The Whittaker Saga

As 1940 continues, life goes on much as it has before. Of the war, the ranch sees very little, to Anna's great annoyance, as she wishes everyday for the news that the US has entered the war and is now actively helping. No such news arrive, however. Instead throws herself - and Thomas - into the training of the horses. Starbuck enters his first master competition and finishes second. While Anna still dreams of gold she cannot stop talking about her champion horse. Bronco is getting there, but has not competed as much as Starbuck, and yet he is the more valuable horse of the two. Anna has already decided that when Misty is trained enough, and Bronco a champion, she'll breed the two. While Anna is focusing all her attention and energy on the horses, Abigail has picked up a new aspiration. Her knitting. Before her knitting has always been a means to an end. To make clothes for her children, and for charity drives, but now she is knitting for her own enjoyment. Her favorite spot is ...

For all the unrest in the world, 1940 starts out calmly for Anna and the others. While Anna is busy training and competing her horses, Johnny is using the downtime of winter to upgrade everything in the house, saying he's sick and tired of the sink's breaking all the time. Abigail on the other hand is settling into the house. To Anna's delight she has taken it on herself to cook, and when she isn't cooking or canning all the vegetables from the kitchen she reads or knits while listening to the radio. At night the family eat together and then gather to listen to the radio theatre. They sit still with baited breath as the first episode of The Adventures of Superman airs. It might be aimed at children, but the entire family finds the show fun and exciting. For Thomas, he's relieved to be staying on. School may not be fantastic in any way, but he has some friends, the teachers are okay and he is getting top grades. Most of the time, however, he longs to get home to Bron...

For Thomas, being able to stay and finish the term is a relief, and it gives him hope that he'll be allowed to stay on next semester too. After all, he graduates come spring, that's not too long, surely his parents will let him stay then? Not that school itself is all that fun, but at least he knows the people, and has to admit that some of the girls are cute. Josephine and Nash are having a harder time to deal with their baby boy growing up faster than they wanted him to. In fact, the entire ordeal took a rather massive toll on their marriage. Josephine was not all too fond of this new angrier side of Nash, and he has a hard time dealing with her letting go of their boy too easily. To boot, things are not all that good at work either. He had hoped that this job would be their ticket to a better life, and he really wants to do a good job, but no sooner had he started than he discovered that the Landgraabs aren't just ordinary business owners: So what do you do when you find...