The Pole Renovacy

The Pole Renovacy

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 Having to drive past a graveyard wasn’t the best of introductions to their new home. It pulled up too many memories… “Daddy, I don’t like that building. It looks scary,” May said, as they carried on down the road. Tad’s heart sank even lower. What was she going to say when she saw their new home? “Daddy, this is awful!” It was a heartbroken wail. The taxi have driven away, leaving their luggage, part in the house, part outside, and taking all of Tad’s remaining money.
May had a point – the house didn’t look great. But it was this, or split the family up. And Tad couldn’t bear to lose his children. Not after having lost their mother. This was their last-ditch attempt to stay together: move away from the too-expensive neighbourhood where the children had grown up, move away from where people knew their story. And might decide to interfere – ‘for the good of the children’.
Tad was hoping that this was far enough off the beaten track to be safe from busybodies. And the house might not be so bad inside. It was worse. He looked at the kitchen and sighed. He hadn’t been the cook. It had been his Star who’d done the cooking. And this didn’t look like the ideal environment in which to start learning. May followed him into the kitchen.
“You can’t even see out of the window,” she said. Whined. She never used to be a whiny child.
“I can clear that away. Why don’t you go and play in the garden with Ice?” And I hope the garden is better than in here, Tad said to himself. The garden was better. In fact the garden looked better kept than the house did. There was a tent (and that might be useful, Tad thought) and a swing and a barbecue grill, and a patch of garden which might do for growing food…
“I’m just taking a look over the road,” he called to May. “I’m not going very far at all. Stay with Ice.” And over the road, Tad saw: Somewhere to fish. Somewhere to cook the fish. As long as May kept an eye on Ice and didn’t let him fall into the water, he could feed his family. Hopefully. “The toilet is outside? What happens when I need the toilet in the night?”
“You’ll have to go outside. So maybe skipping the endless bedtime glasses of water would be a good idea.” And that would be a relief, Tad thought. Since her mother’s death, May had made endless excuses to keep checking up on him at night. And he did understand – in part. But it meant that he never got any time to process his own thoughts, his own grief. It was all about coping. “May, will you play with Ice, please? I don’t want him falling in the water! And I’m going to catch some fish for our tea.”
What a good job he’d packed his fishing rods instead of selling them. But that had been how he and Star had met – over two tangled fishing lines – and he’d not been able to bear parting with them. Now he was grateful. He’d be able to teach May to fish too – she could use Star’s smaller, lighter rods.
May was going to have to grow up faster than she wanted to. Honestly, it seemed like she’d reverted to her five year old self. He needed her help. He couldn’t do everything on his own. The sun was setting fast by the time Tad lit the fire. He was keeping an eye on a rather sleepy Ice, making sure that he stayed away from both the fire and the water, helping May cook her fish, and trying not to burn his own - all at the same time. One day down. How many more to go?