Searching

"Richard, you know I wouldn't bother you without reason. She has my kids at that creepy cult place. I haven't seen them since she left."


Water was clearly agitated. When it came to Water's daughters-- well there were few things that Water Melon cared about more than his daughters. It would take a calm from deep within Richard to explain to Water the predicament that Richard was currently in. And it would be a miracle if Water didn't reach over Richard's desk and grab him by the collar (or worse, his ribbon that was always so neatly pinned on his suit).


"Water, listen, I understand--"

"Has Genesis run off with your kids?"


Richard sighed. "There is not much that I can do. Tristin lives outside of town. We have no jurisdiction there. Even if we did, the police force is going through some, uh, growing pains at the moment."

Water crossed his arms. "Meaning you won't help me. Your political hands are tied. You know, my mother has gone missing too, and nothing has been done about that either."

Richard cleared his throat, trying to find the words to explain, when there was a soft knock he recognized right away. "Not now," he thought. The timing couldn't be worse. This was not how he had intended to explain things to Water.


"Dad, Mom wanted me to--" Gabriel walked in too quickly. He was halfway to the desk when he realized there was company. The greeting smile quickly dropped at the sight of Water.

Richard cleared his throat nervously. Backed between a rock and a hard place, he could preform. It was what made him a great politician.


Water sat with his jaw partially open in surprise. There was no way to deny it. The two did look alike, even with Gabriel's awful haircut.

"Uh, Water, I would like you to meet Gabriel."

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Accused

Natalie took a deep breath. Captain Hero was in the examining room with a bloody criminal. This had not been a part of her contract.

She clutched her clipboard. There was only one way to attack this problem. An examination needed to be done, and there was only one doctor in the city. Natalie would make it clear that she could take out a criminal with one shot of sedative. She would put up with no bull.



"Hold still and shut up please!" Natalie tried her best to stop herself from shaking. The criminal fidgeted before her, yelling curse words at her as she tried to put disinfectant on the cuts on her face.


"That shit hurts!" The criminal pulled away again. Natalie briefly contemplated giving her a shot of sedative.

Natalie ignored her as she cleaned and examined the cuts. "So," she asked Captain Hero, "You say that you found her like this in the morning when you went to check on her?"

He stood behind the prisoner with a surprisingly serious look on his face. (Yeah, she'd see those pictures in Legacy Living-- cringe worthy!) There was something about seeing him in person that Natalie didn't like but she couldn't exactly put her finger on it. "Yeah. I don't know how this happened. Orlando was watching her last night."

"He fucking beat me; that's what fucking happened." The criminal pulled away again. "OW, fuck!"

Natalie scoffed. "You're saying that Orlando Mellon beat you?" She glanced over at Captain Hero to see his reaction. He stood still which gave Natalie the impression that he might actually be taking this criminal's accusations seriously.

The cuts were pretty bad, and most were centered around her face. Natalie could see no purpose to a beating that only scratched her face and didn't seriously wound her. "Why did he beat you? And how do you know it was him? Didn't you say this happened after lights went out for the night?"


"Who the fuck else could have done this? And I don't know why."

Natalie rolled her eyes and picked up her clipboard again. "Well, you're fine. Only a few cuts, no stitches needed, and no extra brain damage. I'll talk to Richard."



"So it's true?" Richard seemed as surprised as Captain Hero should have been.


"Well, it's true she has scratches on her face. But it wasn't anything very serious. Honestly, I would believe she did it to herself before I'd believe that either of the Orlandos did this to her."

"Still, you must understand that there must be an investigation now." Richard sighed. "I'll have to suspend them until they are cleared."

"What? But what about those three murders?"*


Richard instinctually shushed her as he did everytime she asked him about that case. "We still have Captain Hero. And we can recruit other sims for the police force."

*************************

* For anyone just joining, the first murder occurs here, and the second and third murders are mentioned here. They're all rather suspicious due to lack of blood at the crime scene (and in the bodies), but they have no suspects as of yet.


So, no more bothering with a posting schedule. I don't have any posts ready to go ahead of time right now, so I'll just post when I play.

Otherwise, I am actually going through a phase where I just don't like what I've done. I started this blog with the idea that I would get better as I went along. So the important thing for me now is to push forward while trying new things. If I were just writing, I would probably put this down and just walk away. But since it's wrapped up in a game, it's much easier to return to it and work on it. (Even with the cats, I am still horribly attached to my Sims 2 sims in a way that I can't bond with my Sims 3 sims.)

So off I go, pushing forward against that looming self doubt and self criticisms that pop up. I'm flexing a muscle I probably haven't used in years (since high school or early college). Ow!

