1910s: Emily gets used to a new lifestyle, and sees her children fall ill

For Emily life has not been very easy since marrying, but one thing she hasn't had to deal with is housework. Without Virginia, and unable to find a new housemaid, she has to. Of course, not only is it hard to learn things that you've never done before, but for someone like Emily who is both high maintenance and lazy... well it's a challenge. She starts by complaining to her sister-in-law:

Who then takes her shopping for some more practical home dresses. Emily is sceptical, but she does see the point and finds a new dress that she can dress herself in easily and that has a hemline more productive to working around the house.

Her first challenge is to pick up all the clothing piles around the house, as no one knows how to hit a hamper, and then washing said clothes. She manages to make a mess of the entire floor in the process and so have to mop everything up for quite a while. How did Virginia manage not to get the entire floor wet?

She then needs to try her hand at cooking. Something she realises she has never done - not once - in her entire life. She bought bass while out on the town, but realises soon that she has no clue what to make with a bass. Or with anything. She ends up making mac and cheese, poorly. Cooking is not a favourite hobby.

Nevertheless, by the time the kids and Frank returns home from school, dinner is on the table. Not that Frank appreciates her effort. Instead he complains about the poor quality of the food. More importantly, Harold, Emily's baby, does not seem well. He has a fever!

Emily sends him to bed straight after dinner. Is it this thing they've been talking about around town? This sneeze malady? She cannot help but to worry. So many people have been reported sick lately, and they've started dying!

The next day, Harold does seem better, but then Beatrice complains about a headache that later turns into a fever. Saturday is spent mostly in bed sleeping for poor Beatrice, with her mother hovering and worrying about her as the fever runs through her system.

Luckily, by the end of the day, she seems better. She manages to eat a little (a feat, considering who made the dinner and what it tastes like), and she even has enough energy to play for a while before her mother sends her right back into bed again, this time for the night. No need to take chances.

But just as Beatrice is improving, Harold takes a turn for the worse! Emily had been so sure he was fine she didn't even think to check him before he went to bed but now he is ill again! Emily feels helpless! There is nothing to do but rest and hope it passes. No medicine works on the flu, and no the hospitals are overrun as it is. All she can hope for is that her baby boy will pull through on his own.

Meanwhile, back in Del Sol Valley, Alice is spending her 25th birthday alone in her apartment. She had imagined a party, perhaps a great meet-and-greet gathering, but Del Sol Valley has acted swiftly and resolutely against the spread of the Spanish Flu, and all bars, restaurants, bowling alleys or movie theatres are closed down. Large parties or gatherings are not forbidden but frowned upon. So Alice is alone, in an apartment she rented to be able to host parties in. But it could be worse. As she writes to her sister: 

This might not have been how I imagined my birthday, but at least I am comfortable, working regularly, and have my health. On my next birthday, I hope the war and flu are both over, and the we can be together again. Perhaps even at home for a few days, the whole family, including your Maurice. Wouldn't that be wonderful? 

Your loving sister,
Alice

Death toll Spanish Flu:

• Landon Alacorn (Newcrest)
• Charles Ashley (Del Sol Valley)
• Elliott Stewart (Newcrest)

Death toll WW1:

• Charles Edwardson (US)
• Matty Downs (US)
• Francois Gaston (Fr)
• Algot Lundgreen (Ger)
• Lucas Munch (Ger)