Traveller - L.W. Samuelson (free e books to read online TXT) 📗

the dinner for a Christmas celebration but it was really a discussion session for Willy who had just finished reading Of Mice and Men. Traveller had also done research on the Great Depression and John Steinbeck. Lori had pointed him to books and other references after she had explained to him there was no such thing as data banks or personal computers. She had even taken him to the library and shown him how to use microfish which were strips of information on film that you put into little machines to read. Traveller found accessing information on Earth to be very primitive compared to the powerful computer on board his space shuttle.
Even so, Traveller found it strange that he was beginning to love reading from a book. The print couldn’t be enlarged and he couldn’t reference other information for clarification, but there was something comforting about having a book, sitting under a lamp in a warm room in a comfortable chair and reading while it snowed in the cold windy weather.
When everything was ready, the burners were turned to warm. Traveller closed his eyes to listen, “the long and winding road that leads to your heart.” When he thought of the cold world that George and Lenny existed in, tears of gratitude filled his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” asked Lori.
“Wrong? Nothing. Right now everything is right.”
A knock interrupted Traveller’s musings. “It’s them,” he said with a smile. He ran to the door, threw it open.
“Man I be smellin’ something fine!” exclaimed Willy. “Hey, ya’ll don’t mind if I bring a honkie to dinner. It be better than if I was to marry yo’ daughter,” Willy joked.
Lori stood behind Traveller. She smiled and said, “Jesse? I think I’d rather anybody marry my daughter than him.”
“I think he was taking about that movie, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” Jesse said.
“Oh really? Who starred in it?” asked Lori.
Jesse rolled his eyes. “You’ve made me watch it three times. Sydney Portiere, Spencer Tracy, and Katherine Hepburn.”
“Okay, I guess you can come in,” Lori laughed, “but you’re still not marrying my daughter.”
“Sit down, sit down,” Traveller motioned everyone to their place at the table. “I’ll serve.”
Traveller took the turkey from the oven. He carved the breast into thin slices before removing the stuffing. He placed it in a bowl and set it on the table along with the turkey. Next came the mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, and store-bought dinner rolls. He sat the gravy on the table last. When everything was ready, he said the blessing. “By the universe, thank you for my friends, the food, and my brother Willy, Lori, and even Jesse. Amen. Let’s eat.”
“Amen Jesus,” Willy said before digging in. He piled his plate with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and brussel sprouts and then smothered the plate with gravy. He kept hitting his serving spoon with Jesse’s in their race to fill their plate. Lori and Traveller looked on with amusement.
Not until their guests were served and eating did the hosts take a modest plate. “Do either of you want a shovel?” Lori asked when she noticed that their plates were already half-empty.
“Man, good as this is, I be tempted,” said Willy.
“This serving spoon’s big enough,” said Jesse.
“You pig Jesse. You’re not supposed to eat with that.”
“Well then, don’t be cooking such good food Sis,” Jesse managed to say between heaping spoonfuls of potatoes and gravy. “What do you think Travis?”
“Boni bon bon, damn fine meal. Better then beans without the side effects,” Traveller answered scooping a forkful of oyster dressing into his mouth.
“You’ve never had Brussels sprouts,” said Jesse.
The table grew silent as everyone concentrated on the food before them. Willy hummed with pleasure, each bite treasured, made better by the sauce of friendship. Finally his stomach bulged, “Mmmm, mmmm, man that be the best meal I ever ate,” he said pushing away from the table to give his stomach room.
“Yes indeedy,” said Jesse. “Everyone should have a sister like you Lori then women wouldn’t seem so bad.”
“You’re hardly an expert on women Jesse,” Lori countered. “You chase but never catch one.”
“Man, you’all keep fightin’ it might hurt my appetite,” said Willy.
“I think your appetite has already been damaged,” Traveller said with a smile. He and Lori had finished their plates. He got up and started clearing the table. “Why don’t you guys go in the living room so we can start the discussion,” he suggested.
“What we gonna discuss?” asked Willy.
“Of Mice and Men. I forgot to tell you, you have to work for your meal. We’re going to help you with your paper,” said Traveller.
Willy and Jesse moved to the couch in the carpeted living room just off the kitchen. Traveller could hear Jesse complaining, “Man Willy, this sucks making me go to school on Christmas break.”
“Sorry, I didn’t know.”
“Good thing I read the book in high school,” Jesse bragged.
“You did? I get depressed every time I think about what George did to Lennie,” Willy replied.
“Yeah, but there’s something about the book I liked,’ said Jesse.
Ten minutes later, Lori and Traveller came in the room. They sat in the two stuffed chairs opposite Willy. Lori started the discussion, “The first question is about setting,” she said handing Willy a new pen and notebook.
“What these for?” he asked.
“You’re taking notes Bro,” said Traveller. “How else are you going to remember everything?”
“So what is the setting?” asked Lori.
“It takes place in Salinas, California in the 1930s during the Great Depression,” Willy answered.
“What do you know about the Depression?” asked Traveller.
