be patient with me, i’ve been thinking about Them and i’ve pinned down a timeline for my sprawling headcanons about them
(edit: this became long enough that it’s almost a fic. oops)
late july, 1878: hugo (0) is born
late august, 1881: winnie (0) is born
1882-1884: they’re babies (4-6/1-3). nothing happens.
1885: hugo (7) starts school
1888: winnie (7) starts school. mrs jackson hears that she keeps wandering off on the way to the schoolhouse (distracted by flowers, or pigeons, or tadpoles...) and tells hugo (10) and oliver (14), his next-oldest brother, to start going past the fosters’ house to walk her to school. oliver gives winnie piggy-back rides instead of hugo. hugo is jealous. oliver compromises-- each brother takes one of winnie’s hands to keep her on the path.
1890: hugo (12) starts helping constable joe out at the station.
1892: winnie’s (10) father dies. a week after the funeral, hugo (13) comes to her house to walk her to school alone; oliver has graduated. she’s too old to wander off, but they walk hand-in-hand anyway, silent, to the schoolhouse.
late july, 1893: hugo turns 15; constable joe promises to start taking him on cases to see if he might be fit for deputy
august 1 & 2, 1893: winnie (11) meets the tucks. hugo (15) solves his first case.
1894: winnie (12) starts showing up at the constable station. now that hugo (16) is doing legit detective work, she takes up the role of errand-runner. she takes the opportunity to research the paper trail the tucks have left, and she loves finding old newspaper stories that have inadvertently mentioned them over the last century.
1895-1896: winnie (13-15) and hugo (16-18) become close friends. as constable joe gets older, she joins him on patrol. she shooes away the frogs and spiders they encounter. she makes him crowns of flowers. he helps her with arithmetic. he reassures her mother that she’s staying out of trouble. he brings her sweets from his sister’s bakery.
early september, 1897: hugo (19) leaves for college to study forensics. winnie (16) is the de facto junior deputy of Tree Gap. hugo writes letters home every week and she responds with envelopes full of leaves and candies and newspaper clippings.
1900: winnie (19), who has saved up her earnings from deputy work and odd jobs, sets off to travel the country.
1901: hugo (23) comes back from college. winnie (20) has made it to europe. he still writes her letters every week. she responds with sketches of strange ruins and postcards in other languages. sometimes her response never arrives. tree gap isn’t the same without her.
1902: constable joe retires. hugo (24) becomes deputy. people start saying it’s high time he found a wife. no one seems to catch his eye.
1903: winnie (22) comes back to tree gap. she’s cut her hair short, she speaks several languages, she laughs so loud and smiles so widely that no one quite knows what to make of her-- except hugo (25). who is overjoyed to see his childhood friend again... but can’t help feeling that things have changed.
1904: the world fair is in st. louis. hugo (26) is a respectable small-town deputy. winnie (23) wants him to take her to see the fair. “you’ve never needed a travelling companion before,” he says. “travelling by myself gets lonely,” she says. they both know he’s already packed his suitcase. rumors are buzzing before their train has even left the station. somehow, they don’t mind. they hold hands as they wander from museum to food stand to speech to horse race. do they share cotton candy? yes. do they forget to correct the fortuneteller who assumes they’re a couple? maybe. do they steal kisses on the train ride home? perhaps...
1905: winnie (24) and hugo (27) marry each other. all six of hugo’s brothers and sisters attend, and winnie’s mother and grandmother, and constable joe, and a family of four that watches the bride with teary smiles from the back of the church
