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“Boy, I just love this show,” my buddy Alner said, clicking off the TV as the “Downton Abbey” closing credits rolled.
“Yeah, it’s one of the best ever,” I nodded, getting up from my chair. “Guess I’ll head home.”
“You know,” he said, ushering me to the door, “I’ve been thinking about how much fun it would have been to live back in the 1920s, the show’s time period. That looks like a really great era.”
I hadn’t even begun my reply when Alner suddenly groaned. He knew what was coming.
Within seconds we were on Wilkes-Barre’s Public Square in 1924.
“Sorry I couldn’t take you to the abbey,” I said. “But it’s a fictional place and I don’t think even my power of metaphysical travel would get us there. Anyway, I’m sure the butler would stop you cold.”
“Oh, that’s just hilarious,” said Alner. “Hey, look at the crowds. What’s going on?”
“This is just an average day in an ordinary American city,” I replied. “Pay attention. In real life most folks back then had places to go and things to do. They didn’t have servants wheeling in trays of scones and tea while they sat around planning the next fancy dress dinner party.”
“Not bad at all,” he said, surveying the block after block of office buildings, stores and people going about their business.
“Everybody I ever met years ago who lived in the 1920s said it was a very good time to be alive. Of course they didn’t know what was coming up – the Great Depression and World War II.”
“Wow,” yelled Alner, jumping out of the way of a streetcar.
“You’ll get us in trouble if you don’t watch your step, my friend. I can see the headline now: ‘Careless guy from future gets injured.’ Now, as I was saying, the local economy is probably at an all-time high. Nearly everyone has a job, new homes and stores are springing up every day and all kinds of neat things like movies and radio are arriving.”
“Sounds ideal,” he said.
“Well, not quite. Everything comes with a cost. Coal mining and railroading, two mainstays of the local economy, are dirty and dangerous jobs. There are years when between them as many as 200 people lose their lives in Luzerne County alone.”
“School’s letting out,” he said, pointing across the square.
“More kids are in school than ever,” I said to him. “That’s good. But a lot of them never graduate. For most people it’s get a job, work hard, take care of your family and hope for the best. That’s something you don’t see much on TV. By the way, a lot of these kids will fall victim to measles, mumps, chickenpox, scarlet fever or other childhood diseases. There isn’t much preventive medicine yet.”
“I’m seeing some beautiful homes – mansions, in fact,” said Alner as we strolled over toward the Susquehanna River.”
“Their owners are among the finest citizens in town,” I said. “But few people live that well.”
“So what do you say?” asked Alner. “Is this a wonderful time or a terrible time?”
“Both,” I said. “And that’s why I brought you here. Don’t depend on TV shows for history. They show you only what’s entertaining. Time to head home, buddy.”
“Hey, see if you can put us down at a shopping center back in 2015.”
“Shopping center?”
“I want to pick up some tea and scones. Nothing wrong with a little pretending.”