Changing Seasons. Summer VI, part 3 (b)

Summer VI, part 3 (b) “So how did the meeting go then?” Blake asked. Georgie had been like a coiled spring before it, and there was still a tension about her now. It was odd, not seeing her in her trademark bright colours, but she did look very professional.
“Rafe was right: they were totally expecting us to be a bunch of incompetent amateurs who they could terrify into submission with vague and veiled threats.” Georgie paused, and a brief smile flickered across her lips.
“They got a surprise. And I swear that one of them paled at the sight of Mayor Tench as well. Rafe’s pretty intimidating too – physically as well as intellectually, I mean, and especially in a suit. And when I mentioned the original documentary and the very real possibility of a follw-up, showed them the letter…” She stopped pacing the room and came and sat down next to Blake.
“It was the arrogance of them that got me. This ‘We wrecked the town once and why shouldn’t we do it again?’ arrogance! I did enjoy being the reporter in the room, though. Each time Molly or Patience or anyone else called them out on an innuendo, I was there making notes. And making them uneasy too…” “Mummy, you look – you look magnificent!” Joy said, looking up from the dolls’ house as Patience came in through the door, her colour heightened, and the light of battle still in her eyes.
“She does, doesn’t she? But it’s bedtime for you two now. I said you could stay up to kiss Mummy goodnight, but then it was straight to bed,” Euan said to the two little girls. Euan watched as his good-as-gold daughters kissed their mother goodnight and went straight up to bed. This was probably going to be the last peaceful moment of the evening. “I take it Barnabas is already in bed and asleep? Wait until I tell you about this meeting.” This was his wife on the warpath and she did look magnificent. However…
“He’s not actually in bed yet. Barnabas, come here.” Patience stared in disbelief at her son. “What have you done to your hair? And why?”
“I painted it blue,” Barnabas admitted.
“And why?”
“Because Justin likes Byron better’n me. He says Byron’s always nice to him, and I’m not.”
“Byron is always nice to Justin. That’s true. Are you always nice to Justin?” “No,” Barnabas said, in an even smaller voice. They both knew that yesterday Barnabas had deliberately knocked over Justin’s blocks that he’d so proudly built into his Tallest Tower Ever, before Patience could see it.
“So that’s true as well. And now I suppose we have to wash this out.” There was a definite hint of At this time of night too! and Why has this been left for me to do? And she sat down next to Euan in a very pointed I’m-done-for-the-day way. “Don’t bother trying,” Euan said grimly. “You won’t succeed. I’ve washed it three times already. This isn’t our paint. Annette took Mary and these three to the art gallery for a painting session there. Justin sneaked off and raided Lucie’s art stuff – which was very naughty of him in the first place! – and brought it back here and used it. And then hid from me until it had dried. This stuff’s permanent. He’s going to have blue hair until it grows out. Or we could shave his head…The bathroom doesn’t look too good either.” “Don’t want blue hair anymore. Everyone will laugh at me.”
“You’re stuck with it,” Patience said to him. “Blue hair or no hair. That’s your choice. This wasn’t an accident. This wasn’t you acting-without-thinking (something Barnabas did so often that they had a family phrase for it). You did several things that you knew were very naughty.” And then Patience – who really was well-named – got seriously angry with Barnabas for the first time in his life.
“You know what makes me really cross with you? You stole. From our friends. From the people who help us when we need help. Why didn’t you ask Lucie just to give you the blue?”
“Because I knew she’d say no.”
“And why would she say no? Because she’s mean?”
“No.” Barnabas’s voice was getting smaller and smaller. “She’d say it’s not for little boys. It’s grown-up paint.”
“So you knew this was wrong! Go to bed. We will talk about this again in the morning. I am too angry right now to be able to be fair to you.” Euan carried his by-now-sobbing son upstairs and tucked him up, the came back down and sat next to his wife.
“Do you want to tell me about the meeting now, or do you want to wait until the morning?”
He put his arm around her and felt the tension drain out of her.
“Actually, I’d really like to talk about it now. Otherwise it’ll be going round in my head all night.”
“Talk away, then. You do look magnificent, by the way.” Patience kissed her husband. “Bits of it were fun! It was totally worth going into Newborough to get these out of the bank.”
She meant the jewellery she was wearing. It had been her (wealthy) father’s (lavish) twenty-first birthday present to her. And when the Great Rift had happened, because she’d chosen to marry Euan rather than the guy they’d got lined up for her, then her mother had insisted she took them with her. “These were a gift, not a loan. You can sell them to put any children you might have through university, if needs be. They are yours, not mine.” Patience had taken them and put them in the bank for safe-keeping: neither her pride nor Euan’s would let them sell the jewels for themselves. They would make their own way.
