Finding Dorothy

In the later timeline, Mayer guides Maud through the studio to a sound stage where Judy Garland prepares to sing a draft of the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” The song catches Mrs. Baum off guard because nobody but her and Frank know about the rainbow connected to the story. When she hears the song, Judy’s voice entrances her. After the song ends, Maud comments about the nature of the song and offers insight that both Garland and the lyricist take into consideration. Before she can say more, Mayer guides her out, telling her that she is welcome on set anytime if she stays out of the way.

In the earlier timeline, Maud wins an amber cats-eye marble from some boys she attends school with. A bully accuses her of cheating, and she flees into her neighbor’s yard to take the fastest route home. Here, she finds a baby crow on the ground. She rescues the baby crow while avoiding the scarecrow in the middle of the yard that looks like her neighbor. When she brings the bird home, her story amuses her mother, who finds ways to care for the crow baby and insists Maud start wearing pants rather than a petticoat. When her father gets home, he tells Maud to keep her skills sharp so she won’t lose the marble.

When the baby crow grows older, it stays near the Gage household because of the kindness Maud and her family show it. The neighbor kills it because he thinks the bird mocked him. Maud’s mother gets legislation passed to protect wild creatures, particularly ones kept as pets, but Maud worries that the fate of the crow will resemble the fate of women in the future.

In the earlier timeline, Maud and her father travel to Cornell University, where Maud will begin her studies to receive a degree her mother never earned. The journey to allow women to attend Cornell was difficult; many students and faculty spoke out against the new policy that would allow women admittance. Maud’s father helps Maud move her trunk to her room, then leaves to catch the train home. Soon after he leaves, Maud’s roommate arrives and gives her a tour of the dorm.

That evening, when Maud and her roommate go down for dinner, Maud hears the piano playing a song and sees a dance floor. She feels compelled to dance and does so, earning the attention of every student in the area for her odd behavior. Her roommate guides her away to inform her that she must not act so peculiarly, which she agrees to.

Maud struggles to fit in, her penchant for standing out too strong. When she arrives late to her botany class, the boys all cheer, clap, and wolf-whistle. She confronts one of them and effectively isolates herself. She hopes to find a man who loves her as she is, but she doubts such a man exists.

In the earlier timeline, the boys continue to ostracize her. However, Maud has a group of friends with whom she meets with on All Hallows Eve to symbolically reinstate the Society of the Broom—a Cornell organization solely for women. That night, they conduct a séance where Maud acts as the medium and pretends to answer the girls’ questions by tapping on the table. The girls request that Maud ask the spirits a question and she refuses. Her roommate asks a question instead, and there are six mysterious scratches at the window—according to superstition, Maud’s future husband’s name begins with the letter “F.”

In the later timeline, Maud receives a call from MGM Studios asking her to come to the lot—they found something interesting. When she arrives, they show her a coat the costumer found at a second-hand shop that belonged to her husband. Maud believes it is a publicity stunt and refuses to authenticate the jacket as Frank’s, though she remembers the jacket well. The publicist invites her to watch the day’s shoot, where she sees Judy and Toto repeat a scene multiple times to get the best shot of Judy crossing a bridge. Between takes, one of the stagehands wraps his arm around Judy, which makes Toto defensive. Maud wants to step in, but she never has an opportunity to do so.

In the earlier timeline, Maud returns home for the Christmas break to find that her family’s life has changed slightly since she left. Her sister Julia now has a boyfriend whom she’s considering getting engaged to and moving to the Dakota territories with, and her father’s illness is getting progressively worse. Maud and Julia talk. Maud discovers that her sister also bears the burden of being their mother’s daughter and that it adds difficulty to her life as well. However, Julia is excited when Maud says she’s been invited to another family’s Christmas celebration to meet a young man—Frank Baum.

Maud goes to the Baum residence on Christmas Eve, where she spends the day caroling and dining with the family, all of whom are working to connect her and Frank. The two find interest in each other when they discuss magic and their worldviews. Though Frank must leave the celebrations early, he wishes to see Maud again before she returns to school; she agrees, surprising herself. That evening, she and her roommate Josie speak about Frank, and Maud admits she found him handsome and pleasant to talk to.

The next day, Maud returns home to her family for Christmas Day, where she meets Julia’s secret boyfriend. He regularly drinks, tries to get Maud alone, and makes lewd suggestions to her when they are alone. She resists his advances and he positions himself as a helpful man to the family. When they go to bed, Julia becomes engaged, which baffles Maud. Julia won’t hear a word against her fiancé. When Maud tries to speak with her mother about it, she loses her nerve and mentions wanting to see Frank. Her mother declines and will not consent: Maud needs to focus on her studies, not boys with flighty careers.