The Pole Renovacy Chapter 3

Chapter 3

This is based on Hi-de-Hi’s gift to me from the Holiday Gift Exchange. House here: https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9351043 And family here: https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9351042 Tad was staring numbly at the bills (again) when May came in from school. She sat down at the table with him. Her bottom lip trembled, in a way that was too reminiscent of Ice for Tad’s comfort.
“Daddy. Why are those letters red?”
No point in beating around the bush with her.
“They’re bills. And we have to pay them straight away. Or the repo man will come and take things away from us. We have to sell something.”
“Can’t you get a job?”
“It’s not that simple. Who would look after Ice? Good childcare costs a lot of money.”
It wasn’t just the childcare costs either. Tad had a big gap in his CV now. They were living somewhere new, where he had no contacts. And it seemed to require so much effort just to get through the day, any day…
“Daddy, what will we do then?”
“We’ll have to sell something.”
“Not my bike!”
“No.” The bike had been the last birthday present Star had given May. Not the bike. He looked round the room at the cracked pots, terrible furniture…
“The suitcases. They’re the smartest, newest things here. But that means that we won’t be able to pack up and leave. We have to make a go of it here.”
There was a long silence as they both faced that truth. “What’s for tea? Did you catch something nice today?”
They’d paid the bills. For now.
“No, I didn’t manage to do any fishing. It’ll have to be cereal, I’m afraid.” At least with cereal, they only used the electricity for the fridge.
And the guilt he felt as May got herself a bowl of cereal without complaining was heart-wrenching. At least she had a good lunch at school. May was trying a bit harder to be helpful, Tad noticed, but always as though it hurt her to help. He missed having someone on his side, someone who was willing to try and make things work. She would play with Ice, so that Tad could get something done in the garden more easily, but Tad had to ask her every time. He was trying not to shout at her again: he hadn’t liked that argument, hadn’t liked who he was seeing himself become. Was there anything he could get her to do that would actually help them move forwards even the tiniest bit? “May?” Tad called. She came over to him.
“Would you like to learn to fish?”
Ice followed her over, complaining about Being left Alone Suddenly, and Where Was His Playmate? And now it was Tad’s turn to watch Ice, as May bravely cast her rod for the first time. Star’s rods. And now they were her daughter’s rods. He blinked to clear the tears pricking at the back of his eyes at the thought of Star and focussed on his son. Their son. Ice was starting to walk! The garden was still unweeded, but so what. At last Tad felt like he was – possibly – beginning to do something right for his children. Without Star, he just felt…adrift. Tad took Ice back home to change him and feed him once he was satisfied that May knew what she was doing. Going back into the house he realised that May was right. He hadn’t done anything to clean this place up. That night, eating under the stars, they ate fish that May had caught.
“It doesn’t taste as nice as yours, Daddy,” she said. “It’s only a little fish.”
“I think it does,” said Tad. “And you’ll get better with practice.” The house looked a little better – but not much. Tad took some old crates to pieces and patched the holes in the floor. Next step would be to fix the doors before winter came. They had plenty of wood outside for the ancient stove, but it would help if there wasn’t such a free flow of air through the house!
Some nights he and May were still on cereal for an evening meal. Life mostly seemed to consist of trying to save or make enough money for the next round of bills. “As long as it’s free, we can go.”
“It’s free. It’s a community garden. I mean, there are things there that you can spend money on, but you don’t have to.”
Tad was beginning to explore the neighbourhood a bit more, and May had told him about this park.
“I pass it on my way to school on the bus, and Karl told me about it. Everyone calls it MamaD’s park, though it’s got a proper name too. Karl and Loki both said it’s fun and Karl’s going tomorrow. He says I need to take my swimming things.”
And when they got there, Tad saw why. Watching May actually enjoy herself for once made Tad realise how grim and earnest life had become since Star died. No, since Star fell so ill.
“Go on” he said. “I’ll treat you. You can have one turn on the grab-a-prize if you want.”
“Really?” May was full of surprise and delight: over such a small thing, he thought. “Karl says anyone can pick the fruit and veg here,” May said absently as she reached for the controls. She jerked her head towards the dark-haired boy face-planting on the waterslide.
“Really?” Tad said, far from absently.
“Yep.” “Stay there with May,” Tad said firmly to Ice, and headed for the nearest tree. Ice knew that tone of voice and obediently stayed put, listening to his sister’s very vocal concentration. “Look, I won something! Thank you, Daddy! But I’ll let you share it, Ice.”
It was getting dark and it was past time to head home – it was a good job there was no school tomorrow, Tad thought!

