Here is another story I posted on Frugal's. It is the first part of David Fontaine's story. Enjoy.
My Name is David
My name is David. Today we went to live in the basement. I don’t like the basement much, it smells funny and the walls get wet when it rains. When you turn the lights out you can’t see, cause there aren’t any windows, just a hole in the wall.
Daddy built us a fort in one corner of the basement out of tables, a desk, bookcases and Mommy’s washer and dryer. He brought mattresses down for us to sleep on. Mommy brought the food from the kitchen and some clothes for us. Daddy says we can use a big bucket to go potty in. I wish they had remembered my Tonka trucks.
I asked Daddy if Bozo could stay with us in the fort, but he said Bozo would have to stay outside. I cried. Daddy said I would have to be a little man now and help watch Mary Ann cause she’s only two and a half and I’m five. Daddy said men don’t cry so I’m never going to cry again.
Peanut butter and crackers and green beans for supper again. Green beans are icky. I hate green beans but Mommy says that’s all we have so I have to eat them. Daddy said he would go outside and look for more food tomorrow. I asked if we need more food how come Mommy’s so fat. Daddy said we would have a baby brother or sister soon and maybe he would have blond hair and blue eyes like me and Mary Ann. I don’t know what that’s got to do with Mommy being fat though.
Daddy didn’t wake up this morning. After he went out to get food Daddy got sick. He threw up a lot, then his hair fell out. When he got big sores on his face he looked really scary but I didn’t cry. Mommy took Daddy upstairs after lunch. She’s been gone a long time.
Mommy got sick too after she took Daddy outside. She threw up some and was tired all the time. Then she got better. Now she says her tummy hurts. Mommy says no matter what me and Mary Ann must stay in the basement.
Now Mommy doesn’t wake up. Mary Ann is scared and cries but I tell her we’ll be OK and I don’t cry. We’re both hungry. The faucet where the washer used to be still gives water, so we drink lots of water. But we’re still hungry.
I found a big bag by the stairs. It has a picture of a dog on it and I can read d-o-g ‘dog’ f-o-o-d ‘food’. I opened it with one of Mommy’s knives and it was Bozo’s dog food. It looks like cereal but we don’t have any milk so we put water on it. It tastes funny but I told Mary Ann Bozo really liked it so it must be good for you and we eat it.
We heard noises upstairs today. Mary Ann started to cry but I told her we had to be quiet and not make any noise and I didn’t cry. The noises came downstairs and a man shined a flashlight on us and on Mommy still laying in bed. The light hurt our eyes and we tried to hide from it and the man turned it off.
It was a black man, taller than Daddy and skinny. He is old too, cause he has grey hair and glasses.
When he turned off the light I saw he had a gun like a policeman so I asked if he was a policeman. He said no, all the policemen were gone but he had their gun to keep away the bad guys. He said his name was Ben and asked what our names were so I told him.
Ben asked if we would like to go out with him and take a ride in his bike cart. I wasn’t sure, Mommy said never to go with strangers and to stay in the basement. But I thought that if Ben had the policemen’s gun it would be safe so we went over and he toted us out of the basement.
Ben has a big green bike with a little cart behind it. He put us in the cart and wrapped blankets around us. I told him I had a bike too and showed him my little red bike with training wheels. I asked if I could bring my bike and he said yes and cleaned if off and put it in the cart too. Then he gave me and Mary Ann candy he called Gorp. We like Gorp.
While we ate our Gorp I saw Ben was crying. I told him what Daddy said about men don’t cry. He said that Daddy meant not to cry when you were scared. But it was OK to cry when you’re really sad or really happy and he was very happy he had found us.
Ben took us to his house. Ben lives in his basement too. But Ben’s fort is made out of cement blocks and has two big metal doors. When you go through the first door you have to change clothes and wash off before you go through the second door. Ben said you had to do that to keep the fallout outside.
Ben has lots of food and a brown dog named Sally. Sally has puppies and Ben said me and Mary Ann could each have one. Mine is brown with a white stripe on his tummy and I will call him Bozo. Mary Ann liked the girl puppy who is white and has black spots. She calls her Spot.
Ben said me and Mary Ann could stay with him as long as we wanted. I am so happy I hugged Ben’s neck and cried.
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