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The dinner

"Alberta, it's nice to see you here."

Alberta nodded and thanked Mayor Mellon politely. She sat in front of a very apetizing looking salmon which seemed to only make her even more nauseous. If anyone knew of her situation, Mayor Mellon would. After her grandmother passed away, Alberta had to register the cemetary as hers. She had made no contact with Mayor Mellon himself, but she was sure he had to know.

Fortunately, he didn't say anything.

His wife sat down at the table close behind Gabe and turned a warm smile on Alberta that almost cured her stomach enough to take a bite of her salmon. "I'm glad you could come. Please feel free to come visit us any time."

Did she know? If Mayor Mellon knew, then it could be possibly that he had told Gabe's mother as well. "Th--thank you."

Gabe gently patted her hand which sat on her thigh. Alberta glanced around the table to be sure no one had noticed his pat, but everyone was already paying attention to Ily who also hadn't realized that Rich was such a good cook. "I want to have one of the biggest parties on campus when I graduate. Like maybe fifty sims. You could be the chef for it!"


Rich looked shocked at her audacity. Alberta could see Gabe's mother trying not to laugh. "First off, fifty sims? Are there even that many students? And second off, I wouldn't be invited?"

Ily's smile dropped suddenly, and for a moment, Alberta wondered if Ily was being serious. "What? Of course you'd be invited!"


"To cook, right?"

Alberta was thankful to both of them for providing the entertainment for the rest of the dinner. It took any attention away from her. Gabe's parents didn't ask her any awkward questions.

At some point during the dinner, everyone became quiet and focused closely on their food. Alberta took her time with her bites, chewing slowly and letting the flavors bloom in her mouth. Something in the air had changed it seemed, but it was hard to tell what it was with her face in her plate.


Gabe's mother was the first to stand. "Well, girls, it had been a pleasure having some ladies around the house for a change. I hope we can do this again before you leave Ily."

Mayor Mellon also stood with a nod. "Please excuse us."

Gabe and Rich began snickering once their parents were out of sight, and even Ily had to cover her mouth.

"They do this pretty much every night," Gabe explained.

"Best thing to do is stay downstairs," Rich said with another snigger.

Alberta's cheeks burned when her thoughts caught up with their snickers.

****************

Oh ACR. Genesis and Richard are as bad as Lucy and Walter. But they actually get things done. (Like little Doug here-- who I couldn't work into the story.)

Richard is, of course, the mayor, and I'm pretty sure he is aware of Alberta's situation. But there isn't anything he can do unless she asks for help, and she hasn't asked.

Genesis owns the local magazine Legacy Living which I explain in detail here. I actually haven't visited it in a while because I've mostly been caught up in the boys' stories. But it's a pretty good business venture. It can make about 2,000 to 3,000 every time she visits.

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"Ask your Father"

Those infamous words were often used by parents to dodge difficult questions. Gabe had stopped trying to ask Genesis about the famous celebrity chef, Water Mellon, after she had thrown out that line. Then, just for good measure, she had suddenly decided her baby daughter Gracie needed attention.

Gabe called a taxi and headed to the city to find Richard, the mayor.



In his head, he had always called the people who adopted him by their first names even though he called them "Mom" and "Dad" out loud. They had raised him well and accepted him into their family. Richard, the mayor's actual son, was truly Gabe's brother. And Gabe knew he'd always be there for baby Gracie even when he moved out.

But there was always that "but" that hung around him when he thought about his heritage and legacy.

Gabe could not deny the resemblance between himself and Water Mellon. Too many thoughts whirled in his head to form anything but one coherent question. What would Gabe do if Richard simply denied the obvious?



The plan that formed in Gabe's head had been to boldly open the door to Richard's office and strut in to throw him off balance so that he would have to admit the truth as he most likely knew it to be. Richard had files on everyone. He had to know.

Instead, Gabe gently knocked at the door and waited for his invite.

"Come in!"

At the sight of Gabe, Richard stood up, smiled, and stepped around the desk. He was surprised. Gabe hadn't really expected that. And Richard was buying time by coming to greet him.



"Gabriel! What are you doing here?" Richard hugged him.

"Listen, I need to ask you something. About Water Mellon."

Richard fiddled with his tie, flattening it with a swipe of his hand. "Uh, well, have a seat."

Gabe sat in one of the visitor chairs in front of the desk. He expected that Richard would sit behind his desk again. Instead he came and sat in the other visitor chair.



Gabe pointed to his face. "So, do you think I could do a decent celebrity impression of him? I'm just thinking of my future career and all."



