Libra
Act III

Prologue to Act 3

BEE
Alone in the spotlight, speaks directly to the audience.
Lies! And ugly secrets! How could I have been so wrong about anyone? Maybe I am the innocent child she thinks I am. She sure made a fool out of me. I felt as if I'd made a connection to her pure essence, an integrity and depth that went beyond anything I'd ever known in a lover. I was sure that she would peel off the layers of secrecy as I earned her trust. I never suspected her whole life was based on a lie! A murderer, for god's sake!

Act 3
Scene 1 The front porch of Libra, 6:00 AM, the next morning.

Nathan is at the door, knocking. Bee comes to the door, wearing a rumpled T-shirt and bikini briefs as if he had been sleeping in them and had been awakened by the knocking.

NATHAN
I'm sorry to disturb you so early. I was afraid I'd be too late if I waited. I'm Nathan Cadeau, Phyllis Cadeau's son. You know her as Juno, I think. She called me yesterday to tell me what happened. I've got to talk to a man called . . . Ant? Or was it Cricket? Some insect . . .I'm sorry, I didn't get it written down, and I don't remember.

BEE
Bee. That's me. Juno isn't here; she's at Capricorn. Why do you want to talk to me?

NATHAN
Please let me come in; I know everything you need to know about what happened in 1970. And you have a completely wrong idea. Please. Hear me out.

BEE
Comes out and gestures toward the porch swing where he goes to sit, folding his arms over his chest, not looking at Nathan. Nathan sits beside him, hands on his thighs with his fingers spread open. Bee is noncommittal:
So tell me.

NATHAN
Natalie Fieldstone is my biological mother. When I tracked her down, I read not only all the newspaper articles about her court case, but I also got the court documents and checked the public records of her jail term. She did not murder anyone.
Bee unfolds his arms and looks at Nathan now.
She was driving home to a small town late one night in December, 1969. She and her husband had gone to a dance at the university where Natalie was a senior. They had both been drinking, but he had had quite a bit more than she to drink, so she was driving. It was very late and she thought there would be little traffic to worry about. Then they got into an argument over some fool thing or another. Natalie was a quick-tempered, impetuous young woman--very different from the self-controlled woman she is now--and just as she came up behind a slow driver, she had a flash of anger at what her husband was saying. She stepped on the gas and pulled out into the passing lane in a no-passing zone. A car came over the hill and she pulled back in too soon. The car she had just passed hit her from behind, making her lose control of the car. Her car went off the road on the right and dropped into a ravine about fifteen feet deep. The car behind her also went out of control and crossed the median after the oncoming car was gone, but went into the ditch on that side. Most cars in those days didn't have seat belts. He was thrown from the car and impaled on a steel fence post. Natalie did have her seat belt fastened and was uninjured when their car landed right side up. She kept her presence of mind--shocked into sobriety--and was able to steer gently enough to keep from rolling the car on either bank of the ditch. But her husband, my father, hadn't bothered to fasten his seat belt. His head hit the roof of the car on impact, killing him instantly.
Bee has been listening intently.
Natalie got out of the car, climbed up the steep bank to the road, walked to the nearest farmhouse about a mile from the site of the accident and woke the family to ask them to call the police and an ambulance. When the police and ambulance arrived, they found the driver of the other car disemboweled and unconscious. He died on the way to the hospital, probably from shock. He was the father of four young children.

Natalie was devastated by the consequences of her behavior. She didn't even ask for a lawyer, but pled guilty to all the charges of reckless driving, driving while under the influence, speeding, and involuntary manslaughter. She was glad to pay a penalty, one that seemed inadequate to her for the suffering she had caused. Normally they might have given her a suspended sentence as a plea bargain for the guilty plea, but she hadn't tried to get off, there was a public outcry against her because of the orphaned children, and the judge wanted to crack down on drunk drivers. She was sentenced to one year in the county jail. She made no attempt to earn any "good time" to get out early. But about the time she began her sentence, she discovered she was pregnant with me. I was born several months before she was released. The jail chaplain, Phyllis Cadeau . . . . Juno . . . adopted me with the help of a lawyer.

