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Previous Challenge Entry
Topic: Poor (10/25/04)
TITLE: The Desires of Our Hearts
By Rose Shero
10/30/04
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She sat their, looking down at her desk. What was she suppose to say, that her family couldn’t afford the fifty-five cents it took to get into the picture show? She wanted so desperately to go. Lynn had never been to see a film before. But tomorrow was the last day to turn in the money, and she had heard what her mother had said. Her family could not afford extravagances of such, what with her father being out of work, she was lucky to have good clothes on her back and food on the table for that was better than some. She had five cents saved but that just wasn’t going to be enough.

Everyday Lynn walked the two miles it took to get to and from school. She had a routine. From her house she would take a path through the field. Then she would follow the creek bed until she came to the big rock, where she would veer off and begin up the dirt road that lead to the small town of Centerville.

Mrs. Joplin searched her purse again she could have sworn she had $7.50 but now that she went to pay she saw only $6.50. She would have to be more careful. Henry was still employed but that didn’t mean they had money to be throwing away. Plus, she needed at least fifty cents more to buy everything on her list.

Lynn saw something blowing across the ground, it looked like a piece of paper. As she went to pick it up her heart leapt, this was no ordinary piece of paper this was whole dollar bill! Suddenly images of all the things a person could buy with one dollar flooded into her mind. But no sooner did the come that they were headed back out. For Lynn saw in front of her and old woman searching the ground, and she new what she must do.

Francis Joplin saw a young girl approaching her, she could be no older than eight or nine. She wore a simple worn brown dress, and carried a small much to light lunch pail. Francis recognized the look on the girl’s face, it was a look of utter despair. As the girl came closer she noticed a dollar was held in her out reached hand. “Madame is this what you’re looking for?” “O Why thank you young lady, how ever so kind.” The young girl smiled and turned to walk away, “Honesty is a virtue of great rarity these days, thank for being honest.” And in her hand the old woman held two shiny quarters half of the returned amount.

“Lynn thank you for joining us, but try to get here earlier next time. Now does everyone who is planning on attending the field trip on Friday have their money turned in?” Lynn walked to her teacher’s desk and handed her fifty-five cents, exactly the right amount.

What is poor really it seems that there is always someone better or worse off than you, but God knows our needs, and the desires of our hearts and he is always working in our best interests.

"During the Depression, cinemas provided an escape from life and the plague of problems that accompanied it in the tough time. A major function of the cinema was a source of entertainment and a way for people to forget their troubles with stories that almost always had happy endings. After all, films at the local cinema very rarely depicted the unpleasant realities about life in America during those times." (Michelle Pautz)