Prologue

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Hope was a town that started out as a small farming community. It was settled by four families: the Riley's, Holmes, Andrews and Masters. They started out as every other early settlers in America, just wanting a home and a way to provide for their family. They settled around each other equally for their own safety. Protecting their settlements became easy; as the men worked together to keep their families safe, the woman worked to keep their families healthy and happy. But as the years grew on, more people started to settle around them. They named their town Hope, and the four families became its founders. And as the population grew, the dynamic of the founders started to change. The Andrews and Riley's started to notice subtle changes in the behavior of their co- founders Masters and Holmes. They tried not to think  of it, mainly because they wanted to be trusting and had no basis to think anything negative would be going on. But they were wrong ....

It started at the town council meeting 2 months later. With the support of Holmes, Masters voted to have a church built in town instead of their usual services at different farms. Now this was something that was widely accepted by every person in the meeting. Andrews and Riley had been supportive until the other two founders explained that they were taking it upon themselves to pay for the building of the church. This did not sit right with them. Since their families had settled together, everything had always been equal between them. So the idea of a church being built without their own funding too seemed almost an insult. They could not understand why they were refusing their help. That was the start of their suspicions.

It became clear six months later when the church was built, why their funding was not needed. Holmes and Masters expressed their long search for a Reverend had been unsuccessful, so they deemed it necessary to appoint Masters as temporary reverend until one was later found. As the months went by it didn't look like the two founders were even trying to look for a more qualified Reverend. Although Riley and Andrews did notice the amount of followers the two founders were accumulating. It worried them, mainly because they had always tried to avoid letting one family have too much power. They had always talked things out amongst the four of them. Now however, suddenly everything was divided and it did not bode well for anyone.

It seemed that after Masters was established as the Reverend by the people of the town, he used his influence to support Holmes's run for mayor. Convincing the people that it was in the name of progress. It seemed that in their hunger for power they forgot to include the other two council members. Not that they would have accepted it had they offered. Once their positions had been established, Masters and Holmes tried to buy the land that belonged to the Riley and Andrews. When they refused, they tried to use their influence to force them out. But what they didn't understand is that the Riley and Andrew's family contributed to the food that the people in the town needed, and at rates they could all afford. They were going nowhere anytime soon.

But the animosity stayed as the years went by. Generation after generation fueled the rivalry that was so much a part of the town, that no one really expected things to change. But it did change, because what no one expected, was for love to be greater than any kind of hate that could be conditioned into someone's mind. Its funny to think that for most activists in the world, there's usually a moment... We call it a moment of clarity, that lights a fire in our soul, that drives us to accomplish feats beyond the ordinary. For the town of Hope it stated with a bigot football player, and a love struck lesbian.

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