Week 13 Day 1: Taxes

One subject most of the islanders talked about at the beach party last night, was of course the death of Joe Hawk. He was an old man, but Dorothy R. Yea-Low had concluded that he did not die a natural death. It was hard to tell whether someone or something had attacked him, he was wounded but at the same time it didn't look like the wounds caused his death. His kids were supposed to inherit him, and it caused suspicions when the widowed Agnes claimed to control their half of Joe's belongings. Again some insinuated that the Hawk boys did not exist.

This morning Carie G. Peel at 4 Greench Farm had decided to apply for the bakery community lot. She had worked in the café and bakery since it opened, and now she wants the family to make it their base.

Carie walked over to the Village Hall, it's just a short walk from Greench Farm. The council's weekly meeting was in just one hour, and she found Randal Redward in the office. She had never seen the huge portrait on the wall before, in fact she had no idea he was accepted to be that much of a boss.

Carie never was shy, and she thought she knew a few smart moves...

And Randal Redward changed his mind, but not to what Carie had expected...

Once greedy, always greedy. Carie had forgotten all about those shares. She owned 10% of Maccaroni Bank, but had no idea concerning the value.

A little later the Village Council had gathered in the larger room. They debated Joe Hawk's death, and also that Randal's wife Corinne and Alex' wife Dorothy would pay Agnes a visit in the evening, to look out for the two boys.

One main subject was the lack of resources. They really should build more offices and street lights would also help. Alex Yea-Low, the Inventor, complained there is hardly anything to use for new inventions. Locals no longer return something that is broken, but keep it for themselves. It's a sign of distrust, people realize that there isn't enough for everyone! A few more community builds would be possible though.

The council also debated ladt night's fireworks, created by Alex. Can fireworks from top of the mountain be their rescue? Alex would produce more, but due to few resources... well...

Bella brought up again a previous subject - building boats. If the volcano erupts, boats might be their only rescue. Also, if they manage to construct a good boat, someone could row or sail over to the tiny island to collect minerals and gems, and maybe there would even be some wrecks on the so called Arrival Beach. Randal was a boy when the families left the tiny island, he can still vaguely recall the location.

Finally they were ready to debate the new taxes.

 The massive disagreements forced Randal Redward to change tactic.

Randal thought that by offering to pay more taxes, there would be less objections to paying him as a community leader. And as long as that weekly pay check was bigger than his extra taxes, he could live with that. His main goal was to control the community, not necessarily to be the richest. Of course he would have preferred both.

Archie Greench could no longer stay calm.

Archie remembered how Randal long ago had warned his wife Bridgette with extra taxes just for producing food. Was it happening now? There was a sudden change in this insane man's behavior, wasn't there?

Unfortunately, to Randal, a new tax system did not get enough votes. Because it would require law adjustments, they would debate it again in one week. Randal was sort of satisfied anyway. Nobody had protested to paying the community leader...

Yoseph Y. Hedgewall rode Moose back home. He was tired of the council work, but getting a small pay for this job would help.

Yoseph's wife, Beatrice, is still busy farming. The 3 children are less time consuming now that the youngest (green) son is about to start school. But Beatrice has become more irritable lately, and she doesn't seem to notice it herself. She is scolding the children nearly for every step they take.

A little later Beatrice visited the local bookstore with Evita, who just reached teen. Evita looks fine, but is still kinda evil.

In fact he took the day off because of the Village Council meeting. He normally works a few hours here at Our Delightful Bookstore, founded by his long gone mom, Yvonne Yea-Low.

She got the looks of her mom, didn't she? And of her granny Greta, as well.

Over at 9 Yea-Low Ring, Graica Greench was visiting Reynar Yea-Low. They met at the beach party, and Graica liked this guy. The ony thing that is wrong with Reynar, according to Graica, is that he doesn't care a lot about animals. In fact, he doesn't even enjoy the outdoors.

They started the rather long walk up to the mountain.

Meanwhile, Reynar's mom Dorothy and Corinne Y. Redward had just left the Yea-Low house. They walked up the Yea-Low Ring, where Agnes Y. J. Hawk lives nearby. It's time to see those boys, to stop all the rumors! Corinne has become elderly, but she dyed her hair, not absolutely successful, but still a nice touch...

Agnes slowly walked back inside, and Dorothy and Corinne followed. Both a little skeptical, not quite sure what to prepare for.

There actually were two boys in the livingroom. One teenager, one boy. And if they had looked closely, just one of the boys had black eyes like his mom.

Reynar and Graica had still not reached the mountain. They didn't hurry, although the daylight was gone.
(arg, a typo - stink should read as think :-) )

This little walk would change Graica's life forever. She had no idea she would commit such a horrible crime, as the one to follow...

Oh! Out there was... lights... it had to be a ship! Suddenly Graica panicked, she knew only this world, only this life! Being found by strangers from the other world did always scare her. She did anything to distract Reynar, she had to make sure he didn't see that... ship!

Graica led him towards the volcano, from the southern side he could not see those lights... and Reynar followed her, just like any man in love would follow.

The sun reflector was forgotten, now it was all about them - Graica and Reynar.

When they decided to walk back down to the village, Graica noticed the ship was gone. That was when she vaguely realized what she had done.

Week 12 Day 6: Goodbye Redward Ranch

This morning was just as bright and sunny as most mornings are on Maccaroni Island. But it's not just another day, because today's events will affect several locals in negative ways... there will be drama as well as jealousy.

