My purpose for writing this story is to create that classic suspension of disbelief. Okay, I understand that I am not writing a fantastical tale that by its very nature pushes the boundaries of what could or couldn't possibly be true. I am writing a believable tale of two small town girls whose lives are complicated in a very normal, human way. However, every author asks readers to accept that her characters breathe, all the while understanding they have been created from letters in the alphabet and operate in a world strung together with poetic license.

Mediacollege.com insists, "Suspension of disbelief only works to a point. It is important that the story maintains its own form of believability and doesn't push the limits too far.... One important area of belief is in human actions and emotion. People must act, react and interact in ways which are believable. In cases where such interactions do require suspension of disbelief, the normal rules of consistency apply. Audiences are very unforgiving if they think a character is behaving in an unbelievable fashion.

If I want to create a very real world for my Potato Pickers, I must switch the year to 1943 and allow Baby Barb to join the others at the dining room table.

What a difference four years makes. In my previous Hub, I described an optimistic 1939: America had not yet entered the war in Europe and the Pacific, as the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred Sunday, December 7, 1941. Therefore, my uncles were not thinking of war but of courting dark haired beauties. And my curious mother was weighing why some families like hers had so many children and others had none-- her mother delivered baby number nine in April of 1939.

By 1943, Harvard students were not demonstrating the finer art of eating goldfish to garner media attention. They were for the first time taking classes with girls-- from Radcliffe. That year, Irving Berlin won the Academy Award for Best Song- "White Christmas." Duke Ellington played Carnegie Hall. Leonard Bernstein, a Jew, directed the NY Philharmonic Orchestra significant considering the ghettos of Warsaw and Krakow were liquidated that year. Oklahoma opened on Broadway.

The Office of War Information was given permission to censor movies in 1943 and the Academy Award went to Mrs. Miniver, a propaganda film aimed at ending American isolation from World War II. In East LA, Mexican American youth clashed with military personnel in what was labeled The Zoot Suit Riots. And Carlo Tresca, editor of an anti-fascist Italian newspaper called The Hammer, was shot dead in New York City on orders from Benito Mussolini, who is evidently tired of reading Tresca's incessant verbal attacks.

President Roosevelt became the first President to fly Internationally when he flew Pam Am to Casablanca for a summit with Churchill, Giraud, and De Gaulle during which they named Dwight D. Eisenhower "Supreme Commander of unified forces in North Africa," ramping up the fight against Rommel. The "Tuskegee Airmen" became the first all-black flying group in the army. Stalingrad ended its bloody siege but Leningrad continued to starve.

The colorful Gen. George S. Patton Jr., upon seeing a man with no physical injury resting among the wounded in Sicily drilled him. The young man said, "It's my nerves. I can hear the shells come over but I can't hear them burst." Patton went ballistic, slapped the kid in the face, accused him of cowardice, and ordered him to the front. Eisenhower came down hard on Patton for this incident, and it was publicized around the country.

After a bloody campaign, Italy surrendered to the Allies and joined the fight against Germany. The British invented the Colossus computer to help break German codes.

One good outcome of the War? The Great Depression officially ended-- the war raging on so many fronts offered numerous employment opportunities.

I organized a small book of tidbits for my Uncle Paul last January, as he celebrated 90 years of this American life. In it, I recording his answers to questions I had asked last summer. I remember thinking it was a bit strange that his favorite hymn was Onward Christian Soldiers, considering he had never been a soldier. He even told me during the interview how bad it had made him feel, knowing his brothers were over fighting the Germans and the Japanese while he stayed home.

It wasn't until I watched the Oscar-winning propaganda film of 1943 that I made the connection between this hymn and what it inspired inside the chest of a young man, longing to do his part for the war effort. Let's consider the top 10 questions for creating believable characters listed in my link, upper right.

1. Where does your character live? In 1943, he lived in California where he watched a lot of movies.

2. Where is your character from? Well, he lived for most of his life with his four brothers in the patriotic Midwest of a country zealous to fight fascism once Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

3. How old is your character? Young enough to be idealistic and old enough to fight.

4. What is your character called? My uncle was the second son, named Paul after the apostle Paul who said in Romans 13:4, "He that wields the sword does not do so in vain, but he is a minister of God to execute judgment on evildoers,"

5. What does your character look like? He was a handsome healthy strapping man who appeared to be healthy enough to fight. People must have wondered why he wasn't in the military. He was classified 4F.

6. What kind of childhood did he or she have? He grew up in a stoic Norwegian family dedicated to doing what is right and always doing your part, no matter the sacrifice.

7. What doe your character do for a living? Paul was 25, doing all he could for the war effort, by welding war equipment.

8. How does your character deal with conflict and change? Paul is a gentle person with a tendency to set his jaw and get the job done, whatever the task set upon him. But he has a huge heart and a desire to please.

9. Who else is in your character's life? My mother and her twin were in Paul's life, looking up to him, expecting great things from him. His mother always said, "You know what is right so do it," and his father never backed down from any challenge. He had four brothers, one older who was a fighter pilot and two younger brothers who were battling it out in Europe. Lots of pressure!

10. What is your character's goal or motivation in this story or scene? Read these lines from Mrs. Miniver and imagine how, with all you know about my uncle up to this point, he would feel when he heard them delivered...

The Vicar:

Why in all conscience should these be the ones to suffer? Children, old people, a young girl at the height of her loveliness. Why these? Are these our soldiers? Are these our fighters? Why should they be sacrificed?

I shall tell you why.

Because this is not only a war of soldiers in uniform. It is a war of the people, of all the people, and it must be fought not only on the battlefield, but in the cities and in the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home, and in the heart of every man, woman, and child who loves freedom!

Well, we have buried our dead, but we shall not forget them. Instead they will inspire us with an unbreakable determination to free ourselves and those who come after us from the tyranny and terror that threaten to strike us down. Click here This is the people's war! It is our war! We are the fighters! Fight it then! Fight it with all that is in us, and may God defend the right.

Following this speech, the congregation in the church sang, "Onward Christian Soldiers." Do you wonder at all why this hymn would inspire my Uncle Paul- or my impression of my Uncle Paul?