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Sam and Lonnie
A lot of people like to look at what Sam does at the end as 'running away' because she was 17 years old. This doesn't work for me. Lonnie is 18, Sam ... well, we know she was 17 at some point in 1995. By June? How close is she to her 18th birthday? Has it come yet? (Probably not, but I knew more than a few high school juniors who turned 18 very near the end of the school year.) If she's turned 18 by the time she left, it's not running away. It's a young woman leaving home. If she's still 17? Well, Lonnie may have a problem, but it's not the Military Police. They don't chase down and arrest recruits who want out before basic training. We'll just assume that Lonnie sent off the appropriate forms when she left.
Lonnie might, however, have problems if the parents complain (as ridiculous as laws like this are) that an adult took their minor child without their consent. Of course, this would destroy Sam's relationship with her parents for years, if not forever, but so, likely, would sending their lesbian daughter to 'gay camp' to get her 'cured'. It would certainly be preferable for Sam to complete high school, but to do so in a home where your parents are convinced that your sexual preference is a 'phase'... I'm certainly not convinced that's the better of the two options. Especially with the whole 'gay camp' thing hanging over her head. Hm... Well, let's assume that the girls don't run into problems with the law because of the age thing. It's less fun if that happens. :)
I'm a romantic at heart, so I like to think that Lonnie and Sam will do just fine. In my (completely biased) mind's eye, the two girls find a studio apartment near a university, barely making the move-in expenses with what little money Sam was able to steal from her parents (and what they got for pawning all but one of the VCRs). Feeling guilty about stealing from her parents, Sam resolves to be better than that. No more shoplifting, no more stealing.
Her documentation ready for employment due to her near-miss at military service, Lonnie finds work at a local hospital in the dietary department. (Trayline. An entry-level position that is relatively well-paying for a first job.)
Things are tight, but with both young women willing to live frugally, they manage to save a small amount of money by summer's end. In spite of being a year older, Lonnie is the one with the least maturity when it comes to a live-in relationship with a lover. Occasional arguments disrupt the peace of their little studio, but Sam's faith in love and ability to soothe Lonnie's impulsive nature keep them moving forward together as a couple.
The pair use their savings to send Sam's parents repayment for what was stolen. Still angry but mollified by (and just a little bit proud of) the repayment, Sam's parents agree to let her stay with Lonnie "to get it out of her system" if she agrees to attend her senior year of high school. Since this was what the girls were hoping for anyway, they agree.
Struggling through the next year, but happy and in love, Sam and Lonnie start their young lives, together. WIll it work out? I hope so. :)
The Parents
Since they're going to counseling, it's clear that they still feel that they have things to work out. Temptation? Eh... I don't believe people cheat because of temptation. They cheat because they're dissatisfied in some way with what they have. Something feels missing, and they believe they can find it in an affair. An affair destroys trust. Whether or not that trust will ever be recovered depends on the people involved. Counseling could help. (Although my personal opinion of counseling is quite low, I am assured it helps some people quite a bit.) For the sake of the commute (not risk of a continued affair) it would be nice to think that the mother can find a better - closer - job. Those commutes *suck*.
Katie
Well, *we* are Katie. Since I was in tears of panic worried that my little sister had killed herself, finding that she had merely left home (even if it was under less than desirable conditions) left me so relieved that I would not have thought to feel guilt (or sorry for myself) until quite a bit later. Hm. Guilt. No, I don't think so. I would have wished that I could have been there for her, but since there was no way to know what was going on I wouldn't have felt guilt. I would have been, mostly, royally pissed at my parents.
Her parents are not planning to be too long. They left $40 for food (pizza!) and were only expecting to be away June 3-7. Since our luggage tag says June 6, we shouldn't have to wait more than a day or so. Yeah, I'd say your estimate is right on.
I wouldn't tell my parents any specific details. Neither parent seems especially stupid - it's not difficult to imagine what happened when you've been researching a 'cure' for your daughter's lesbianism and you come home to find she's left. I would try very hard not to confront them immediately about their asinine behavior - and probably succeed. Probably.
It's likely that if it were my sister, I wouold make an effort to find her and Lonnie to see if I could help in any way. Even if my little fantasy above never happened, it seems clear that Sam would get in touch again once she was 18 and safe, so yeah... I think katie will see her sister soon enough. :)
I was 18 when I left home. Like everyone, regardless of their age when they go out on their own, I faced challenges. Like most, I made it through, learning from each obstacle I met. For me it was the very early eighties - more than a decade before Gone Home - but the story moved me in a personal way because I lived part of it. Still... In spite of the fact that my guardians didn't approve of our 'perverted' relationship, I'm still with the same woman today.
*I* thnk their future will be fine. :)
The first note on the door kept me thinking that Sam and her family would not meet again soon.
Sam explicitly wrote she doesn't want anyone to know where she is -- not just Mom and Dad -- anyone even Katie.
And then this: "We'll see each other again some day." What is that supposed to mean -- some day? I expected something like: "I'll try to get in touch as soon as I can", or even "Stay near the phone next Tuesday".
Well, with your thought about staying low until Sam's 18th birthday "some day" makes a bit more sense for me - but only a bit.
I am still not that sure what to think about the parents. Their denial about Sam's sexual orientation might just be a first reaction. And I really hope they will accept it after they have sorted out their own problems and had time to think about.