“Those guys could totally recognise real stones when they saw them. It completely wrong-footed them.” Her eyes darkened.
“But then they had the nerve to suggest that your job might be in danger! I was furious. And totally called them out on it – with Georgie making notes – and they made with a lot of weasel words. No-one threatens my family. No-one.” Patience went on talking for quite a while after that! “So you reckon we’ve seen them off for the moment?”
“Yes, but they’ll be back. We’re going to need more ammunition yet, more big guns on our side. Big names would help. We want them to realise that it’s going to cost more to fight us than it is to honour the agreement they made, the damages they said they’d pay. All the solar power that’s being generated here: they’re making a profit on that, selling it. Once there’s enough people in the town, there won’t be that profit to be made. And I’m not sure where we’re going to find those names. But we won’t give up!” “So,” Bess said, smiling fondly at Tom Tench in his mayoral outfit, “tell us all about it.”
“Ain’t had so much fun since we was puttin’ frogs in desks,” he replied simply. “But Molly here – she was just amazin’ with her facts ‘n figgers.”
“That was so satisfying! I think my all-time favourite bit was …” John listened to his wife and thought: you’ve missed this, haven’t you? You’ve really been with me, with us all, in rescuing the farm, doing up the house, but you’ve missed this aspect of things. “Any other highlights?” he asked his wife.
“Oh yes! When I pulled out the original documents about the library purchase with their guarantee to keep it open, and his signature on it for all to see. And he turned and said to his sidekick, ‘I thought I told you to…’ and then shut up really quickly. And my other favourite bit? Patience – who looked amazing! – taking them on when they tried to scare her with hints about Euan losing his job. She was like a lioness, protecting her cubs. Called them out on their insinuations and hints straight away.” “This looks really impressive now,” I said, walking the length of the church. Leo’s made seats from wood reclaimed from the various factory buildings that they bought along with the art gallery building. I hadn’t been over to the church for ages, and I was kind of missing Addie a bit. I’m so busy now.
And it’s really satisfying! I’ve finally got to where I always wanted to be all my life. Independent. Not needing anyone. Taking care of myself. “And we’ve got a font for baptising the next baby.” Which would be Honey and Frank’s baby that was due very soon. Preferably before the start of the Autumn term! And then Frank would look after the baby while Honey went back to teaching, and do his electrical stuff after she came home from school. All those houses that were up for sale needed re-wiring, and the town was going to employ him to do it. Seems smart to me – they’ll fetch a better price re-wired and re-plumbed. And be more attractive too.
“And a lectern. And Georgie and Blake are going to be married here. A proper wedding in the community, with a minister (even if it’s a borrowed one!) and everything.”
Great Aunt Addie was definitely smiling, and that’s not something you see every day, let me tell you. I sat down beside her and filled her in on all the news – the Big Meeting, and the fact that Rafe reckoned there’d be another one, so we were looking for for more ammunition.
“Names. We need names associated with the town. Rafe’s trawling through his and Leo’s contacts.” And then I went on to telling her about Byron’s quiet but determined pursuit of me. She read my face! “So what’s wrong with him?”
“He’s never going to understand me. And he doesn’t belong here. The rest of us – we all came looking for something. Even Blake-the-wet-romantic. Byron? He’s got this great family background, loads of cousins that were always in and out of each other’s houses…It’s a world away from my childhood.” “You know, you’ve come a long way,” Miss-Kirk-to-you said. “But you need to lose this nasty habit you’re developing of despising people who didn’t have such a hard childhood as you.”
What? I don’t do that! Do I? My indignation took me to my feet. “Yes you do,” she said, seeing straight through me like she did when we first met. “And what about when little Mary Winter grows up? She’ll have had a happy childhood. Thanks to you, in no small part. But will you despise her for that? You need to get off this road. Now.”
Ouch. “I’m telling you this for your own good.”
And she was, too. I mean, I’ve heard that one in the past, mostly as a preface to being just plain nasty. But not Miss Kirk. This came because she cared, I could tell.
“I want you to think about who you’re becoming, and ask yourself if you like her.” And then she was gone, and I was left digesting some rather unpleasant home truths. Once upon a time I could have gone anywhere in the town when I needed time to think and not have had to worry about bumping into someone. It’s a bit different now. I opted for the waterside. I parked my bike at the Mayoral Residence (the mayor himself was up at the Preston farm, helping with some chores: I’d spoken to him that morning as he cycled past), and walked off down to the end of the pier. I did not like what Miss Kirk had said. Not one little bit. That question about Would I despise Mary because she’d had a happy childhood? Below the belt, Addie, below the belt. I love Mary. But this irritating voice in my head said, “If you practise resenting, it’ll become a habit. And the habit will then become part of who you are.” And the really annoying thing about the voice was that it sounded like my own voice. I heard a car in the distance, which is still a fairly unusual sound. Rafe’s: he must have been taking something up to the gallery. Mostly, we still all cycle everywhere, and we’re going to encourage all newcomers to do the same. This town has suffered enough from pollution. Sure, you need a car sometimes – but for a journey that would be a ten minute walk? Or a five minute bike ride? And then I heard footsteps on the wooden planking behind me. Maybe this would be someone I could talk to, ask for their honest opinion. Only it wasn’t, was it? It was Mr silly-blue-hair, Mr I-had-a-happy-childhood-and-you-didn’t, Mr always-pleasant-and-helpful.
