BoM/TWS Message Forum

IIRC, my answer about Catherine's parents is that they are there, they just keep a very low profile. I imagine that Catherine's "parties" were never intended to be parties and still really aren't. Catherine isn't a butterfly like Chelsea, but she's always had friends over, coming and going in and out, and as time has passed the number of kids going through has just gotten larger and larger. Possibly her parents both came from big families and wanted a big family but never managed to have more than Catherine, so they like having a lot of kids around. But I imagine Catherine's mom just sort of moves invisibly through the house; and her dad is at work until the early evening, and after that he may have a man cave.

In answer to Masktrix's very reasonable questions, there are two kinds of answer I could give. The authorial answer is that I'm more interested in the high school drama and in trying on masks of very different kinds of people, and you can't get that variety in the work world. Also, the story's theme (insofar as it has one) is about character and identity formation -- Will, as it were, trying on different personas to find out who or what he wants to be. That makes more sense in a teenage world than in a teenager-invading-the-outer-world story.

Rugal gives one good answer from within the story. Another answer I'd give is that none of the branches (save a few) reach a "takeoff point" where Will or others are interested in leaving, but every branch, if extended far enough, would reach a takeoff point.