Title: Madison, Wisconsin 1982
Author: Elizabeth Bennet-Darcy
Disclaimer: They are not mine for keeps. I'll just borrow them, play very carefully and put them back unharmed (relatively).
Summary: The senior staff, plus two, on the day before their tenth birthdays. Mainly focuses on their relationships with their fathers.
Spoilers: Various episodes, but nothing too telling.
Rating: PG13 for the series; PG for this story.
MADISON, WISCONSIN 1982
"Donna, what is all this and why do you have it spread across the living room?"
Donna looked up from her map to see her mother, father and older sister standing in the doorway, "I'm planning a trip."
"To your bedroom with all this stuff?" he father suggested.
"To New York City," Donna corrected.
"Where did you get all this?" Donna's mother asked picking up a travel brochure.
"I wrote to the New York State Board of Tourism," Donna explained. "They send you all this stuff for free. They're really very nice in New York."
"Why did you write to New York?" Donna's father asked suspiciously.
"So I could plan a trip," Donna stated simply. "We could take a vacation to New York City."
"What's so great about New York City," Donna's sister asked pushing maps aside.
"They have everything in New York City;" Donna exclaimed in disbelief, "the World Trade Center, the Empire State Building, Central Park, Broadway and the United Nations! Did you know they have people who sell hot dogs on street corners?"
"They also have crime and pollution and bums," Donna's father barked, "besides New York is way too expensive. We'll go to the lake for vacation like we do every year."
"It's not that expensive, I figured it and..."
"Donna, we're not going to New York City," her father said sternly.
"Okay," Donna said brightly. She reached into her school bag and pulled out another stack of maps and travel brochures. "How 'bout Washington D.C.?"
"What?" Donna's father snapped, sinking into the easy chair.
"Washington D.C. has lots of free stuff, like the Capitol and the Smithsonian and the monuments and you can even get a tour of the White House!"
"Donna..." her father warned.
"What could be more patriotic than visiting the seat of our countries government?" Donna parroted from a brochure, hoping to appeal to her father's fierce, if somewhat blind, patriotism.
"What's the matter, Donnatella, isn't Wisconsin good enough for you? It's was good enough for my parents and your mother's and for me and your mother. Your brother and sister don't seem to think a relaxing two weeks at the lake is a bad vacation. Why can't you just be satisfied with what you've got? Why do you think you should always have something more? You're gonna have to learn, little girl, to be happy with what you've got and to stop tryin' to be some world class jet setter."
"I want to see the whole world, Daddy," Donna whispered, trying to explain her desire.
"There's nothing happening in the world that isn't happening here in Wisconsin. And anything that is goin' on out there that we don't have, I don't ever want you seeing anyway. The only trip you're gonna on is to take this crap to the garbage and then take yourself to your room. You stay there tonight and see if tomorrow you can learn to appreciate the great wide world of Madison, Wisconsin."
Donna scooped up her maps and brochures and walked into the kitchen determined not to cry as she stuffed them into the trash can. She walked back through the living room with her head held high and closed her bedroom door with a quiet click.
"Jack," she heard her mother say in a soft reproachful voice.
"No, that girl's got to learn that she can't just go where ever she wants. She's got to learn that life doesn't work that way. She has to be real. No one is just gonna hand her some dream job and take care of her. She's gonna have to get used to the fact that she, like everybody else in this town, is gonna stay here her whole life and the sooner she learns to be happy with that the better."
Donna smiled and flopped down on her bed. Turning onto her stomach she pulled a world map from under her pillow. Tomorrow she would plan a trip around the world, because tomorrow Donna would turn ten.