"Is there any white bread?" New York, Queens. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoIn a two-storey bungalow, a middle-aged man wearing a major's military uniform and walking on crutches stepped forward to greet his wife, who had just returned home, and looked at the basket his wife was carrying and asked eagerly.

The man's name was Michael. Borg is a major in the U.S. Army. A few years ago, he fought in North Africa with the U.S. Expeditionary Force, but was forced to retire after losing a leg in the war. After returning to his home in New York, he lived on retirement and disability benefits.

When he retired, he received a lot of retirement money, and he also got a large number of various medals. Originally, life was not bad, but as the U.S. military continued to lose and retreat on various fronts around the world, the originally good life began to retreat one after another. After the Ming army began to land on the American mainland on a large scale, the life that could only be barely maintained fell to the bottom in an instant.

At first, there was only a shortage of daily necessities, but the prices of all kinds of goods began to rise wildly. Later, even the most basic food could not be guaranteed, and there was no food to buy on the streets, and the only place where food could be bought was the black market. And on the black market, that price is simply astronomical.

"There's no white bread left." Borg's wife shook her head and sighed, put the basket in her hand on the table, took out a long section of black bread and placed it on the table, and whispered, "White bread is too expensive." Now we can't afford it at home. I only brought enough money to buy a brown loaf of bread. ”

"What?!" Borg was surprised and said, "You brought twenty dollars with you, and you only bought a brown loaf!?" ”

In this era, it was the gold standard, and twenty dollars was definitely not a small amount of money, but I only bought a loaf of black bread mixed with a lot of wood chips?

"It's nice to be able to buy it." Borg's wife, Isabella, said angrily, "It's still at the risk of being caught, and I queued up to rob it." Now the streets are full of police, and if they find anyone in the black market, they will immediately arrest and take them away. ”

The high price of the black market has unimaginable damage to all aspects of society, especially at this time when this kind of war has entered a critical stage. The U.S. government struggled to keep the war going on and to raise the people's hopes for future victory in the war. It is a big whitewash everywhere, and it is absolutely not allowed to damage the image in the slightest.

In addition to the desperate promotion of beauty in the newspapers and on the radio, the management of a large city such as New York is extremely strict. In any case, it is necessary to make it appear that it is still prosperous and prosperous, and that people live and work in peace and contentment. As a result, there are many specialty stores that are filled with a wide variety of products, but these items cannot be sold. At the same time, we will intensify the crackdown on all kinds of crimes, and the black market is one of the key targets.

However, the prosperity and neatness on the surface cannot hide its inner hollowness. Because of greed. Rot, because of the war, because of the constant occupation of raw material supply points, for various reasons, mainly because the situation began to collapse and self-interest began to appear everywhere.

Although the U.S. government still has a huge amount of resources in its hands, it can supply the people of the whole country for normal use for several years. But at this time, the top levels of the government, all their preoccupation with new weapons and warfare, were no longer able to control the situation everywhere. Therefore, the low-level officials everywhere. The members soon took advantage of their power and began to make a fortune in the country.

People may be able to do without anything, but the only thing they can't do without is food. This is a must for any creature to live. But in a large city like New York, it has been artificially made into a scene of scarcity of supplies. All the belongings were tightly covered, big businessmen and officials. The officers colluded with each other to create the illusion of a lack of goods, and then put their materials into the black market to make huge profits.

This kind of thing naturally caused dissatisfaction with the federal government. In peacetime, no one would be able to confront the federal government. But now in a special period, the federal government's control over the local area has been greatly reduced, which has made many benefits. Benefit. Regiment. The body was able to gather a lot of forces to fight against the Federation.

And among them, the most hit are the local ordinary people. Many had to go bankrupt in order to get food, and many who had lost everything had to pick up guns.

"Do you still have any money at home?" After a moment of silence, Borg, who was feeling extremely depressed, looked at his wife, who was busy preparing to cook, and asked.

"Not at all." Borg's wife fiddled with the iron-hard black bread in her hand with a blank face, and whispered, "Everything that can be sold has been sold." The money I used to buy bread was sold as a gift from my mother when we got married. ”

His wife's words made Borg feel like a blow to the chest, and he couldn't speak for a long time. He had not received his disabled military pension for several months, which had been cut back. He also approached the government department and the military, but no one paid attention to him, and everyone asked him to go home and wait for news. I pity myself for fighting desperately for the country and paying for a leg, but now even eating has become a problem.

