Friday, June 8, 2007

ignore this too it's homework
i woke up this morning to small drops of rain hitting my face. i cracked open my eyes unwilling to fully face the reality of what i knew was my life. the drops hit me again. quicker this time. i sat up and the newspaper i had been using as a makeshift blanket fell down off of me. i looked up towards the large hole in the roof of our 'home'. sure enough as i had suspected it was raining, lightly now but i knew from the kind of rain we'd been having lately that it would pick up soon.

i let out a heavy sigh and glanced around the small room to check on my family. laying next to me on my right was my younger brother liam and on my left my two sisters abby and kate. each one of my siblings was younget then myself and i was only sixteen years old. i looked about the small makeshift home and saw no sign of my father. i gently pulled myself up from the spot i had been sleeping and took my newspaper blanket outside.

outside was really nothing more then a hooverville a bum town named after our 'dear' president herbert hoover. i looked down the long expanse of shanty after shanty and the people who were standing outside in the sprinkling rain. i pushed my blonde hair out of my face as the wind picked up and the rain came down a little harder. i hid the newspaper under my shirt as i moved towards the roof of my families 'home'. as quickly as i could i spread the newspaper out over the large hole in the boxes and spare pieces of metal combined to create our shanty.

the newspaper wouldn't last long and chances are the kids would wake up cold, wet, and hungry but what else was new? i got down from the low roof and peeked inside to check on the children. they all thankfully remained sleeping. liam was the youngest at a mere four years old. abby was second at six and kate was eight. i hoped that the kids would remain sleeping at least until i knew where to find food.

my own stomach rumbled with hunger but by now i had learned to ignore those pangs of hunger. i walked down the row of shanty's slowly keeping my eyes locked on the hut with my siblings inside. i travled down a ways until i came upon one of the better made homes. one with a roof. i bent down to the small door and hollered inside. a moment later a short plump woman with curly dirty blonde hair peeked out the door and upon my sight graced me with a smile unfit for someone leading the lives we did.

"anna, what are you doing?" the woman asked me. i stood nervous for a moment before asking her the question i had come to ask.

"i'm fine elizabeth but it's raining and the children...do you think they could sleep here until it let's up?" i asked her praying that she would live up to the kindness she given before. elizabeth thought for a moment before nodding her head

"sure dear, bring the darlings over" i smiled and thanked liz before striding back down to my own hut to collect the children. by the time i arrived the rain was falling steadily and i knew chances were the newspaper roof i had made had already crumbled. i entered the hut to find a red eyed sniffiling kate sitting up awake staring at me.

"kate, what's wrong?" i asked alarmed. it was obvious that she had been crying. kate saw me and blinked a few times before standing and rushing towards me grabbing onto my dress and not letting go.

"anna! i thought you had gone away. just like mother" kate cried. i reached down and patted kates curly brown hair as she sniffled into my clothes.

"no, kate it's alright i just went down to mrs. shepards house to see if you all could stay there" i told my young sister. as i calmed her down i looked up to the roof to see that the newspaper was on it's last limb and if i didn't want the children to be soaked i'd have to take them now.

i took kate's hand as i walked over to where abby lay fast asleep. i released her hand and knelt down by abby's side. "abbigale" i said as i shook her. abby was a famous light sleeper and was quickly awake. she rubbed her eyes sleepy and confused. her straight brown hair hung in her small face.

"come on abby were leaving" i told her as i pulled her up. she made a whimpering noise but went along with my idea. i sent her over to kate and told the two of them to hold hands. as the two girls stood by the exit of the hut i walked over to the sleeping liam and lifted him into my arms knowing that he was a heavy sleeper and that waking him would only be problematic.

liam was small and blonde like me and our mother. i held liam in my one arm as i held kate's hand with the other while abby held on to kate's hand. as we walked i thought of my mother and what kate had said. my mother wasn't dead but she was gone. she had left before the great depression even set in. shortly after liam was born my mother had discovered that she was no longer happy with the life she led and abandoned her family as if they were nothing.

my father made well with us and i soon had to quit my schooling to care for the family. though i missed my schooling i knew it was only right for my father worked to care for the family so i should at least do something to help him. after the great depression began and we were forced to leave our quaint little house my father began slipping into depression and he began to drink. he was making it a habit to be out at all times begging for money or food or drinking what little alcohol was available while i cared for the children.

i arrived again at mrs. shepards shanty and dropped the children off with her as the rain was steadily pounding down harder. i felt somewhat bad as i left the children seeing as mrs. shepard had two little one's of her own and a a son two years older then myself. her other two kids were around the same age as abby and kate and although she was cramped for space she still let the kids stay on the bad weather days. i myself never stayed with her i didn't need to take up more space the cold wouldn't hurt me as bad.

i spent around the next twenty minutes looking for my father around the hooverville. the rain was still coming but it had lessened up significantly. i walked about the small hooverville fires at the places where i knew my father hung around. i was also going to stop by the corner store to see when the free lunch line was going to be set up.

as i turned one of the corners around a large group of shacks i saw a group of men standing around a small barrel fire. thinking that one of them maybe my father i went over to the group and sure enough my father was there huddled over the fire drowing his sorrows over alcohol and cheap talk about past events and that bastard president.

