Bonnie Murdock (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
is_the_motion) wrote2015-07-16 06:43 pm
is_the_motion) wrote2015-07-16 06:43 pm
AU-Week Bonnie
#TW: contains references to infant mortality, fertility problems, childhood disability and alcoholism#
In 1930, aged 20, in the normal universe, Bonnie and Bill had a daughter, Alice. Even before she was born, they suspected she wasn't well. She rarely kicked and, having had three brothers die before a year old, Bonnie knew her child may have the same problems.
In the normal universe, Alice survived only a few minutes, and was taken away immediately. They knew that Alice would have had problems had she survived, and when they eventually decided to adopt, she inspired them to take on the children other people didn't want.
Infant mortality, despite being very common indeed (70 in 1000), was not talked about much in Bonnie's era, so most pups likely did not know about Alice in the normal universe. Feel free to infer about her post-AU depending on what they remember.
AU
In the AU, about twenty minutes later after Alice was taken away, a doctor came back in and, rather embarrassed, explained that Alice was still alive and was crying for a feed. But he warned the couple that the child was 'deformed' and likely wouldn't last the night.
AU WEEK 2016Alice is now four and alive and well.
If she accompanies Bonnie, it is noticeable that she has a short webbed neck with low set ears, and short fingers. She is profoundly deaf and does not speak, but uses American Sign Language, smiling and gestures. She does not read yet but does not have a learning disability.
AU WEEK 2017
Alice is six, and is in a wheelchair constructed by her mother. She still does not speak. She can read and write a little bit now. She continues to use sign language, but she cannot lift anything heavy.
Bonnie's life has changed in a number of ways due to the survival of Alice. It forced her to tackle her long term issues with alcohol, a remnant of being an alcoholic in her late teens, although she had managed to abstain in pregnancy. She's left the bikers, joined the AA, and joined a newly formed Roller Derby team* to make more friends as a stay-at-home mom. Her Derby Name is Skull-and-cross-Bonnie.
Because it's only 1934, Bill is still alive, and he has also left the bikers and joined her team as a referee, under the name Billy-the-skid.
In this universe Alice vastly exceeds medical expectations and survives to the age of ten, before succumbing to pneumonia as her uncles did**. Her parents describe her as having lived every minute to the full, and afterwards go on to foster and adopt many other children with difficulties.
[*You will note from the link that the fighting form of Roller Derby did not begin IRL until a couple of years later. But this is an alternate universe, so yay!
**Genetic explanation for the science nerds: Bonnie's brothers had an X-linked form of muscular dystrophy. Under age one, this would not have been obvious, but would have made them more susceptible to chest infections, often deadly in the 1910s.
Bonnie has two X chromosomes, so is only a carrier of muscular dystrophy. She has a 50% chance of passing it on to a male child.
Alice should also have escaped, but was unfortunate enough to have picked up a second genetic defect from Bill's side; Alice has Turner Syndrome, which means she only has one X chromosome. However, in the 1930s, medical technology has improved substantially, and antimicrobials help her survive the chest infections that killed her uncles. By the age of ten, however, both conditions are catching up on her.
Disability in the 1930s was very poorly understood, and children like Alice would have often been institutionalised.]
In 1930, aged 20, in the normal universe, Bonnie and Bill had a daughter, Alice. Even before she was born, they suspected she wasn't well. She rarely kicked and, having had three brothers die before a year old, Bonnie knew her child may have the same problems.
In the normal universe, Alice survived only a few minutes, and was taken away immediately. They knew that Alice would have had problems had she survived, and when they eventually decided to adopt, she inspired them to take on the children other people didn't want.
Infant mortality, despite being very common indeed (70 in 1000), was not talked about much in Bonnie's era, so most pups likely did not know about Alice in the normal universe. Feel free to infer about her post-AU depending on what they remember.
AU
In the AU, about twenty minutes later after Alice was taken away, a doctor came back in and, rather embarrassed, explained that Alice was still alive and was crying for a feed. But he warned the couple that the child was 'deformed' and likely wouldn't last the night.
AU WEEK 2016Alice is now four and alive and well.
If she accompanies Bonnie, it is noticeable that she has a short webbed neck with low set ears, and short fingers. She is profoundly deaf and does not speak, but uses American Sign Language, smiling and gestures. She does not read yet but does not have a learning disability.
AU WEEK 2017
Alice is six, and is in a wheelchair constructed by her mother. She still does not speak. She can read and write a little bit now. She continues to use sign language, but she cannot lift anything heavy.
Bonnie's life has changed in a number of ways due to the survival of Alice. It forced her to tackle her long term issues with alcohol, a remnant of being an alcoholic in her late teens, although she had managed to abstain in pregnancy. She's left the bikers, joined the AA, and joined a newly formed Roller Derby team* to make more friends as a stay-at-home mom. Her Derby Name is Skull-and-cross-Bonnie.
Because it's only 1934, Bill is still alive, and he has also left the bikers and joined her team as a referee, under the name Billy-the-skid.
In this universe Alice vastly exceeds medical expectations and survives to the age of ten, before succumbing to pneumonia as her uncles did**. Her parents describe her as having lived every minute to the full, and afterwards go on to foster and adopt many other children with difficulties.
[*You will note from the link that the fighting form of Roller Derby did not begin IRL until a couple of years later. But this is an alternate universe, so yay!
**Genetic explanation for the science nerds: Bonnie's brothers had an X-linked form of muscular dystrophy. Under age one, this would not have been obvious, but would have made them more susceptible to chest infections, often deadly in the 1910s.
Bonnie has two X chromosomes, so is only a carrier of muscular dystrophy. She has a 50% chance of passing it on to a male child.
Alice should also have escaped, but was unfortunate enough to have picked up a second genetic defect from Bill's side; Alice has Turner Syndrome, which means she only has one X chromosome. However, in the 1930s, medical technology has improved substantially, and antimicrobials help her survive the chest infections that killed her uncles. By the age of ten, however, both conditions are catching up on her.
Disability in the 1930s was very poorly understood, and children like Alice would have often been institutionalised.]