BEE
Did Juno know what your mother was in for?

NATHAN
No. Not until Natalie told her yesterday, and Natalie made it sound worse than it was. Mom--Juno to you--called me last night to let me know what was happening here.
Puts a hand on Bee's shoulder.
Please don't drive my birth mother out of Libra. I hated to see her isolated the way she has been for the last two years.

BEE
Stands up and goes to the porch railing to look outward, leaning one hand on the pillar.
I feel like the ground is spinning. I was in such a clear space before about the essence of human relationship being absolute honesty.

NATHAN
But don't you think it's also important to have compassion for what the other person is going through?

BEE
But how will I ever know whether she's telling me the whole truth or hiding stuff?

NATHAN
You won't. You can go on being completely honest yourself and . . .

BEE
Cutting in.
And start learning how to accept people as they are. That's how I can be trusted with more and more truth. She told me I had the pure mind of a child. I feel like I've just become an old man.

NATHAN
Cynical?

BEE
No. I still believe in the possibility of innocence. But I think I understand better now Blake's concept of "songs of innocence" and "songs of experience." What I want to learn to sing are "songs of innocence regained."

NATHAN
I'm sorry; I don't follow you.

BEE
Never mind; just an old English minor talking to himself. Let's go see if Renata is up.

NATHAN
Who?

BEE
Your mother. Renata is the name she chose for community; it means "reborn."
To himself.
As in "songs of innocence regained."

Bee and Nathan go inside the house and appear in the flexible area, now lighted. They are in the hallway outside Renata's door. Bee is knocking on the door, at first softly, then more insistently.

BEE
Renata? Why doesn't she answer? Renata? Please let me in. Your son is here. Nathan. He's told me everything. Please forgive me, Renata!

NATHAN
Is the door locked?

BEE
No, we don't have any locks on interior doors. We live like a family.
He opens the door and looks in.
She's not here! All her things are gone!
Both Bee and Nathan enter and look around. The room is bare except for a bed that has been stripped of its blanket and sheets, a small table with a phone on it, and a straight-backed chair.

NATHAN
She must have left in the night. When did you last see her?

BEE
About ten o'clock. She came to tell me the story you just told me, and I wouldn't listen. God, I'm a bastard! After I promised her I would accept whatever it was in her past that her second husband used against her!

NATHAN
Sits on Renata's stripped bed to think.
No point in blaming yourself now. We just have to try to figure out where she might have gone. She must have let her apartment in Des Moines go when she came here. She owned very little, about as much as she could pack into her Toyota. So she probably won't return there.

BEE
Would she go back to Wild Wind, do you think? She left there in good standing, I know, because I called them when she first asked to visit here. They were sorry to have her leave.

NATHAN
Half to himself.
So my mom was right that communities check with each other about prospective members.
To Bee.
Did she have any good friends there? I know she doesn't really want to live there any more, though I'm not sure why. But she might go there if she didn't have any other place to go.

BEE
She does have a friend who's still there. Chakra is her name. That's who they put on the line to tell me about her when I called. After she left my room last night, Renata could have telephoned Chakra to ask for permission to come to Wild Wind as Chakra's guest. That would give her a few weeks to figure out what to do next.
Excited now.
I bet that's what she did.
Picks up the phone and dials a long-distance number. Waits for an answer.
Hi, This is Bee Libra. Can I speak to Chakra, please?
Pauses are while he listens to answers.
Oh, hi, Chakra. This is Bee Libra; do you remember I called you a few weeks ago about Renata? . . . . Well, have you heard from her? She left here last night and I want to get hold of her. I thought she might have gone to Wild Wind. . . . She did call you? . . . Great! That's just what I thought! Well, will you ask her to call me collect as soon as she arrives? And if she won't call me--she has good reason to be upset with me--please, please call me and let me know she's there, and I'll call her. There's been a terrible misunderstanding, and I want her to forgive me. . . . OK. Thanks a lot, Chakra; you're a great help. I think everything is going to work out just fine. You know Libra's number, right? I'll be waiting for your call. 'Bye now.
Hangs up. Turns to Nathan.
Now all we have to do is wait until the phone rings. But I'm famished, and you must be, too, after driving all night. Let's go to the kitchen and get some breakfast.
Nathan and Bee exit while props are changed to suggest Libra's kitchen-dining room, then they return and sit on a homemade bench at a long table. They are eating scrambled eggs and slices of home-baked bread. A wall phone is near the table, close to where Bee is seated.