The Pole Renovacy Chapter 2

Chapter 2
This is based on Hi-de-Hi’s gift to me from the Holiday Gift Exchange. House here: https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9351043 And family here: https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9351042 “How was school?” The garden was beginning to grow, and Tad was managing to keep the plants watered, if not weeded. This had been May’s first day. “Okay, I guess.”
“Goy any homework?”
“Daddy, it was the first day.”
It was obvious that all May wanted to do was play, and Tad shrugged and left her in peace. With May at school, he seemed to have even less time to get anything done in the house and garden. There was another firepit in the park opposite their house. Tad hadn’t noticed it the first time, but this one had the advantage of being further away from the water. Less to watch out for with Ice! Most nights they ate outside: it was so much nicer than inside. The days seemed to start so early. It wasn’t even six am, and Ice had woken them both up. May had helped herself to a bowl of cereal and Tad, remembering pancakes and waffles, felt guilty about that. And Ice was hungry too, and nothing seemed to get any better. At least May was clearing up her own breakfast stuff now, albeit a bit reluctantly. He’d had to get quite cross with her about just leaving her dishes for him to deal with. Washing a cereal bowl wasn’t too hard for her, or too much to ask. “Yuck,” thought – and said! – May as she headed off to the outdoor ‘facilities’. It was smelly as well as a little chilly this morning. And probably spidery as well, she thought. Maybe there had been one bit of progress. Ice had learnt to use the potty chair by himself. Tad remembered how he and Star had celebrated when May had reached that milestone. Now there was no-one to share those small triumphs. “One of your jobs is emptying the potty in the evening. It smells awful in here this morning. I don’t ask you to do much, but you’re not even doing the little that I do ask! I can’t do everything, you know.” The place was getting Tad down. “What do you mean, you can’t do everything? You don’t do anything. The place looks just as bad as it did on the day we arrived.” And then, because they were arguing, Ice started crying. Which was getting very close to the last straw for Tad. He didn’t want to shout at Ice – it wasn’t his fault – but he didn’t have anything pleasant to say to May. Tad contented himself with emptying the potty Very Obviously. And he ignored his daughter’s sulky face. After the small thundercloud was safely off to school, Tad went to the mailbox to see if there was any post.
His legs gave way under him and he had to sit down. He had no idea how to pay these bills. No idea at all.

The Village Green

The Village Green. A Christmas tree on a village green – how lovely, Amber thought. And how different from the noise and bustle of the city. Here, all she heard was the squeak of the new snow beneath her feet. She followed a steady trickle of other people heading towards the little white church for the Christmas Eve service. Lucie was chatting softly to the old man who had introduced himself as their landlord – and invited them both round for a meal on Boxing Day.
Nearing the church, Amber could hear music now. The words to it wrote themselves in her mind.
“Once, in royal David’s city…”
Christmas was here.

Well, the Hunter boys’ house was called The House on the Green …so here’s the green! It’s a 50x50 lot, and it’s pictured here in Moonlight Falls, on The Old Trail. There’s a playpark for small children, with swings, rides – and a toilet block! There’s the fishing hole – with walls round it, to keep anyone from falling into it if they’re crossing the green after dark. There’s the inevitable statue of the town’s main founder, one Josiah Fairweather, who combined kindliness with business acumen when he started the first village store some two hundred years ago. Summer time, it’s nice to have a picnic in the shade of the pine trees. And there’s a church and graveyard of course, old stones and newer ones, remembering the people of the town.
And at Christmas, everyone comes to the church for the carol services. It’s empty but waiting for the evening at the moment. Waiting to be filled with people celebrating Christmas together, family and friends united in song.

