Chapter 50: Relief Aid Bread
2023-05-02 Author: Yue Shang Xintou
"It's on the left, ten cents a copy."
Hearing the inquiry, the owner sitting inside the Newsstand didn't think much of it. He casually replied, pointing to the Messenger Comics section.
"Alright."
He picked up a copy of Messenger Comics.
The pedestrian didn't say anything more, simply left ten cents, and turned to leave.
"What? It sold?"
"That simple?"
Looking at the ten cents in front of him, the owner couldn't help but show a surprised expression.
"Boss, I want to buy Messenger Comics!"
However, before he could fully understand what had just happened, another urgent inquiry came from in front of the Newsstand.
"No problem, ten cents a copy."
By the end of the morning, when the owner finally came to his senses, the Messenger Comics in front of the Newsstand were all sold out. Looking at the empty space on the shelf where Messenger Comics used to be, starkly contrasting with the surrounding items, the Newsstand owner felt both delight and a touch of regret.
"If I had known, I would have bought more copies of Messenger Comics from the Delivery Person."
And this regret became even more pronounced with the occasional inquiries coming from in front of the Newsstand.
...
"Thank you, sir..."
In front of the Messenger Newspaper, a child in ill-fitting, oversized clothes, with a sallow complexion, looked up at Colin and thanked him in a childish voice.
"You're welcome, child."
Colin smiled, wrapped a piece of bread in a newspaper, and placed it in the child's hand. He patted the child's head and said softly.
Reaching out, the little boy clutched the bread Colin handed him tightly to his chest. He quickly stepped out of the line, ran a few steps forward, then turned to glance back at Colin, who was standing at the front of the line distributing bread, before hurriedly running back to his parents at the street corner.
"Mommy, Mommy..."
Coming before his mother, the child held up the bread wrapped in newspaper, a smile on his tender face, and said in a boastful tone.
"I got bread."
"Well done, darling."
Taking the bread from the child's hand, the mother's gaunt face showed a hint of shame.
In this era, there was in fact only a fine line between begging and accepting charity. For many, visiting the Soup Kitchens on the street became commonplace, their only guarantee of getting through difficult lives.
And when faced with charity, parents who were too proud to accept it themselves would send their children, knowing that children's sense of shame wasn't as deeply ingrained. Even if they couldn't fill their own stomachs, at least their children wouldn't go hungry.
Under normal circumstances, the Soup Kitchens on the street could only provide a small amount of food that could not be taken away. This time, the bread given out by Mr. Collin Roper of the Messenger Newspaper was clearly a rare food that children from poor families could take home to share.
Although what he provided was cheap liver bread, for many families who couldn't even afford bread, a piece of liver bread like this was still a rare treat, and it was more filling than what was offered at the Soup Kitchens on the roadside.
"For dinner tonight, maybe I can combine the liver bread with mashed potatoes, and add a few wild vegetables we gathered earlier..." As the woman walked towards Hooverville, holding her child's hand, she pondered what kind of meal to prepare for her family. A single piece of liver bread significantly eased the burden on their household.
"Mommy, Mommy..."
As his mother pondered, the child beside her pointed at the caped figure in the comic on the newspaper wrapped around the bread and asked in a childish voice.
"What's drawn on this?"
Hearing her child's question, the mother's thoughts returned from dinner. She looked down at the newspaper wrapped around the bread in her hand, and from the blurry creases and text, she barely managed to make out the figure's identity.
"It's Superman."
"Superman?"
Hearing his mother's answer, the child blinked, looking at the figure on the newspaper, and a vague image of Superman gradually formed in his mind.
...
"...In my young memory, reading the Superman Comics on old newspapers became the most anticipated thing in my childhood."
"Creed Burke was born on the eve of the Great Depression. He was only six years old when the Great Depression occurred. Before the Great Depression, his father was a bank clerk who lost his job in 1929 and had to seek work at the Dock to survive. But everyone had a difficult time during that period, and the Creed Burke family was no exception."
"Creed Burke's father often went out and toiled all day without earning a single cent. Because of this, Creed Burke often heard his parents arguing, but they still lived together. Divorce remained a social taboo during that period, and the financial cost was high. Either the husband abandoned his wife, or the couple continued to live under the same roof in a tense atmosphere."
"...Later, as life became increasingly difficult, the Creed Burke family, along with their neighbors, had to move into 'Hooverville'. Hooverville was a dilapidated and crude shantytown built from tin cans, cardboard, and burlap sacks during the Great Depression. After moving to Hooverville, the arguments within the Creed Burke family became more frequent, and his father became an alcoholic as a result..."
"At that time, Prohibition was still in effect, but clearly no one cared about the issues in Hooverville. Many Bootleg Liquor sellers hid there, brewing alcohol 24 hours a day. These low-quality liquors were very popular among the people in Hooverville at the time; many would rather go without food for a day just to have a drink..."
"For children, an inevitable psychological journey is realizing that their parents are not always right. But during the Great Depression, this realization often came much earlier, as young people discovered that their parents were as helpless as infants."
"Due to poverty, my mother had to take me to the Soup Kitchens on the street to find food. At that time, I didn't understand the meaning behind it; I just felt that I could fill my stomach. And whenever I asked my mother why she didn't come with me to eat, she would always smile and tell me she had already eaten. Recalling it now, perhaps that was her last stand as a parent."
"...During those difficult days, my greatest joy, along with children my age, was reading the Superman Comics in The Messenger Newspaper. Mr. Collin Roper of the Messenger Newspaper would hand out bread every Monday morning, wrapping it in old issues of The Messenger Newspaper. Because of this, every Monday became the day I looked forward to the most." —Excerpt from *Remembering My Great Depression Era*
Author: John Walker
New book, please support with monthly votes~
(end of chapter)