Obituary of a Three-Century Man, Chapter 13
Emily Suzette, Frank, Start of World War 2, and the End of the Depression
. . . his last daughter, Emily Suzette, in 1930; and in 1932, his last child, Frank, came into the world.
In 1930, Emily Suzette, the Calloway’s last daughter, was born. In 1932—still spacing out their children on a predictable two-year plan—their last child, the “baby of the family,” was introduced into the household. They named him Frank.
These additions to the family were, of course, monumental events for the Calloways, but the world took little note of these births.
You could even say that nothing in a truly dramatic way took place in the Calloway family for several years after the birth of Frank. Life went on for them in the usual way: Jackson worked in the woods, and Crystalina took care of the household duties. The common term of the day for what she did was “housewife,” but Mrs. Calloway objected to that nomenclature, averring that, although she did love her house, she was not married to it, and thus was not a housewife. Then again, she did not call herself a Jacksonwife, either.
One change that did take place was that Crystalina prevailed upon Jackson to hang up his spikes. She reminded him of his half-dozen children (and herself) who counted on him “sticking around.” She wanted him to give up the dangerous job of being a topper (especially as he got older, a factor that she diplomatically left unspoken). Crystalina thought Jackson should become a timber cruiser, scouting out locations to be logged and marking the trees to be harvested. After giving it some thought, Jackson saw the wisdom in her argument and was easily able to convince his employer of the benefits to all concerned of this adjustment in his role.
The children, half a dozen of them now, did what was expected of them, meaning they played with each other and with subsets of each other, sometimes along gender lines and sometimes within their own age range; they fought with each other—usually with those in the same hyperlocal demographics; they did their chores; and they went to school.
Television had been invented, but was not yet commonplace. It was the era of the radio, and the family often listened to it at night: music, news, sports, dramas. In 1938, they all heard the “War of the Worlds” radio dramatization of an invasion of earth by Martians. Although presented in a realistic—and thus entertaining—fashion, it was made known both before and during the broadcast that it was a work of science fiction. The Calloways were taken by its realistic presentation, but not taken in—they were not gullible enough to be duped into believing the invasion was really happening, as some were.
In 1939, the second World War began, in Europe. It was on people’s minds in America, but not at the forefront of their attention, as the United States had not yet entered the fray. The Country supported the Allies, though, especially Britain and France, by lending and selling them military equipment. All this frantic manufacturing (the guns and tanks and missiles and planes being needed “yesterday”) brought an end to the Great Depression. Money was now streaming in.
America’s modified aloofness toward the war ended on the infamous day of December 7th, 1941, when the Japanese air force attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (which would not become a State for another eighteen years).
The Calloways learned of this event on the radio. The normally taciturn Jackson, on hearing the report, slumped down into his chair, and put his head in his hands. He rarely spoke of his experiences in the Great War (soon to be renamed World War 1); people seeing his reaction to the news may have thought nightmarish memories were flooding his brain, and he had collapsed for that reason. In reality, he realized that this probably meant that some of his children would end up fighting in this war, quite possibly on the front lines.
At the time, the Calloway children ranged in age from nineteen (Audra Aileen) down to nine (Frank). The only boy who was close to being of age to serve in the military was seventeen-year-old Ben. The next year, when he turned eighteen, Benjamin Calloway joined the Navy.
Chapter 1 can be read here.
Chapter 14 can be read here.