Story #48 - Going out on a picnic

    Once upon a time I was having fun with my family in this very spot. Seeing my baby daughter smile and laugh made me see how beautiful life is.
    You see, this place didn't have all this cobblestone in place. It was filled with grass all over. And benches. Plenty of other people were here. Couples learning love, couples realizing love, couples with spent love.
    We were nice together. We had been in love for almost ten years. We weren't even middle class, so all we could afford was going out to a movie and the monthly pub thing, to have a something different to fish and chips or sausages and mash that I grew tired of eating every week.
    When Noelle was born, eight months ago, I felt that life could not go better. And for a short while, it was. She was crying, not her heart out like others of her age, just enough to keep us awake at night. I was prepared for that, and I quite liked changing her diapers. Then something happened.
    People began to lose their jobs, not because they were bad at them, but because of higher-ups. I wound up losing mine as well.
    I was without one for a month, and went penniless within three weeks. Being paid weekly was nice. Not being was not.
    I was at my wits end. I even thought about stealing some apples or carrots. Hell, even milk. I was close to doing it one time when a couple of guys got into a fight near a marketplace and everybody turned into a crowd for them. My hand reached out to get the bread, the only thing that I could get, and my hand stopped. It simply froze. Then I took it back and put it in my pocket, and went on my way. I hated myself for not doing it, and for thinking about doing it.
    My wife was an emotional wreck by this point. Noelle was crying more often, and who could blame her. No other food than her mum's milk. No diapers. No warmth in the house. It made me feel ashamed of being a father.
    I had a friend who had found a job, and he came over and asked me if I wanted it. I didn't ask what it was about and said yes straight away. I was cleaning animal carcasses and dung.
   I tried not to mind it. Much. And as long as the money came, I was glad that my family was happy.
   Two months after this we arrived in this park. It was the first weekend I had off since I started that job and I wanted to enjoy myself. The weather was nice. The sun was bright. Then it turned dark all of a sudden. No clouds, though. A siren could be heard. And something falling.