BEE
These eggs came from Capricorn, the farm community where your mom . . . your other mom . . . is. This is really a great setup for Renata, you know. She can have the best of town life and country life, too, because we see a lot of each other.

NATHAN
You don't have to persuade me; I'm eager to have Mother live here. That's why I came, so she wouldn't lose this chance. She's been alone too much since she left . . . Wild West ?
. . . what was its name again?

BEE
Wild Wind. I think this is a better place for her than Wild Wind. People just come and go there. We have very little turnover because we're more careful about the people we invite to join us. If a visitor is just looking for a long vacation from the "real world," we tell them to go to Wild Wind! We had one of those just this last week, in fact.
Worried tone now.
It's beautiful country there, though. Hundreds of acres of wooded hills . . . and a creek for swimming and canoeing. And she does have Chakra as a friend. Maybe she'll decide to give it another try.

NATHAN
We'll just have to wait until we get a chance to talk to her.
As he speaks the phone rings. Bee picks up the receiver without getting up.

BEE
Libra; Bee speaking. . . . What?! . . . Yes, this is where Natalie Fieldstone lives; is this someone from Wild Wind? Yes, you can talk to a relative of hers; her son is right here.
He hands the receiver to Nathan.

NATHAN
This is Nathan; I'm Natalie Fieldstone's son.
Long pause as he listens.
No! Oh, god, no! . . . How bad is it? . . . Where is she? . . . . OK, I'll be there as soon as I can get there.
Hangs up and puts his head in his hands for a moment.

BEE
What is it, man? What's happened?

NATHAN
She had an accident. That was a state patrol officer. He said he got this number from a scrap of paper in her billfold. Said it looked like she fell asleep at the wheel and went off the road. She has a broken leg and bruises and he doesn't know what all. She's in a hospital about an hour's drive from here. Come on, let's go.
Both men rise and exit quickly with no more talking.

Scene 3 Two days later, Friday afternoon, on Libra's front porch.

Renata is sitting on the swing, her left leg in a cast, resting on a footstool. She's wearing a wide, cotton skirt and a sleeveless T shirt. The left side of her face and left shoulder and upper arm are bruised. Nathan is sitting on the porch railing, turned toward her. There is a cassette player on the swing beside her, playing music very softly.

NATHAN
I want you to let me pay that hospital bill, Mother. I know you don't have health insurance.

RENATA
Firmly.
I made all the decisions that led to my not having health insurance, Nathan. I want to take the consequences myself. If you used your savings to pay my hospital bill, you'd have to go back to doing that work that has no meaning for you. That money is your freedom. I'm not going to take it from you.

NATHAN
But how will you pay it?

RENATA
I'll find a part-time job and pay what I can each month on the hospital bill. I can still do the gardening here on my off hours and weekends to cover my living expenses at Libra. That's what the meeting was about last night. Everyone agreed to the plan after we talked it through. Bee wanted Libra to pay the bill, but that wasn't all right with me.

NATHAN
How can you get a job? You've got a broken leg and cracked ribs! And it'll take you years at the minimum-wage kind of jobs you've had since you left that community!

RENATA
I think I can get a better job now even if I tell the truth about my record. I've decided to risk it, anyway. After all, it was thirty years ago, and I've been in no trouble since then. I just have to be persistent and willing to live through a lot of rejection. Anyway, I don't owe all that much money, thanks to you and Bee arriving in time to take me home right out of the emergency room. If you hadn't talked them into dismissing me into your care, they'd have checked me into the hospital, which would have cost a lot more.

