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-Chronicles of the Depression- Ch. 1 Up!


Dark Mousy

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Odysseus wandered the known world for 10 years before he returned to Troy. Where a great prize, Penelope awaited him. The story is passed down the generations.

 

It is the year of 1933, the height of the American Depression, people are desperate for jobs, after the great crash. Those who had jobs, were being paid too little to live.

 

Note: This is kinda a rewrite of O Brother Where Art Thou, but I'm pretty sure no one wants to see that movie.

 

[spoiler=Prologue]

Tell me muse, of a man with many twists and turns,

who wandered far and wide, many cities he saw,

many customs he learned.

 

Sing Athena, the kleos* of men...

 

[spoiler=Note] kleos = pride

 

 

Guilty! Sentencing of Mr. Ulysses Ivercargill, five years to prison! Was the verdict, as it echoed across the hall. Mrs. Ivercargill was shocked, and Ulysses was taken in chains. The courthouse was dark and gloomy, when the verdict was pronounced.

 

Ulysses was dragged away and felt what he could describe, anyway, as "The Judgement from God." He took one last glance, at the courtroom, dark, bleak, and the echo of the gavel as it hit the desk. He was handcuffed now, dragged by officers into a dreary, dark future.

 

Prison might not be that bad?! After all it was better than starving in the days of the depression. He took one last glimpse of his wife, who was crying. The future was dark and dreary indeed.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Book I: Troy]

Ulysses was now in an armored car, him and the other inmates were dead silent. In chains, he sat in the car motionless. Before he was sent to prison, he heard about the new upcoming Missisippi Gubernatorial Election, featuring the new reform candidate, Homer Stokes.

 

The armored car jerked to a stop... this was the next point in his life, prison. "I miss Penny already... I really miss her," was Ulysses' thoughts.

 

The door opened, and there was the sprawling, gray, plain mass known as Ithaca Penintentary. The guard shouted "Rise!" and he, with the other immates got up. Then, the group started walking forward, of course, he was obliged to do so, as he was fettered to them.

 

Ulysses then trailed to what looked like a forge shop, where the chains were filed off. "At least that's a relief," Ulysses thought.

 

He was then show to a changeroom, where he would change into prisoners garb. He was 'thrown' into his cell, where he received a paltry meal. A few hours later, another two was thrown in with him. Ulysses was initially afraid to talk to them, and continued to sleep.

 

The next morning was dreadful, he woke up, to a mandatory shower. The water was cold and he had no soap, nor his favorite hair gel. That was another luxury he had to do without. He then had a bowl of soup, he felt no different, still starving and cold.

 

Then, he was taken to the forge again, where they shackeled him to the other two people who he had slept with, and they were directed to go into another armored car. This time the road was bumpy, and when he arrived, he discovered it was some kind of quarry.

 

There, he was given a pickax, and now began his task, of moving hills. The rocky hill needed to be cleared for railway tracks. Others were handling explosives, Ulysses and the chain gang were mining the rocks out that were left over.

 

"I guess this will be life for the next five years... yep," Ulysses thought.

 

Of course, he could not endure the Missisippi heat, and demanded water. The officer nearby simply said "get to work...". Ulysses still had in mind, it could be better than starving, jobless, and poor...

 

~~~

 

If only Mrs. Ivercargill could feel the same, Penny had felt differently. She was no longer starving either. In fact, life had gotten better without Ulysses. She found a job as a advertisement model, and attracted the attention of the campaign manager for Homer Stokes, the up and coming politician.

 

Of course, she told her children that their father had died in a train crash, rather than being incarcerated for practising law without a liscence. She had claimed that her previous husband was not bona fide. So to say it...

 

So, here, the two lives have changed, forever... One took a turn to incarceration, the other got better fortunes. Penny even came to think that Ulysses had died in prison, or maybe really got hit by a train. Of course, she was wrong, in legal terms, there is the ad hoc, prompter hoc fallacy...

 

Just because Ulysses had left, and she wasn't starving anymore meant Ulysses leaving was the reason she wasn't starving... Ulysses had feared this, but he must prove otherwise...

 

 

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It's the Depression. Somebody got arrested. For some reason he asks a question about whether prison is bad or not, though the answer was obvious to him. Something about Odysseus. But Ulysses is the standard name counterpart! GASP! I sense a connection in the Force.

 

Anyways, it's an alright start, though some mystique (if possible) might have been nice. KEEP WRITING! Quick, before you get writer's block!

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