"father?" i asked as i came up behind him. he turned around to face me and i guessed that he hadn't been drinking long as his eyes were still clear.

"anna" he said almost confused as he looked at me

"what are you doing here? and where are the kids?" he asked as he walked over to me.

"their alright. their with mrs. shepard." i told him as he approached me

"what about you?" he asked as he shrugged off the rain.

"i was looking for you, then i was going to go and see the food posting" i told my father as i too tried to escape the rain. my father must have noticed i was getting wet as he quickly peeled off his coat and put it on me.

"can't have you getting sick anna" he told me as he placed it on me

i smiled at my father's attempt at good parenting and buttoned up the coat. "will you be getting something to eat father?" i asked him worried about the gaunt look of his body. he simply nodded and that appeared to be the end of our conversation.

i left my father there as i walked out of the hooverville and down the streets to the grocery store located two blocks away. as i walked i was stared at by those who didn't go completely broke in the depression. i was stared at as if i were some abnormal creature not a young girl just trying to find out when she could feed her family.

as i approached the local grocery i could already see that people were lining up for the free food of that day. i went over to the side of the wall where the paper was taped for all to see. i went to read it seeing it stained with dirt and finger marks most likey left by the people of hooverville. as i approached the paper a man apporached me.

"excuse me young lady but what does that paper say?" he asked me his voice hoarse and he looked ill.

i nodded at the man and read the paper out loud to him. "the free food service will be held at one o' clock today." i read and the man seemed pleased

"i'm going to stand in line now" he told me and again i gave him a gracious smile. i walked around the side of the store to the front and looked inside at through the clean glass window. the time read eleven thirty. i thought it best to go and collect the children and bring them here so we could all get food. i may even be able to get my father to come down.

i was walking back to the hooverville when i thought about what would happen if i decided to never go back. if i just took off like my mother did. i knew in my heart and head that i never could but i did wonder what would happen to the children if i did. at this point they were all that was keeping me around.

i arrived at the hooverville and collected the now fully awake and hungry children from mrs. shepard. the moment they saw me they clung to me and begged to be fed. it was a heartbreaking site indeed. liam was crying so i lifted him into my arms and again i took abby's hand as she held kate's. we walked once again to the corner of the grocery store. i saw that the line had increased a great deal since i had left and i sighed at the thought of keeping the kids good for so long.

the same man who i read the paper too saw me with my siblings and motioned me towards him. "take my spot" he told me. my mouth dropped in surprise

"i can't do that" i told him feeling too guilty as a looked at the man

"nonsense kids need to eat before i do" he said and without another word he headed to the back of the line. even though i had moved up the kids and i would still have to wait nearly a half hour to eat. i set liam on the ground and used the time in line to teach the kids how to spell and read. kate and abby picked it up well but liam had a bit of trouble.

finally the men with the large buckets of stew and soup and hard day old bread showed up to a cheer of the people in line. they set the pots of soup on long table and one by one each person stepped up to get a bowl of soup and a hard roll. the kids and my turns came i helped each of them hold their bowls as i too collected mine i walked with the kids down the streets until we found some stairs there i would sit them down and we would all eat together. it wasn't much and it wouldn't be too long before they were hungry again but was good for now.

after the food was eaten the four of us would go back to the hooverville and i would continue caring for and teaching the kids until it was late enough for them and myself to go back to sleep. then in the morning i'd get up and do it all over again.

eight months later my father would die from a sickness he contracted here in the hooverville. the city came and collected his body. the children and i were then watched over by mrs. shepard.

it would be two more months until mrs. shepards son came back saying he landed a well paying job far out west. it was a month later that i married her son and moved with him and his mother and my siblings out west. i had to tell the state that my siblings were my children so they wouldn't take them away from me.

it was three years later that i lived a good life with my husband and my siblings and a child of my own. my siblings could finally go to school and learn and my husband taught me many things i myself didn't know. the depression was over and we had come out alive.
Comments (0)