by Emilio Ortigoza
All I knew was this is the only way to survive. It happened too fast. We haven't had Christmas since 1930 which is three years since. All we had before is gone. This is my life during The Great Depression. Aunt Sandy please read this.
I'm Kentan and I am 12 years old. It was dry, dusty, and very hot but it's the place I call home. I haven't gone to school in 4 years. My dad died in war. My mom would only eat one meal and she would give the rest of the food to me and my little brother Kaden.
Our mom would only take a sip of soup every time we went to the soup kitchen. One day, she was very skinny. We offered her our food but said, "No." The next day, she died of hunger. We went to the orphanage while Kaden was crying. I was comforting him telling him that she died for us. He stopped crying.
At the orphanage I cried in bed but Kaden got up and hugged me. I stopped crying and smiled a bit. The next day we were adopted. I knew everything was going to be okay. Our step-parents had hopes and always encouraged us to never give up. Our stepdad was a migrant worker from Oklahoma but our stepmother helped him to survive. He is used to being homeless so he shares his survival tips with us. Then he drank water with lead at a soup kitchen so we had to take care of him. Then we had to ride a boxcar because he decided to go to California. Then Kenton started coughing and got a really bad fever. We finally made our presence known after Kentan and my stepdad stopped breathing. The conductor took us to the medical cart. They only had one more syringe with medicine. I had to make a choice between Kentan or dad. You choose.
Dad
The doctors injected the medicine to my dad. I watched as Kentan turned blue and slowly died. After Dad woke up two weeks later I told him what happened and he burst into tears. We hugged. A sandstorm hit and we went the night in the boxcars. The conductor insisted that we sleep there and didn't have to pay nor get in trouble. Dad said that I should've given the cure to Kentan. I said I cared about him and I wished Kentan survived. After the Great Depression, we got a home and every night before I go to sleep, I see Kentan telling me to love to the fullest.
Kentan
I injected the medicine to Kentan. The conductor said that he is sorry but we had to get off. Kentan woke up two hours later and we left. A kind man let us stay at his house for as long as we want. When we were about to sleep, Kentan said it was all his fault and he started sobbing. I comforted him and said, "I wish Dad was still alive." I could hear the sandstorm outside. After the depression we got a home next to the man who let us stay in his house. From all this I learned that "To the world I may be one person, but to one person I am the world."
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