Wearing a veil, Amani Hall no longer lowers her head as frequently as she did in the past few months, fearing that others would recognize her. She looks anxiously ahead, worried that the free food will have been distributed before it is her turn.
Vaguely, she seemed to hear gunshots echoing in the distance, and she didn't know whether it came from the rebels who had broken through the defense line or the police who were dealing with food snatchers.
Nowadays, the security situation in Chester has reached extreme levels. Except for a few blocks, no one dares to go out at night.
"Hurry up, it's my turn, hurry up, it's my turn!"
Amani, who had visited three relief sites today, prayed silently.
At this moment, a staff member a few meters away raised his voice and said:
"The food here has been distributed!"
Amani's face suddenly turned gloomy. She looked up at the already dim sky, and dragged her steps back home in frustration and numbness.
As soon as she opened the door, the two children at home rushed over and said with innocent faces:
"Mom, have you received the food?"
"Mom, I'm hungry..."
They are a pair of twins, one boy and one girl, both very cute.
Amani's nose felt sore, and she forced a smile and said, "Yes."
She immediately entered the house, dug out a small amount of black bread from a hidden place, and divided it equally between the two children.
Seeing the two children eating bread with complete disregard for etiquette, Amani's face kept changing, full of sadness and pain.
This kind of food, which only the poor would eat, their family would never even look at in the past, but now it has become the only life-saving food in their family.
Not long after, her husband also returned home, but he also had no food in his hands.
Since the bombing, this former manager of a company has lost his job and can only rely on past savings and government relief to support his family.
In the beginning, they could still receive a small amount of food every day, but now the distribution has completely stopped, and there is no surplus food in the city hall.
"I didn't get it..." Seeing his wife's hopeful gaze, the tall man with a messy beard lowered his head in shame.
Amani, who is in her thirties and has a pretty face, took a breath and said:
"Me too... If I go out and line up again, there should be a place where food will be handed out!"
Without waiting for her husband's response, she rushed out of the door.
The husband immediately turned around and said to her back:
"I'll look for it again too!"
Amani did not stop and walked two streets to the Thorn Street. It seemed that the place had not been affected by the war. Every entrance to the block was guarded by security guards from the Black Thorn Security Company with guns. There were also civilians coming and going in the block.
The civilians here are different from those in other neighborhoods. They have rosy faces and do not suffer from hunger like the people in other neighborhoods.
At this time, the bell just rang for get off work. After a while, many workers came out of the factory with large and small bags in their hands.
At the Thorn Food Processing Factory, many workers who were not in the Thorn neighborhood also began to wait for each other, and then prepared to go home in groups.
In order to ensure the safety of these workers from other neighborhoods, after they all gathered, Blackthorn Security Company immediately came out with a heavily armed infantry squad to escort them home.
Such an orderly scene made Amani's eyes turn red.
She came to a heavily guarded community - Guanzhuwan Community.
This is a community built by Raytheon Group for executives of the group's companies. In addition to allocating it to executives, it also sells it to employees with better economic conditions at a low price.
For example, among those families, there are several families who work in various factories of the group. To this end, Landsworth Bank also opened a mortgage business. The mortgage terms range from ten to thirty years. There are also father-son relay loans, which the father has not repaid.
After that, my son continued to pay it back.
After giving the security guard at the door more than ten dollars, the security guard reluctantly informed a certain resident.
"The person you are looking for has not come back yet. Just wait here for a while!"
After all, security guards are paid people. A dozen dollars may not be of much use in the Thorny Street neighborhood, but in RT-Mart supermarkets, you can still buy a lot of things with your employee ID card, but the price is a little more expensive.
About twenty minutes later, Helen got off a human-powered tricycle. It was already dark. Amani was squatting helplessly by the gate of the community. If she hadn't spent more than ten dollars on face, the security guard of the community would have taken her away.
Drive away.
"Helen!"
Amani shouted in a trembling tone.
Helen, who was about to enter the community, frowned slightly and subconsciously followed the sound and looked over.
Recently, many people have come to her for help. After all, she had been an etiquette teacher for many middle-class families and small nobles, and she still had a certain network of contacts.
From this incident, Helen fully understood how powerless the so-called middle class was in the face of risks.
Although the city's food control did not have much impact on the small nobles, the middle class who relied on salary to live a life suffered a serious blow immediately after losing their jobs.
During this period, I don’t know how many desperate people came to her to beg her. Except for a few close old friends, Helen just took out a few food stamps and sent them away.
Food stamps are a kind of food purchase voucher issued by Raytheon Group during this period. In order to facilitate employees to purchase cheap food, some will be distributed to adult employees every month as a benefit.
Helen had just taken out her food stamps and was slightly startled when she saw that the person coming was none other than her classmate and best friend Amani.
Amani's conditions are even better than Helen's. After graduation, she married the manager of a well-known company in Chester. There is also a townhouse for rent at home. Her annual income easily reaches 2,000 US dollars. Before the bombing, she also opened a business.
A bicycle shop, I heard that business is still booming.
"Amani, are you okay?"
Helen said with concern.
It was Amani who brought Helen and his wife into the middle class when they first entered the middle class. Amani helped introduce him to the etiquette teacher job at the beginning. Even Parks was later able to work as a salesperson at Beresto Lighting Company, and he was also Amani's husband.
help.
To put it simply, Amani has great kindness to Helen's family.
Amani covered her face and almost cried, "Can you lend me some food? Edward and Wenli are still hungry."
Helen took Amani's hand and walked towards the IKEA supermarket not far away, which is a 24-hour small supermarket under RT-Mart.
"Why didn't you come to me earlier?"
As soon as she entered the IKEA supermarket, Helen bought the only two bags of white bread. However, the amount of white bread in the supermarket was not much, and the main ones were brown bread and corn cakes.