A Day in The Life of Moe

Ring! Ring! Ring! Went Moe’s alarm clock. Moe groggily shut off the ringer,

and fell back asleep. A few minutes later, Moe’s mom came into his bedroom and

woke him up. “Moe, it’s time for school!” she said cheerfully. Moe sat up in his

bed, rubbing his eyes.

“Mom, it’s the last day of school. Do I have to go? We never do anything in

the last day.”

“Yes Moe, you have to go. I know you have difficulties in school, and that

makes you not like it, but me and Dad have to go to work, and I don’t trust you

here by yourself.

“But Mom, I’m 17!”

“I still don’t care, Moe. The last time you were here alone, you almost burnt

the house down. We don’t have to the money to afford a new house, especially in

these times.” Moe got out of bed, muttering under his breath,

“This war ruins everything….” He got dressed, and headed into the kitchen

for breakfast. This normally consisted of a banana and some yogurt. As he ate he

read the newspaper. World War Two is worsening as the United States constantly

needs more troops. Recently, over 2000 new recruits have been drafted… Moe put

down the paper.Moe stopped reading. He didn’t have time to read the whole

article. Moe quickly snapped back to reality. He was running late! Maybe he’d

miss the bus and not have to go to school. Unfortunately for Moe, his mom yelled

up to him from the ground floor.

“Moe! You’re going to miss the bus!” Moe threw on his shoes, and dashed out the

door yelling,

“Bye mom, see you later.” But he still secretly wished he had missed the

bus.

Moe got off the bus, and approached the front doors of the school, talking to his

friend, Larry, about what he read in the paper in the morning.

“Hey, did you see what was in the paper this morning? They’re drafting people

our age for the military. They just drafted over 2000 more people.”

“I know, I saw it.”

“I wonder if anyone we know was drafted... it wouldn’t be that bad, i mean

war isn’t horrible.”

“Moe... war IS bad though...” Larry said, as he trailed off.

Moe noticed that Larry seemed a little different today, but he didn’t notice it.

Moe entered the school, and headed to his first period class, science. Science was

Moe’s favorite class. he hoped to grow up and one day be an earth scientist. Moe

settled down into his chair and listened to his teacher, Mr.Greene. Mr. Greene

was talking about the war and how they started to draft people for it, and that

someone in Moe’s class would be leaving because they were drafted. Moe got

very worried. but nothing could of prepared him for who the person that was

drafted was.

“Larry Jones will be leaving us for the army.” His best friend. Moe’s best

friend would join the army.

***

Later at lunch, Moe sat down and talked to Larry.

“You got drafted??” said Moe.

“Yeah.” Said Larry

“But why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know... I don’t really want to talk about it, its awful.”

“OK, but i don’t see whats so bad about being drafted.” Said Moe, as he finished

his lunch.

***

Moe got off the bus and walked towards his home. School is FINALLY over! He

thought to himself. Moe opened the door to his house. He was the only one

there, like always, because his mom was at work. Moe sat down on the couch,

and thought about what happened with Larry. That’s when the doorbell rang.

Moe got up, and opened the door. There, he saw the mailman, with a letter for

him. Moe took the letter, and closed the door. Moe went back upstairs and

opened the envelope. The first 4 words said it all.”Welcome to the army...” Moe

eyes couldn't even believe what he saw. He now understood why being drafted

was so bad. The fear. The possibility of never seeing his family again. The army.

The words rang over and over in his head. He was scared. “I wanted to be a

scientist, not an infantry man.” He said to himself. Moe wondered if he would

ever make it out of the army alive. Only time would tell.

Fin.

Author’s Note

3rd draft takes place in Kentucky, in the United States. it is set in the year 1941, in world

war 2. it was a very hard time for everybody in the world because a man named Adolf Hitler

was trying to take over the world. many people were drafted into the military in this time

because the US needed troops to fight in the war. if you were drafted, you had no choice; you

had to join the army.

during world war two, there were two sides: the Allies, and the axis. the Allies were the

people fighting against Hitler, and the Axis were on Hitler’s side. The United States was in a

huge amount of debt to pay for this war. millions of dollars were spent on the war. many

parents had to work multiple jobs to keep food on the table.

despite the bad times, the America spirit was still always there. Americans and the rest

of the allies still kept on believing. even after a big defeat in a battle. it was a terrible time, and

many American lives were lost . and even though drafts were terrible things, we may not of

won the war without them. And if we didn't, things would of been much worse.

~Ian Johnston

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Geography of Germany." Wikipedia. 05 Sept. 2012. Wikipedia Foundation. 17 May 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Germany>.This source was very helpful for the geography part of my KWL chart. this also helped me with the setting in the story.

"Military Geography." Military Geography. 17 May 2012 <http://mason.gmu.edu/~fdillon/military.htm>.This source helped me learn a little bit about the military and how people were drafted. It also helped me learn about military battlefields. (Geography)

"1970s and '80s Were a Period of Change in American Society." American History: (VOA Special English 2007-07-04). 17 May 2012 <http://www.manythings.org/voa/history/224.html>.

This was the most helpful source. I learned a lot about The Great Depression and World War 2 in this article.