1960: To boldly go where no TV-show has gone before
As his aunt is renovating a house in San Seqouia and his uncle is planning to move into the new house on the street, Michael is settling into high school life. He's doing well in his classes, and spends his recesses trying to impress the cutest girl in school. Linda seems interested - he thinks - and so when he catches her going into the gym he follows, and tries to flirt with her.
She flirts back - he thinks - maybe - but then she abruptly leaves. Michael is very confused. Is that a thing? Does girls do that? Why can't they just say what they mean?
After asking his friends, he finally decides that there is nothing for it. He needs to ask his dad, who actually give him some really good advice on healthy relationships, the importance of listening to what you feel, of respecting girls and talking to them like you would a guy (that would be easier if they behaved like guys). But then, just for safe measures, Thomas makes sure to include a birds-and-the-bees talk too about how easy it is to get girls pregnant, and how you have to make sure it's something you both want, and by this point they are both utterly embarrassed.
He tries to invite her and some other school mates to the park after school. While all the rest of them show up, Linda is conspicuously absent. Either way, Michael has a nice time. They play around with footballs, swim in the pool, and then one of the girls in the park starts to suntan naked!!!
Michael can't say that he minds the view overly much.
Back at home, it's TV-premiere time. A new show is airing, something called Star Trek. All the siblings sit down in front of the TV to watch it. Carl falls instantly in love. Space! Adventures! Aliens that kill people by sucking the salt from them! What's not to love? Susan is less impressed. "Bewitched is better," is her final verdict. Steven, on the other hand, found the shape-changing monster too scary but pretends to be fine. Michael is... intrigued. While not as instantly in love as his brother he's willing to give the show a chance. Possibly this might have something to do with the very hot crew women, but he'd never admit that so that mom might hear it.
For Arthur, the show passes by without him seeing it, as he is much more involved in actual space missions. 1966 has been a good year. Yes, the Soviets did beat them, again, when it came to landing on the moon, but they're definitely catching up. The Gemini-missions has been going well, and in June the Surveyor 1 became the first successful U.S: soft landing on the Moon. In the months since, Arthur along with everyone else, has been analysing the data and images and readjusting their calculations to fit the actual surface of the moon, using the information to build the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle - a flying simulator designed to teach astronauts how to land a Lunar Module on the moon. Simultaneously testing is constantly ongoing for the new Apollo program. Apollo 1 is schedule for early in the next year - there is a lot to finish before them.
But while Arthur is neck deep in science, Audie is neck deep in moving. With him working so much she is doing most of the packing up, choosing what to take, what to sell, what to buy new. They've hired a moving company, and had some furniture directly delivered, but still there is a lot of last minutes fixes and getting the photos off the walls before the movers pick up the last boxes.
The moving coincides with the girls turning 10, so a party is out of the questions. The girls still gets present, but the big present is the new home, and having more friends nearby. On the day itself, Arthur has been granted the afternoon off to help. Together, they guide the movers and decorate their new home to perfection, while the girls dive headfirst into the pool where they spend most of their afternoon before it's time for dinner.
It is a happy family who gathers around the same old table, but in a whole new house, although Audie completely forgets she now has a machine to do the washing up after dinner.
As bedtime approaches, Arthur makes sure to enjoy the time with his daughters, playing with Cindy and putting all the girls to bed. Audie takes the chance to put up som paintings of the family in the hallway.
When everyone is asleep, Audie and Arthur sits down - in their new living room, on their new sofa, and enjoy a glass of whine before bedtime. This place is going to do wonders for the family, they're sure.
It's not only Arthur and Audie who are busy, for in San Seqouia the plans that started to be laid in the beginning of the year is ready to be completed. As the ban on bubble blowing is set to go into affect, a protest has been arranged. But this is no ordinary protest, but a protest of love that they call "The Love Pageant Rally". "Bring the color gold... Bring photos of personal saints and gurus and heroes of the underground... Bring children... Flowers... Flutes... Drums... Feathers... Bands... Beads... Banners, flags, incense, chimes, gongs, cymbals, symbols, costumes, joy" the flyers states, but Barbara still decides to get a baby sitter for Abby as she heads off to Celebration Way Park.