What gives me this hope is the note on the table, telling Sam she is grounded. In this note they claim "We understand what you are going through...". I don't think they really do but it is something. The most important thing is they still let Sam and Lonnie see each other. :-) So they don't see Lonnie as a bad influence making their daughter 'gay'.
The words in the notes themselves don't tell the whole story, though. The sound of Sam's voice as she spoke gave me the feeling that Sam loves Katie very much. It seems unlikely to me that she doesn't *want* to see Katie - just that she thinks that she *needs* to stay hidden for everyone's sake.
My personal experience with similar circumstancs leads me to be a bit more cynical than you about the parents, but I'd *love* to think that they could adapt to Sam's sexuality. Soon enough to make it meaningful. If it takes them a decade to accept the truth, even if there is a reconciliation their family will likely never be completely whole again. That's depressing, though, so let's hope for a big, happy family reunion and dinner after Sam is 18. With no legal fallout! :)
I graduated from high school in '92 so I would be about Kaitlin's age or just a tad older. The game doesn't totally succeed in being a 90's nostaliga game, but I don't think it's trying to be. I think in some respect that was a plot helper for why Kaitlin couldn't just pick up a phone and find out where her parents were.
This also means I was a boy when Mystery House came out for the Apple IIs. This game felt like a small homage to Mystery House, 7th Guest, Myst, etc. I don't know if the developers intended that feeling at all.
I enjoyed how the cassette tapes were strewn about, allowing you to press play on the soundtrack for that area and time in Sam's life.
I liked how you pretty much understood the separate lives of the Dad, Mom, and Sam just by reading their notes and seeing what was laying about.
It's not that the authors built a perfect, compelling tale. They didn't. They did, however, create an incomplete one. That to me was the most refreshing part of the game. So much of the tale is incomplete. Sam's tale was the MOST complete of them all. To me the Dad and Mom are up in the air, both separately and together, and really you can't help but wonder how Kate is going to feel. I know I would be going through a lot of guilt and anguish.
I have a child of my own now, so the tale of how Sam gaining her own identity was painful for the family was equally as painful to witness. Life doesn't have endings and this game wasn't trying to pin one on the family. Tomorrow will be another day.
There is a happy 17th birthday card in the foyer from some uncle. I think it would be fair to say this arrived when the family was already living in the new house (rather than being packed for moving and then tossed in a random location in the new house). Since they have been living there for only a year, we can conclude that Sam must indeed still be 17. This would also be compatible with the "I am 17 years old" bit from here stern note to the parents, otherwise she would likely have said "nearly 18".
Not that it would seriously impede her ability to find her way in the end.
Well the mother in the end accepted the promotion with a lower commute, so that is somewhat better now.
Also the dissatisfaction of the mother that made her somewhat open to an affair was mainly due to the depression of the father, which we can assume got better after he got republished and found the spirits to write a new book, even overcoming his Kennedy obsession.
Since the father never really learned about the affair (which never seemed to got off anyway), not a lot of trust seems to be actually broken or in need of repair.
I also agree that with the stabilization of the the father's mood and the mother's new job, much of what provided impetus for an affair has been removed. Still...
It's been a while now (since your post comes three months or more after I finished the game), but I don't recall anything that establishes that the mom never confessed her relationship with Ranger Rick to her husband. Also, simple suspicion of an affair can break trust. If we could find those letters, so, perhaps, could her husband. Just sayin'... :)
The fact that some people have thoughts about what happened after the emd of the game is one indicator of how effective the story was for those people. I sure had fun with it.
Well, the appeal of the game is to fill in the gaps with what ultimately is your own version of the story. We have nothing to establish whether the mom ever confessed anything to the father. Or, actually, that ultimately there was anything to confess.
My version of the story is that no affair ever happened, and the mother never truly established that she had an attraction to Rick. Certain indicators were there, but ultimately got superseded when the root cause for the marriage problems receded. You fill in the gaps differently and arrive at a different story, just as valid, and that is the part of the beauty of the game :)
Absolutely. :) To be honest, how I fill in the gaps will vary from moment to moment depending on my mood or intent. That beauty you mention even applies when it's only one person deriving different stories from the base.
I still need to play the game through with the commentary. Too many long games keep distracting me.
Seriously :)
"I am gay."
I'm not exactly sure how the Don't Ask Don't Tell poilicy worked (I'm straight and never enlisted, but thought it was a crappy compromise that was at least less-awful than what came before). It's possible she would've gotten a dishonorable discharge, but she'd be free of her military obligations.
I'm imagining the family is going to explode when the parents get back home. Katie may well be able to keep them from actually going to the cops, but they will be hurt and angry. Remember, Sam left nothing for her parents to follow - all of her notes are for Katie. I've been through family drama like this, and I'll bet that the parents toss all of the blame on Lonnie. Blaming the person outside of the family will make this easier for them.
As for reconciliation, don't expect that for several years. This isn't an afterschool special - people will try and take the least embarrasing mental course. This is going to be the proof the parents needed that they should have been more strict - they had the right idea, just didn't apply it soon enough.
Everyone who survived being a teenager can remember decisions that were in principle a good idea, but we just didn't think through to the natural consequences.