Birth Control

Pregnancy did not come up in “One Summer in the Sun” nor in the sequel. It just might in the next book, if I write it someday. Not any of our ‘triumvirate,’ to be sure, but perhaps an acquaintance. I have ideas for this (it would probably not be Paulette, the black friend introduced in "One Christmas in the Sun;” that comes off cliched).

Birth control was not so simple a matter in 1968. It was not always easy for an unmarried woman to have access to ‘the pill.’ I mentioned in ‘Summer’ that Kris’s mother had made sure she would, and Kris (undoubtedly with Mom’s input) helped Ronnie when she asked for advice. That was fortunate, as Ronnie ‘lost’ her virginity (is that like misplacing it?) in the course of the story.

Joey remains a virgin—and a Catholic—but we can be sure she has given the question its due consideration. After all, she is going to have sex eventually. I’m not going to keep her from it forever!

Be all that as it may, pregnancy and birth control were important factors in life then, just as important as Vietnam and the draft, or racism. The ‘sexual revolution’ had arrived and I am certainly not going to ignore it. But one can fit only so much in one book (and have it remain readable).