The Chosen/Borrowed Lives — 2026-02-20 (Patreon)

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Chapter 101: HEFTY LUNCH by Merritt Gray

Wheels up at 6 p.m. Paul said. I asked Hannah what’s for dinner and when we will eat it.

“The plane will have sandwiches and all that sort of thing,” she replied.

I started thinking with my stomach. She and I made some progress on the lighting hanger system we’re getting to design. Mr. Stewart looked at our sketches—still at the pencil-on-copy-paper stage—and tacitly approved.

“Okay, basics intact,” he said. “Now, think about integrating automation. Motion detectors on travel paths… Emergency lights with backup power circuits… You’ll need conduits for all that. Manual all-on—that’s where you are. Little add-ons for automatic safety and emergency—that’s where you need to go.”

“That makes sense,” I said.

“You have the foundation,” he added. “Now think in terms of 2040, not 2026. What’s possible? What’s plausible?”

We left the meeting with our sketch and the challenge to grow our thinking. That’s when I suggested we have a long, hefty lunch to augment the lighter provisions on the flight.

We brainstormed until the entrées came, then changed the topic to the Pay It Forward Society mission.

“So, our focus,” I said, “is to raise awareness.”

“And,” Hannah added, “this mission is about community infrastructures that don’t have a huge state or federal department funding them.”

Our job is going to be at a Mississippi Gulf Coast community’s neighborhood center.It has a huge role among those who live there. But it, like many other facilities, relies on local money.

As the U.S. moves deeper into the 21st century, things built fifty… seventy… even more years ago are starting to lose their capacity to function. Senior lunches, after-school programs, even hurricane refuge services… If the buildings fail, the programs are crippled.

So, that’s the overarching idea for our mission. Hope you enjoy learning about it with us!

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