A Great Depression it was..



“Can you hear me?” He shouted in desperation. What was going on? Why were they ignoring him? The screen door slammed, and they were gone. A crack of thunder woke him up; he opened his eyes, felt the rain pouring down on him, and felt the excruciating pain in his stomach. He laid there taking in that he was dreaming that whole thing, and that he may never see his family ever again. He was wishing this was all a nightmare and he could be home.
“This isn’t fair, what did I do to deserve this? He cried. “I love you guys.” His eyes slowly shut, and then he was at his house again, this time inside, he went upstairs and kissed his wife and kids goodnight and finally he was out of pain.
Julie and Bill were one of the most happy, wealthy families during the roaring 1920’s. Bill was a big-wig in the stock market industry and secretly the smartest person there. He and Julie were very wise with their money; they bought a cute little house on the outskirts of town as an escape from the greedy stock market denizens. They knew they would need to conserve their money because of the talk about a drastic change on Wall Street. They kept their wealth a secret, so if anything did happen, they’d be prepared. But no one was prepared for what was to come within the next several years.



Julie was a stay at home mom with two growing boys to look after, but she didn’t mind the stinky shoes or rough housing. Sometimes she felt like she was in the middle of the war when they fought. All the While Bill was making money, putting food on the table for his wonderful family. The workplace was crazy; at times it was so loud he felt like he was at a rock concert. He knew it would be worth it someday, so he pushed himself through it for Julie and the boys.



It was the morning of Black Tuesday, Bill nor did Julie know that was the last time they would kiss goodbye. Bill jumped into his Ford Model T ready for another day at work, not anticipating what was about to happen. He sped to work in fear of being late, parked and darted inside. He saw the chaos and immediately ran to his office to grab everything he could and backtrack to the alley where he parked. As he was approaching his car he saw a man that was just screaming in the building, because he lost all of his money. Bill was unaware of the anger and despair this man had.



“What are you doing?” Bill screamed as this man who ran up to him with a knife in his hand. He didn’t reply, but forcibly drove the knife right into Bill’s stomach. He felt every little notch in the knife and felt like it was in him for a lifetime. He dropped to the ground in slow motion, feeling like he was floating down from the sky, and hit the ground. Memories were flashing back in his mind. His wedding day, watching his beautiful wife walk down the aisle, the first time he held both of his baby boys, their first days of school, when they bought their first house together, buying their car. Every cherished memory he ever had flooded to his mind.



He laid there with the metallic taste of his own blood filling his mouth. He forced his eyes open; he felt like the world spinning endlessly through space. He saw doubles of everything, and couldn’t keep his eyes fixed on anything. He faintly saw his briefcase lying open, with papers blowing all over the alley. His hands wrapped around his bleeding stomach, keeping pressure on the wound. He tried to move his legs hoping he could stand up and find help. He realized that was a huge mistake, he felt shooting pains throughout his entire body.




“Help” He whimpered. But it was so faint, there was no way someone heard him. He fell unconscious. Then all of a sudden there he was, driving home, cruising over the washboard dirt roads that lead to his house. In the distance he saw his house, the boys playing on the swing set, and Julie sitting on the porch reading her favorite book. It was a warm day, the sun shining. He kept driving, but he wasn’t getting any closer to his family. Clouds started coming in, blocking the sun. The sky started turning black, and it started to rain.



“Hey!! Julie, where are you guys going?” Bill Yelled trying to get her attention, but she didn’t look up from her book. The boys raced each other towards the door and all three of them headed for the door.