The Wall

The Wall: In the somewhat near future, economic crisis has hit the United States of America and people are suffering from malnourishment and easily treatable illnesses. Overpopulation has turned cities dirty and uninhabitable and the only people with money horde their cash in walled fortresses. A family with a teenage girl and younger boy try to escape the country to find safety in the well off country of Canada. Along the way from a very different New York City, the family meets many others on foot all traveling for a better life. When they reach the many shack cities on the border of the United States and Canada, they see an enormous fence guarded by hundreds of vicious and trigger happy Canadian horse guards. Despite pleading with the offices of migration, the country refuses to allow in any more American refugees and the family finds themselves trying to find ways to cross the border. As stories of failed attempts reach the ears of the family they lose hope until their youngest son falls ill. Unable to pay for the medical care, it becomes increasingly important that they make it across the border. Unable to watch her son die, the mother attempts to cross the border but is killed, after which the father becomes depressed and tries to earn money through the drug trade (quickly becoming an addict). The teenage girl manages to playfully seduce one of the younger red clad border patrols and he begins to leave money in the hollow of a maple tree on the border for her and her brother to make it across. By word of mouth, the girl hears of a group of rogue Canadians who take Americans over the border (for a price) and manages to join them on a journey west where she and her brother cross under a secret tunnel system beneath one of the great lakes. When arriving in Canada, they manage to get to Montreal where the girl works in a flag factory during the day and as a janitor at a corporal building at night so she can pay for her brother’s treatment. When her brother regains health, he attends school and the two live for years in safety. The possibility of becoming legal in Canada is so slim that they keep their American Identity a secret by saying ‘eh’ after every sentence and learning French. When life is finally good, government officials storm their apartment and deport them to a southwest region in the United States, even though the boy had spent the majority of his young life in Canada and the girl was working. The conditions in America have become much worse for the two when they return and find themselves in a land in the midst of a drug war and massive corruption in the government. The two have no choice but to continue walking, attempting once again to attain a better life.