Surprise!

My dad threw a surprise birthday party for somebody. I went to my favorite boutique and decided on this little number.

When I told Neil he had to wear a suit, he complied -- reluctantly -- although he had to get a suit out of my dad's closet as he didn't have one.

I still don't understand who keeps inviting Cheesemouth to these shindigs, but I could feel his eyes boring into me. "Savannah," he called to anyone who would listen.

Finally it was time for the honoree to blow out his candles. You see, Dad threw a surprise party -- for Noah. He turned elder.
It's a measure of how crazy my family is that I have two half-brothers who are elders and my one full brother is still a teen.

Yep, that's Noah. The only way I can tell him and Dad apart now is, well, by a nose. His nose, I mean.

New faces in town

There are a lot of new faces in Sunset Valley, a lot of new people have arrived here in recent weeks. I encountered one of them in the park while I was working on my novel.

This snot-nosed kid (okay she's a teenager) walked up to me. I didn't catch her name, and I didn't really care what her name was. She was just being mean just for the sake of being mean.

"I read your book," she said.

"Really?" I wondered how this girl even knew who I was. It's not like I had my picture plastered on the back cover. Oh, wait.

"Okay, I lied. I didn't read your stinkin' book. But my dad and sister have been reading the whole damn thing aloud and I'm sick of hearing it."

"Hmmph. Well, I didn't think you read anyway. So why'd you come and disturb me while I was writing?"

"Just because I can, really."

"You know," I scolded, "you kids really shouldn't litter around the park. And you, missy, let me give you a piece of advice. You really shouldn't be fishing your clothes out of the garbage can. You should at least try to look presentable."

Neighborhood Gossip with Ari

Leave it to Ari to give me the low down on the happenings in the hood.

She called me over the next afternoon after I got back from the cemetery. "Hey, you know Darrel's engaged, huh?"

"Really? To who?"

"Tracey Gonzalez. She just moved here from Pinochle Point. He's smitten with her, they even moved in together."

"Wow." I had to admit, to myself, a little pang of jealousy and regret over what could have been.

"Oh, and you know Windy Alvi? She's married AND has a baby now."

I let out a deep breath. "What about you?"

"Oh, I've got no time for romance. Besides, I haven't met the right person yet."

"You know, you could be the neighborhood gossip queen."

"Yeah," she muttered, "if I wasn't so busy learning to play guitar. I don't know how you guys do it without your fingers hurting."

Neil and Bassy

I'm headed back to Egypt in a few days. As soon as I'm done with my next book. You see, I'm under contract with my publisher for 3 novels. Since Interview with a Mummy is flying off the shelves, I decided on another Egyptian-themed novel. I don't have a title yet, but it's kinda, sorta, a sequel to "Interview."

I’ve also been poring over legal documents on the internet, trying to study international adoption law.  The process is so agonizingly slow, I wonder if the children will be grown before a decision is made on the case. 

 

 
You know, while I was working on my book, I heard the strangest thing. 

Neil's laughter.

Seriously, it's the first time since he got here that he actually allowed himself to laugh out loud. He's always been so withdrawn, quiet and keeping mostly to himself. It's good to see the two of them, Neil and Bassy, hanging out together. You'd never guess, though, that Neil is the one who is 4 days older than Bassy is.

 

 

 

Bassy appears to be the tonic that Neil needs. I've seen how he hangs onto every word Bassy says.
But given who Bassy’s father is.... I really don't think it's a good idea having him as a 'role model.'  I mean, all Bas has to do is just flash that killer smile of his, and girls swoon and bat their eyelids. Although I've noticed how Neil still stays in the background, hanging back and letting Bassy steal the limelight.

 

I am apprehensive though, when those two are together. They could get themselves into all kinds of mischief. Although I did tell Noah that Neil never once broke curfew, he and Bassy DID sneak off to the theatre one time. But hell, boys will be boys. They need to let their hair down at some point.

I was a teenager once.  Hell, I did worse things than those boys. I practically lived in the back seat of a cop car.   Mom and I were at each other’s throats almost every day. 

