Wake Up, It's 1955

One newspaper advertisement. A home just out of reach.Abilene, Texas. October 1, 1955.Ruth Bell has $318 and a little change. The advertisement promises a new two-bedroom home for $350 down. Her husband, Tom, wants to see it. Their eleven-year-old daughter, Frances, has already drawn the yard.Before they can step through the door, there are calls to connect, furniture to deliver, and a week's worth of hopes to fit into one working Saturday. Frances sets out to help with the money. Across town, another mother weighs an advertisement that might open a future for her son.From a department-store switchboard to a kitchen table covered in bills, Wake Up, It's 1955 follows the human details of a day when news arrived by radio, newspaper, and conversation. The World Series fills the air. A neighbor's television gathers an audience. And the price printed in a newspaper turns out to be only the beginning of a family's decision.Warm, thoughtful, and grounded in period records, this short work of historical fiction invites you to spend twenty-four hours with people trying to build a life they can afford.Approximately 12,000 words, including historical notes. The characters and dialogue are invented; the date, public events, and period sources are documented.