Surprisingly, Richard chuckled. It seemed that today was the day for surprises. "Ah, well. I had a feeling this would happen sooner or later. I mean, we couldn't keep you away from the cooking channel forever." Richard sighed heavily. "I haven't spoken to him yet. I keep putting it off. I'm rather sure he does not know."

Gabe didn't know what to say.

"You must wonder why in the world we waited so long if we suspected. But we didn't know before. It's just, lately, the resemblance had become rather uncanny."

"And my mother?"



"Well, you don't look like her, whoever she is. We'll have to ask him, I'm afraid. If he even knows himself. He was rather infamous when he was younger. But I must ask for your patience. I'm sure you can understand what a delicate situation this is."

Gabe nodded, accepting it all rather peacefully. He was in no rush to turn lives upside down. With nothing more to be said, he stood up, ready to leave. Richard stood up also to lead him to the door as he most likely did for all his guests. Then one last thought popped into his head.

"How many other people know?"

Richard could only shrug. "Well, anyone who knows you and watches that cooking show. Or, I suppose, anyone who knows you and knows Water. I'm surprised no one has mentioned it before."

Gabe nodded and left. It was a rather surprising day. Gabe hadn't thought of Alberta all day.

***********************

And just because it's cute:

Gabe and his little sister, Gracie.

Gabe and his brother, Richard, give her lots of attention. Their favorite thing to do with her though in the whole entire world? Give her a bath. They're both super neat sims.

It's funny that both Rich and Gabe, my carefree teen playboys, jostle for her attention. Meanwhile, where are the parents? In the bedroom thanks to ACR. So now there is another little one on the way.

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One Last Dig - The end of autumn

Richard sat in an official manner at his seat behind his desk. "We still have the open position for Librarian. Any names come to mind for consideration?"

"What about younger sims that we can groom for the part? Alberta Ferguson?"



Richard shook his head. "Her grandmother is going to pass away soon, and she's going to have to run the cemetery."

The three sat for a moment before Aden said, "What about Ashley Stratton?"



"Oh, there's an idea. Hmm. Let's review her files and send her a note, shall we?" Richard smiled in an official and business-like manner. "Now, Jeanie, how is the construction on the new medical facility going? Are we still under budget?"

"Well, I am happy to announce it is complete. But we were a little over budget. We sill have enough to pay the salaries, but the summer festival will have to wait until after taxes get in."

"Over budget?" Richard still smiled, but his smile seemed to change. Aden could feel Richard's thoughts from across the desk. "What exactly was over budget?"

Jeanie looked uncomfortable. "Well, the building was fine. It's all up to code. It was just the interior decorations."



Richard hid his displeasure well. The new "medical facility director" (which was only a fancy term for their one and only doctor) was a rather strong woman who had already butted heads with Richard on what exactly were the highest priorities for the new facility lay.

Richard seemed to shrug off the entire issue. "Oh well. We just won't hand out any scholarships this year. Any other issues?"

Jeanie and Aden glanced at one another. There was certainly one large issue that Richard seemed intent on ignoring. If either of the council members brought it up, he would wave it away and say that "The Orlandos" had it under control.*

The meeting was called. Jeanie and Aden stood at the same time, but Aden stopped when he caught Richard's eye.

"Aden, we must talk, catch up you know."



Jeanie left rather quickly. Aden watched her go and felt a pang of jealousy like a school boy watching one of the children leaving early for a dentist appointment.

"So how are things? How is the new house?"

Aden fought the truth back from the tip of his tongue. "Good. Things're a little tight is all."


It was only too clear that Richard had not been listening. "Good good. So when is the wedding?"

A sigh ran away from Aden before he could stop it. "Well, it was postponed for various reasons. Mostly out of respect for Green's loss."

"Oh, so you aren't married yet?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Well, it's just that it will have to go into the file. Elizabeth will have to be taxed for half of your new property's value, you know, since she's not a city employee."



Aden could simply not believe the gall of the man. He laughed softly trying to minimize half crazy sound of his gawfaw. "Oh, uhm, right. Well. I had better head home now before she worries."

"I understand completely. I'll see you tomorrow."

************************

* "The Orlandos" is a new one. That would be the city's police force. Orlando Centowski, Ama's father, and Orlando Mellon, one of Hobart's fathers.

This marks the end of autumn. Which means new header picture!

Finally you meet my town's mayor. This same man is also Gabe's adopted father.

Richard was never elected to this post. He calls himself "Mayor," but he sort of created and stepped into the position. No one has objected so far. And Richard does intend on passing this position to his son Richard, the 3rd.

Also, the City Center they're in right now is an actual usable community lot. Richard gives speeches from time to time. And other sims can go to the community lot to meet and talk with Richard.

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