 

It's something we always seem to neglect.... feeding the fish.  But Neil took it upon himself to maintain the aquarium, diligently feeding the fish, cleaning the tank.  Even the maids conveniently ‘forget’ to do that, even though we pay them $125/day to do it. 

 

Let’s not go there about the boys’ appetites.  

Mom fixed a pipin' hot plate of burgers last evening, the boys ate them all by themselves.  Nobody else had any, not even dad. Then again, they are teenage boys, they’re supposed to eat to ballast those growing bodies (and out of control hormones). 

It was good to see Neil eating too.... he was so thin, his skin was in poor condition from snacking on junk food, and now it has a healthy glow.  At first he was merely picking at his food, staring at it as if it was some alien thing from another planet, then we realized why..... he’d been living on bread and jam and ice cream, and the only time he'd get 'decent' food, was at school, or the leftovers from a meal that Sadie would bring home, after she'd finished work. 

I thought dad was off his rocker, agreeing to take in Neil, but now, I see that he did the right thing. My nephew is flourishing. He's growing up so fast.

Dad was right.  Again.
One thing about my father that folks just don't seem to understand, is he may seem like he's 'out there' or his head is in the clouds. But he has his finger on the pulse of situations like no one I've ever known.

Now I understand why he's been so supportive of the adoption. Not once has he ever disagreed with my decisions but simply nodded his head..... he knew.... he's always known...but that's just dad… That’s just who he is. 

Me and Noah

Noah was walking up the hallway while I was in the kitchen. This is all the time with us, we’re always on the defensive with each other in a constant war of attrition. "Are you happy now?” he began. “You've successfully torn apart this family."

I decided I had enough. "You, Noah, lecturing me about family values. Boy, that's rich. Because, as far as I've gathered, Neil has never really had a 'family.'"
"And just what do you mean by that?"
"Can't you see how badly neglected he is? And the reason why he's acting out the way he is? You and Sadie are too damn busy to take any notice of that kid."
"You've got some nerve, Savannah. Look at you, gallivanting all over the world. Some fine example you're providing for your kids -- should you have any."
"Noah, I'm not going there."
"That's right, run away from the truth the way you've always done."
"No, I'm not running away from anything. I just don't want to deal with all this bickering, it's the last thing Neil needs to see right now."
"What do you care about what Neil needs?"

"Obviously a whole hell of a lot more than you do. I mean, he's happier here and it's beginning to show, so I don't want to hear it. Do you know he has not broken curfew once since he's been here? Not once. Not only that, but he goes to school, he comes home, he does his homework, and Bassy's just thrilled to bits that he's here. All the poor kid wants is for someone to show him that they give a damn.”

Noah rose his arms up in the air. There was a moment of silence before he spoke again "You know, you're right, Vanna, I -- I just want to thank you for taking him in like this. I -- I realize now that Sadie and I weren't really -- you know, cut out -- for this."

"Cut out for what?"

"Being -- being parents. And it's reflected on Neil. We've never -- never really -- been there for him, you know?"

"No need to thank me. It's Bassy you need to thank. And dad. They're the ones you need to talk to."

Housewarming Party

Mom and Dad not only decided to have an impromptu concert in the living room, but they also decided to have a housewarming party.

Bridgette Landgraab showed up, and I don't think her name was on the guest list.

Unfortunately, so did my brother. I tried to make conversation with him at the dinner table, so I asked him how he liked the new house.

His response? "Hey, this music is jammin'!" I shook my head. Noah is unbelievable sometimes. And he wonders why his kid is screwed? Sheesh.

His Grimness showed up at the party to claim one of mom's friends. Mom, of course, was devastated.

He even stopped and admired the fishies in our aquarium. Most of them I caught myself in the ponds and beaches around Sunset Valley.

All About Neil

Don't think that I've abandoned you guys, but we've been pretty busy around here. For starters, Neil moved in.

Neil Patric Miraj Plumb, of course, is my nephew, the son of my brother Noah and his wife, Sadie. His mother is of Pakistani origin, and I probably know more about her heritage than she does. Her grandfather, Iqbal Alvi, immigrated from Pakistan after the Great War. What I found interesting was that he came from Pakistan just before my grandfather, Nigel Plumb, left England and arrived in Sunset Valley. What I also found interesting, from looking at the archives in the library, is that Iqbal Alvi and Nigel Plumb were neighbors on the other side of town, even though they never met!

