a little more with the desk fort

"You can come over now," Sean says. "Not today, because we are here, but one Saturday over the summer, maybe your ma will let you visit us. You can meet Mrs Meara and her daughter Mary Margaret, and Mary Margaret's baby Johnny. He is this big." Sean holds out his hands about a foot apart. "Mary Margaret's husband Jamie is a policeman."

"You can meet Albert who lives across the street and has a dog that's also named Johnny. And the grocer - he has cats."

James thinks about this idea. He knows from last year that there is both more and less to do over the summer. School will be out, so he will not have to attend class, and he knows that Mrs Godwin and Julia will play tennis and Aimee and William will learn, and there will be trips to the shore and perhaps they will be invited back to Long Island to visit Mr Godwin's friend with the sheep. They will likely travel up the river to see Nathaniel, and perhaps they will take the train to Chicago to see Gabriel. Gabriel is funny and silly and lighthearted, and unlike Marcus and Con, he does not try to argue with their father. But he is the only Godwin who does not live in New York, and it does not matter whether or not he will try to argue about workers' rights or economic opportunities or politics if he is never around.

James does not know Gabriel well enough to miss him, because they see each other once a year if that, but he has never been to Chicago. It would be an adventure.

( He knows one thing about the coming summer )

words: 1053
total words: 21,269
quickie research: none for this bit

everyone loves a parade :D

There is a parade for Memorial Day this year – as James supposes there was one last year, although he does not remember – and his school lets out two hours early so the students can watch it if they wish. Nathaniel has come down from his recuperative spa, ostensibly to march in the parade but also so that Mrs Godwin can fuss over him in person. She has organized a luncheon for her friends which also serves as a fundraiser for an organization that helps care for veterans of the Great War who may not have the means or the families to care for them, and even though she genuinely loves Nathaniel and does not wish to cause him stress, she has also asked him to be the guest of honor to show her wealthy society friends what kind of care his fellow soldiers might need.

( Luisa is evidently under orders to bring James and William and Con home from school )

words: 2218
total words: 23,487
quickie research: memorial day, new york regiments, state flags
note: there was in fact an african-american regiment in ww1 - the 369th, aka the harlem hellfighters, but i don't know if they would have marched with all the white boys in a memorial day parade in 1919. i think this is the regiment that lucas and nathaniel served with.