1970s: Shaping the Future

With the new year starting, so does university studies and Susan and Ken need to work hard to keep up with the workload. Amid a national conversation on the fall out of Watergate and the oil and energy crisis Ken and Susan is wrapped up in coursework. Luckily they have chefs students in the building, so food is never hard to come by. The fact that Beth has taken up violin is a bit more of a hassle to deal with.




Long hours are spent in the commons library, or at the typewriters to work on the term papers. But Susan also takes the time to listen to the debates from the debate team. Hearing others argue for the benefit of the planet is invigorating, and pushes her to study harder.





Ken on his end, make sure to find time to spend with Beth. Not so much by listening to debates or doing homework, but having fun together. His time and effort pays off when he's finally allowed that kiss he's been dying for.





While Susan and Ken are busy with their studies, Carl is trying to figure out what to do with his life. With some money from his parents and some from Anna (which she's insisting isn't a gift but salary for his work at the ranch) he can make a living, but he knows it will only get him so far. He's used some to pay the rent on his apartment, which comes cheap because he is a vet, but he will need a job soon.

His parents think that he ought to make use of the option to go to college with his tuition paid by the state, but Carl cannot think of anything he wants less. His body is restless, he spends most of his days working out, running or swimming in the pool at the apartment complex, and studying is the furthest from his mind. He's gotten some small jobs through the VA-program, but he has yet to find something that fits.

Then the fall of Saigon happens, and suddenly Carl is thrust right back in time. To leaving, to promises made but never kept. For the first time in months he allows himself to think of Chi, of the child she would have had by now that might have been his. He wonders what she will do now, when the communists take over all of Vietnam. What will happen to her? To that child? Carl spends most of that day hitting the sandbag in his living room. 



Later, he gets a call from some of the men in his unit. They're heading out, they're not taking no for an answer. "We need to get pissed, and so do you," they say, and Carl relents and agrees. That night, they head to a newly open club, one of the few in town that will still let in nobodies like them. 

But for all his tries, Carl has a hard time having fun. He tries, he knows he should have, but he cannot get control of his feelings and the juice isn't helping at all. Instead it's making matters worse. 

Stepping outside for some air, he runs into someone he had nearly forgotten. Cora. What at first is only a casual conversation with someone who was a friend of an old aunt he rarely saw on any occassions other than holidays, turns into a deeper conversation without him realising it. 



Soon the two are sitting in the lounge section, screaming to hear each other over the music as they are talking about more serious matters than having fun. Of Cora's grief after Alice, of his after the war, of him not feeling right, of needing a job but being too restless to keep one. 

"I might know just the thing," Cora says. "Will you allow me to make enquiries for you?" 

He does, and a few days later he gets an offer he hadn't thought about. A mascot for a sports team. "For now," the agent says. "Later on, if you prove yourself in training, you can make a tryout for the team itself." Sports. Carl never thought about it as a job. But now he accepts, and as he runs that day it doesn't feel as much of a wasted time any longer. 



As the end of the semester is closing fast, the work load is harder than ever. But on the last day of term, their mother's show up at Larry's Lagoon. "We wanted to surprise you!" they said. 

"You did, but I still have my essay to work on!" Susan says, a bit annoyed that they didn't call first, or waited until tomorrow - after the final exams. She still tries to speak to her mother, while finishing up her essay at the same time. 




As soon as the essay is over, however, she has to finish her presentation, and then run off to hold it. "Can't I come?" 

"No, mom, it's only other students and the teacher."



Ken on the other hand, is delighted to see his mum, and makes sure to take the time to speak to her properly. About school, the teachers, his new girlfriend. "Your essay!" Susan reminds him. 

"I have hours and it just need some fixing."

Hours go by quickly, however, and try as he might, Ken doesn't finish it in time. A D on the course is the result. At least he got an A on everything else, with a B as a combined grade score. Susan, on the other hand gets an A+ on her term. "I'll do better next semester," Ken says.

"You'd better," Susan replies.