CHAPTER FIVE
David knew it was coming, as did Mrs. Powers, for the same reason. They worked in the food industry, and if the food industry wasn't providing, you were going to lose your job. As restaurant prices soared beyond the means of locals, waiters, cooks, and managers had the same problem. Their positions went first, but now it was their turn. Mrs. Powers closed her shop, leaving a sign on the door saying they were closed until all this could blow over. David just didn't go to work. His supervisor had already stopped coming in, and there was only so much they could piddle with. No one could afford groceries, let alone catered events, and you couldn't make money spending the days cleaning your equipment instead of using it.
Jane found it strange to have her husband around the house, but then she realized why he was there. He hadn't lost-lost his job, but he might as well have. Her paycheck would barely be enough to cover the mortgage, utilities, and a week of food. What were they supposed to do for the rest of the week?
This problem was ubiquitous. People could only ration their food so much, and while kids were given one meal a day at school (they had to stop providing breakfast to save cost and supplies), the adults only ate when they provided the food. Smaller portions spread the food further, as did skipping meals. But you couldn't eat one bean a day and survive. The news was filled with this problem—people were starving to death or they were protesting conditions wherever they thought the people who screwed them over were. Some people protested grocery stores, other the offices where food stamps and other government services were provided. But the largest groups gathered at federal buildings in Washington D.C. or at state offices in each capital.
David watched this news and wondered if that was even helping. Protesting wasn't growing more wheat for the world or stopping the bird flu that now kept both chickens and eggs from reaching homes and hungry people. Cows were still unable to produce milk, a problem that had spread into the goat's milk industry. Almond, cashew, and soy milk were currently immune from that problem, but the prices exploded as they became the only other choice. Prices were rising to meet the demand and compensate for the shortage. It was basic economics whether people were happy with it or not.
He thought of finding other jobs. That was everyone's solution that was in his shoes. But as they all found out, jobs were taking hits as more people flooded the market—again, basic economics. Just like with the food shortage, there weren't enough jobs for the number of people who needed them. So David resorted to trying to help Jane, and while he was allowed to glance over paperwork to check for accuracy, he was paid one dollar an hour. It felt like working for one of the kids' fake businesses, but David needed the money, so he did it despite how little he was making.
Mrs. Powers offered to help her husband's graphic design business, so she was hired on to clean the building for five dollars an hour. She could only work three hours a day, and the business was closed Fridays. That totaled out to fifteen dollars a day for four days, less than a hundred dollars a week. But as with David, it was money, money she needed to keep her family fed.
Others weren't so lucky. In the Compson household, the number of kids and lack of income put them on the brink of starvation. Mrs. Compson only ate one meal every other day, a system her husband adopted to give a little more to the kids. But they only ate dinner at home, and even then, they ate barely enough to fill a container lid. They were always hungry, and all of them were losing weight. Bud had a checkup at the beginning of the school year and had lost twenty pounds, something the doctor said nothing about. It was common, and the only advice was to limit physical movement so the body wouldn't burn as many calories.
But it was hard to keep kids from playing, from moving around, especially when they walked to school. Other families had the same problem, but the new times made this an issue to ignore. When your kid got sick and you couldn't afford medicine, that was the real problem. One meal a day and growling stomachs? Typical. Nothing to worry about.
The only families immune to this were the rich, and it showed. Muffy was shunned, as was Emily. Their classmates knew they were eating enough because they were the only ones who hadn't lost weight, and everyone knew it was because they were better off. Adults shunned other adults in this same situation for the same reason. Everyone learned that being ignored was something one could live with if you could get away with it. But things wouldn't stay so quiet.