Today's chapter features Agnes and Beetle, but there is also much more that needs our attention...
Early this morning at
4 Greench Farm, Greta Greench found her daughter Carie G. Peel (head of this household) busy in the kitchen. They both like cooking, Greta recently retired from her bistro, while Carie is now working there full time.
Carie's belly has grown quickly... She didn't tell her parents yet, I'm not quite sure why because Greta and Gabriel are both very tolerant and understanding.
For some reason, Carie isn't very eager to get married. It might be the main reason why she didn't inform the elders about the pregnancy.
Over at the Redward Ranch at
6 Redward Heights, Corinne had noticed that her husband Randal was up earlier than normal. Running the ranch took lots of work, and Randal also had community commitments elsewhere, but normally they would not start the day this early.
Randal had been over to the
House of Law to make sure that all judges had approved the new laws. There is now a court consisting of judges Constance R. Hamming, Agnes Y. Jones, Cody G. Major and Alfonso Blumington. The existing Village Council is the 5th judge. All approved the laws, and the Maccaroni community finally had the base system needed for local justice.
But, Corinne had not yet been informed of Randal's plan.
Guess we need some more details from the Yea-Low heritage to understand Randal's plan.
The main issue for the trial is the value of the bank shares. When Corinne moved out on Week 7 Day 3, the 30 shares were valued §15.000 = §500 per share, and Corinne got 10 of them. When Yespar Yea-Low's remaining possessions were shared between Alex, Yoseph and Agnes on Week 9 Day 2, the remaining 20 bank shares were valued §36.000 = §1.800 per share. If the shares were valued the same back when Corinne got her forth, she should have 1/4 of the additional value, (30x 1800-500) 39.000/4= §9.750. There is of course no stock market, and the value rise was only based on Yvonne Yea-Low's work on valuing the bank's land possessions.
Therefore, Randal was now advising his wife to sue her siblings Alex, Yoseph and Agnes for §3.250 each.
A little later, they were all busy with everyday matters on the farm...
The old tree house at the now vacant original
Redward lot, is still there. It naturally would tempt any kids to climb that ladder and play all kinds of wars. Good practice for a future head of the Redward clan? Randal was busy harvesting the grapes when Yamir and Rosanne appeared. Randal owns this lot, so the harvest is rightfully his.
For a very short second a slight spot of human softness filled Randal. The old tree house - it brought back memories from his own childhood. Or maybe he just thought - hey, children, that tree house is MINE!
Enough from the Redward Ranch for now. It's been a while since we checked on old Joe Hawk. Someone even wondered if he might be dead. He still resided in his
shabby shed with his two Dooshee dogs and the parrot named after his long-gone girlfriend Emmy, just west of the village. Lately there were problems though. More wild dogs had moved closer to the village, and Joe's two dogs, both elderly by now, had become more aggressive. Joe knew they would be dangerous if they joined the wild Dooshee dogs.
It wasn't possible for poor Joe to live in his shed when all those wild animals kept attacking his garden and belongings.
He simply had to escape! So, these days he spent most of his time at the
graveyard.
Everyone on Maccaroni Island had noticed how the wild dogs had moved closer to, not to say invaded, the village.
The black spot on Agnes' finger had not gone away, she still worried about it, because she had no idea where it came from.
That's right, Agnes had not told anyone about Beetle. Officially she lived alone in her new house. She wasn't quite comfortable with the situation; She simply worried that maybe others couldn't see Beetle, even if he grew up and became more like a regular person. She just didn't want to find out.
Yes, Agnes got herself a job at the graveyard. The community accepted that she will get a little paid for maintaining the graves, just a few hours most days. Today she had been looking in the crypt for Roger Redward's urn, but she couldn't find it. Was it still at his home where he died? Why didn't the heirs bother to bring it over to the graveyard where their mom already had a grave? Hum, managing the dead could obviously be quite a job even when there was no one to bury!
When Agnes was done for today, Joe was still there.
Things happen quickly at Maccaroni Island. Carie G. Peel already gave birth to a daughter! Greta was thrilled, although the baby wasn't named Astrantia this time either. It just didn't match the old Sim Nation naming traditions. Greta took care of little Blanca and allowed Carie to go telling her twin sister Beatrice, who lives with Yoseph at
5 Sunrise Valley.
You might remember that the 4 couples who stranded,
were on their way to do a TV-show... That's so long ago, but was naturally told to the next generation.
Carie and Beatrice always came across as quite similar personalities, I think, but obviously they were different all along. And maybe they both overdo their point of view, but let's allow them to go with the flow...
Beatrice isn't really this focused on money. She is a farmer girl by hearth, nature is more important to her than having more values than others. But she also depends on having a solid and predictable foundation, also money wise. I wonder how she will react to a trial claiming Yoseph for §3.250...
Meanwhile, Yoseph Y. Hedgewood had walked over the Blumington Bridge, and was now at
3. Blumington Road. Alfonso Blumington has borrowed §26.450 from the bank, it's way too much!
Seems like Alfonso didn't really understand how he owes more money than he can possibly pay back. Every 7th simday interests of 10% is added, currently just interests representing §378 every single day!
Looks to be pretty tough times on Alfonso. This far his old mom Bianca had contributed to most of the household's income. She is now 105 simdays old and can't be around forever to help him...
Finally, let's stop by at Agnes' new house at
4 Yea-Low Ring. It's located near the graveyard, next to Bolan River. It's just a short walk up to the fishing spot, and from there to the old mine. Also, the house where she grew up is further down the Yea-Low Ring road.
See the easter region map here.
Right now her dad Yespar Yea-Low had stopped by to inform on the upcoming trial.
Agnes made sure her dad was actually leaving the lot...
... before she returned inside - to Beetle.
Poor Beetle... but he should be the first to know that Agnes had a wicked mind.
Agnes loved the ring! She didn't see it as an engagement though. They were already closely attacked, an engagement wasn't really needed. Sitting there with Beetle, it felt like a different energy spread from her hand, filling her head, affecting her mind...
Afterwards, Agnes felt dizzy. She wasn't afraid, just a little worried. Why could she no longer resist Beetle? She felt a little different, maybe that was totally expected after a first kiss? That night she tried again to wash away the black spot from her finger, she realized the new ring would be on her finger forever. The hand was itching slightly, but she would get used to it. Her face was itching, too.
Then she looked into the mirror...
What's going on? Lots of spots on her face!
She had some spots earlier, but never more than one at the time!
Her mom used to think they were eggs, Agnes wasn't so sure. She squeezed one of them, it helped just a little. She didn't want to take a closer look at - the thing, just dropped it down the drain.
Agnes is supposed to be in court tomorrow, but if she gets even more spots during the night, will she refuse to go?
In about 3 days we might know...
