Week 8 Day 6: The funeral

Today is the funeral of Yvonne Yea-Low, the first to die of the original 8 settlers. But last night another elder passed away of old age, too, namely Rita Redward. Both will be buried today.

Before the funeral, a quick stop at 3 Redward Heights. Constance and Jess Hamming (Constance took Rita's maiden name) have expanded their home. The basics are slightly bigger, and a shed for the dogs were added in the backyard. It will be easier to navigate the house when the 4 dogs stay out of the main rooms.

Constance and Jess had a baby! Their son was named Russell, which actually is a name with a reference to the colour red, although little Russell got his dad's skin colour. Well, a name is just a name? Russell Hamming is the first child of this house.

Over at 9 Yea-Low Ring, the fresh widower Yespar Yea-Low is getting prepared for the funeral. He's in the kitchen talking with his daughter, Agnes.

Both deceased Yvonne and Yespar had brown to yellow eyes. Agnes got her huge ears from her dad, so Yespar never distrusted his wife. They just didn't get it...

Then it was time for a last farewell to Rita Redward and Yvonne Yea-Low. Widower Roger Redward and 3 of his children (they obviously "forgot" to inform Christopher!) and widower Yespar Yea-Low with 3 of his children (Agnes did not come), all gathered at the place that Yvonne herself had assigned for a future graveyard.

The graves were simple, but the ceremony was a decent one.

There always was a certain rivalry between Rita and Yvonne, and it seemed like it wasn't quite ended yet.

After the funeral, Roger, Randal, Yespar and Alex walked over to inspect the new Village administration house. It's actually been upgraded enough to be called Village Hall - if that is a wording. Anyway, they were a little surprised by the exteriors. The two deceased women had obviously both tried to affect the builders.

The walls were sort of red, but not very bright, while the roof was from the old house. The pillars looked quite misplaced in front of such a low build, but at least there was no doubt where the entrance was.

They walked inside to find Yvonne's old office, another office intended for bank businesses, a small room for drawing, and a larger room for meetings.

Alex respected what the first settlers had done for their community, but he was a little tired of them still grabbing all the better positions.

The Greench farmers and the Blumington fishermen were never involved with administration, but they really did most of the hard work building roads and community builds. Now that families were blending, the Redward and Yea-Low vs Greench and Blumington had to adjust.

The bank shares were split among many locals, and the Redwards had worked hard to buy shares from some of the others. The community lots were owned by the bank, and it was a scoop by the Redwards to get 50% ownership while Yvonne Yea-Low held 30%. Gabriel Greench held the remaining 20%. Some of these shares were already passed on to heirs, but still within the families.

Should the bank really have 2 seats at the council? They decided to ask each region to choose their representative within 2 days!

A little later they left the Village Hall, and Randal followed his Father, Roger, back home to 5 Redward Heights.

Not so far from the gym facilities, Yoseph had just run into Albert Blumington and some of Albert's cats. Albert tries hard to give away all the kittens, his girlfriend Carie took the most promising mine cat, while the remaining girl kittens are less typical for the breed. Albert's plan is to help the breed to survive, but it will be rather tricky.

Yoseph didn't want to have the responsibility for a cat while his younger sister Agnes was around. In one or two days Yoseph would grow up and probably move out. He walked over to the gym, where he found Beatrice Greench.

So they ran off. From the gym lot, to Greench Farm, up a steep hillside, and there...

Now, was there a kiss, or was there not?

At 3 Redward Heights Constance R. Hamming was back home, and sister-in-law Corinne Y. Redward was visiting. They are not very close, but when living just across the road, you gradually become acquainted anyway.

Then little Russell cried for Constance's attention. She walked in to check on him, and Corinne followed.

Over at the ranch Randal Redward found that his horse Bliss had given birth to a second foal! Randal recently sold the tamed wild horse to the Greench farmers, after first having one foal. But 2 are twice as good as 1, and Randal was pleased to see the new foal looked much better than the first!

To keep selling horses, he will need to tame another wild horse though. But first, maybe he could look for someone to buy the ugly foal? Who would want a horse?

To be continued in 1 day!