1960s: Tensions are Rising
As 1967 continues, Barbara finds herself surrounded by new communes. In both houses on her block, several families now live, and while Barbara technically live on her own, the door is open between all houses and people come and go as they please.
For Abby, this means that there is almost always an adult to be found when you need one, and most are happy to read to her, play with her or help her with her potty training when she needs them to.
Bedtime is mummy-time, however, as Barbara usually makes sure to be the one to read her daughter to sleep.
And sometimes, mummy takes Abby to the splash park right next to their house and it's the bestest days ever!
For Barbara, she can't wait to return home. Knowing Abby is safe and sound, means she can enjoy the summer of love so much more. The town is crowded, especially around the Celebration area. 100 000 people have gathered here, some residents, most not. People are sleeping in tents in the parks, or on the streets or crashing in each other's home. On the media they report of chaos, homelessness, exploitation of the young people there, but they forget the love, the creativity, the music!
Back in Oasis Springs, things are much calmer. People like Josephine and Nash, or even Thomas and Betty, shake their heads disapprovingly at the follies in San Sequoia. They worry about the chaotic images, of the reports of drug abuse and filth, and hope that Barbara stays safe. Not everyone is negative, however. Susan, soon 13 and dying to be older, can't stop talking about what she sees on TV. The music, the sense of community.
Susan and her parents are not the only ones on opposite sides at the table, however. Carl thinks hippies are lame, draft-dogers who are all unpatriotic failures, Michael has a slightly more nuanced view. While he's not eager to run off to San Sequoia to join the summer of fun, he can see why people would want to do that, and he can see why they wouldn't want to join the Vietnam war. In fact he very much can see that point of view, perhaps because he is old enough to be drafted soon, and hopes not to be.
But no matter what Thomas tells his children, Carl and Michael's relationship is getting more strained by the day. To Carl, soldiers are heroes, and along with astronauts they're the coolest people he can think of, and the people he want to emulate growing up. He, himself, cannot wait until he's old enough to volunteer and like dad go off and fight for his country, and to see his older brother, who he has looked up to his whole life want to go to college instead of joining the army is hugely disappointing.
Susan, on her end, mostly think her parents are wildly unfair and spends most of her time listening to music and dancing while dreaming of seeing her idols live on stage in Celebration Way Park.
For Betty and Thomas it is hard to see their children like this. At least Steven, at 9, is still too young to understand either politics or the hippie-movement, and his mother's great comfort at this time. "I wish I could keep him 9 forever," she admits to Grace one day. "Everything was so much easier when they were all younger. You're lucky you only have one."
When Fourth of July comes around, the entire family, fighting or not, gathers in the park for the celebration. It's something very different from the parties Barbara is taking part in up in San Sequoia, with swimming, tanning and playing in the park. Michael takes the time to sit down with his granddad for a game of chess, then sneaks away for a bit to go fishing. The other kids play marbles or play in the pool. Susan challenges Cathy to foosball, and then lose rather spectacularly.
Fantastically enough, no one argues, nothing goes wrong and everyone agrees that it was actually a nice night. "If only Barbara was here instead of all the way up in San Sequoia," Josephine says as they return home.
Heading inside, Barbara rushes to her little girl, holding her tight.
"Play with me mommy!!" Abby begs, and Barbara is not late to agree to whatever her daughter wants.
"You cannot possibly be thinking about taking her back," Josephine asks.
For Abby, this means that there is almost always an adult to be found when you need one, and most are happy to read to her, play with her or help her with her potty training when she needs them to.
Bedtime is mummy-time, however, as Barbara usually makes sure to be the one to read her daughter to sleep.
And sometimes, mummy takes Abby to the splash park right next to their house and it's the bestest days ever!
Even if mummy sometimes looses herself in a painting for a while, saying she wants to "catch the light on the groovy colors" or things like that. Mommy says "groovy" a lot. It's a funny word.
Being around this many adults mean Abby speaks really well for her age. She's also a very imaginative child and can play for hours on her own without problems. But other skills has taken a bit longer for her to learn. She likes being carried a lot - and as there is always someone around to carry her when she asks - she has yet to learn to be fully stable when running or walking. Numbers and letters doesn't interest her at all, and as no one would think to force her to learn them, she hasn't.
Being around this many adults mean Abby speaks really well for her age. She's also a very imaginative child and can play for hours on her own without problems. But other skills has taken a bit longer for her to learn. She likes being carried a lot - and as there is always someone around to carry her when she asks - she has yet to learn to be fully stable when running or walking. Numbers and letters doesn't interest her at all, and as no one would think to force her to learn them, she hasn't.