NATHAN
Well, with that kind of determination, I'm sure you can get a decent job. But not with a broken leg, surely!

RENATA
My leg and ribs will soon heal. I'm very, very lucky that it was a clean break. You and Bee have taken better care of me here than the hospital could have! I appreciate everything you've done for me, Nathan. I'm glad you're staying here in that empty room until Bee gets it rented. And while I'm counting my blessings, I'm lucky that no one else was involved in the accident this time.

NATHAN
You deserve a break! . . . Oop! Sorry, no pun intended. I mean, you've had enough bad luck in your life. But why do you insist on paying that bill yourself? I thought you community types didn't believe in "rugged individualism." I thought you believed in taking care of each other.

RENATA
I told you, Libra offered to pay my bill. But you know, Nathan, how important it is to me to take responsibility for my own actions. I wouldn't want to be a financial burden on my community. I of all people should have known better than to drive when my brain was deadened with fatigue. I didn't even think about that because driving tired isn't illegal the way driving drunk is. As Bee said once, we don't make the same mistakes again, but we keep making new ones.

NATHAN
So how are you different from anyone else that way?
Bee appears at the front door.

RENATA
Well, I'm not, of course. But getting an outside job until I get that bill paid off is not an unreasonable consequence for my bad judgment. And I want to be the only one to pay the consequences this time.

BEE
Enters from the front door and joins Nathan on the railing, speaking as he does so.
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment." That's a quote my dad liked to repeat. . . . Renata, is this a good time to talk? There's so much I want to say to you, but if you're in a lot of pain still, you might not feel up to serious discussion.

NATHAN
Would you like for me to leave you two alone?

RENATA
No, I'd rather you stayed, Nathan. I can concentrate pretty well now, Bee. In fact, it helps to keep my mind off the pain.

NATHAN
I'll go look for a couple of chairs, then. We may as well be comfortable, Bee, because this is likely to take awhile.
With humor.
I don't know much about community, but I've noticed that you guys like to spend hours and hours in meetings!
Exits into the house.

BEE
Renata, I've been doing some hard looking at myself since we got you home from the hospital. I'm just beginning to see how intolerant I am. And I'm shocked. Me! A black man! Maybe the reason it was hard for me to sympathize with your hiding your past is that I can't hide my blackness. I'll always be an outsider, no matter what I do. But then, I've never wanted to be a part of that money-grubbing madness. I haven't really appreciated my freedom to be completely myself in community. I don't have to suck up to anyone to have a good life, and I didn't have to hide anything to get in. . . . I want you to know, Renata, that we wouldn't have held your record against you if you'd told us the whole truth. But I guess you had no way to be sure of that. And the one guy you tried to tell the story to--me--wouldn't listen.

RENATA
I want to apologize for losing my head Tuesday morning, Bee, and making things seem to be worse than they were. But the brutal truth isn't all that far off from what I said, all excuses aside. I did kill two innocent men--one went through hell before he died--and I messed up lots of people's lives whether I intended to or not. And I made deliberate, stupid choices that led up to that consequence.

BEE
You were young. You didn't believe in consequences at that age. Like most young people, you thought you led a charmed life.

RENATA
That's not good enough, Bee. It doesn't give those men back their lives, or those children . . . including Nathan . . . their fathers. What I did changed the world for the worse. The fact that lots of other people have made stupid choices without killing anyone doesn't help me. And I was just telling Nathan that Tuesday night I did it again! Fatigue is just as incapacitating as alcohol. It was pure luck that I didn't hit another car head-on.
Runs her fingers into her hair and grips her head for a second or so.
God! I could have killed some more people!

BEE
Are you going to go on flogging yourself forever? That doesn't bring them back to life, either.

RENATA
Draws a deep breath to calm herself.
No. After I got the divorce, I decided to put my past into a closed box and never open it again. I sealed that part of my life off, even from myself. I couldn't undo the past. The only thing I could do was to make the most of every day of the present.