“I saw you down here.” As though that had really made his day better! “I thought I’d ask when you’ve next got the triplets. I’m happy to help with them, even if Barnabas did…” His voice tailed away as he took in the expression on my face. “I think you’d better stay away, actually. I don’t think you’re a good influence on them.” And that was definitely unfair, I knew, but I just couldn’t help myself.
“I don’t need you. And I don’t really want you around.” What was wrong with me? Me, Clara? The one thing I was good at was self-control. Keep the façade up. Don’t let anyone see what’s going on inside. Except Great Aunt Addie, who could see straight through me. “As you say,” Byron said, after a hurt moment, in a careful, neutral tone. And then he just turned around and walked away. And I stood at the water’s edge watching the sunset, feeling the biggest mix of emotions I’d ever known in my life. And wondering what I’d just done, and why I had done it. “The kids are all in bed, and we’ve got some time together. What could be nicer?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all. Time with my hero? What’s not to like?”
“Your hero? Really?” Mostly, Lachlan had been painfully aware of his limitations and failings.
“Yes,” Marianna said, kissing him with a great deal of enthusiasm. “Heroes are…the ones who…fight through the hard,” she went on, punctuating her words with further kisses. “Remember what life was like when we arrived?”
Lachlan did, all too clearly.
“Well, you battled through that. And now look where we are.” Lachlan looked. And saw what she meant.
“What are you planning to do tomorrow?” Marianna went on. “My turn to have the children. I wish we had a swimming pool for these summer holiday days.”
“I’m putting up the light fittings in the church, ready for Frank to wire it. Those candle sconces are all very well, but, they’re a bit of a fire risk really.” This church has been put back together again by all of us, Lachlan thought. That was his wife’s glass in the windows, he was putting up the light fittings that he'd made, Frank would wire them, there were Leo’s seats, Clara had started it all off with her determined cleaning…Lachlan had a strong suspicion that Miss Kirk had pushed Clara into doing that, but suspicion wasn’t proof. And he hadn’t seen Miss Kirk in an age now, so he couldn’t ask her. Was this because he was no longer desperate? But he wouldn’t forget the good advice she had given him, the way she had listened to him and pulled him out of his pit of despair. Lachlan moved everything over to the next place he’d be putting a light up, still thinking about Miss Kirk – and then there she was! He turned to face her and listen to her with the respect she deserved – and a little bit of healthy apprehension too. But she surprised him. She’d never discussed anyone else with him, but now she began with, “I think Clara needs help…” “We’ll do what we can,” Lachlan said at the end of her explanation. “Marianna and I…”
“No. All of you. The whole town. She knows you care about her physical safety. You all proved that to her. Now she needs to know that everyone cares about her heart too, even if she doesn’t.” miss Kirk paused.
“Independence. It’s not a good goal. Interdependence, now, that's different. Everyone realising that they need each other and that they have something to give. That’s what I tried to teach the children, the families, the whole town really.” “And when I was old and needed the help of others…I accepted it gratefully. Thanked them. And when all I had to give back was the memories of the children they’d been, I gave those back to them. I might have been an old maid, but I didn’t die lonely. I died loved.” Another long pause.
“In a way, they were all my children. A whole townful. I gave them my love and they gave theirs back to me.” “This whole town was your child really, wasn’t it?” Lachlan said, suddenly understanding.
“Yes. And I wasn’t going to leave it to die alone. But now? Now it’s come back to life again. Now I’m not needed any more.”
“And that’s why you want the town to take care of Clara? You’re not going to be here anymore?” Lachlan read the answer in Miss Kirk’s face.
“She’s the last of my children. Look after her.”


Marianna, Lachlan and the children and the Old Forge are by AlphaFen (now known as AlphaFFrog) and can be found here:
https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9310543

Clara and Miss Adelaide Kirk and the church were made by AlphaFen (now AlphaFFrog) and can be found here: https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9310815

The stepladders and tools were made by Sandy at ATS3, also the stained glass windows, lectern and benches and the cardboard dolls' house.