The park is already filled with people when she arrives. There are is music everywhere, dancing around the bonfire, people blowing bubbles, people singing, playing the guitar and then the stage with its performances of local bands who play for free. As she returns home to Abby, Barbara thinks this is the kind of protest she likes. Less shouting in the streets, more love, music and dancing.
She flirts back - he thinks - maybe - but then she abruptly leaves. Michael is very confused. Is that a thing? Does girls do that? Why can't they just say what they mean?
After asking his friends, he finally decides that there is nothing for it. He needs to ask his dad, who actually give him some really good advice on healthy relationships, the importance of listening to what you feel, of respecting girls and talking to them like you would a guy (that would be easier if they behaved like guys). But then, just for safe measures, Thomas makes sure to include a birds-and-the-bees talk too about how easy it is to get girls pregnant, and how you have to make sure it's something you both want, and by this point they are both utterly embarrassed.
He tries to invite her and some other school mates to the park after school. While all the rest of them show up, Linda is conspicuously absent. Either way, Michael has a nice time. They play around with footballs, swim in the pool, and then one of the girls in the park starts to suntan naked!!!
Michael can't say that he minds the view overly much.
Back at home, it's TV-premiere time. A new show is airing, something called Star Trek. All the siblings sit down in front of the TV to watch it. Carl falls instantly in love. Space! Adventures! Aliens that kill people by sucking the salt from them! What's not to love? Susan is less impressed. "Bewitched is better," is her final verdict. Steven, on the other hand, found the shape-changing monster too scary but pretends to be fine. Michael is... intrigued. While not as instantly in love as his brother he's willing to give the show a chance. Possibly this might have something to do with the very hot crew women, but he'd never admit that so that mom might hear it.
For Arthur, the show passes by without him seeing it, as he is much more involved in actual space missions. 1966 has been a good year. Yes, the Soviets did beat them, again, when it came to landing on the moon, but they're definitely catching up. The Gemini-missions has been going well, and in June the Surveyor 1 became the first successful U.S: soft landing on the Moon. In the months since, Arthur along with everyone else, has been analysing the data and images and readjusting their calculations to fit the actual surface of the moon, using the information to build the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle - a flying simulator designed to teach astronauts how to land a Lunar Module on the moon. Simultaneously testing is constantly ongoing for the new Apollo program. Apollo 1 is schedule for early in the next year - there is a lot to finish before them.
But while Arthur is neck deep in science, Audie is neck deep in moving. With him working so much she is doing most of the packing up, choosing what to take, what to sell, what to buy new. They've hired a moving company, and had some furniture directly delivered, but still there is a lot of last minutes fixes and getting the photos off the walls before the movers pick up the last boxes.
The moving coincides with the girls turning 10, so a party is out of the questions. The girls still gets present, but the big present is the new home, and having more friends nearby. On the day itself, Arthur has been granted the afternoon off to help. Together, they guide the movers and decorate their new home to perfection, while the girls dive headfirst into the pool where they spend most of their afternoon before it's time for dinner.
It is a happy family who gathers around the same old table, but in a whole new house, although Audie completely forgets she now has a machine to do the washing up after dinner.
As bedtime approaches, Arthur makes sure to enjoy the time with his daughters, playing with Cindy and putting all the girls to bed. Audie takes the chance to put up som paintings of the family in the hallway.
When everyone is asleep, Audie and Arthur sits down - in their new living room, on their new sofa, and enjoy a glass of whine before bedtime. This place is going to do wonders for the family, they're sure.
It's not only Arthur and Audie who are busy, for in San Seqouia the plans that started to be laid in the beginning of the year is ready to be completed. As the ban on bubble blowing is set to go into affect, a protest has been arranged. But this is no ordinary protest, but a protest of love that they call "The Love Pageant Rally". "Bring the color gold... Bring photos of personal saints and gurus and heroes of the underground... Bring children... Flowers... Flutes... Drums... Feathers... Bands... Beads... Banners, flags, incense, chimes, gongs, cymbals, symbols, costumes, joy" the flyers states, but Barbara still decides to get a baby sitter for Abby as she heads off to Celebration Way Park.
The park is already filled with people when she arrives. There are is music everywhere, dancing around the bonfire, people blowing bubbles, people singing, playing the guitar and then the stage with its performances of local bands who play for free. As she returns home to Abby, Barbara thinks this is the kind of protest she likes. Less shouting in the streets, more love, music and dancing.
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