The Pole Renovacy Chapter 5

Chapter 5

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 “We need to talk.” Mindful of how upset Ice had been the last time he’d been cross with May, Tad had gone outside with his daughter. “Well? Can you explain why you’ve lied to me for so long about your homework? I met your teacher in the Laundromat.” Tad took a deep breath and strove for reasonableness.
“You know I’d be happy to help you if you were stuck. And you could have done it at the library if you needed to look at a book or use the computers there…”
But May just glared at him, a small mutinous child.
“I didn’t want to do it,” she said eventually. “Why should I do it? Everyone just tells me what I should do all the time…”
“Well, you have to do your homework, Tad said tersely. “And from now on, you’re going to do it. And I want every note that comes from school, okay? Or I’ll…”
He paused, trying to think of something that would get through to her.
“I’ll come into your classroom at the end of every day and ask Miss Chandler myself if you’ve had any notes today. In my running shorts,” he added, as May still seemed unmoved. “I’ll bring the notes home! I’ll bring the notes home! All of them!” It wasn’t going to be a very good Christmas. Tad might as well face the fact. There were a couple more weeks or so of school to go – term ended late this year – and then May would be on holiday. It wasn’t just the slight lack of money, though he was making some money, mostly from dumpster diving, cleaning things up and selling them on to the second-hand store.
No, it was that this year, neither he nor May knew how to do Christmas. It wasn’t the same without Star. And Ice was too young to care. What could he do to make things just a bit better for them both? Inspiration struck as Tad was making the bed the next day. To May’s surprise – and his shame – the bedcover had turned out to be blue under all the dirt. No wonder it had smelt! The bedding looked much better, but the bed itself was still a mess. And he’d painted their sleeping area, but everywhere else was as dingy as ever. Maybe if he brightened the place up a bit for Christmas, it would make the holiday more pleasant? There was nothing to do in the garden at the moment. He and May had cleared it all up, and he’d also repaired all the fencing. Ice was getting more adventurous, and he needed a definite barrier round the garden – to let him know where he could and couldn’t go! The paint on the walls looked great. Unfortunately, the ceiling now looked dreadful. And he really should have painted the ceiling first… And now the ancient and totally non-functioning ducting looked dreadful. He could probably sell that for scrap. But taking it out would mess up his newly-painted ceiling…May actually found all this quite funny, and liked to see what he’d done each day when she came home from school. One thing with having such a small house, it didn’t take long to paint things. Ice just took it all in his stride. The ducting did fetch money. Tad spent some of it on new lighting – and was smart enough this time to put it in before doing the touch-ups. But the nice new paintwork made the appliances look dreadful…Tad worked it out, and yes he could get this done before Christmas too. “What colour should I paint them?”
“Orange,” May said definitely. “Orange would look cheerful.” Orange it was then – and she was right. Orange did look cheerful. The rest of the money from the ducting and the sale of the old fireplace/stove went on a new and safer fireplace. Tad hadn’t liked the old one at all. He’d been nervous every time it was lit. Tad had given May a little money to buy Christmas present with. She’d bought Ice a little red car, that he already loved – and something for him as well. She’d bought a cookery book. Second hand, but a nice clean copy nevertheless. He’d taken her to the second-hand bookshop a couple of times now.
“Do you like it?” she asked anxiously. “I love it,” Tad said, hugging her. “And it’s going to be really useful. I still have lots of things to learn about cooking.” He went over to put the book away in the bookshelves he’d built from bits he’d found in the junkyard. The same junkyard had supplied the bricks for the hearth. That second-hand bookshop had also been where he’d bought the books – May’s Christmas present from him. That and new clothes for all of them. Second-hand new clothes, admittedly, but they were all nice enough. Tad knew not to attempt a Christmas dinner. Instead, they’d had a huge treat – pizza! And now he brought out a dessert as well.
“Did you make this pie?” May sounded awestruck.
“No,” Tad said, laughing. “I bought it. I thought that as it was Christmas, we should have a pudding. Do you want to get the bowls out?”
“Ooh yes,” said May, with more enthusiasm than she’d shown for ages.
It hadn’t been an amazing Christmas. It was never going to have been that. But it hadn’t been a total disaster either. Tad was content with that.