"Hey have you guys seen Cindy?", Jess inquired. Delilah who was half napping, half ignoring a black n white B-grade movie with her head in Evie's lap called back, "Yeah, she said she was in the garden for the afternoon."
Eve and Delilah talked quietly about the pros and cons of them having children, both of them really liked kids, but Evie already had more than a score of blood nieces and nephews, and didn't want to be tied down to her own children yet. Delilah finally agreed that the time probably wasn't right for them, besides, she only felt a desperate need to have her own child once or twice a week. The rest of the time she was focused on her lover, her career, and her household family, which included twins that she could kidnap any time she wanted. On the bright side, when she grew tired of them, she could always hand them back!
Jess looked out of one of the windows overlooking the gigantic garden. "Hrmm, I can't see her anywhere", Jess mumbled to herself before turning back to the snuggling couple in front of the TV. "If you see Cin, let her know I'm over the road, gettin' tricky for the children's ward." Jess asked Evette, referring to her now regular habit of performing for tips, and donating them to her favorite charity.
Jess didn't have to work that hard on her sleight of hand tricks, despite being midday, the sun was, as ever, too embarrassed to show its face to the public of Midnight Hollows and remained hidden behind cloud cover.
Despite the small amount of foot traffic generated by the ongoing festival, Jess's tip jar slowly filled.
Eventually Cindy appeared, she waited for a lull in spectator-ship,
before interrupting Jess' performance.
"Jess, I've had a call from a friend on the agricultural committee and I need to talk to you about the garden."
"Excuse us Vivacia, I need to discuss some other business with my friend, picture a card in your mind, and I'll be right back!", Jess explained to Vivacia, who had been 'oohing and aahing' at Jess' every trick for the last hour.
"So, the problem is that we are making more money from our home garden than some of the smaller commercial entities, and so they have complained to the council that we shouldn't be allowed to sell on a commercial market.", explained Cindy. "That and the fact that we grow and sell practically every kind of bean, mushroom, herb, spice, fruit and vegetable known to Sim-kind. They are trying to get laws passed to stop us.", Cindy continued.
Jess thought about the problem for a few moments. "I had that garden planted for my Dad, and when he moved out, you were given total control over its management, do you know why?", Jess asked her friend.
"Because I'm really good with plants?", Cindy asked, not entirely sure how Jess was providing a solution.
"Do you remember that practically indestructible cactus you gave me back in high school? It lasted twenty eight days.", Jess continued, "To say that I have a black thumb is an understatement". "Okay..", mumbled Cindy, still waiting for advice.
Jess realized that it still hadn't dawned on Cindy that she expected Cindy to provide her own solution.
"Nobody knows that garden, or the local and commercial markets, or the competition, or the Ag committee better than you Cin, if you think we need to move the garden and go commercial, or just grow one thing, the that's the right choice.", Jess stated, hoping to boost Cindy's lagging confidence. "Just because you don't wear suits and ties to work like Eve and 'lilah, doesn't mean you aren't business smart."
When the spark of confidence reignited in Cindy's eyes, Jess went back to her one current steadfast customer. Jess watched Vivacia's lips carefully as she approached. Vivacia was clearly mumbling 'Queen of Hearts' over and over so she wouldn't forget her card. Jess flicked the whole deck into the air, except one card.
Evie followed the new maid around the house. Zeke apparently was on long service leave,
and this temporary new maid constantly kept looking at the silverware.
Jess practiced swapping out her wands to produce the right color flowers, it was much easier with her magician jacket to hide them in. Melissa and Nerissa played with Eddie and Edie and ignored the magic going on mere feet away. The first hundred or so ties had been fascinating, but for now there were more important things to focus on.
Eddie wanted to be the valiant knight on a quest to rescue the fair princess from the clutches of an evil dragon. Edie didn't want to be the fair princess, she also wanted to be the valiant knight on a quest to rescue the fair princess from the clutches of an evil dragon. Eventually it was decided that Melissa would be the fair princess in need of rescuing, Nerissa would be the fair but evil dragon, needing rescuing from her own evilness, and Eddie and Edie would work together to do all of the rescuing!
The cleverly constructed and somewhat democratically devised plan eventually fell through when they realized that had access to neither armor, sword nor shield, or any form of dragon breath.
At the end of the week another letter and set of photos arrived from Coral.
'Cousin and her husband are driving me round the twist.'
'Spending all my spare time working on my tan, looking for my Dad's boat, or windsurfing.'
'Anything to get out of the house'
'The windsurfer hire crew tell me I'm getting really good at it.'
'To the point were I started trying some tricks.'
'Mostly it ends up like this'
'And this!'
'Miss you guys, wish you could all be here.'
Meanwhile, back in Midnight Hollow, life dragged on at its slightly slower pace. Although for Eve, things were rocketing along, Eve had received a phone call from her older sister Sally. Sally's time in Simazonia was coming to an end due too impending war, and Sally's next job would be as a nanny/tutor in Bridgeport.
Unfortunately Sally had to start work the same day as her plane came in, so one of their brothers would collect her old jeep and drive it to Bridgeport. Sally promised to visit Midnight Hollow as soon as she could.
Eve had just worked her way up to new heights in her career, along with a healthy pay bonus, and organized a autograph and interview session for one of her newest sport stars to celebrate. Evie spotted several locals among the towns sudden tourist explosion.
When Delilah arrived home from work, Eve was standing next to a brand new SL65. "All those long hours you put in to make other people rich and famous, it's about time you treated yourself with something special!", enthused Delilah, referring to the new car. "I do, everyday!", replied Evie, referring to Delilah, as she wrapped her arms around her partner.
Authors Notes:
See previous rants about how time consuming and difficult it can be to play long enough get enough caps for a chapter. RL time seems to move faster than in game time atm...
I have decided even if I have to steal crayons and toilet paper to draw stick figure cartoons, and scan and upload them at a public library, as well as imagine how the game might have played out if my laptop spontaneously combusts, or gets probed by aliens, this RLC will reach generation 10!
