All things considered, life was good for William and Josephine.  James got married, and I was once again packed up and given as a wedding gift.  It was my first time in a truck, and the noise and shaking were terrifying.  I didn’t see how this new technology was going to last.

James and his wife Barbara were a sweet couple.  In many ways, they reminded me of Jedidiah and Dear Elizabeth.  Their tender love for one another, their quiet ways, and James’s eyebrows reminded me of my first owners.  It felt good to be in their house. 

They had three children in short order: Betty, Robert, and Helen.  It was the start of me never watching another birth, and of this I was glad.  Barbara went somewhere else to have all three children, so I didn’t hear her screaming or see… anything but the adorable baby she brought home.  The technology of the truck was questionable, but the invention of wherever Barbara went to have children was fantastic.

James was an appliance salesman, and he did well.  He had many repeat customers, who would buy one appliance for him, love it, and come back to him for something else.  He and his family lived in a nice house in a nice neighborhood.  James and Barbara often talked about how blessed they were, but they still made plans for the future. 

Something they talked about a lot was the stock market.  It was mostly James doing the talking, but Barbara often smiled and nodded her head, like she knew what she was talking about.  I wished she would have filled me in, because I had no idea what he was saying.

Then, one day, I heard James come home.  The kids shouted their normal greetings and I heard the patter of little feet, but I didn’t hear his normal laughter back.  Instead, I heard Barbara’s heels on the hardwood floor and she pulled him into the bedroom and almost slammed the door shut.

“Is it true?” she demanded.

James’s face looked haggard, and he ran a hand down it as if to wipe the truth away.

“It’s true,” he said with a sigh.  He went and sat in a chair, leaning forward with his head in his hands.  “We lost all of our investments.”

Barbara’s eyes widened and she held a hand over her mouth in shock.

“But it gets worse.”  James leaned against the back of his chair and slumped down like a man beaten. 

“I ran by the bank on the way home to pull out most of our cash.”  He closed it eyes and pressed his lips together tight.  “The bank was closed.  There was an angry mob in front of the doors, pounding on them, demanding to be let in.  The rumor is that that the bank was closed for good.  It ran out of money.”

“How could they run out of money?” Barbara asked, her face pale.  She, too, needed to sit down – and down she sat, right on the floor.  “They had our money.  We should be able to get our money.”

“I don’t know,” James said, his eyes closed again.  “I’ll go down again tomorrow after things calm down.  Maybe it was just a rumor and the bank closed to protect its employees from the mob.”

“Yes, that has to be it,” Barbara said, and brightened a bit.  “And you still have a good job, so we’ll be okay.  We’ve kept our spending down, and we can cut back if we need to.  It’s a shame about the investments, but we’ll be okay.”

James kept his lips together tight as he listened to his wife.  Then he forced a smile and took her hand.  “Yes, dear.  I will do whatever I can to take care of you and the kids.  And no matter what happens, I will always love you.”

The ‘no matter what’ started a few weeks later.  He was never been able to pull their cash from the bank, and James hadn’t sold a single appliance after the day they lost their investments.  Again, I heard him come home, heard the kids shout their greetings, but his footsteps came angrily down the hall.  He came in alone, and slammed the door shut.

Barbara came in quickly after.  “James, what is the matter?”

“I need to be alone right now, Barbara.”

“You can talk to me, James.”

“I need space.”

“You need to let these negative feelings out.  Let me help you.”

“You can’t help me!” James suddenly roared, “No one can help me because this entire country is in trouble!  We played our cards and we played them wrong.  Everything is gone, and now I can’t even earn a dollar.”

Barbara gasped in surprise.  “You were fired?”

James stomped around the room, picking something up to look at, then slamming it back down.  “Thank you for making me feel so much better about it.  Why don’t you shout it loud enough for the kids to hear?  The neighbors?  While we’re at it, let’s go to my parents’ and tell them that their son is a failure and got fired at the worst possible time and may not be able to provide for his family!”

Barbara tried to calm him down, but he was too emotional.  He finally yelled at her to leave the room, and she seemed relieved as she hurried out. 

As soon as the door shut behind her, James collapsed on the bed and cried.

Things changed quickly.  James tried desperately to find another job.  He’d walk the streets all day searching, putting in applications, talking to contacts.  No opportunities came.  He’d come home exhausted and collapse into bed.  I first noticed him losing weight, but then I began to notice Barbara losing weight too.

They began selling things.  They talked about selling me, but James stopped that quick.  He said it was the only family heirloom he had, and he might as well keep one nice thing for his wife.

Then Barbara got pregnant again.  They tried to be happy, and only happy, but I could see the fear in their eyes.  How would they feed another mouth?  Then one night, Barbara started bleeding.  Instead of calling for a doctor, they rushed somewhere and came home in tears.

Not long after the miscarriage, they received an eviction notice.  A lot of their possessions were simply left behind, but I was fortunate enough to be loaded into the truck.  I shuddered at the thought of another truck ride, but I was grateful to have not been left behind. 

They had seemingly just settled, when another eviction notice came.  For a while, they lived with friends, the five of them and their possessions in one room.  They found another house and moved in, just to have to move again a few months later. 

Somewhere in the moves, Barbara lost another baby.

Things were looking dark, and James and Barbara didn’t seem to know when a light would come.