Only the Strong Survive
By Rhoda D'Ettore
Copyright 2014 Rhoda D'Ettore
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Summer 1918
Sarah Collins-James gave birth to a beautiful boy nine months later, and the Collins farm stayed in the family for the next 140 years. The industrial revolution brought with it new agricultural resources, as well as factory jobs in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas. Textiles, bottling companies, and breweries were opening everywhere. With the flowing economy, and assistance of machinery, people for the first time had leisure time for recreational activities.
Around 1910, Jonathan James sold about 20 acres of the family farm along the creek. Wealthy families from the city began building summer cottages there. It was a nice break from not only the city, but the Jersey shores that were now flooded with people. The yards of the cottages backed against the creek, and diving boards and slides were added for summer fun. The fishing was excellent, and romantic moonlit excursions could often be seen from the shore. Life was good, until World War I broke out, with it, came the Spanish Influenza pandemic. People fled from the cities, as millions succumbed to illness and death.
The New Jersey shark attacks of 1916 were almost forgotten as the summer of 1918 brought even more families to the creek bed, requiring additional cottages to be erected. Many who owned the cottages brought with them their extended family from the city, as a way of fleeing the influenza problem. One such family was the Owens family. Mr. Matthew Owens was an executive at the Haines Brewery, and owned three cottages along the creek. He insisted that his wife, five children, and his parents as well as in-laws refrain from the city. His ego prevented him from believing he could be susceptible to such illness, only the weak were in danger.
Each cottage was a four room dwelling made up of a kitchen, living space, and two bedrooms. Each had an outhouse, and because they were constructed as summer homes, there were no furnaces. They did have gas lighting, however. As the summer dragged on, one cottage was expanded to five bedrooms and used as a hotel, while another was converted into a restaurant. A doctor was practicing out of one home, and the little area seemed to be becoming its own little village. The children laughed and played, ignorant of the horrors of the war in Europe, or the deadly virus that was killing millions worldwide.
Patricia Owens was determined to give her children a happy summer. With her parents next door, and her in-laws on the other side, she felt safe and content. Her husband did his best to visit weekly, but was concerned about passing the virus as a carrier. The youngest of the Owens children was a red haired blue eyed girl with big puffy cheeks named Agnes. She always had a smile on her face, and at two years old, saw the wonder in everything around her.
Patricia carried Agnes on her hip as she called the others, "Children, come and get some pots. I need you to pick some berries from the bushes so that I can make a pie." With that, a swarm raced towards the kitchen and out the door to the yard, clinging and clanging pots along the way. The oldest was a 15 year old boy named Henry, who boosted his 10 year old sister on his shoulders.
