The Whittaker Saga

On Saturday Arthur heads over to Claudia's to check up on her and kids. He's surprised, and a bit shocked to find Claudia in a state he has not seen her in for months, crying as the girls are playing on their own. "What happened?" Arthur asks. It takes a while for Claudia to sort herself out and start to talk. "The bills," she finally sobs. "I don't know what to do. There is nothing..." "Surely you get a pension, from Kirk, from NASA-" Claudia just shakes her head. "He didn't.. he wasn't employed long enough. They said five years, and he- so it was a one time payout, of what he had put into the system, and I've been trying to spend as little as I can but there just isn't enough and I don't know what to do. I never got an education, my parents never thought I needed one, and there are only so many employers around that will hire women. I'll never get a job at Edwards, and the library require a degree and ...

Returning home from Willow Creek, Josephine finds herself in a strange mood she cannot seem to shake. She finds herself sitting in a chair staring inactively into empty air for long periods at the time, her thoughts spinning to the past, to her past, and to her now late sister. There was a time, a long time ago, when Ida was the role model she compared herself to. She was beautiful, talented at things a woman was supposed to be talented at such as playing piano and needle work. More so she always behaved herself with grace. She was successfully married, a good mother and a supportive wife. In short she was, as far as Josephine could see, the perfect idea of what a woman should be. The impossible standard to live up to and her favourite sister. And in spite of that, she couldn't bring herself to trust her with her own worries when they arrived, sticking it out and following Nash across the country not because she wanted to but because she was too proud to ask for help. What would ha...