by Karen E Bucklew

Created on: January 04, 2009

Chapter One:

We were huddled together under several blankets wondering when we would get the electric turned back on. It was turned off four days ago and January had just started. Daddy was in construction and his crew had suffered greatly from the downturn of the economy. He felt terrible, he had looked for work and found nothing. All the jobs were taken and no one was doing any construction work in town. He was under so much pressure. Momma tried not to cry when we were around but sometimes the her tears just could not stay back.

During the days we often would go to stores to try to keep warm. Then our van broke and the mechanic said he would at least need $250 to get it back on the road. Another blow for Daddy. He called the electric company to try to work something out but the pleas came on deaf ears. No wants to hear that the only thing you ever learned to do was now not needed. No wanted to hear that we had three small children that just wanted to be warm at night. The lady on the telephone said that if we wanted to get our power back we will have to pay the bill in full and add a deposit. It seemed that there was no help in sight.

Daddy said he wished he had built a house that was able to sustain living without power. He said we should have planned for days like this. He called some men he knew and they made a plan to try to find some work out of town. Momma did not want to have to separate the family but it seemed that there were no other options. Momma went to church to ask if there was emergency housing available for us and the pastor found a small room we could stay in while Daddy was away. Momma was able to get a little job in church watching the children for the ladies. It was enough to buy basic foods that we needed. While Daddy was away it was really hard. Momma was strong though.

Many people looked down on us for being in our position, many could not understand how our parents could let our family get to this position. We were not like this forever, we were doing well and then the economy took a serious turn. The builders stopped building homes and people quit spending their money on their homes. What is a man who only knows construction to do in the hard times that are presented to him. Daddy was not to proud to work, it was just that he was not qualified for many other jobs and no one was working. We hoped and prayed that something would come through.

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