I wasn't quite sure how Neil would take living with us Anglo-Saxon bluebloods, given his mixed heritage. He has the Pakistani blood on his mother's side, and on his father's side there's Italian, French, English, Irish, Welsh, and no telling what else. He's a true mutt.

Anyway, before I went into this digression, we've discovered that Neil is an odd fellow. Really, he is. He opted to run all the way to the military quarters on the other side of town instead of taking one of the four vehicles on the property. Why? He wanted to take handiness classes there. Apparently he's an adept with tools. Dad said Noah was like that, too, and he wondered where they got it from because it certainly did not come from him, lol.

We also think Neil has his mom's OCD trait because he checks the stoves about four times a day, he makes all the beds at least twice, he brushes his teeth until they bleed, and he scrubs the dishes at least twice even though the maid comes in and puts them in the dishwasher.

I overheard Neil and Bassy going over algebra very late at night -- and of course, given that they're teenage boys, they go over a lot of, well, other, things too. "Hey, how you like the house?" I heard Bassy ask.

"It's all right, I guess," Neil heaved a sigh. "Why can't I figure this stuff out?"

Blast from the Past

So, last night dad and I were talking. About a lot of things. About my book (which is still flying of the shelves, btw), about Neil possibly coming to live with us, about his musical influences growing up.

Of course, during these chats you usually find out things you wouldn't ordinarily. My dad mentioned a long-dead rock star called Mick Lassiter.

Apparently, when dad was growing up, Mick Lassiter was the biggest star in the land. Everyone wanted to be him, everyone wanted to be friends with him, everyone wanted to be around him. Of course dad, as a little boy, was one of those people.
Mick Lassiter wrote and performed nearly every hit song that was on the radio. His concerts were standing-room-only and sold out months in advance. Every musical commentator in Simland has compared dad's style to his, even though they worked in different genres.

So it turned out that one of grandma's friends, Madison VanWatson, was married to him. Naturally, as she and grandma ran in the same social circles, Madison wanted to share her good fortune with them. So one Sunday she offered grandma 2 front-row tickets to see Mick perform at what was then called the Wilsonoff Community Theater.
According to grandma's journal (which I consulted later), she was trying to decide between taking her boyfriend at the time (Orlando Paine) and my dad, who was still a young boy. When grandma took Orlando, Dad was really upset. So somehow he got to the theater and sneaked backstage where Mick was getting ready to perform -- and was caught. But dad got what he wanted in the end -- one moment with his idol -- and it changed the course of Sunset Valley history.

"I ran as fast as I could, as far away from the theater as I could," dad recalled. "I wanted to get back home before mom did."
After grandma got back, she gave him a sound tongue lashing. But it didn't matter.
Dad never saw Mick Lassiter again, but he still listened to his music. Mick sent dad an autographed copy of his record, a record, by the way, he still has.

Lazy Sunday part 2

Other than that it was a pretty lazy Sunday around here. "You going to work out?" Mom asked.
"Nah, I'm going to the pool."

See, this is what Bassy ended up doing at the neighborhood pool. I don't think he swam for five minutes, lol.

Not too far from where Bassy was doing his best walrus imitation, dad was, well, being dad. He's still the most famous man in Sunset. And still capable of making women weak in the knees. I've heard he's never turned down an autograph.

Meanwhile, across the street from that signing, I was in the park bungling a batch of hot-dogs at the neighborhood cookout. I'm still not sure what made me go...

Lazy Sunday

My brother has always liked hanging out in my room.

I don't quite know how to explain it -- even when we were in the old house, he liked hanging out in there, doing his homework and whatever.

So this morning he woke up and turned on the TV and he was watching some sci-fi about a mad scientist building an army of servo robots who attacked him. The background music was, how do I describe it, futuristically haunting and chilling.

"Hey," I told him, "you know dad composed the soundtrack of that movie huh?"

"Cool, I didn't know that," he replied, looking at me.