Amber and Lucie

Gift Exchange The door opened and Lucie walked in. Amber paused mid-sentence. How had the Really Meaningful Date with the handsome guy from accounts gone? “Well?” she asked excitedly – and then saw Lucie’s face. “I can’t believe I was so stupid!” Talking to the wall was not a good sign either. “Amber, what am I going to do?” “Lucie, what happened? Tell me about it.” Lucie dissolved into tears on her shoulder. “I thought this was going to be – like, you know, The Big Date. The one where he asks me to move in with him. And I was so nervous about being late for it that I was super-early, so I hid in that corner seat – the one you can’t see from the door – so I could pretend I’d arrived just after him. And he came in. With someone else!” Amber was not happy. Neither was Lucie – her mascara had lost the clinging-on-to-her-eyelashes battle.
“And he said to her – it’s all right darling, I’ll finish with her today. Why would I want a two-bit cooky artist type when I could have a smart, gorgeous girl like you? And I just didn’t know what to do. I was, like, frozen in my seat.”
“And then he started being rude about you as well. Saying that just because you’d written some stupid children’s book that I’d done these useless pictures for, you thought you were a proper author, and your dress sense was dreadful…” “So that got me out of my seat. I mean, he’s not getting away with being horrible about my friends.”
Lucy was re-enacting the scene.
“So I got really mad and told him he was a two-timing lying jerk who couldn’t even write a shopping list if he tried, so no wonder he was jealous of you. And I tipped a jug of water over him and walked out.” “But what am I going to do? I can’t stay here and see him at work every day for the rest of my life. I hate that job anyway – it was only seeing him and doing your illustrations that made life bearable.” “And I have to go on working. This place is a dump, but even the quarter share takes up all I can afford.”
Lucie was right. There were four of them here, all living in tiny rooms and all paying big rents. City living wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Amber sat down at her laptop and flipped it open. “Come and look at this. I wrote it off as a pipe dream because I didn’t think you’d want to move away. And I didn’t want to be several hundred miles away from my amazing illustrator.”
Lucie managed a watery smile at that.
“I’ve got an advance for The Scarlet Hawk. We’ve got an advance for The Scarlet Hawk. I heard from my agent just before you came in – you’ve probably got an email too.”
“I turned my phone off,” Lucie admitted. “In case he texted or rang.”
“Do you fancy renting somewhere in the countryside for a year while we both work on the book?” “Get away from here? Oh yes. Show me the pictures. Wait – let me get the tissues first.”
Lucie returned to the table having done some serious mopping up.
“Here we are – here’s the website and here’s the house."
"The Salt Box. That's a cute name. I wonder why it's called that?"
"I think it's a building style. We could be there for Christmas. – allowing for giving notice on this place and so on. How does that sound?” “It sounds perfect! But does it suit you?”
“Oh yes! I’d love to be out of the city. And this place is horrible – you’re quite right. I would much rather be writing somewhere else.”
“And I can find some work to do, even if it’s only waitressing or whatever, while I paint as well.”
“Shall we give it a go then? Sign up for the year?”
“What have we got to lose?” This was perfect, Lucie thought. Her own room, just for her painting stuff! Her original artwork for the cover of The Seventeenth Star hung on the wall. Even though there was snow outside, the house was warm inside. She went into the cosy sitting room, sat down near the fire and began some sketches for the next illustrations. Amber agreed with Lucie. The Scarlet Hawk cover hung in her little writing nook, inspiring her as much as the landscape and the house itself did. They’d made it here in time for Advent – and then there’d be Christmas, and then who knew what next year would bring? Maybe something better for them both.