The Great Depression

Me and my friend John, we had both lost most of our money to the banks and have decided to ride the rails up north to look for work. Times these days are getting harder and harder by the day, I use to be a simple man living the life a thirty-nine year old man should live with my wife Crystal, me and Crystal had two nine-teen year old twin boys Dallas and Keith. Me and John had a time convincing our wives and kids that it was the best for our families if me and john went up north to look for jobs and every three months me and john would come back down for a week and leave some money behind for them. Dallas and Keith wanted to stay behind and help Crystal take care of the house and Garden. Later that night me and John jumped into a open train cart to head to New York we both took turns sleeping that way no one could pick-pocket what little things we did have with us at the moment. In the morning me and John had arrived in New York. We had walked around town to find the factory but had no luck, we saw a young man laying in the streets, we asked him if he knew where the factory was and he said yeah just follow him. While we were walking to the factory the guy had told us about how he had lost all of his and his wife’s life savings and how she had kicked him out. By the time we had arrived at the factory the manager had already picked the workers for the day so we went to the train station and asked our new friend George if he wanted to come but he said he had to stay where his friends and family was so me and John hoped back on the train to go to the closes town with a factory. This is the life me and John chose to live now.

It was early in the morning my friend ran down to my house to tell me to  hurry and go to the banks to get my money before they ran out and he would tell me what happened when I got back. So me and my wife drove the car as fast as we could to the bank to get our money but no one was their my wife had started crying sense we lost all our money to the banks. When we had got home my friend came over and told us that the banks had spent all on the money in the stock market and when the stock market crashed they lost almost every single dollar they had. My friend didn’t really trust the banks with all of his money he always thought it would be safer in a place where only he knew where it was, but being that we lost all of our money, me and my wife had sold everything in the house we didn’t need, we even sold my car as cheap as we could. After this had happened me and my wife never trusted the banks ever again. When we earned money we would either keep it with us or under our mattress. So now I wear dirty cloths and walk down to the factory in the morning hoping get enough money to get us going for the day.

The year is 1929, I had woke up early in the morning to go to the stock market, I’ve been to the stock market before with a little cash and won before but now I’m bringing mine and my wife’s life savings. I usually tell her how much I bring incase I lose any of it she wouldn’t be mad but this time I told her I would let it be a surprise when I got home and she let me go. When I arrived at the stock market I quickly look for the stock that’s rising the fastest and then I bought a stock worth twenty-thousand dollars all of our life savings. I sat in a chair sweating like crazy watching my stock rise, as soon as it was to hit five-hundred-thousand I was going to sell my stock. In about five minute’s my stock was at four-hundred-thousand then all of a sudden the stock started dropping fast and faster I was quick to sell my stock but by then it was at one-hundred dollars. I looked around to find a stock rising but they all were falling. I looked around and everybody was disappointed like me losing all of mine and my wife’s life savings. When I got home I told my wife what had happened and she had started yelling and fussing at me I started running out the door when I saw her with knifes in her hand and as soon as I ran she started throwing them at me. I had got in my car and went to my friends house and my wife called saying I was to never go back, I hadn’t on going back either after what I done I didn’t blame her for trying to kill me.

Life in a Hooverville is alright its not the best in the world but at least me and my wife have a shelter over our head. We had to look all around town for supplies when we had got a good bit of supplies we started building that way no one would take It. Everyday I would wake up go down to the factory for work then after working I would walk around the town with my wife looking for supplies we may need to improve our shack that we started calling home, if we found something I would carry it to the house put it where my wife wants it then we would go down to the soup kitchen to eat some soup I didn’t want to go but I didn’t make enough money to afford anything so my wife talked me into going to that I would at least have some food in me for when I went to work in the morning. We both agreed on not having any kids because we hardly had any money to begin with and each day times are getting hard. Each day we struggle with if we are going to find any food to eat or any water to drink. Everywhere I look I see people doing the same thing I’m doing, fighting to survive. I try to make friends that way I can have people I can trust. When it rains my and my wife have to bunch up at the back of the house being that the front don’t have a roof yet. This is the life I live in a Hooverville.