Changing Seasons. Autumn part 1

Autumn part 1 “That c-can’t b-be it.” Euan’s face was a mask of horror as he stood at the side of the road where the taxi had dropped them off. The house opposite was little short of a wreck. “But these are our boxes,” Patience said. “This must be the right house.”
“F-furnished accommodation included.” Euan’s voice was very bitter. “They f-forced me out of my job so that the boss’s n-nephew c-could have it. And offered us this instead. Spacious living room!” Patience had gone into the other ground floor room.
“They got the wide, open views right. But I don’t think much of the fully-fitted kitchen. Or the ‘new’ cooker.” “There are f-four bedrooms,” Euan called from upstairs. “But I wouldn’t put a d-dog in them, much less our b-baby.” The bathroom was revolting too. Euan’s heart sank right down to his boots. What had he let his wife in for? Patience had gone back outside for a breath of slightly fresher air, and spotted something she’d missed noticing on the way in.
“Someone’s left us a box of fresh fruit and vegetables. And a note.” She went back in to find Euan staring at the assembly instructions for the cot, but she could see that he wasn’t taking anything in.
“There’s a note with the vegetables from our neighbours, saying do come over and meet them.” That little bit of friendliness had lifted Patience’s spirits enormously, and Euan could hear it in her voice. His own spirits lifted in response.
“But I tell you what, before we do that, I want a change of clothes. That chilly autumn day we left? This might be only the day after, but it feels like summer again. We’re a lot further south here. Can you help me find them?” “Of course I’ll help you. For you, anything. Even putting together that IKEA chest of drawers to hold them. The cot can wait.”
“Yes! We’ve got at least eight weeks yet.” Patience and Euan were expecting, probably, a middle-aged to elderly couple – the box of food and note had a nice old-fashioned touch to it in their minds. They weren’t expecting someone younger than themselves, in swimming shorts.
“Sorry about the clothes! It was so hot today we decided to cool off in the sprinklers while they were on. I’m Marcus Winter, and this is Annette Summer, who was mad enough to throw her capital in with mine in the hope that we could make this farm back into a paying concern.” “And how’s that going?” Euan asked.
“Well,” said Annette. “See that old cowshed? That’s where we slept for six months until we got this amazing mansion built. And see those weeds? That’s just about all there was! Everything you see, we’ve done. Dawn to dusk, every day almost, but we’re getting somewhere. We’re holding what we’ve taken.”
“Thank you both so much for that box of fresh food. I was just about to despair, but your kindness made me feel so much better…” Patience said to Marcus with real gratitude in her voice.
Marcus was looking at Patience’s unmissable pregnancy bump. “How long until the baby’s due?”
“At least eight weeks. I think I need to get some serious cleaning done first!”
“Have you got a car? Because if not, we’ve got a truck, if you need a lift to the hospital or anything. And we both know the road to Newborough really well! – it’s where we sell our produce.”
“That’s so kind of you! But the company did say that there was transport provided with the job…though given what they said about the house – and what it was actually like - I’m not so sure how reliable it will be!” “You’re right,” Euan said after he’d mended the hole in the kitchen floor. “They d-did p-promise transport. Maybe there’s a parking space round the back of the house. We haven’t looked there yet.”
“Did you find it?” Patience called from the kitchen, where she was making a salad for their lunch from the produce Marcus and Annette had left.
“Oh yes,” Euan said grimly. “I found the transport.” “What do you think?” They were sitting at the table eating the – delicious! – salad.
“Before we m-met M-Marcus and Annette, I was all for g-giving up,” Euan said. “Now that I’ve seen what they’ve m-managed to do, I feel a bit m-more hopeful.”
“Me too. And this could be a lovely house and garden, a nice place to raise a family. Presently – when I’ve got this place clean! – we’ll see what the shops are like, and the school, for later.”
“And I’ll help you clean! I don’t officially start work for another week yet. And Annette said they’re going into Newborough tomorrow, so we can give them a shopping list and they’ll pick food up for us. Let’s just work on the house for the next week.” Euan left Patience cleaning up the very last of the graffiti – with strict instructions not to fall down the hole in the floorboards! He was going to take apart some more of the decking and mend it later on.
There was a bit of a shortage of cleaning materials when they arrived, Patience thought. Mind you, there was a bit of a shortage of almost everything. She was just so grateful to Marcus and Annette and their: “Home delivery service!” Annette had sung out, as she and Marcus had dropped off the shopping. Euan was getting on to his “company transport” and heading off to see his workplace before it was too hot to make the trip pleasant. It didn’t look promising from a distance. And it looked even worse close up. This was going to be a massive undertaking. And he very much doubted there would be anything beyond the most basic hand tool available. He’d better go and see what he could find. This place had been ridiculously neglected, he thought. It wouldn’t have cost much just to have somebody come by once a month to tend it. The only reason the company had appointed him was because of the growing media pressure. Oh yes, and so that they could wriggle out of the wrongful dismissal suit he might have brought against them as well. Patience meanwhile was dealing with the last of the graffiti. She was tired, hot and sweaty, but the house didn’t look quite so dreadful. It could be a nice house, she though, if we…But the list of If we was so long that she decided not to think about it. A wash, a rest, and then she’d head down into the town instead. While she could still balance on a bike without toppling off. Though there didn’t seem to be much traffic to worry about, at least. Well, this looked like a shop. Maybe. She propped her bike against one of the stands and headed inside. With some trepidation. It was a shop – technically – and there was someone inside – a grey-haired woman who looked grandmother age. And looked surprised to see her. “Hi, I’m Patience. Patience McPhail.” Patience had none of Euan’s shyness, and a lot of charm and warmth. “We’ve just moved here. My husband’s the new superintendant of the graveyard…”
“We heard someone was coming! Didn’t know what day you’d be arriving though. I’m Minnie – Minnie Wagner. This is my shop – but, my, I can see that I’m going to need to get some new stock in. There kind of wasn’t much demand when it was just Old Tench here, but that nice Marcus and Annette, and Clara too, turned up, so I stocked up a bit more…” She had a lot more to say! “I’ll get some basic stuff in for the baby,” Minnie said at the end of a long and pleasant conversation. “If I’m not here – I only drop by as I’m passing on my way to my daughter’s – just write it down on this.” She pulled a pad and some pencils closer.
“I’ll collect from you when I see you. The company gave you that old house, didn’t they? Shocking, I call it. Old Tench and the others, they’d have liked to clean it up for you but they didn’t have time…”
“We’ve met Marcus and Annette. I can see how hard they work!”
“Oh, they’d have fitted that in somehow, but actually, they were all busy preparing another little surprise for you instead. Cleaned the whole place up, fixed the machines and all. Go down the road that way, past the old gas station, it’s the next building. Mercy, is that the time? I must get going. It’s been real nice meeting you, Patience.” This was the cleaned up version? What had it been like before? And what was this place? It was a Laundromat! A working one too – someone’s washing was chugging away in the one washing machine. Patience couldn’t believe her eyes. She’d been wondering how she was going to manage – fully-fitted kitchen, in her mind, had included a washing machine. And here was one of her biggest problems solved. She lifted her hand to her face to brush away a tear.
A quick peek in the toilet showed her what the place had probably looked like before it was cleaned up.
“Well, I can clean this,” she thought. “As a thank you to the others. And maybe Minnie sells toilet roll too.”

This set of characters is mine, and you can find them at
https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9105100
if you want to play them for yourself.