CHAPTER 1

HEAVY EQUIPMENT WAS BEING brought in on flatbed trucksowned by Dick Geppert of 'Geppert Bro.' and this current flatbedwas being driven by John Henry Lightcap, husband to Kathleenand father to Ryan and Grace. John was responsible for securingthe equipment onto the elongated flatbed trailer, and then deliveringits contents to a specified site. Once the equipment arrived atits destination, the equipment would be driven off the rig. Thisprocess continued on throughout the day and into the evening, ifnecessary.

When all of the equipment had been delivered to the sites, itwas then that John would drive back to Geppert's storage yard.John didn't return to these specific construction sites until the jobhad been completed, unless there was no longer a need for thatpiece of equipment, or that a piece of heavy equipment had brokendown.

The equipment was often loud, and its heavy tracks vibratedthe barren earth; as each machine rumbled around a site, onecould already visualize an established housing development ormall. The drivers of these powerful mammoths are usually withintheir own world, often listening to music at full volume on theirheadphones as they level the land mass to the specifications ofthe developer. One of these drivers, a fellow by the name of JeffFischer, finally recognizes, as he works the land, far away fromany of the other equipment operators, that his bulldozer is sinkingheavily, more-so to the rear. The bulldozer is also leaning to hisleft, and this is confusing because the land has been previouslysurveyed, and is considered to be flat, and solid.

Jeff, until this point in time, had been enjoying his favoriteLed Zeppelin song, but luckily notices before it is too late that thebulldozer is slowly sinking; Jeff immediately and forcefully shifts themachine into its lowest gear and the bulldozer responds, climbingsteadily out of its descent and onto an area where it sits level. Uponthe realization that his mammoth was now on solid ground, hehalted the machine, removed his headphones, and sat motionless.As Jeff was regaining his "not a worry in the world" attitude, he stillfelt a considerable amount of anxiety, and thus he made sure thatthe machine was in neutral. He climbed down from the bulldozerand approached the hole.

When fairly close to the hole, he recognized a horribly fouland putrid stench emanating from it; acrid enough to make himimmediately and violently sick to his stomach. He swiftly turnedaway, as if hiding his face from a fistic assault, and forcefullyvomited until he was experiencing extensive dry heaves. Thinkingthat this was a previously placed sewage pipe and that the bulldozerhad somehow split it open, Jeff struggled to get his thoughtstogether. Fearing that he might be held accountable and causethe company a possible lawsuit, he straightened his torso andlooked around the area, trying to assess if his recent actions hadgained the attention of any of the other operators. Fortunately forJeff, he was in an area all by himself and the closest of the otheroperators was about eighty-five yards away. From that distance,it was probably assumed that Jeff had gotten off his rig to checksomething lying on the ground, and when he bent over, that hewas merely investigating what he had found. No one appeared tohave paid him more than the slightest bit of attention.

Jeff walked back and climbed upon his bulldozer, placed theengine into proper gear, lowered the shovel, and began to hide thedamage. With each mound of dirt that was pushed back into thehole, the stench lessened, and eventually the hole was filled. Jeffadded more dirt than what appeared necessary because he feltthat the hole may not be totally filled. Slowly but surely, he drovethe bulldozer around the outskirts of the mound, compacting theearth as he went. As Jeff got closer and closer to the center, headded more dirt and eventually the damaged area held the totalweight of the metal monster. With each pass over this area, hefelt more and more confident that the damage had been correctedand that no one would ever know that it was he who caused thissewer break.

"Whew!" impulsively gushed from Jeff's mouth as his stresslevel, and subsequently his blood pressure, lessened; these werereplaced by a "get over it" kind of laughter. He drove away from thisimmediate area feeling so much relief, much like the relief that hefelt after encountering a hostile teenager, verbally working throughthe problem with the youth, and finally after using his learnedskills to resolve the issue. You see, Jeff's full time job is as a youthcounselor at the Buck County Youth Center. However, he found itnecessary to work part time as a heavy equipment operator. Thisextra work helped pay off his college loans, plus it helped with hisnewly acquired mortgage payment.

CHAPTER 2

MYCOBACTERIUM LEPROUS seeks the cool places in the hostbody, particularly the skin and the surface nerves. This makes ita very visible disease, starting with patches on the skin; it mayalso damage nerves in the face, arms and legs. No one likes beingdisabled, let alone having crooked hands, lumpy, swollen faces, orsores on their hands and feet. It is this visible disability or deformitythat leads to much of the fear and stigma from which affectedpeople suffer. This lends itself to feelings of fear and shame, whichmay mean that those who suffer then neglect to come for treatmentat the onset of the disease, and only come when they already havenerve damage. Damaged nerves result not only in paralysis, butalso in loss of sensation. Multi-drug therapy treatment cannotreverse nerve damage. Loss of sensation in hands, feet and eyesmeans that everyday activities are fraught with danger; burns gounrecognized, wounds untended, and stones in shoes and grit inthe eyes both go undetected and untreated. The end result can bethe loss of sight, fingers and feet.

The vast majority of humans that resided in the original Edisoncommunity were healthy and tested negative with regards to leprosy,and they were narrowly sighted when asked to be compassionatetoward those that had this horrific disease.

Little was known about leprosy some 120 years ago. Whilemost people have a natural immunity to the disease, those that dodevelop leprosy can be cured with modern treatment modalities.Life-long care of anesthetic limbs is one of the greatest challengesfaced by people affected by leprosy, and neglect can cause damageso severe as to cause paralysis, such as clawed fingers or theinability to blink, resulting in corneal ulcers, and if untreated,blindness.

Worldwide, there are millions of people affected by leprosy,with over 800,000 new cases detected each year and over onemillion are on active treatment. A further two to three millionpeople are estimated to be living with a disability incurred throughleprosy.

Within the members of the governing body of the Edisoncommunity, judgment appeared to be easy when it came to decisionsregarding those that had what they viewed as this diabolical,disabling disease. The governing body, and the townspeople ofEdison, often gathered for town meetings, and when those afflictedwith leprosy was the topic of conversation, the consensus of opinionwas that these lepers would most probably prefer death, ratherthan a lifetime of pain and suffering. The community continuallysearched for a way to rid themselves of their leper colony.

The members of the community realized that it was the fault ofthe leper colony that they were afflicted with this horrible disease. Aconsideration was given to...