need help and people like to have money in case of an emergency when free raw products won’t help. All raw items are free but any completed item, such as a toy or binder, must be purchased. You can make your own supplies using free materials and tools that you can rent, buy, own, or borrow from a friend.



Many families have a parent who works one day, then takes the next day off. The women will either work two days a week or not work at all. The men either work three days a week or all week. On days off, women usually cook, clean house, take care of their children, and socialize with friends. It sounds normal and is, except for the cooking. Food must be prepared from scratch if it is going to be free. All of the ingredients are free for example; flour, sugar, and cooking oil are free. Men usually have jobs so the family will have money to buy finished items and pay for services. But, on their days off, they build and repair items around their house.


Wood is the most common building supply because it is easy to work with. The town cuts their own wood in the surrounding forests. 10 acres a year is marked off for the lubber industries. The previous year’s area is replanted with pine, red wood, and oak seeds so the years to come, it will be thriving with trees again.


When a family decides to build a new house, the families have their aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, and friend’s come out to help them build their house. Since equipment that we take for granted everyday is unavailable, everything is man powered. Pulleys are used as cranes to hoist products high, (approximately one story). Many at home pulleys are easily mounted to building or a plank of wood.


Home furniture is mostly made at home unless the man in the family has no furniture building skills, then it can be purchased from a neighbor, but no store in the town sells furniture. The easiest article of furniture for an average man of Abraham to build is a bed set or table. Cabinets and night stands are fairly easy to make. But the most challenging article of furniture to make is a drawer. This is so because everything has to line up. And for the most used drawers, they often require a drawer rail.

The town was founded in 1966 by a large group of friends. The total number of people that lived in the town in its first year was 85 people. This particular group of people was good at building general supplies and didn’t want to pay for them. But, since pre-made items had to be shipped in, they would cost money. There have since been ten mayors and the town now is on its eleventh mayor. The town’s most popular method of transportation is the horse and buggy because there isn’t a use for cars except for people who travel to nearby towns. People don’t drive cars because they are hard to make, expensive, and there aren’t any car dealers or gas stations in Abraham. Abraham is right in the face of a small mountain in Colorado that is relatively remote during summer but close to impossible to get to in winter. The town is named after Abraham Lincoln who grew up outside of a small town like Abraham. The town’s people are also very patriotic just like Abe was. In fact, Abraham has a 3 day 4th of July party that the entire town participates in. the 3rd of July is for preparation, the 4th is the day of the parade, fireworks, parties and this all generally carries on into the next morning.



So far, only one single person out of the 5,000 that have lived in this town doesn’t like it. He is the Grinch of the town, the Scrooge of the town; he despises it and is always trying to find a way to interfere with the towns events, holidays, traffic lights, even the postal service, which he was arrested for. His name is Steve Capone. He lives in a small house far away from everyone else. He comes into town at night to get his supplies to last him two weeks. He doesn’t have a girlfriend, wife, kids, or any know relatives. Just good old Steve. He has one horse and one cart to ride behind the horse. He has never liked any people, just the town and the one shop he goes to, The Hoarders, a full automated store with nobody in it is when he goes. He doesn’t like other people, except himself.



What happened to Steve to make such a menacing man he is today? It all started about 40 years ago when Steve’s family came to this town as a tourist group. Steve liked the town and the idea of it, although, his family despised it. They didn’t like the idea that everybody could strive and not have to suffer like they did before Steve was born. The family thought that everybody should go through the same pain as they once had to. And, it was that hate that nurtured the devil on Steve’s shoulder. Steve saw the hatred towards people coming from his parents and naturally thought it was normal. He soon became one of his parents. While in the town of Abraham though, Steve wanted to live in the town and the rest of the family just wanted to go home. As many battles were fought in a 24 hour period, Steve eventually decided to stay on the town while his family left him there at the age of 15. He became an annunciated minor and changed his name from Steve Carlson to Steve Capone. He decided to live on the outside of town where he felt most at home because he was away from people which he strongly disliked and he realized how much he didn’t like people and how many people lived in the town that also disliked because of the way they all looked at Steve’s family when they came on vacation. Like dominoes, Steve came to dislike the town because of the people and the people because of his parents.

One night of Steve’s life will always be remembered by the town. In fact, the town almost had a holiday for it, but Steve didn’t want that kind of attention. But he deserved it.


One night while Steve was just walking into The Hoarders, he heard running. He thought at first it was just some kid. But, then he thought that if a kid was running in a grocery store, his parents would be yelling and he would be making a lot of noise. This person wasn’t.

“Hello,” Steve called out into the darkness.

“Get out!” yelled the stranger as Steve saw him barreling towards him carrying grocery’s and what appeared to be a gym bag that was full and swing behind the man. Steve simply stood his ground as the stranger charged at Steve. Just as the running stranger was only about one foot away, Steve stepped to the left, but left his right foot still where it was. With Steve’s leg out-stretched, the stranger didn’t have time to react, he tripped, flew through the air, landed on his stomach, and slammed into a self check out machine, which Steve noticed was destroyed. Wires sparked as the briefly connected. The gym bag was in fact a gym bag and burst open upon landing. Money was scattered everywhere around Steve and the robber. There was an emergency button on the wall by the door, but he waited before sprinting over, opening the case and smashing the button to the wall, instead, Steve peeled off the skiers mask from the slightly tanned man, who was wearing all black and even some black body paint in possible places that would be exposed while running around the store. He had his ankles, wrists, and even around his eyes and mouth. His shirt was tucked in so it didn’t frail behind him. Once Steve took the mask off, he saw a man who he didn’t recognize. So he turned the lights on for a better look. Steve assumed that the robber turned the lights off, he instantly recognized the man from the ally which he usually hangs out in when he needs to go somewhere during the day. Since Steve doesn’t like people, he will wait outside of The Hoarders waiting for one of the only people in the store to leave. He never heard his real name, but he heard his friends call him Blackout. Now it made since. He turned off all of the lights, dressed himself in black, so when he came in to a store for a robbery, he would blend in with the blackness around him and the security cameras would never see him. After Steve recognized the man, he hit the police button and within minutes, the police were in the store and Blackout was arrested. The town didn’t like him because he stole from stores that sold finished products and also stole from banks. Steve was considered a hero, but he didn’t want to be, so the next day, he told the town he didn’t want a holiday or anything. But, the town insisted in give him and mounting a plaque in the towns hall of fame. Now, there is one plaque with Steve’s name on it, although, everyday, Steve goes to the hall of fame and tries to cover it with anything from a piece of paper, to mud. But, the town always cleans’ the plague within the hour.

“Hey! What are you doing to that plaque?!” someone will sometimes call out.

“It’s my plaque and I’ll do whatever I want with it,” Is Steve reply every time.
The prosecuting person always apologizes, says something about Steve behind their back, and walks away. Steve is actually proud of his plaque. If it weren’t in the middle of town for everybody to see, he would polish it and make sure nobody touched it, like he does with the one at his house. Since the committing person did such a wonderful thing, the person should have a personal one.


Steve doesn’t often carry on conversation with anybody, but will talk to people while he’s in disguises trying to mess up the town. He has two closets in his house, one full of disguises and the other with regular clothes. During his last disguised town visit, he was able to paint over his plaque and a bright red line going over all of the sidewalks.
To be continued