BH Ikasle Txokoa

My booming life

By Udane Uriarte

-Knock,knock,knock

My maid was knocking on the door. I was going to be late to the party and my brother was getting upset.

My name is Josephine Swan and I am 22 years old . I live with my brother in a very big house in Long Island. My parents died in a car accident two months ago and we felt very lonely . That is why we decided to move to Long Island. All the rich people lived there and the best parties were celebrated there. We wanted to be happy again.

I got out of the room, I was very nervous it was the first time I was going to a party. We took a taxi and went to the party.

When we arrived, there were a lot of people. All the women were wearing flapper dresses along with cloche hats and the men were wearing double-breasted vests . Everything was very different here than in Colorado the city where I grew up. Even the women were smoking and drinking. I could not believe what I was seeing.

My brother and I entered the house where the party was host. A man was playing the piano in one side. In the other side, there were some men playing the saxophone and women were dancing around them. In front of me there was a huge pool and people were swimming in it. I turned around to talk to my brother but he was not there. I started getting very anxious, he was the only person I knew here and now he was not there.

Suddenly, the music stopped and all the lights were focused on a balcony. In the balcony there was a man. He was tall with green eyes and black hair. He was wearing a black suit with a  red tie. He began to talk.

‘I hope you have had fun but the party has finished we will see each other next Saturday. ‘

That was it the party had finished and I did not have the time to enjoy it  and the worse thing I did not know where my brother was.The people started to get out of the house and going to their cars. I was alone but I had to deal with it. The only person I knew (well  I did not know him) was the man of the balcony. So I decided to go where he was.

After climbing a lot of stairs and going through a lot of rooms I found him. I was a bit embarrassed but I decided to talk to him.

‘ Hello I am Josephine Swan and I am lost I do not know where my brother is’

He started to laugh and I did not know what to think. He started to talk.

‘Hello I am Joe Goodwin and I do not know what I am supposed to do about that’

‘Help me, take me back  to my house or call a taxi ‘

He called a taxi and we spent all the journey talking. Mr.Goodwin was a broker in Wall Street and had a lot of money. He was also very nice and funny. I arrived home safely and went to sleep.The next morning  my brother told me that they had call him for a business in Chicago and that is why he disappeared in the party. I did not believe him but I did not tell him a thing.

In the evening a red big car appeared in the road in front of my house and Mr.Goodwin was inside of it. I went outside. He had prepared a date for us. At first I told him that I would not go with him on a date but  he convinced me and we went on date.

That was the first of a lot of dates. We got married on September 1st of 1929. We bought a very big house in Long Island. I was a very happy woman. Joe and I went to all the parties of New York.In those parties we drank and smoked a lot. We also danced and had so much fun.

I spent more money that you could ever imagine in dresses,hats, furniture, alcohol, cigarettes,shoes,... But I did not need those things I just bought them because I liked them.  

I thought that this would be my life forever that I would live happily ever after but everything changed on October 24th of 1929.

It was a normal morning. I woke up , put on a beautiful blue dress and a matching hat. I went to Rose’s house to have breakfast. We were having breakfast when all of a sudden the phone rang.Edith( Rose’s maid) said that the call was for Rose.

Rose was talking with his husband on the phone she was crying and she was very anxious. She hung up. Rose told me that his husband had lost all their money and that they were in bankrupt because there had been a crash in wall street . I was shocked if she was in bankrupt I was also in bankrupt because Joe also worked in wall street. I had lost all my money I was going to be a homeless. I started crying and Rose started crying again. I looked at her face and there was something strange. She looked like she was trying to tell me something but she could not. So I asked her.

‘Rose is there something else you want to tell me?’

‘Yes…’

‘What Rose spit out!!’

‘Joe has committed suicide’

‘What?’

I started running. I took my car and started to drive as fast as I could to wall street . I wanted to see Joe for the last time. I think I was having an anxiety attack but I could not control myself. All of a sudden I saw the light of a car coming on the opposite direction. I had no time to stop the car. The light of that car was the last thing I saw.