BEE
But that doesn't work, either. The past has to be dealt with; it still has the power to come through to the present.

RENATA
True.
Nathan appears at the doorway with two folding chairs. He pauses to listen.

BEE
Goes over, sits beside her on the swing, careful not to make it swing and disturb her leg. He takes her hand.
Now that there's no big lie between us, do you think we could start over?

RENATA
Pulls her hand gently away from him.
I don't know, Bee. I'm feeling very bruised right now. And I don't mean just physically. Tuesday night when I tried to talk to you, I wanted to start over. But when you got angry, it felt exactly like those horrible scenes in my second marriage. It may be that I can't ever be really close to anyone. Maybe that's another consequence of the night when I took those lives.

BEE
Stands up and paces for a few steps, then goes over to the railing again and looks outward a moment, then turns a little toward her, speaking slowly and thoughtfully.
I re-stimulated a painful part of your past . . . after I had made all those grand promises to accept all that you are and had been.

RENATA
Yes.

BEE
Walks over to stand facing her.
And at the same time you were re-stimulating my old hurts--all those relationships that fell apart because of deception of one kind or another. . . . Each of us is having a hard time accepting the other's defensive behavior . . . because we're so focused on protecting our own wounds.

NATHAN
Comes out to the porch, hands one chair to Bee and sets up the other facing the swing as he speaks.
If you don't mind an eavesdropper's observation, the whole thing sounds to me like A.F.G.E.

BEE
A.F.G. E.? What's that?

NATHAN
Another Fucking Growth Experience. Life keeps throwing them at us.
Bee and Renata give a little laugh of surprise, and the tension is released. Nathan sits.

BEE
As he speaks, Bee sets up his chair beside Nathan's and sits.
I guess that's what it's all about. So would you be willing to grow with me, Renata?
Renata is silent, doesn't look at either man. She is looking deeply within herself. After a pause, Bee reaches out to take her hand again and says sadly:
Does that mean no?

RENATA
She puts her other hand over his, looks into his eyes.
It means I'm not sure what to do. I feel as if I've come back from the dead . . . a second time. Both times, when I saw myself going off the road, I gave up my life . . . it was over, I thought. This time when I lay there in the pain of broken bones--t was hours before anyone found me--I wanted to die, oh, I wanted to die! I kept trying to let go of my body and let my spirit rise free. But I couldn't make it happen.

BEE
Takes both her hands in his, moved at the thought of losing her.
I'm so glad you're alive!

RENATA
Maybe keeping ourselves alive isn't the point . . . not the reason we're here. As physical beings, I mean. I don't think death is the end of consciousness.

BEE
But I don't consider physical life cheap; we're not throwaways.

RENATA
Too deep in her own thought to hear him, looking beyond him.
Maybe the purpose of life on the physical plane is to learn about consequences. . . . And to learn that love is the essence of the larger reality.

BEE
Moves from his chair into the swing beside her, again being careful not to make it swing and disturb her leg. Puts an arm lightly around her shoulder, taking care not to hurt her cracked ribs.
So are you willing to try again to build that skyscraper we talked about? The love that will endure throughout our lives? And even beyond, into the "larger reality"?

RENATA
Looks at him now with a little smile.
Love, yes. But let's forget about romance between us. We both have too much healing to do. More than just broken and cracked bones.

BEE
Can't we work on healing together? And not close the door on the possibility of being lovers?

RENATA
Pauses to think it through. Then in a deliberate tone.
Let's take that year Nhat Hahn wrote about . . . with no mention of sex until the day of the autumn equinox, in the year two thousand and one.

BEE
Takes his arm away from her shoulder and puts the heels of both hands on his head for a second.
Damn! I wish I'd never mentioned that fuc . . . that . . . celibate . . . monk!

NATHAN
Well, if you don't mind the observation of an eavesdropper . . . it looks like . . .
Nathan grins and gestures to invite Bee to say it with him in unison:

BEE and NATHAN
A.F.G.E.!

