1930s: Migrating West

That night there is a festival in the neighborhood. Even though it is way too late for them, Thomas and Hazel sneak out to take part and see the fireworks. For Nash, however, the fireworks are a trigger, and as the sound of explosions fill the air, he has a panic attack. Josephine does her best to calm him down, but right then and there he is back in the trenches of war forgetting he's safe and sound back home. He has a restless sleep that night, plagued by nightmares he thought he left behind a long time ago. 

Waking up, to another thing broken as a pipe has sprung a leak, he feels desperate. They need to get out of here. And they need to do it fast. He can feel his grip on reality failing, his kids snuck out in the middle of the night, and Josephine almost lost the baby. They cannot go on like this! The next morning, as he's back at the unemployment office, with the same handler but another room, he resorts to begging. "I need something else. I need to provide for my family! We cannot stay here!"
But the handler has no good options to offer. "I hear there is work out west. Arizona and California." he says. "It's farm work and ranch work, so not what you're hoping for, but it's work and it's the best I can offer. We can arrange for transportation and work permits."
"Where would we live?"
"That's up to you. Farms offer a place to stay for single men, but with a family? You'll have to see what you can rent. I can give you the relevant addresses for places who arranges that kind of thing."

He tells Josephine as the children sit down to do their homework. Josephine is both scared and hesitantly hopeful. Anna's questions has her nervous, and she hates the apartment. Whatever is waiting them there, it cannot be worse than this! And steady work is steady work. Of course there are preparations to do, things to arrange - laundry to take care of! The very next day Josephine decides to try out the new washeria in the Cashbah market. (This is a bit early to be entirely accurate, the first laundromat, called a washeria, wasn't opened until 1934, but it's only a few years so I'm taking some liberty here). She's slightly hesitant to using machines for something she has done herself all her life, but highly impressed when she hangs the laundry out to dry. If washing clothes was always this easy!

And then it's time to move. They only says a quick good buy to Anna, rush off to the train station and heads off west. It is a long journey, more expensive than they can really afford, even if they've sold their new furniture (well the bed) and used every discount they as a family could get. The train first takes them to Chicago, then they need to wait until the next train leaves from there to Arizona. The entire trip takes more than 4 days, and the hard wooden benches does nothing for Josephine's back. Even the children are cranky when they finally hop on a bus from Phoenix to Chestnut Ridge. By the time they arrive, and Nash goes to get the key to their new home, arranged for them by the local church, they're exhausted. And then they're horrified - or at least Josephine is. There she is, highly pregnant with her fifth child, staring at her new home and it is - as if that was even possible - even smaller than the apartment in San Myshuno!

That first night, no one has time to take it all in. They all fall into bed and sleep, utterly exhausted from their journey. Therefore the extent of their misfortune isn't fully clear until the next morning. The shed, because it is more shed than house, has only one room, in which they all need to fit. In the middle there is one table, but only four people can sit at one time, so there will be no more family dinners with them sitting together around the table. Speaking of dinners, there is no electricity, no indoor bathroom, no plumbing of any kind. The closest toilet is across the yard, they need to gather water by the pump or pond, and a dingy windmill gives them only enough electricity to power a lamp. Josephine is heartbroken.
"There isn't even plaster on the walls!!!" she exclaims. Nash, embarrassed by the conditions promises her he'll fix it.
"I'll fix this up, and as soon as we can we'll move somewhere else." Josephine scoffs. She doesn't even have the energy to pretend she trusts him any longer.

The kids have an easier time adjusting than Josephine. They are now used to things getting progressively worse, and the girls barely remember their once pretty house in Willow Creek. Thomas does, and it is harder for him than his sisters, but he does his best to be brave for a mother that is more often sad than not. The joint outdoor space gets a lot of use. The kids play marbles, play in the pond and quickly get the hang of horseshoe throwing. And there is school, where they can get some food when breakfast only consists of fruit sallad every morning. Another staple is foragers stew, which mostly is whatever vegetables mum could get her hands on, or mushroom soup, or tomato soup... meat is becoming more and more rare, so when the kids managed to find several frogs to make a frog pot not even Josephine complained.

Nash is gone more than he's at home, working as a ranch hand at a neighbors farm, and the time at home is spent trying to improve things. The neighbours are nice and helpful, and even Josephine befriends them and accepts their help at times even if Joseph is much more active in befriending them. He even speaks to one of them about helping to plaster the walls of the shed, to make it look like a proper home. 

Before there is time to get that project started, however, Josephine wakes up one early morning to realise that it's her time. Forcing herself to wait it out until she can no longer, she wakes up the family. Nash panics at first, but Josephine hands him Arthur and simply throws him and the kids out of the house to fend for themselves. She's had babies at home before, granted always with her mother's expert help, but she can do this. Besides, she wouldn't be able to afford a doctor and it's too far to the hospital so there is little else to do than have this baby on her own anyway.

With a crying infant in need of changing and food in his hands, and three tired kids who now has to get ready for school, Nash does what any man would do. Ask a woman for help. He hands Arthur over to neighbor Lilian, who is only too glad to help sort the kids out while Josephine is busy giving birth to their third baby girl, Barbara.

After this day, even Josephine accepts Lilian's help, and Lilian becomes a fixture in their house, coming and going a bit as she pleases. With only one child of her own (and one on the way) she has more time to help than Josephine has to cope, and slowly life in Chestnut ridge falls into a routine of chores and plights that somehow has become normal. They go to church on Sundays, for service and charity hand outs. They work, each in their own way, and Nash even gets the walls plastered with supplies he's found or been given! Well, two of them. That's as far as the material stretches. "It's better than nothing," Josephine says.

To her family, Josephine, now used to lying, paint an entirely different picture of life in Chestnut Ridge:

You wouldn't believe how beautiful it is out there. Wide open spaces and a more stars than you can count. The house Nash arranged is beautiful and has a large outdoor space. Nash is so appreciated in the new office, and there are hints of promotions once the economy pics up. The kids love their new school, and the community here is wonderful as is our home. It's a white house, just like back home in Willow Creek, and the garden is spectacular.

I love you all and miss you much. The kids send all their best wishes.

Josephine