The Old Mill Chapter 4

Chapter 4
A renovacy made by Jessabeans as a gift to SamelaRita for the Sims 3Amayzing gift exchange.
Link to the renovacy here: https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9309941
And a link to the renovacy rules in case anyone else wants to play it!
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/920867/the-renovacy-challenge-a-new-and-short-challenge/p1 The wanted child learns to walk outside. The sun warms him. The daybreak child comes back home with a friend. They sit and work together. I am being changed, the rooms within me are changing. Some of my walls are plastered and painted now. It’s been a long time since that happened. I said dogs were an old story. This one has been hanging round for a while. They’ve taken to feeding him, but outside only, say strength and hope to the children. We can’t really afford a dog, but we’ll give him a little food from time to time. He chews that ugly garden gnome. The joy child will be sad. Even though strength does not like the ugly gnome, he knows the joy child loves it. He scolds the dog. “Bad dog, Patches,” he says. They have named the dog Patches because he has them on his body. I know what will happen in the end. Once you give a dog a name, it has found a home… And then strength brushes the dog. He says it is to keep him free from fleas. But where did the brush come from? I know strength bought it especially for the dog. The wanted child goes on learning to walk. The garden is growing well, and hope sings as she tends the plants. The dog has gone off somewhere, but I think he will be back. The daybreak child is sad that the dog is not there. “He will come back, won’t he?” she asks. Hope hugs her and says that as his food dish is here, he probably will. The dog is back. He has brought strength a present – two presents. One is a maple leaf. He puts it at strength’s feet. The other thing he has brought back is fleas. No-one is very happy about that. The dog will need a flea bath! It is strength who has to bath the dog. There is no way hope is going to do it. The three children eat together. Well, I think the wanted child is playing actually, but they all have food in front of them. I have a family within my walls again. Another room has appeared! A new bathroom with a shower in it, for the children to use. These are good parents: they care about their children. But I know that strength wants to make something beautiful for hope. I heard him talking to the dog, telling it about his secret plans. “Soon, soon,” he said. “As soon as I can earn some spare money…” Everyone is out. Except the dog. The joy child and the daybreak child have gone fishing with strength, and hope has taken the wanted child to the library. They talk about buying a bookcase and some books and then decide that they cannot afford that yet. They still don’t own much, but I can feel their roots going deeper and deeper. Like a tree: deep roots early mean good growth later on. And although they don’t have much stuff, there is a lot of love. For each other, for a stray dog, and for me too. The fishing was good, and strength is making a plan with the joy child and the daybreak child. “So tomorrow, you two will ask to go out for the day, to the fair, and I will stay here and tend the garden. I will say that you all need a good day out together, a holiday. And when you come back, she’ll be so surprised!” The joy child brushes the dog. A friend from school gave her the crate of dog toys because they were going spare. I think this dog will be living inside before the winter comes! The joy child and the daybreak child look different! The joy child looks like a cat. What has happened? But strength smiles at them, so it must be all right. “We had a lovely day out,” hope says. “You were right – we really needed this. Thank you so much for insisting on it. And we have a present for you!” Strength has a present for you as well, I think, but I say nothing. This is your present from us, hope says, and shows it to strength. The joy child and the daybreak child go upstairs. Right upstairs, to the top of the house. “Surprise!” they all shout, when hope comes into the room. Everywhere is different. Strength has painted, polished, scrubbed, put wallpaper up, picked flowers, made the bed with the new bedding that matches the wallpaper. He hopes she will like it. This is the nicest thing he could find that they could afford. Hope loves it. “It’s beautiful. Thank you so much. I love it.” “You are beautiful too. And I love you, so much.” I wrap my walls around their love, to keep it held and safe.