RENATA
Thoughtfully.
Another Fucking Growth Experience. It will never end. There will always be one more thing to learn.
To Nathan.
I wonder if your father . . . and the other man I killed . . . are still making mistakes--and learning--on the other side.
More to herself now, as if she were thinking out loud.
I've imagined often . . . and intensely . . . what they went through in their dying. Maybe they understand what I go through as the survivor.

Strange . . . how I suddenly feel very close to them. I feel . . . connected.
She lifts her face, her eyes closed, her hands together in her lap with palms up, her expression serene but unsmiling. Nathan and Bee both are looking at her.

As they become silent, the music is again heard, perhaps Kitaro's "Light of the Spirit." The music continues for a moment, and then the actors come forward to take their bow.

Appendices:

Character sketches:

Natalie Fieldstone
Age 52, b. 1948, (any race, as is true of all characters in all 3 plays, except for Bee who is African-American, the Paz family who are Hispanic, the Singingtrees who are Native American, and Ginger who is white.) Her community name is Renata. She was raised in a city (Des Moines, Iowa), married a man she met at Iowa State U., lived in Nevada, Iowa, where her husband taught in high school. Natalie is a trim, handsome woman with dark hair that is graying. She does not dye it and she does not have it professionally cut; it has a natural look. She is strong without being big-boned. She is capable and self-assured, neither masculine nor ultra-feminine in manner. She is not outgoing, but she has an air of being cooperative and considerate.

Axel Reinhart
Age 51, b. 1949. Community name Ox (Axel is pronounced ox'l in German). Ox joined Capricorn in 1986 just as Helen and Tonja were leaving. He took over Joan's work with the small livestock when she was too ill to work. He is also in charge of making deliveries for Capricorn's CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), bringing vegetables, milk, cheese, soy products, eggs and meat to Libra every Tuesday AM.

Ox is a husky, broad-shouldered man with a full beard and a pony tail. His dialect sounds like Missouri rural which is where he has lived all of his life until he came to Iowa to join Capricorn. He likes living close to a university town which has a gay network. He and his partner Hank had been isolated on their farm in Missouri. He has a sweet, gentle manner that inspires trust. Even Natalie feels completely at ease with him. He wears jeans and a cotton work shirt and farmer's cap.

Vince Domingo
Age 38, b. 1962. Community name Bee. He is from Chicago. He came to Libra in 1994.
He is intense, dedicated to principle, health conscious, passionate about building deeper relationships through micro-honesty. Although he is introspective-constantly observing and criticizing himself in his determination to become the best person he can be-he is also outgoing, open and affectionate. The child of a bi-racial marriage, he feels connected to all races. His parents were focused on service to humanity and not at all interested in materialism. He has embraced their spiritual, non-materialistic values while rejecting the Christian faith they raised him in. He is youthful looking, strong and lean. His beard and mustache are neatly trimmed.

Phyllis Cadeau
Age 60, b. 1940. Community name: Juno. Lesbian ordained minister who had a prison ministry, including the county jail in which Natalie Fieldstone served her sentence. Adopted Natalie's newborn son, Nathan Philip Cadeau, in 1970, as a single mother. Had a partner, Roberta Butler, whom she did not publicly acknowledge until the 1980s. They separated soon after Nathan left home for college in 1988. Phyllis retired on her 60th birthday on an annuity pension. Then she began to search via Internet for a new partner. She located Grace who had decided to look also, after taking two years to grieve for Joan.

Nathan Cadeau
Born in 1970 to Natalie, adopted by Phyllis. He retired very early from a successful career as a financial manager and is living off his savings in order to try to find himself, to find more meaning in life than just making money.

Ginger
Age 18, b. 1982. A pretty woman, her golden-brown hair is in a stylish cut, done professionally. Her outfit is deliberately outrageous, but carefully selected to accent her attractive figure. She is vivacious, enjoys flouting convention but is in fact deeply conventional in her values. She is used to being the center of attention. Her life has been easy so far with no real challenges to stretch her character or expand her awareness.
She has no commitment to the community lifestyle, is merely looking for adventure, especially sexual adventure. She is typical of the young people who pass through Wild Wind Community, staying a few months and then returning to mainstream society.

