It became crucial for Rene to help as much as possible around the farm,
most times she would need to care for her children whilst feeding the hogs,
usually in freezing conditions with rain pelting down and mud splattering up
her legs.
The workload and debt took a toll on their resources, this coupled with
family commitments and long hours became too much to bear. Even finding enough
food for the pigs was a difficult task. Ted would do the rounds of the bakers
and the greengrocers to collect free scraps but as people bought less, less was
produced and eventually there was insufficient scrap to sustain the pig’s
well-being. He was spending more money on feeding those pigs than they were
worth. His solution was to collect the many stray nuisance dogs roaming freely,
butcher them and feed them to the pigs. This worked for a while but as he
exhausted the supply of dogs the same problems existed. They had to subsist on
a daily pittance and with the enormity of the workload forever increasing he
found himself spending more time away from home than when in active duty; also
the price of pork dropped even more and the farm fell further into financial
difficulty. The only solution was to salvage what remained, this involved
giving up the dream of self-sufficiency for now and selling the pigs at
auction. They sold at a loss, and what money they did trade for was consumed on
debt. The Scotsdon’s were broke and disappointed but still indomitable and
confident; Ted was never one to concede defeat and his positive disposition
always gave Rene the strength to strive forward in attempt of amelioration for
her family. So, once more with no gainful occupation in sight he was back to
the unemployment queue, but with dignity intact.
Because Rene spent so much of her married life without the continual
presence of her husband she could not be totally aware of the subliminal
influence her mother was having on her marriage. When Rene, Ted, Zoe and Tim
began to spend more time at home as a family, Rene’s mother would sense the
loss of her offspring, and her sensitivity to loneliness was plagued upon her
daughter. Rene herself knew very well of the terrible feeling of isolation and
forlornness. When she took the kids around to visit, her mother would create
trouble by inviting old boyfriends around and ensuring Ted was informed of her
officious deeds. She was constantly trying to split them up and apparently with
the lies told and torment caused she nearly succeeded. In better times much
further in the future Ted stated;
“Rene’s mother is in the
best place she could ever be.” He was asked the question;
“Where?”
“Six foot under,” was his
reply.
Ted
eventually attained employment as a bus driver in London. His
mother-in-law knew the earnings he derived from his meagre remuneration and the
long hours designated was insufficient to achieve a comfortable living, and she
knew once again her daughter would be at home alone for extended hours. She
took every doable occasion to ‘rub-it-in’ and every opportunity to remind Rene
about their deficient lifestyle and of the worthless man she married, she
nagged her unendingly about the doomed future they would share together if she
stayed with him.BUY BOOKS: http://www.amazon.com/author/dennisdurant
MY WEBSITE: http://dennisdrnt.wix.com/fictitious-facts
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