Soon after leaving their bedroom, Rose just about broke down into tears as she started to go downstairs. "Mom?" she heard a male voice behind her. "Are you ok?"
She looked up to see Frank speaking to her. She brushed her tears away and said, "I'm sorry, it's just that your father and I had a bit of an argument." She sighed as she said, "This Mandatory Were law is really getting to him. He went up to the college and yelled at some poor woman in the admission's office. And then he came home and comes up with this rather crazy plan of getting us out of here."
Frank frowned when he heard that, "Dad wants us out of here?"
"As soon as possible," Rose replied as she took a deep breath as she continued, "He's not the same man I met and married years ago. I mean, when we were in college, he'd fight against all sorts of things like racism. He was among the first to call for gay marriage and things like that." She brushed her hair out of her face as she tried to keep from going back into tears, "And now...he's calling those people animals...and I really don't like that."
Frank listened patiently and thought for a moment before responding. "I think he's just afraid. I mean, we're dealing with something new here, and he's not sure how to handle it." Frank paused as he thought for a moment, "And keep in mind that it's not just him, but us kids too. He's worried for all of us."
Rose nodded her head and said, "I suppose that makes sense. Maybe...maybe if he knew more people in this town...more people who have made the change, and maybe if he sees how they're not much different than us."
"Wouldn't hurt," Frank replied. "I mean, Rachel seems to have accepted it, and I think that her best friend was here before her helped with that."
"If we were to do that, maybe I should meet people in this town," Rose said, "I mean, all we've done is set up things here at home and go grocery shopping. If we knew more people, maybe Richard would be more accepting of this town. Not that we'd make the jump, but at the very least understand this town and its people." She stood up and said, "Thank you, Frank. Talking with you really helped. I'm going to have a talk with Richard and see if I can talk him out of his plan to get out of this town."
"Glad I could help," Frank said while smiling as Rose walked away.
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When Rose walked into the master bedroom, she saw Richard laying on the bed with his eyes wide open. But what really got her attention was the open briefcases and the clothes being packed in. "WHAT IS THIS?" Rose yelled out at Richard.