Changing Seasons. Summer II, part 2

Summer II, part 2 I’m taking a tip from Marcus and Annette, and fertilising these plants. Blake was right about it being smelly, but I’ve seen how well their crops are growing, so I’ll put up with the smell. Might need to head for the laundromat afterwards, though… I picked some flowers, found a vase and put them on the altar. Addie approved!
“It was such a shame Marcus and Annette were unable to have their wedding here.” She came a bit closer and got a good look at my clothes. She was the one suggesting a trip to the laundry!
“And while your washing does itself, you could go to the library…” She’s got a mania for keeping me indoors! Looking round the laundromat got me thinking though…Yes, we’d cleaned the place up a bit, but it could be better yet. Lachlan came in to pick up their laundry, so I grabbed him and started quizzing him. You never know with Lachlan – sometimes he’s all bright ideas and can-do, and sometimes he’s all wimpy boy. I’m not sure which is the real him. “So this place could be cleared up. And do you think those ride-on toys are fixable? It’d be kind of good if there was somewhere for the children to play while the laundry was doing.” Today I got Mr Can-do!
“I can have a look at those. It’ll take a little while though, so Marianna might appreciate a hand with the children. Do you want to organise a weeding party? Blake might help if Marcus and Annette can spare him.”
Wow, that was four sentences in a row from Lachlan McGowan. Addie was having a good effect on him! I got a whole day’s work out of Blake, which saw all the weeds off no problem. I dealt with the graffiti and Lachlan was optimistic about the ride-on toys. They’ll need painting, he said, but I can sort that out. Plus, I’ll be outside. I don’t mind studying, but not all day, every day. In the summer too! Next time Addie had nagged me so much I felt I had to put some time in studying. Blake and Marcus had already arrived.
“We were looking for a book called How to Build a Wine Cellar,” Marcus said. “But we’re having to settle for Basic Brickwork and A Beginners’ Guide to Excavations.” I paused, mid page-turn. “A wine cellar?”
“Yes. Blake says it’ll improve the wine – steady temperature and so on. Give us a bit longer, and we might be able to produce good wine instead of just drinkable. Though drinkable is beginning to turn a slight but steady profit.” Addie was planning to do another, What did you learn today quiz? I could tell. So I cut her off at the pass with some questions of my own instead.
“When we tidied up the library and painted the bookshelves and so on, I found an ancient catalogue in one of the cardboard boxes. For houses! Apparently, you could mail-order an entire house. The Sears-Roebuck company, I think it was called…” It worked. She was well away, and Queen Elizabeth’s foreign trade policy (piracy, mostly, as far as I could make out) was forgotten.
“Yes. They delivered everything you needed to build your house. Not the foundations – you put those in yourself. The Arbuthnot family, who owned one of the factories – the one with the clock on the tall tower – they encouraged their workers to buy them. Offered low interest loans, and put in the foundations. Old Mr Arbuthnot had read about Titus Salt and was really impressed by his model village…”
She was off! Once again, it was a while before I got away… And there they were. I’d followed Great Aunt Addie’s instructions and found the Arbuthnot Estate (this was Violet Drive, after one of his daughters). This one looked like the one called The Natoma. I’d take a closer look and see. And this one had a forlorn-looking For Sale sign in its garden. It looked a bit neater than the others – someone had patched up the fence with chickenwire, and it might have had a garden once upon a time. Was this The Natoma? I was going to the library next to double-check. Perfect! Old Tench was there (and Annette as well: I might get a dinner invite out of this). Save me having to look things up: he’d be bound to know the answer. Wouldn’t he? No such luck! But I was right about which house it was. I read the description out loud to the others.
“This up-to-date little modern home has three good-sized rooms, well lighted and can be thoroughly ventilated. All interior doors are five panel clear yellow pine with beautiful grain. Clear yellow pine trim and flooring for all rooms.”
I looked at the plan.
“Living room, 10’ by 15’. Kitchen 8’ 6” by 7’ 6”. Bedroom 8’ 6” by 7’. Hang on, there’s no bathroom!” Annette was unperturbed. And I suppose they’ve only just got an indoor bathroom, but hey, their house was a shell! Old Tench got very enthusiastic about outdoor privies and went into great detail about how to construct them and how they worked. Sounded like a lot of hole-digging to me, and I said so. Invited me to dinner? Invited me to cook dinner more like! But I didn’t mind really – I cook better than Marcus does. “I like the curtains. Where did they come from?” Actually, I like the whole room. It’s looking cosy now, kind of like a home instead of just the place where Marcus and Annette eat and sleep. “Patience made them for us,” Marcus said. “In exchange for building a corral for her, babysitting and taking her into Newborough. That spaghetti was great. Want a job as a resident cook?” “A corral? Are they planning to start farming?” I didn’t have them down as that type – and Euan did have a job of sorts anyway.
“Nope,” said Blake between mouthfuls. He hadn’t commented on my spaghetti, but by the way he was shovelling it in, it tasted okay. “She’s hoping to raise free-range children though. But they have a pond – so the fences will help keep the stock safe.” I didn’t want a job as a resident cook, but I did take up their offer of a day’s work. Addie gets a bit sniffy about me not studying, but as I pointed out to her I do need to buy toothpaste. And other necessities. Minnie’s stocking just about everything I need now, but I have to give her money, not fish or vegetables. I earn this money too, I can tell you! “So,” Marcus said, as he attacked the irrigation system again. With a hammer. Brute force, that’s all that system understands. “You’ve turned down my offer of a cook’s job. Not your metier, obviously. What did you want to be when you grew up?”
“Safe.” The word fell out before I could stop it. It’s living with Addie that does it – every so often, she turns her gaze away from Queen Elizabeth I and starts looking straight into the depths of my somewhat tarnished soul. Mind you, I reckon she’s cleaned up a few of the messier places in it. Blake didn’t say anything, so I’m hoping he didn’t hear. He’s usually pretty talkative, so I reckon he didn’t. “Clara?” Marcus said to me later, under cover of the noise of the next bit of system-bashing. He said it hesitantly and quietly. This is not normal Marcus. I paid attention. When people sound different – or act different – you need to be alert.
“Clara. Do you feel safe here?” I looked down at Marcus’s red head, across at Annette, working away.
“Yes,” I said. “Yes, I do.” Talk about being surprised about what comes out of your own mouth. And that was it. Marcus didn’t say anything else, and Annette called me over to help her – to come and earn my pay! Why did I feel safe here? I’d gone to have another look at those empty houses on the way back. It felt like the answer was here for some weird reason so, hey, I went with the weird and checked them out.
The emptiness was peaceful. Sort of sad as well – I’m not totally heartless – but so unthreatening. I could stay here.

If you want to try Clara for yourself, she's an AlphaFen creation, and can be found here:
Not Quite A Runaway Success
A renovacy made for MamaDragon by AlphaFen as part of the Amayzing Gift Exchange
https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9310815
Back story here: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17074021/#Comment_17074021