I had this rattling around my head at 5am
On a street, could be any old town, somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, sit two houses. Each house has a couple recently married, they seem to be happy. In one house, the English speaking one, He of Couple One has recently started a business, She has quit her desk job, having found out She is pregnant. Next door, at the native Spanish speaking house, He of Couple Two works at the factory down the street, She cleans houses full time, She is also expecting sometime soon. The neighbors sometimes wave to one another, but Couple One puts up a chain link fence at the property line.
Some time passes, Couple One becomes Family One. They’re doing well, business is good, they’ve got three healthy kids, He employs a dozen people under Him, She never went back to work, they attend a large congregation church on Sundays. It’s fancy, there’s coffee, a big screen or two and a band. Family Two, they’ve had a tougher go of it, He’s still employed at the factory, but keeps getting overlooked for promotion, She still cleans houses. They have an equal number of children. They attend a small traditional service on Sundays.
More time passes, Family Two, though poorer, through hard work, they manage to put in a pool in their yard. Family One takes notice, She of Family One occasionally gets some of Her girlfriends together, they just “pop over” to Family Two’s for what they call a “Girl’s Trip”. They take legs-down selfies by the water, holding fancy umbrella drinks, but barely acknowledge She of Family Two while they’re over.
Some weekends, spring breaks and summers, Family One sends their kids over to Family Two’s house to play, “but be home by dark, they’re not like us!” The FO kids, while there, tell the FT kids all about their church, why it’s better, why theirs isn’t, all while helping them build forts in their backyard. The FO kids go home feeling good that they’ve helped somehow and the kids of FT have to get jobs before their sixteenth birthdays to help make ends meet for the family, often paid under the table, well below minimum wage.
More time passes, the factory down the street shutters it’s door, He of Family Two loses his job. The family is desperate. They can’t feed the kids, maintain their home or find work elsewhere. Worse yet, they’re being threatened by their neighbors on the other side. He of Family Two, swallows his pride, goes to the door of Family One, having never been invited over, only invited to church on Sundays, He asks them if He might garden for them, do odd jobs or patch their roof for anything they could spare.
Family One shuts the door, calls the cops and puts up a privacy fence.
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