The Old Mill Chapter 3

Chapter 3 A renovacy made by Jessabeans as a gift to SamelaRita for the Sims 3Amayzing gift exchange.
Link to the renovacy here: https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9309941
And a link to the renovacy rules in case anyone else wants to play it!
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/920867/the-renovacy-challenge-a-new-and-short-challenge/p1 This is new. I have never seen this before. Not the dog – dogs are an old story – but the yellow vehicle. And the joy child is swallowed up by it and carried off. But hope and strength are unconcerned, so there must be no harm in it. The garden is coming back to life again. Hope plants, in hope of growth, and strength waters the plants to strengthen them. The daybreak child plays, and watches, and plays. It is strange with joy gone. I miss her laughter. The yellow vehicle returns the joy child. She tells strength about her day. Her voice is happy. And then she plays with the daybreak child while strength works on. They only light the fire in the evening now. The days are warm enough. This is new. I have not seen hope and joy do this together before. The daybreak child sits where joy used to sit, and joy sits with her parents. They grow so fast – or so it seems, to me who am old, old, in years and seasons. The papers are only yellow, and that is good. But I know they want to change more things inside me, and they cannot. Now it is nearly summer though, maybe things will be different. Hope talks of putting more plants in the garden. Strength says he and joy will go fishing together, and joy's eyes brighten with pleasure. Who is this? He does not live here? And strength and hope sleep the sleep of the exhausted. I rattle my wheel, try to wake them, but this person is so quiet. I do not like his smile or the way he looks round. And what is that bag for? He is still sneaking round. But strength has woken, is speaking softly. He does not want to alarm hope or the children. The burglar flees before the police arrive. He stole their sink, and now they will have to replace it. But this time, this disaster, I do not fear that they will leave. The garden is larger and strength works on another sprinkler. He is being watched by a very ugly gnome. No-one knows where it came from, but the joy child loves it and will not let them get rid of it. She says it moves around by itself, but her parents do not believe her. They try not to look at it because it is so ugly. Nothing much has changed inside me for a long time, and I worry a little. But hope smiles as she goes to pick up the papers, and this time they are white papers, so I think things are all right really. I can hear singing too, from strength as he works. They are all happy. Now I see why they had been saving their money for so long! The daybreak child has grown older. She and her sister share a room, decorated in their favourite colours. They are delighted with the surprise. I hear hope and strength talk. There is still money-in-the-bank, and soon they will do more things. The wanted child is alone in the room all three of the children were sharing before. And hope and strength have moved back up to the top floor. The room looks shabby compared to the girls’ room. Strength wants to change that. He thinks hope should have beautiful.

The Old Mill Chapter 2

Chapter 2 The seasons turn and the year grows colder. The burnt-out cooker is gone, and they eat outside for now. Alone with the daybreak child, strength tells her of his plans for the day, the surprise he is going to give to hope and joy when they return. First he cleans. He works on my floor until all the marks from the fire are gone, but he doesn’t stop there. He doesn’t have the right sort of paint for the fridge, or the time for the windows as hope and joy will be home soon. But strength hopes that this will be enough to lift their hearts. It lifts mine. He cooks outside, in the last of the day’s light, to be ready for them when they return. Hope is so happy, she almost cries. I have seen this before, many times. The firelight warms the room, and strength smiles at hope, and joy drums a rhythm to her parents’ delight. And the red papers are dealt with again. I can feel the happiness coming back into the home. The sink sprays water everywhere, but they laugh as strength repairs it and hope mops the clean, clean floor. In the other room, joy plays with a new toy. She, too, laughs as her parents laugh. Upstairs, the daybreak child sleeps peacefully. You are my hero, hope says, and kisses strength. The daybreak child is no longer a baby. And her sister has grown taller, her hair longer. Winter is here, and they feel the cold. This time, the papers are only yellow. I think this is good, for hope smiles as she writes. They have a new cooker – no need to cook outside in this snow. The holes within me are being healed. The new wood smells clean and good. And new bedrooms are being built, above the fireplace against the warmth of the chimney stack. There is plenty of wood around to keep the fire burning. My old walls grow warm at that end of the room. The stone holds the heat and gently gives it back. The seasons turn and spring has come. Strength helps the daybreak child learn to walk. The joy child plays, talks, walks, will be grown older so soon now. And inside hope another child is forming, made from the love that grows ever stronger between hope and strength. Another child is coming into the world. Into my world. Into the embrace of his family and my strong walls. Another loved and wanted child. The wanted child is hugged and soothed. I hear hope’s voice singing a lullaby to him, telling him he is loved and cared for, and he doesn’t need to be afraid. I would sing too, if I had a voice.