Writing Wednesday A Good Community: Chapter 2

(Image for non-commercial use)

Last Wednesday, I put up chapter 1 of A Good Community. The second chapter focuses on the arrival of Emily and Nate’s new baby. Specifically, we are in the bedroom with Lydia, Birgit, Nate, and Emily at a crucial moment. When Dan was beta-reading the book, he left this note in the margin: “Put them all on unicycles and it’s Cirque du Soleil! Ha, ha…”
 
As funny as Dan's comment was (and, believe me, I laughed), the description in the book is based on an illustration I found. It's a depiction of a late 18th-early 19th century birth.  (Found at http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2014/06/19th-century-midwives.html)

​As you can see, I did not pull the idea out of thin air. The drawing was just one of many ways of helping a mother birth her baby. If you read Saint Maggie, you'll know that Emily squatted while giving birth to Natey. In A Time to Heal, Maggie gives birth in bed. It was all about what was best for mother and baby.
 
Chapter 2 also reveals why the Johnson baby is named Jarena Lee.

Later, Frankie reveals something to Maggie that simultaneously upsets her mother and ticks her off at her stepfather. The unsuspecting Eli, who has talked Josiah Norton into advertising with The Register and feeling like he is King of the World, arrives home to to have that bubble popped when he realizes his wife is upset with him.
 
A little domestic drama in Chapter 2, “New Life.” Click on the link to read the PDF

CHAPTER 2.pdf
​
​Hope you enjoyed this little look into life in Greybeal House. Next week, the main plot of the story begins to emerge. 

​Until Friday...