Revisiting Oak Springs

Katharine Hepburn was no longer like the young starlets in their prime, able to collaborate with fashion designers or wear custom couture from famous brands.

But she had her own fashion aesthetic, and at nearly a hundred years old, she had long transcended ordinary tastes. What mattered most was that she dressed comfortably and happily; who cared what anyone else thought? It was already polite enough that she did not run around naked with a sack over her head.

Even when facing Old Money, a group that would not think much of an actress like her, Katharine Hepburn was not some little girl who would break down crying after a few snide remarks.

Even when she was young, if she encountered something like that, she would only punch back. When had she ever let herself suffer? Did they know how Howard Stark's nose got broken?

So, taking this formidable old lady with absurdly high resistance to verbal attacks out with him, Henry only worried whether Katharine Hepburn would bully someone else. Her reputation in certain circles when she was young had not exactly been friendly.

As for Henry's own banquet attire, he wore the handmade suit he had worn to Gwen Stacy's prom. This time, he did not shave off his beard. He simply groomed his fake beard carefully before heading out.

Oak Spring Farm was in Virginia. With an elderly lady like Katharine Hepburn along, driving directly from New York was hardly an ideal journey. The old woman and the young man wasted no words and headed straight for the airport.

There were many reasons why, even ten or twenty years later, North America still would not build a single high-speed rail line.

But there was only one fundamental reason: North America's aviation industry was too developed. There were