The Next Generation Chapter 8
| The Next Generation | |
|---|---|
| Chapter 8 of 19 | |
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| Time frame | Late 1983 - March 1984 |
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Summary
Ken picks Judy up for the ride to Hinckley and tells her that he's getting a newer car - a Pontiac Sunbird. Judy mentions that the Physical Therapy program at Hinckley isn't adequate, and they discuss the possibility of switching to Western State University.
Ken and Judy drive to Athens to look over the Western State campus; when she gets back, Norman tells her that her grades have arrived in the mail; she is elated that aside from one B+ the rest were all "A's".
On Christmas morning, Judy is excited when she opens a package from her father that contains an Apple computer that was surplus from his office. Ken appears with a heavy box for Judy that turns out to be a hand control kit that he can install into the Sunbird so that Judy can learn to drive. Later, when Ken and Norman are installing it in the car, they bond, and Norman tells Ken "You remember what Judy was like a year ago? I was beginning to worry if she'd ever become her own person, instead of just her mother's doll, and there was nothing I could do that could change things. Then you came along. All I can say is, don't stop now."
On New Years eve a snowstorm hit; the next day Ken brings Judy out to the farm and takes her for a ride in a sleigh that had been in the family for years, pulled by Candybar. They talk and Ken tells her about his concern for the economic future of the farm, what with the debt that has built up over recent years.
In late March, after Judy has her drivers license, they are driving to school, and Judy tells Ken that everything is set up for her to room with Lori next term when they will be going to Western, although they won't be seeing her in the near future because she and Bob will be flying to Florida for spring break. They decide that between a grant that Judy received and a pay increase that Ken extorted from Tom, money won't be quite as tight for them as they had feared.