For Josephine, worrying about her child and grandchild living in "that part" of San Sequoia, surrounded by people who lives in communes and blows bubbles and have sex outside of marriage and rejects all social norms that she herself hold dear, is stressfull. She definitely worries about Abby's development and thinks her granddaughter by now should know a lot more than she does. It's a recurring topic in the phone conversations she has with her daughter.
"She'll learn those things when she needs them." Barbara says with a roll of her eyes.
"Not unless you teach her." Josephine points out, not for the first time. "You need to sit down with her, use flashcards, books, the things that is called parenting and teaching!"
"She'll learn those things when she needs them." Barbara says with a roll of her eyes.
"Not unless you teach her." Josephine points out, not for the first time. "You need to sit down with her, use flashcards, books, the things that is called parenting and teaching!"
But Barbara disagrees. "She doesn't like those, so why should I make her? She should be free to explore the world own her way."
"She's three! You can't let her choose things like that on her own?"
"Why not? It's her life! But you can try otherwise if you want to when she's coming to stay with you."
"She's coming to stay with us?" Josephine says, utterly surprised.
"Yeah, I thought she could be there for a couple of weeks. The town is going mad, so many people coming in for the summer of love! It's amazing! But yeah, I figure, for her? Better to be somewhere she can sleep at night, you know? Too much going on here. I can just take her to Arthur and Audie's otherwise."
"No! You come here! I spend far too little time with my grandchild as it is. And you're right, she should not be around all those....hippies."
"She's three! You can't let her choose things like that on her own?"
"Why not? It's her life! But you can try otherwise if you want to when she's coming to stay with you."
"She's coming to stay with us?" Josephine says, utterly surprised.
"Yeah, I thought she could be there for a couple of weeks. The town is going mad, so many people coming in for the summer of love! It's amazing! But yeah, I figure, for her? Better to be somewhere she can sleep at night, you know? Too much going on here. I can just take her to Arthur and Audie's otherwise."
"No! You come here! I spend far too little time with my grandchild as it is. And you're right, she should not be around all those....hippies."
"You know we live here, right?" At this Josephine just huffs.
A few days later Barbara packs Abby into a car with more rust than metal and drives down to Oasis Springs and her mother.
"You're all skin and bones!" Josephine complains when she sees her, but she holds her daughter tight as she sees her, wishing she could convince her to stay too. She doesn't like the idea of her being up there with all those people. Who knows what might happen?
Abby charms her grandmother right off the bat as she asks for hugs and sings songs. Josephine has to agree with what Barbara has said. Socially, Abby is well ahead of other three year olds.
But social is one thing, the girl needs to learn, and so while Barbara returns home to the Summer of Love, Josephine decides it's time to get to her granddaughters education, and make sure she's properly fed. None of those "flower-people" probably knows how to properly feed a child anyway.
A few days later Barbara packs Abby into a car with more rust than metal and drives down to Oasis Springs and her mother.
"You're all skin and bones!" Josephine complains when she sees her, but she holds her daughter tight as she sees her, wishing she could convince her to stay too. She doesn't like the idea of her being up there with all those people. Who knows what might happen?
Abby charms her grandmother right off the bat as she asks for hugs and sings songs. Josephine has to agree with what Barbara has said. Socially, Abby is well ahead of other three year olds.
But social is one thing, the girl needs to learn, and so while Barbara returns home to the Summer of Love, Josephine decides it's time to get to her granddaughters education, and make sure she's properly fed. None of those "flower-people" probably knows how to properly feed a child anyway.
For Barbara, she can't wait to return home. Knowing Abby is safe and sound, means she can enjoy the summer of love so much more. The town is crowded, especially around the Celebration area. 100 000 people have gathered here, some residents, most not. People are sleeping in tents in the parks, or on the streets or crashing in each other's home. On the media they report of chaos, homelessness, exploitation of the young people there, but they forget the love, the creativity, the music!
Barbara is having the time of her life!
And in a time of free love, why not indulge herself? Robert might be married, but you can't own a person, and love is love. Jealousy is such a bourgeoise feeling anyway and the tent is right there... they're hardly the only ones.
Back in Oasis Springs, things are much calmer. People like Josephine and Nash, or even Thomas and Betty, shake their heads disapprovingly at the follies in San Sequoia. They worry about the chaotic images, of the reports of drug abuse and filth, and hope that Barbara stays safe. Not everyone is negative, however. Susan, soon 13 and dying to be older, can't stop talking about what she sees on TV. The music, the sense of community.
"Can I go?" she begs, getting a firm no from both her parents. "But it's not fair! I'm missing everything!!!"
"You are a child! That is no place for you."
"But you could go with me, or I could go with Barbs! She'd never let anything happen to me and it would only be one day, just a few hours, during the day, pleeeease?"
