From the book, “Just Write One Thing Today; 365 Creative Prompts to Inspire You Every Day” by John Gillard

Historical Juxtaposition

For specifics on the writing prompt, please see the book. You can purchase a copy at: Just Write One Thing Today, 365 Creative Prompts to Inspire You Every Day: John Gillard, Quid: 9781435165595: Amazon.com: Books

William Shakespeare dies, April 23, 1616

A child is born….

Adelaide fought back a scream as she gripped her pillow.  Her contractions were getting closer together, and the midwife kept trying to put a stick in her mouth but she was fighting it.  The stick tasted like dirt, and she didn’t want it in her mouth.

As another contraction hit her, she let out a small noise from her throat and suddenly the midwife managed to shove the stick in her mouth, tying it around her head with a rope.  Her hands were already tied to the bed above her, and she wanted to escape but there was nowhere to go.  Agnes was an experienced midwife, and she had successfully delivered babies many times, but Adelaide just wanted to be left alone.

It was too late for that though.  She should have turned the man away when he came to her door, but she couldn’t resist the attention he gave her.  Now he was nowhere to be found and she was about to bear his child.  She should be thankful Jonathan had offered to marry her to save her family name.  He was the only person besides her parents to know who this child’s father really was.  Not even Agnes knew their secret.  He was a good man and would be a good father to her child.

Another contraction gripped her and she bit down on the stick.  “It’s time.”  Agnes helped her deliver a healthy baby boy.  Tears rolled down her cheeks as the baby was placed in her arms.  “What are you going to name him?”

Adelaide thought for a moment.  The child’s father had just been visiting town, and no one really knew who he was.  She wanted to name him after his father, but then again, she didn’t want anyone to suspect the man.  Still, for all she knew, he was laying somewhere on his deathbed and she would never see him again.

“Adelaide, his name?”

She met Agnes’s eyes.  “William.  His name is William.”

The California Gold Rush begins, January 24, 1848

Vivian stared out across the prairie, her feet aching with every step. Their house was getting further and further away from them, yet she knew it really wasn’t their house anymore.  It belonged to the bank, and they had lost everything.  They had no choice now, but to leave.

They had come here looking for Gold, but there was none to be found.  Her father had bet everything on it only to lose it all.  Now they were homeless, broke, and had nowhere to go.  If only they hadn’t come out to California!  It had brought them nothing but heartache.

Tim Berners-Lee releases the World Wide Web; the Internet goes live to the world, August 6, 1991

Brian’s dad had spent years working on computers, but he couldn’t get his program to work.  Then he got sick.  Now they were broke, the bank was about to foreclose on their house, and life as they knew it seemed to be ending.

All his father wanted was to create something he called the World Wide Web.  He had spent hours and hours on the project with his friend Tim, trying to get it just right until cancer overtook him.  Now he was in a hospital bed fighting for his life, and his dream would likely not be coming true.   Brian wanted to spend the day out with his friends, but instead, he would spend it waiting in a cold, dim hospital room, waiting for his dad to take his last breath.