The original version of the story was written when Edwards was in college in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, since she revised the story several times before it was published in the early 1990s, the story's time period is a little ambiguous. In fact, several aspects of the story—including the mention of personal computers—could place the story anywhere in this time period. However, two aspects of the story—the recession that causes Kate's dad to lose his consulting business and the reference to Stephen buying a computer to play chess—seem to indicate that Edwards meant the story to take place in the early 1980s.

In 1980, President Carter signed the controversial Chrysler Loan Guarantee bill, a $1.5 billion relief package to the Chrysler Corporation, which had experienced a $207 million loss in one quarter in the previous year. This unprecedented...