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The setup

The Whittaker Saga: the setup

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 I  was vastly inspired when reading the decades challenge, and as a history teacher, I could not stop myself from giving it a try. Of course, true to my nature or refusing to do things by the book, the first thing I did was break the rules. How? By creating as my protagonist a single, working woman living on her own! Gasp! Why? Partly because a story popped into my head, but also, partly, to honor the many women who - by choice or necessity - actually worked, and worked hard for their living in the 1890s. We tend to forget them, but the working women were there - from the hard working farmers that we often downgrade by calling wives, as if they weren't an essential part of the economy of the farm, to the working class women working as domestic help or in the factories where they were only payed half of a man's wages.  So with that, I introduce Abigail Spencer, a single, working, middle class woman in 1890s Willow Creek:  As middle class there is only a few jobs avai...
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1970s: The Worst Birthday Ever.

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For Beth and Cathy, each at their own universities, it's time to move on in life. With graduation over, and two new careers started (in Mechanical Engineering and Romance Consultation respectively) it's time to find a place to live. They've already settled on the big city, and to afford it, to share an apartment. They have found one that is rented out already furnished. Betty arrives first, and spends the first day settling in and working on preparing for her first day at the job. Cathy has taken on herself to find them a third roommate as there are three bedrooms in the house and they need the extra money. When she said that, however, she had not counted on Brandon asking her to move in with him on their last day in Britechester. Of course she readily agrees. Beth and Brandon meet when they come to move into the flat, along with some of the other neighbors in the house. What starts out as a small meeting in a hallway is soon a fully fledge party for all of the residents ...
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1970s: Two Birthdays and a Funeral

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Around the same time that 1977 becomes 1978 Cindy becomes a teenager. The entire family, apart from Cathy who cannot make the long trip, gather at Arthur and Claudia's place. They eat on the patio, as well as inside, and generally have a great time together. Then Cindy blows out her candles, and Claudia sees her youngest go from little girl who hugs teddy bears to a beautiful young woman. She cannot help but to feel a pang of sadness that time has passed so quickly. The next night, it's time for Steven to attend prom. He's not really interested, especially since he doesn't have a date, but his parents insist that he will regret it if he doesn't go. Perhaps they'd be right, because once there, he sort of does have fun. He doesn't dare to ask the pretty girls to dance, so he mostly dances on his own. Then he sees that Sandra does too. She's plain enough that he dares ask her to dance. She even listens to his crazy theories on how robots will take over the...
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