“Not much. People had a hard time getting jobs and the stock market crashed,” said Willy.
Traveller’s eyes twinkled with excitement, “My research on the topic was absolutely fascinating. At the time the population of the United States was one-hundred twenty-three million. In less than fifty years the population has grown to two-hundred thirteen million.”
“What’s that got to do with the Depression?” asked Willy.
“Nothing, it just astounds me that the population of this country is growing so quickly. In the Great Depression, the unemployment rate reached 25%, one in four men were out of work, almost twelve million men. Women weren’t counted in these statistics. With so many unemployed, many couldn’t provide for their families. People waited in lines at soup kitchens to receive the only meal they would have for the day. The soup they received was called Hoover stew since many blamed the president at the time for the Depression. One half of the children in the United States did not have adequate food, clothing, or medical care.”
“They named a lot of things after Hoover,” Lori added. “People were so desperate for food that they ate jackrabbits so they were called Hoover hogs, newspapers were called Hoover blankets. They even had Hoover wagons, cars pulled by mules because people couldn’t afford gasoline. Hoovervilles sprung up around the country, these were where the homeless gathered to live in tents or cardboard shacks.”
“Widespread unemployment and economic hardship caused many men to roam in search of work. At the same time a severe drought ravaged the mid-west. Erosion and wind caused dirt to blow for days and even months. The Midwest was referred to as the Dust Bowl. Hundreds of thousands left their homes in search of food,” Traveller continued.
“Man, I bet blacks suffered the worst,” Willy said.
“That’s right,” Lori agreed. “They were the last to be hired and the first to be fired, but they weren’t the only ones to suffer. Mexican Americans were accused of taking jobs away from “real” Americans. Many were encouraged to go back to Mexico. Minorities became scapegoats. They were blamed for the widespread unemployment. In Germany, it was the Jews that were blamed for the bad economy.”
“In reality, minorities had little or no economic power,” said Traveller. “It was the white people who owed too much money that they couldn’t pay back. Nine thousand banks went out of business during the Great Depression. The stock market lost close to 90% of its value. People cut back on spending so manufacturing jobs were almost non-existent. Steel mills cut so many jobs that they were only running at twenty percent of capacity.”
“I read that three million children were forced to quit going to school. Schools also closed down or reduced their hours due to lack of funding since tax revenues had fallen so much. Two hundred thousand children left their families to take to the road on their own,” Lori added.
Traveller spoke next, “Other countries felt that the unregulated greed of capitalism caused the Depression, but things were even worse in the Soviet Union. A famine called the Holodomor occurred when there was a widespread crop failure. From 1932-1933 six to seven million Ukrainians died of starvation. The Soviet leader, Stalin, instituted trade policies that exacerbated the problem. He remained indifferent to the plight of the Ukrainians. The word genocide was used to describe Stalin’s tactics. I looked the word up. It means to target a race and systematically eliminate it through starvation or by killing them.”
“So as bad as us blacks suffered during the Depression, a lot of people in other countries had it worse,” said Willy.
“That’s no excuse for prejudice and discrimination,” said Lori. “Only small-minded cretins believe in racial superiority. Look at Hitler, his insane policies destroyed a nation and caused the deaths of over fifty million people.”
“I have read references to Nazi Germany, but I haven’t studied it yet,” said Traveller.
“Me neither,” said Willy.
“Hitler’s rise to power was a symptom of severe economic hardship. He promised Germans a return to greatness if they followed him. People gave up their beliefs for the cult of personality,” said Lori. “He blamed Jews, gays, communists, and anyone else that didn’t agree with him for Germany’s problems. Twelve million Germans were targeted for extermination.
So with all the social unrest in the United States, Americans still believed in the system. Giving people the right to vote goes a long way toward quelling social unrest. It’s too bad that so many citizens neglect to educate themselves so that they can make an informed decision.”
“I thought this was supposed be a discussion about Of Mice and Men,” said Jesse.
“It is. In order to truly understand Steinbeck’s writings you have to understand the social context in which they were written. Times were tough, people were scared. That’s why thousands migrated to California during the Great Depression,” said Lori. “Flyers were distributed throughout the United States advertising jobs. The more people that moved to California, the lower the wages became. Soon so many migrants arrived that “bum blockades” were set up. Not only that but anti-Okie laws were passed that placed indigents in jail.
George and Lennie were migrants. They followed the work. At one point in the novel, George tells Lennie that guys like us don’t belong no place. They were powerless to change the world around them. Migrants worked at the whim of those who hired them.
“The Great Depression affected a whole generation of people worldwide. It produced a generation of savers, of people who stuck with a job and worked hard. It also produced a generation of movie goers since the theatres provided relief from a bleak existence,” Lori concluded.
“That’s why Curly’s wife dreamed of being a movie star. She be all going to the movies all the time. She see Crooks the colored blacksmith as a nobody and threatens to have him lynched, calls him a no-account nigger. I want to reach in that book and strangle her myself,” said Willy. “I know how he felt, man. I know how he felt.”
“That’s what makes Steinbeck a great writer. He spoke to you,