HARMONY

Her father left.
The perfect house in the perfect neighborhood.
Claire needed her father.

Her mother works hard, but hard to keep the neighbors impressed.
Then, her dad runs away to be a rock band roadie.
Her 4.5 AP Nerdfest brother is accused of raping and murdering a girl with Special Needs.
And when she and her best friend go on a runaway road trip--they end up in a truck with sex traders.
Claire's world spins out of control--until it doesn't.

It is 2008 and In 2008 the whole world changed. And not just because the iphone came out in 2007.

It wasn't just the families of the OC Housewives that were living a reality show; so many families seemed to be all about "the house" and not "the home."
Sunglasses cost hundreds of dollars and "bags" were thousands. Everything had a label that said you spent a lot of money.

People went crazy buying another house, a boat, a Hummer (at 10 miles to the gallon).

I distinctly remember two couples, in their late 30s, who were shopping together in Toys R Us. They had a video camera and were discussing the "rules" to this shopping trip. The rules were they had to look into the camera and say what they were buying, for who and why. And the carts had to be overflowing with toys.

It was as if they had dreamed their entire lives of doing a "who cares how much it costs" shopping spree at Toys R Us for their children. Just recklessly spending on a bunch of STUFF. That was 2007. And then came 2008.

But, more disturbing to me, was the impact it had on families. I think moms and dads lost themselves in providing stuff for their kids and not giving their kids time. And I saw the kids suffer because of it.

So, I did a little research and a lot of observing and I wrote a mostly fictional story about an upper-middle class family in the OC.

It explores (it simple terms) what was going on in the economy and what teenagers really want from their parents...