"No!" Betty says firmly.
"You're so square!"
"That, young lady, is no way to talk to your mother!" Thomas chimes in.
Susan and her parents are not the only ones on opposite sides at the table, however. Carl thinks hippies are lame, draft-dogers who are all unpatriotic failures, Michael has a slightly more nuanced view. While he's not eager to run off to San Sequoia to join the summer of fun, he can see why people would want to do that, and he can see why they wouldn't want to join the Vietnam war. In fact he very much can see that point of view, perhaps because he is old enough to be drafted soon, and hopes not to be.
"Can you even say why we're fighting?" he challenges his brother. "What did the people of Vietnam ever do to you?"
"We're not fighting the people, we're fighting the communists. We're saving the people."
"It sure doesn't look like it on TV! They're burning down villages, not to mention dying. What are they even for? A fight that no one understands?"
"So you'd just let them be taken by communists? You just want to avoid going yourself, coward!"
"Could we not have this conversation around the dinner table?" Thomas interjects sharply. "And I do not want to repeat one more time that we do not call each other names in this household!"
But no matter what Thomas tells his children, Carl and Michael's relationship is getting more strained by the day. To Carl, soldiers are heroes, and along with astronauts they're the coolest people he can think of, and the people he want to emulate growing up. He, himself, cannot wait until he's old enough to volunteer and like dad go off and fight for his country, and to see his older brother, who he has looked up to his whole life want to go to college instead of joining the army is hugely disappointing.
Susan, on her end, mostly think her parents are wildly unfair and spends most of her time listening to music and dancing while dreaming of seeing her idols live on stage in Celebration Way Park.
For Betty and Thomas it is hard to see their children like this. At least Steven, at 9, is still too young to understand either politics or the hippie-movement, and his mother's great comfort at this time. "I wish I could keep him 9 forever," she admits to Grace one day. "Everything was so much easier when they were all younger. You're lucky you only have one."
When Fourth of July comes around, the entire family, fighting or not, gathers in the park for the celebration. It's something very different from the parties Barbara is taking part in up in San Sequoia, with swimming, tanning and playing in the park. Michael takes the time to sit down with his granddad for a game of chess, then sneaks away for a bit to go fishing. The other kids play marbles or play in the pool. Susan challenges Cathy to foosball, and then lose rather spectacularly.
The women of the family takes the chance to gossip and talk about their children, and then help each other with the cooking so that everyone can eat before the bonfire and fireworks that wraps up the evening.
Fantastically enough, no one argues, nothing goes wrong and everyone agrees that it was actually a nice night. "If only Barbara was here instead of all the way up in San Sequoia," Josephine says as they return home.
Barbs, on her hand, misses her daughter. She knows she left Abby with her parents for good reasons, but she hadn't expected the Summer of love to last... well the entire summer. In July nothing is showing any signs of slowing down, in fact things are getting worse. Streets are crowded, free clinics, set up to help people on bad trips, are overrun with people and the media is everywhere trying to stir up trouble. She still loves the music, the fun, the sense of community, but the crowds and the drug-use has lost some of its appeal.
By late July, after hearing strangers climb up on her roof to sleep, Barbs can't take it anymore. She needs her daughter more than she needs a community that is more and more busting at the seams. Her father is the fist to great her when she arrives, hugging her closely. "She misses you terribly," he says.
By late July, after hearing strangers climb up on her roof to sleep, Barbs can't take it anymore. She needs her daughter more than she needs a community that is more and more busting at the seams. Her father is the fist to great her when she arrives, hugging her closely. "She misses you terribly," he says.
"I know. I'm sorry I was gone so long, I didn't think it would last this long."
Heading inside, Barbara rushes to her little girl, holding her tight.
"Play with me mommy!!" Abby begs, and Barbara is not late to agree to whatever her daughter wants.
"You cannot possibly be thinking about taking her back," Josephine asks.
"Mom, it's where we live."
"But that place! The filth, the crime... you cannot-"
"I'm not going to put her in harms way, but all my neighbors have kids, and they're doing fine." Although if she's being honest with herself, Barbara is already half way out the door. She's never been firmly rooted in one place, and if the vibe isn't there... well why would she be? She wants somewhere Abby can play safely outdoors, free from troubles, and where she can relax and make her art. But she's not really ready to leave San Sequoia behind either, it's been her home for so long.
"At least stay here until Carl's birthday," Josephine asks. "It's just a few days, and he's turning 15, that's a big day in any boy's life."
To that, Barbara can agree, it will give her the excuse she needs to stay away for a little while, and figure out a few things before returning home.
Comments
Post a Comment