Long ago, meaning early in the 20th century, before the Great Depression and all the wars of that and this century, before computers and social media, life did indeed go on in the United States. Telephones and radio and automobiles were new and not for everyone. Thus there were the rhythms of life and relationships, more akin to earlier times than to today. As now, it made a difference if you were born man or woman, black or white or other, rich or poor or whether Roe v. Wade had been decided by the Supreme Court. These novellas are of those times. Our young people made a voyage without the help of a GPS, using the skills of celestial navigation; our young women, black and white lived parallel lives side by each quietly bound by custom and tradition. What were they thinking? They could not know what lay ahead. So, in a way, they innocently pursued their lives, accepting the good and bad as God's will.