At Sunrise Valley there are 5 lots, but only two houses yet. When the oldest Yea-Low son, Reynar, takes over the main property, Alex and Dorothy Yea-Low might move back into their vacant house here in the valley (center of the photo). At the time just the Hedgewall house at 5 Sunrise Valley is the only one resided.

This morning Beatrice G. Hedgewall was busy in the garden, like she usually is. Their horse Moose had just been running around, and Evita and Gaspar were about to leave for school. It's Gaspar's first day at school, and he wasn't thrilled about it.

Gaspar has no doubt inherited the eyes of his mom and granny Greta. He seems to be a rather emotional person. Beatrice heard the kids arguing, but not what they argued about. She had worried just a little about Evita lately, was she taking on some bad manners?

Evita left, and Beatrice went on with her work. Yoseph was out fishing, and soon their youngest, Jamiel, would need some food.

In the central region, someone was busy at the Village Hall main office...

Randal Redward was trying to put together a tax system that would somehow benefit himself. He is now an elder, which actually suited him fine. An older regent might gain even more respect! His portrait was already up on the wall. He wasn't satisfied with the result, but it would do. Now, there was no doubt who this office belonged to!

It was harder to create a good tax system than Randal expected. He didn't intend to pay taxes himself, so he would need to come up with a reason why he should be excluded. He would of course not suggest the taxes to be paid to him, but to the community, or perhaps to Maccaroni Bank (where he owned a majority). Then he could claim most of it as wages for doing the job as a regent. It was hard work, after all.

At the same time the entrance door flew open, and in rushed Reynar Yea-Low. He just became an adult, and he had rushed to the Village Hall to register as an Inventor, by leaving a note on the huge cork board. Reynar was always quite serious, he already worked for a long time as an Inventor, and being his parents' oldest child, he was already focusing on taking over the family house and build his own family.

Reynar had to hurry with the registering, because he and his dad, Alex Yea-Low, had planned to walk up to Maccaroni Mine to collect scrap. Reynar had been up there a couple times as a teenager, but after the recent volcanic activities, most locals had stayed away from the old mine. It could be dangerous climbing into the mine, and besides - whatever values it contained, were removed long ago.

Some time ago, Reynar had initiated a sunlight reflector that his late granddad Yespar Yea-Low had built up there, on top of Maccaroni Mountain. This way they hoped to make contact with ships passing by in the distance, but the problem was that the ray of light was showing only during sunset.

Scrap like metals was indeed needed for wires and other electrical supplies.

While Reynar and Alex moved closer to the old mine, the Redwards celebrated their oldest daughter, Rosanne. She had her young adult birthday today, and now she was at the local Bistro eating with her parents. Randal had walked over from the office. Corinne had been thinking all day, she had decided to leave Randal for Cody Major. It was today or never! She had not seen Cody in some time, but she figured she had to leave Randal first, then turn to Cody. She strongly felt that this was the right thing to do. But first, Rosanne's birthday celebration. She could talk to Randal tonight.

Rosanne knew all about their standards. After all her latest trait is Snob. Her other traits are  Brave, Virtuoso, Workaholic and Hopeless romantic.

Up at Maccaroni mine, Reynar and Alex had reached the old stairs that leads down to the deep of the mountain.

They found some piles of old scrap, and started to work their way through it.

On the island most resources are very restricted. Some minerals were dug up from the mine in the past, and over the years some values were collected along the shoreline. When something broke down it was repaired, or used to build something else. Only stuff that could not really be used for anything, had been trashed back into the mine. So, they could not expect to find much of interest.

Then Alex looked up, and walked closer... he couldn't believe what he saw!

Yes it was! Old Joe Hawk was on the ground, his face was wounded, and he certainly looked more dead than alive!

Joe Hawk dead? Here in the mine? Wasn't he released from jail only yesterday?

The early night was completely silent. Not even the wildlife's uuu-huu could be heard. The dead trees, the black smoke pumping from the volcano in the distance, and all those long paths winding along the side of the mountain. Why would anyone ever establish paths in this totally dead landscape?

Over at Redward Ranch at 6 Redward Heights, Corinne was actually waiting for Randal to return back home from a second stop at his office. Also Yamir was out, probably working late hours at the Fort Base. Then Rosanne and her younger sister Yvilla joined Corinne, and they naturally started to discuss Rosanne's new life.

Corinne suspected that Rosanne was about to marry the worst candidate of them all, the very poor fisherman, Alfonso Blumington. It would be a disgrace, but there really weren't that many candidates, and Corinne had to accept that at least one of her 3 children would marry someone less... qualified. At least the fisherman had a house.

Corinne had decided to keep her mouth shut, seeing that Rosanne made her own choice this rapidly made it seem like there could be feelings involved anyway, which made it easier to accept a bad partner.

Then Rosanne walked back into the livingroom, with her boyfriend, and Corinne was up for a shocking surprise!

Rosanne had been fascinated by Cody since she visited him once with her mom, and met his dogs for the first time. Then she had stopped by regularly mainly to see the dogs, but as a teenager she had realized that she also visited to see Cody. As soon as she turned young adult, they both were ready for a relation.

Corinne was speechless. It could have been even worse though if she had told Randal about her plans to leave him for Cody! Thanks Similius she had not had a chance to break up! She certaily needed several glasses of nectar now, but it would be wiser to wait till after the couple had left Redward Ranch.

Time was come for Rosanne to move in with Cody. Corinne made sure the dog Charlie followed, too. She did not want any household member reminding her of Cody Major!

To be continued in a short week!