1930s: Life in San Myshuno

For the family it's a time of hard readjustment. The apartment is cramped, and just finding space enough to sleep is a challenge. Nash uses the last money they have from the sale of the house on a Murphy bed for him and Josephine, so that their living space doesn't look like a bedroom during the day. The kids all get to share the bedroom, and their beds are found through charity from the local church, as is all other furniture. The table is wobbly, and held up by a book, and probably really a desk that has now gotten new use. The children's beds are worn, most likely home made but they work, even if it's crowded. "It's fun sleeping on top," Thomas says in an attempt to be brave for his mother. As much as she tries to hide her despair from him and his sisters, he's perceptive, and besides, it's not hard to tell that mom is miserable.

The apartment is a challenge not only due to the limited space. In a short period of time they experience an electrical failure and a gas-leak, discover that cockroaches has taken up residence in the kitchen, and mice has done the same in both bedroom and living room. The kids are spending as much time as they can outdoors, playing on the playgrounds of the city, while Josephine tries her best to keep the place - and her children - clean, but washing clothes is hard in a space smaller than your previous kitchen. "We can't live like this," she tells her husband as she cries at night. "It's not reasonable!"

Nash does what he can to get his family out of the apartment. The first thing he does as Monday comes around is report to the unemployment office. But the situation here is not much better than the one in Willow Creek. The banks are failing, one by one, and the ones who are not are still not hiring. Not even Nash's connections from his previous job helps him now. He's stuck doing the same menial labour that he did back in Willow Creek. He tries to explain his situation to the unemployment agent, but gets nothing but a shrug in return. "Take it or leave it, this is the best we have." It's enough to put food on the table, and to pay the bills, but only just. Josephine is learning how important it is to stretch her budget, more than she's ever had to before in her life. Luckily there is a trift store just next door. As her own clothes are starting to wear out, she manages to find a more modern dress there for a moderate amount of money. Sewn by someone, not store made, by the looks of it the same type of flour bag fabric that she used for the girls' dresses, but a different pattern. But who can afford to be picky at this point?

For the kids, there is one upside to living in the city. Aunty Anna! Josephine makes a point to bring the children there as soon as she can, if only to make sure that Anna never ever visits her apartment which she is sure Anna would do otherwise. The girls love little Omisco, and Thomas is in awe of all the pictures on Anna's walls, telling stories of faraway places and exciting adventures. Little Arthur on the other hand, quickly decides that Anna is a person he loves being held by. As she looks around her sister's apartment, a place she would have called cramped just a short while ago, Josephine cannot help the jealousy that comes over her. It's not much bigger than her own, but clean, whole, with wallpaper on the walls and proper furniture. "So when can I come and see your place?" Anna asks. "Oh, not for a while," Josephine answers with a smile. "We have to get it in order first. There is so much to do, you wouldn't believe, new furniture that needs to be bought, it's just so empty at the moment, and then I need to update it to modern aesthetics. I will probably end up redecorating the entire place before I think it's fit for visitors."

She tells her mother the same thing as she phones her from the phone in the local drugstore. "It's quite nice, very clever use of space, although I will need to redecorate it to my tastes of course, but that's to be expected. What? Do we like it? Oh, you know me, mother, I'd be happiest in a house with a garden, but it's a nice apartment and is conveniently close to Nash's new job. And the kids love the outdoor space and the local playground. They send their love." Josephine never thought lying would be something she got good at.

Although, Anna isn't convinced, even if she lets Josephine think so. On the weekend, she shows the entire family the botanical park and gardens. She, Thomas and Nash skate around on roller skates (Nash isn't very good) while Josephine is tending to baby Arthur and the twins enjoy the swings.

On the weekdays, when the children are at school and Nash doing whatever work he's found for the day, the park is where Anna takes Josephine to walk Omisco and talk. "You're waring pants?" Anna shrugs. "Lots of women do now, and they're dead practical. You should try it!" Josephine shakes her head. Her sister has always been weird. But she does seem good with Arthur. "You would be such a good mother," she tells her sister.
"Have you never wanted to be married and have a family?" Anna hesitates, then decides that perhaps a little trust is needed both ways, if she wants Josephine to tell her the truth.
"I did once, during the war. His name was Maurice. He was a French soldier. For a while we were engaged, or well, we were more than just engaged. To be completely honest we were more or less married in all but name, but then he needed to return to the front and... well, he didn't return to me. And with him my hopes for marriage and family died too." Josephine is stunned.
"You never said anything!"
"You were getting married. What was I supposed to do, ruin your big day by sharing my heartache? Alice knew, and I told mom and dad. I never saw a need to burden you with my grief when you were just about to start your life. But enough about me. How are you? You look tired. Is everything well?" 

But Josephine is not ready to be as honest as her sister. She smiles. "Of course it is! Aside from Arthur still not sleeping through the night, but he will have to learn now that he's getting a new brother or sister!"

"She's lying," Anna says on the phone later when she speaks to Alice.
"How do you know?"
"She's not wearing her pearls. How many times have you seen our sister without those pearls? And her story makes no sense. Nash would just get a job at a bank in times like this when we read about banks failing on a daily basis?"
"He is brother in law with Rhett Goth, surely he would pull some strings?"
"Have you ever known Rhett Goth to pull strings for anyone but himself? I'm telling you, she's lying! I have half a mind to just show up on her doorstep."
"Don't! Give her time. She'll tell you when she's good and ready."

Anna is right of course, and the stress is weighing heavily on Josephine. So much so that she one day, as the children and Nash are away, feels something some all too familiar cramps in her stomach. In pain, she rushes to the doctor, even if she can't really afford to. After hours in the waiting room of the one free clinic she knows of, she finally gets seen, only to be dismissed. "No need to be in hysterics, it was nothing serious. You women need to stop worrying about any little thing you feel. It's all in your head." Josephine is both relieved and insulted as she heads back home. She wonders if she should have asked for a new diaphragm to be fitted, but she didn't dare. Not with this doctor. Besides, she wouldn't be able to afford it anyway. What is worse is that she doesn't know how to feel about the baby she is carrying. On the one hand she wouldn't want to go through another miscarriage, but a nagging part of her mind wonders if it wouldn't have been for the best for all of them if this pregnancy had never happened in the first place.