january 1, 2000 dawned an hour at a time all over the world without incident.
by january 2, “y2k” had been forgotten, and nobody anywhere admitted to having been afraid of it. everybody moved on, including the purveyors of “survival kits” and the publishers of books about “surviving the coming apocalypse.”
on february 4, penny left johnny wilson’s house, taking little eddie with her. the parting was amicable, with no money or property being involved, except for the $75 johnny agreed to pay for the uncontested divorce . johnny was relieved to see penny and eddie go, and resolved never to marry again. he was a few days short of his 36th birthday, still a “young man” by some standards, but he had begun to put on weight and suffered from back problems.
jenny, however, took the divorce hard. kim came home from school the day after penny and eddie left and found jenny sitting in her chair in front of the television, crying.
“what are you crying for?” kim asked. “because goop-face and little baby boy are gone?”
“i’m sorry, honey,” jenny tried to control herself. “but i just get so lonely sitting here all day with nobody to talk to.”
“they didn’t even like you,” kim said matter of factly. jenny began crying again. kim regarded her for a few seconds, then shook her head and went to her own little room and turned on her radio.
on november 7, governor of texas george w bush apparently defeated vice president al gore in one of the closest presidential elections in u s history. because of the closeness of the vote in the state of florida, recounts were begun there, but the methods of the recount were disputed by the two sides. on december 9, the u s supreme ruled, 5-4, that the recounts should be halted because the standards of recounting were different in different counties, and no alternative “fair” method could be devised in the time required by law. this decision effectively awarded the election to bush.
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