"So that was the first and major mistake back in the roaring 20"s. They never thought of the future. They only saw the right now. The second was to allow people to get into debt so they could live a life the government painted, the ideal American life. Parties, business expansions, investments, modern inventions and growing families. No one thought about how they were going to feed those children in the long run. No one bothered to save money and were told not to panic. That everything would be fine and it would all work out. Especially when they started the contest." Mrs. Dabney explained.""Contest? There was a contest?" Ariana asked. Loralei started to pale, she didn"t know what to do other then look at the other Lumas for comfort but each one averted their gaze from her. "Yes. It was a rather disgusting propoganda from the government but when you had someone in power that was more concerned about their pockets rather then the well being of the populace you get the beginings of a great tragedy."
"How can a single contest lead to a great tragedy, that seems odd." Ariana said as she tilted her head. "What if I told you the reward was too tempting to pa.s.s up?" Mr. Dabney asked. "How tempting?" Ariana asked cautiously in return. "So tempting that it guaranteed your debts to be paid off in full, a chance to buy a home in a prestige area, a chance t let you live the high life for the rest of your life?" Mrs. Dabney asked as she got up and grabbed a couple of ga.s.ses of water.
"It seems too good to be true." Ariana said as she furrowed her brows. "Well someone from your generation would definiety think it is too good to be true but someone back then? Someone who never knew what debt was? Someone who was feed an ideal life? Someone who had their life ripped from them when they were finally given a chance?" Mrs. Dabney asked.
Ariana dropped her gaze and went silent for a while. Mrs. Dabney sighed and continued to eat. "What was the contest?" Ariana finally asked. "Mmmh." Mrs. Dabney said as she just finished taking a bite. "S-sorry one second. Gulp. Okay, so having the most kids." Mrs. Dabney said. "Excuse me?!" Ariana said in a loud voice. Brie got startled and started to whimper. Mrs. Dabney stood up and started to rock Brie in her arms.
"Having birthed the most children." Mrs. Dabney said nonchalantly. "How? Why?!" Ariana said as her jaw dropped. "To promote a modern family. To pump more money into the economy by making husbands buy modern machines to give wives more time to take care of the family. For people to take out loans at ridiculous interest rates and to promote the ideal American life." Mrs. Dabney explained.
"So giving birth to babies was going to do that?" Ariana asked. "Yes, so couples were given a span of 10 years. Women who contributed to so much during the first world war were sent back home and told to start families. As a woman would you want to be told to stay home and give birth?" Mrs. Dabney asked. "No! My body my choice." Ariana said furiously. "Right but what if it"s for a good sum of money when you are being feed lies about a great life?" Mrs. Dabney asked.
Ariana paled. "How in the word would my body even tolerate being impregnated constantly? What about miscarragies and birth defects? Or the birthing practices back then was it even sanitary?" Ariana asked bitterly. "EXACTLY!" Mrs. Dabney shouted scaring Brie again. "Oops. Sorry honey." Mrs. Dabney said apologetically then shifted Brie to her chest and placed her little head onto her shoulder as she patted Brie"s back.
"That"s what I was researching. How could women pump out so many children without proper practices in place? How could children survive? What did woman use to help them produce so many stong, healthy babies while keeping themselves alive? On record the winner produced 12 children, multiples were born and many of her children died so the number should have been greater but they only counted the living and the ones with valid birth certificates." Mrs. Dabney explained.
"So if they died they were never counted?" Ariana asked. "No." Mrs. Dabney and Loralei said in unison. Ariana turned her head and looked at Loralei. "The one who should have won had 15 children but because the triplets were born without a doctor a birth certificate was never given. She tried to go to the Ministry of Health to get the certificates but her paperwork got lost in the flood of requests. They were the first to be born yet they were never recognized." Loralei explained.
"15?! 15 kids! That"s awful! How did that poor woman even survive?!" Ariana shouted. Mrs. Dabney smiled. "She was a strong lady at least physically." She said. "Emotionally too." Loralei said in a soft voice. Ariana looked at Mrs. Dabney and gave her a small nod. Mrs. Dabney sighed, it looked like she really wanted to continue her conversation but gave up. Instead she mouthed the words "Good luck." Then walked away with the other Lumas in tow.
"How was she emotionally strong?" Ariana asked. "She made the hardest decision of her life after she lost the contest. She sold off the last set of twins, the last set of triplets and one of my older sisters to some nice families." Loralei explained.
"She was your mother?!" Ariana gasped. Loralei nodded her head. "Yes. My mother didn"t want to but we had no money to feed all of us. My mother had a rare gene that allowed her to birth multiple children ever time she got pregnant but not all of them survived." Loralei explained.
"Loralei... Were you a twin then?" Ariana asked. Loralei shook her small body no. "When I was born I was a quadruplets but I was the only who survived." Loralei said with a sad smile. "Oh Loralei." Ariana said as she got up and walked back to the sofa.
"Is this why you didn"t want to talk about your past? It sounds so painful." Ariana said quietly as she stretched out her hand and stroked Loralei"s head.
"No, it"s because of my wish." Loralei replied. "Your wish?" Ariana asked. "Yes. My wish to have the past altered so that stupid contest never existed." Loralei said with conviction. "But wouldn"t that erase your existence?!" Ariana shouted. "It was more painful to live through that and to live through the the Great Depression and then World War 2." Loralei explained.
"You experienced World War 2?" Ariana asked. "I was there." Loralei replied.