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Recap of characters from the other plays:

Joan died in 1998 of an aneurysm; Grace remained at Capricorn. Leah also stayed at Capricorn. Doris married Leah's son Jim in 1985 after he was reconciled to his mother and became a recovering alcoholic himself, taking full responsibility for his own behavior. He joined Capricorn and employed himself with his writing. Most of the others worked the land, developing a CSA truck farm, and producing organic meat (chicken, chevron, lamb, rabbit) as well as vegetables, fruit, and eggs. They also began making soy products to sell their town customers, including Librans. Doris had been a successful realtor until her earnings were no longer needed to pay for the building projects on Capricorn, then she retired to work at home with the others. Grace's hands were never completely OK, but she could do a number of things, even was able to can vegetables and dehydrate all sorts of produce. She could use a hoe, etc., anything with large muscles, not fine ones. Juanita continued her law practice, and Jorge continued to run the Mexican food café in Cedar City, the university town. He even opened a second one in the little town where Libra is (Prairieville). The Prairieville café is a joint business of the two communities. Libra's members work in the cafe. Juanita and Jorge's children helped in the restaurants while they lived at home, but are all grown now, with children of their own. Helen and Tonja left Capricorn to found Libra at the time Juanita and Jorge wanted to open a second café. Prairieville, (the town where Libra is) is on the other side of Capricorn from Cedar City, the university town. That is, Capricorn is 20 miles west of Cedar City and Prairieville is about 10 miles west of Capricorn. Libra's other business is renting out apartments in two houses that they own next door to the one they live in.

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Some general information about intentional communities and particular information about Capricorn, Libra, and Wild Wind (fictional communities):

Intentional communities are at least as old as the first century in the current era when the early Christians lived communally. There are several hundred intentional communities in the United States today, and many more in other countries, many of which are listed in the Directory of Intentional Communities. Some are religious communities; some are secular. They are called intentional because the founders of each organized themselves around some values or purpose that they shared, as contrasted with the accidental communities where people just happen to live next to each other. It is common for members to choose a community name (examples in Libra are Ox, Bee, Renata, Juno, Lightning, Chakra).

Wild Wind is a large rural community in the Midwest with an egalitarian (income-sharing), non-violent lifestyle. It was founded in the early 1970s and supports itself by making and selling craft items. Because of the low-impact lifestyle and sharing of resources, not much money per person is needed to live fairly comfortably. All members are able to do their income-producing labor in the community business rather than commute to town. They produce much of their own food organically.

Capricorn is the community founded as a collective in 1980 at the end of Balancing Act by the two lesbian couples, the Nava family, and Leah and Doris. The others pooled their savings to pay off Joan and Grace's mortgage, thus buying in. It is not income-sharing; the land is owned jointly and members provide their own houses (build or move in mobile homes). Later the original farm house became the community hall. Most of the members are employed by the two community businesses (the CSA and the two cafes). The exception is Jim who is self-employed as a novelist.

Libra was founded by one of the lesbian couples at Capricorn, Helen and Tonja, who decided that farm life was not for them and they no longer wanted to commute to Cedar City to work. They were joined by Susan (of Balancing Act) who moved from Cedar City to Prairieville. She was by this time a master plumber and formed her own plumbing service in Prairieville. Helen and Tonja retired from their professional jobs to open and manage the second Mexican food café as a joint business with Capricorn. Lightning joined them the second year; he was a mechanic and began his own car repair service. Bee joined in Libra's eighth year. He suggested going into rental real estate and is the manager of that enterprise. Libra is an expense-sharing community (as contrasted with an income-sharing commune like Wild Wind) with buildings owned by their non-profit corporation. All the members live in one of their three houses, each having one room in private, with the rest of the house as common space. When Renata joins, she plans to put in a large garden in the combined back yards of the three adjacent houses.