We drove for what felt like weeks after that Sunday. We ain't brought nuthin' with us. No clothes, no water, not even Toto. We just had to get out. We soon made it to California. We heard from some friends that it was a nice place. They lied.
The first months we was there was terrible. They called us "Okies" even tho we're from Kansas and Colorado. Papa and Uncle Jim had trouble findin' jobs. Most of 'em were taken by others who came here.
They soon found a job workin' in cotton fields. They wasn't used to platin' cotton, most we grown in Kansas was wheat and corn. The farms had lots of people there from all over. Papa said he ain't like workin' them fields. He said farms should be family owned not owned by the Big Man and that he don't like workin' with strangers. Uncle Jim said that just misses Kansas. I do too.
The people here are rude. They came to where we was stayin and destroyed it. We lived in shacks cause we didn't have much, then some people with tools and destroyed all we had left. They called Mama, Sue, and me communists, then spit on us. Sue wanted to hit 'em back. Mama said fightin' ain't never the answer, but we all had left to do was fight.
Dorothy
YOU ARE READING
Livin' In The Dust
Historical FictionPapa said it wouldn't reach us, but he was wrong. The Dust came and got us. It took everything from us. And there wasn't nothin' we could've done to stop it.
