It wasn't fashionable to be unmarried and pregnant in 1971. A "baby bump" was something to be hidden like an oozing pimple slathered with Clearasil. Unwed mothers were "loose" - wanton women best hidden in special "homes for the unwed mothers". It was probably a row home away from Leper Island. Rose, 19 years old, didn't think about it much, not that day. It was late spring and she was walking down Park Avenue in New York City. About 10 weeks into her pregnancy, she wore a blue belted shirt dress and black high heels. Her chestnut hair was swept into a chignon, her bangs nearly brushing her eyes. Well-read and under-educated, she imagined her life in literature – stories ending with tragic women and flawed men. Sister Carrie, Madame Bovary and Blanche Dubois were her companions. In 1971, America's culture seemed to be changing. The Viet Nam War continued while "flower-power" had withered into what was left of memory. The fi...
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