As Witnesses

9💛

Friday, October 3, 2008

~*~

Swinging the front door of their house open, Ginny and Lil' Catty wander into the living room next to the kitchen. Every day brings random news, and today could be something completely different.

That completely different comes within a few minutes. Both of their parents are sitting at the kitchen island. It seems as though they have discarded their formal clothes, because today all they are wearing are the casual ones.

"Mama! Papa! What are you doing here?" Lil' Catty can't help but wonder aloud.

"Remember what happened to the Airlets?" Athena responds with another question, then announces out of the blue, "We're out of work, too."

They knew it would happen at some point, but Ginny and Lil' Catty still don't know how to react to that. When Ginny finally does think of something, she asks, "What happened? And what happens now?"

Odin shakes his head. "Hard questions, kids. But here's what happened: as you may know, we've been losing orders for houses, since everyone has been all worried about the economy and the housing market. Now we have so little money to run on that everyone has been asked to just take a vacation from work until we figure out what we're going to do with the company. Who knows, though? It may never come back." After explaining all this, Odin begins to look down at the table.

Before the kids can start to worry more, they notice bags of groceries sitting on the floor, leaning against the island. The kids are wondering the same thing: "Wait, you guys got the groceries today?"

"We kind of had to this time," answers Athena. "As for what happens now, that's not certain either. The economy is in tatters right now, so the Selenite Realm is going to be following Earth's example and will be spending 600 to 700 billion dollars repairing the economy and helping businesses pick themselves back up. Though this would all be very helpful..."

"Is it even going to work?!" Ginny almost demands. "And what sort of things would the money be spent on to help? Whatever it is, I really hope it helps, since we can't keep going on like this!"

"Well, this money is going to be spent in lots of areas," Odin explains, then starts up a list of where the money will be going: "First of all, the reason why these banks are in trouble is because they owe these risky loans that aren't even worth anything anymore. So the government will buy those out from the banks to help them become more stable. Next, the government will give loans to people starting new businesses who will also be creating jobs for more people. And then the government will be spending money on projects involving repairing, but who knows who will be responsible for carrying those out?"

"I'm still not really getting it," agrees Lil' Catty. "That's a lot of money being well-spent, but the government doesn't seem to agree on anything! How did they suddenly decide to do this?"

"That's what we're thinking, too. The government of the United States thought that if they didn't do something ambitious to help the economy, it would all collapse. What's happening over there has been happening very similarly here as well. Perhaps it's an example of how much close universes can affect each other. However, there is no guarantee these actions will work-" Athena stops herself mid-sentence and she, too, has her head down on the table, breathing shallowly and refusing to come into contact with anyone. At this point, Odin is also very much in this state.