Half an hour later, Borg's wife finally got the brown bread and called the children who were sleeping on the second floor down to eat. By this time, almost all schools had closed, and the children did not have to go to school, but were all at home and playing, waiting for the war to end.

"Mom, I can't eat it." The youngest daughter, who was only a few years old, couldn't bite the hard black bread, and looked at her mother with tears in her eyes and said, "Mom, I want to eat cake." ”

Borg suddenly paused his hand holding the knife and fork, and looked at his lovely little daughter, tomorrow is his little daughter's birthday, but he, as a father, can't give his daughter a cake!

After eating, Borg went back to his study and took out a few of his medals, found his wife very cherished, and said, "Isabella, you can exchange these medals for money, and buy a birthday cake for little Lisa." ”

Isabella, with a tired face, looked at the boxes containing medals handed to her by her husband in a daze, and was speechless.

A moment later, just when Borg couldn't help but want to speak, Isabella cried out, "Are you a fool?" Or was it a head injury while in the army? This kind of thing, this kind of thing......" Isabella's body trembled slightly, and finally suddenly shouted out, "It's useless! It's useless! Who would want such useless things!! ”

Isabella's screams woke the children upstairs as they were studying their homework, and when they crept to the stairs, they saw their mother open their father's outstretched hand, and several small boxes were scattered on the floor.

Watching his tearful wife cry and run into the bedroom, looking at the children at a loss on the stairs. After a long sigh, Borg slowly tilted his head, trying not to let his tears fall. He gave everything for the country, and even lost a leg for it, thus losing the ability to work. But the country is now trying to make his family unable to live!

The next day, a hungry Borg woke up early in the morning. He didn't wake up his sleeping wife, because he knew that his wife had done so much to keep the family going. On crutches, Borg came to his study to change into the major uniform he wore when he retired, dressed himself in an unusual spirit, and hung all the medals on his chest.

He took out a pistol from the drawer, which he had when he was on the battlefield, and brought it home as a souvenir when he retired from the army. He never thought he would ever use this gun again.

After tidying himself up, Borg went to the bedroom and looked at his wife affectionately, leaning down and kissing his wife on the cheek. Then he went to the second floor to visit his children one by one and kissed them on the cheeks. But at his youngest daughter, Lisa, she woke up when he kissed her lightly.

"Dad, where are you going?" The innocent little daughter instinctively sensed that her father seemed to be about to travel away, raised her hand and rubbed her eyes, and then hurriedly asked.

"Honey, it's your birthday, Daddy is going to get you a cake." Borg chuckled and soothed his daughter back to sleep, patting her cheek gently, "Listen to Mommy." ”

After drinking a large jar of cold water, Borg looked at the black bread left in the kitchen, tightened his belt vigorously, and walked out with crutches. He's going to get a birthday cake for his daughter.

"Give me a cake." In a cake shop in Queens, Borg, dressed in military uniform, pointed to a beautiful birthday cake in the cupboard with a blank face and spoke in a deep voice.

"That?" The waiter at the counter looked at the cake that Borg was pointing to, thought for a moment, then turned his head and said, "Two hundred dollars." ”

"I don't have any money." Borg said coldly.

"Get out!"

"I've shed blood for this country, I've lost a leg for this country. Now I need a cake! In the name of the state. Borg, said in a deep voice.

"Security!"

Several big-shouldered security guards walked up to Borg, ready to throw the neurotic out.

"Bang Bang !!" After a few gunshots, several security guards fell in pools of blood.

"Give me the cake!"

"Okay, good~~~" The clerk who was pointed at gunpoint hurriedly took out the cake, wrapped it and handed it to Borg. It wasn't until after the figure of Borg left the cake shop that he raised his hand to wipe the beads of sweat from his forehead, picked up the phone, and prepared to call the police: "Neurotic." ”

Eventually, the young Lisa never saw her father again. On her birthday, his father was shot dead by the police for robbing a cake shop. Her birthday was spent in the dark.

The police told Isabella that Borg was holding the box of cakes tightly until he died. And at this moment, Isabella's eyes were already full of tears. (To be continued.) )