The conversation then turned to Neil. I told him I'd gone over there and seen to him. "How would you like it," I asked him, "if Neil came to live with us for awhile?"

Bassy shot a look at me I cannot quite explain.

"It'll only be till he picks up his grades."

Bassy was all TOO happy about this. You see, Neil is technically his nephew, but in reality it's closer than that, more like his brother. Neil is actually 4 simdays older than he is but you'd never know it.

Intervention

Last evening, I came face to face with my wild, out of control teenage nephew, who, by the way, is even worse off than Noah let on.

Neil had changed into his workout clothes. "I'm going to exercise," he told me.

"No," I told him, "you are going to stand right here and listen to me until I tell you to move. Do you understand?"

He smacked his lips and protested as much as he could, but in the end he did what I said.

"Neil, I got a look at your report card. You're failing! I guess you are failing, if you don't even go to school."

"What are you talking about?"

"Neil, you know DAMNED well what I'm talking about! How are you gonna pass your classes if you blow 'em off?"

"Bassy told ya, didn't he? I knew it!"

"Bassy didn't HAVE to tell me. You forget, I went to that school. You forget, I still have contacts over there. So both you and Bassy can try to lie to me, but you won't get away with it."

"Who you think you are? You ain't my mama."

"You're right, Neil. I'm not your mother. But you can be DAMNED sure I'm not going to let you slide into the depths."

Neil is so bad off that my dad (who, by the way, is worried sick about him) is considering desperate, desperate action. He's considering taking temporary custody of him and straightening him out while he has him. I'm not sure dad is thinking clearly, and I'm not sure he's the one to straighten Neil out. He needs a strict military-style boot camp type thing.

So I put his ass thru a mini boot camp of my own. Since he was getting ready to work out anyway, I worked his ass out till he dropped.

Finding Sir Edward

Following mom's enormous bombshell, I went to my computer and searched for anything I could find about Sir Edward Bellingham. He is my maternal grandfather after all. And all I had of him was that one picture and the one story mom told.

I found some old articles online about his disappearance, but nothing about anything he wrote or archeological discoveries he made.

The mystery that is my mother's family just got deeper.

Mom and me

Before we moved in to the new house, Mom and I needed to clear the air on some things. Truthfully, we've needed to clear the air for a long time.

"How are the renovations coming along?" she asked me over her famous pancakes.

"Pretty good, I guess."

"What about the adoption, have you heard yet?"

"Not really. These things take time."

"You know, Savannah, this is the longest period you've been home since you started your job."

I let out a deep breath. I didn't want to hear THIS from her again.

"I mean, you've barely paused for air since all this started. I'm not even sure why you felt the need to travel in the first place. You have everything you need right here at home."

My mother just doesn't get it. Sure, I went and found those relics, but I found something else too. I found myself. This is who I am. I'm not destined to lead the life of a socialite, which frankly bores me. Getting dressed up only to stand around and sip wine and gossip is not my style.

"You're my baby girl, my youngest daughter. Savannah, don't you realize that you are a part of me? You came out of me."

"So you wanted me to be like you, is that it? Well you got the physical part down. Other than my coloring we're basically twins."

"I would never have done half the things you have, period."

"Was it because you didn't have the guts?"

Mom took a deep breath. "I'm still getting used to the fact that you make your living digging in dusty tombs. It's not what I wanted but it's what you want and I have to deal with that. You think I liked the fact that my little daughter was sneaking off to go to the cemetery? You used to come home with your face all scratched up, you had all kinds of uncut gemstones, space rocks -- it shouldn't have been a shock to me that you do what you do now. You know, my father, he did what you do."

"Your father?"

"Sir Edward Bellingham. He was an archaeologist, sort of, except he wasn't a professional. He did it more as a hobby. He collected all sorts of gemstones and rocks and artwork. He was a journalist, normally, but he traveled often for his job. He was knighted by the Queen of England, then he left the country soon after that and met my mother. He was on one of his digs when he disappeared when I was a small child. They never found his body or his plane. All I heard about from my mother after that was how I caused him to leave her. In truth, my father was a restless spirit. Just like you."