I read a story once set in an alternate universe in which the Quabbin reservoir in Massachusetts was never formed. The protagonist lived in one of the towns that, in our universe, were flooded.
It started out as a coming-of-age story, where the young man worked in a hardware store. He eventually went into the military, returned to his home and became a paramedic.
He got married and had kids, and the story follows their lives.
I tried to find this with a full text search, but I had no luck. Perhaps the story was withdrawn.
Does this ring a bell with anybody?
