Mistress #1: Dena

Hey it’s me, Savannah, doing more reporting from the birthday party.

My brother Bassy and I were in total agreement.  We just had to have a little chat with Ms. Dena Hart, the first of dad’s mistresses and the one most responsible for the dissolution of our parents’ marriage. 

But I couldn’t say what I really wanted to say to her just yet.  Both Noah and my dad were right behind me.  The goddamned home wrecker… she really has some nerve.  What pisses me off about this whole deal even more, is that my mother was friends with this woman.  If any of my female friends decides that she wants a piece of Andy, it’s going to be me and her.  Seriously. 

I cleared the room so it was just me and Dena.  Woman to, well, home wrecker. 

“I don't know how you have the nerve to turn up here.”
“I was invited by your father.”
”And he's got some nerve too. You're NOT welcome.”

“Like hell I’m not.  I’m a guest of your father.”

“Well I sent out my own private invitations and your name was not on the guest list.”

“I’m not allowed to come as a guest?”

“Like hell you’re not!”

“Well I wanted to finally meet you guys.  Your dad talks a lot about you guys… especially you, Savannah.”

“And I’m not done with him either.  He shall be dealt with when I get the chance.”  I took a deep breath.  “I want you to get the hell out of my house.  RIGHT NOW.  Before I call the police.  I don’t want to see you on these premises ever again.”

AJ

Hey it’s me, Savannah.  Now I’m a big bad ADULT.  You know, one of those boogeymen you’re afraid you’ll never become when you’re a child… sure I have a few more wrinkles and my hair is a little bit shorter….but I’m the same old me, I suppose.  I’m not going anywhere any time soon.

If I have my way my kids are going to go to boarding school and there won’t be anything Andy does to stop me.  I have to do something before they send ME to the hen house.

Except for Sage.  She can stay put.  So far we’ve had zero trouble out of her, she hasn’t even WANTED to set pranks and stuff like her brothers.  Although she now says she wants a slumber party for her teen birthday with some of her classmates from ballet.  She doesn’t know yet why she has ‘Margaret’ as her middle name.  I’ll tell her when she’s older.

AJ, as Andy and I feared, is following right in the footsteps of his older brother Sety.  Both he and Sety woke up in their mood swing the next day. 

“How are you liking school?” he asked, attempting to make conversation.

The only thing on Sage’s mind was the autumn salad on her plate.  It’s her favorite food.  I suspect she’ll be a vegetarian too.  “Pretty good,” she answered. 

“Did you take out the trash?” she countered with.  “You know mom said –“

AJ didn’t say anything.  He went into the shower by the kitchen and disappeared outside. 

We got him a 10 speed bike for his teen birthday, till he learns how to drive.  Andy wanted to get a car but I said no, not yet.  We still haven’t finished teaching the older two how to drive. 

Next thing I knew, the police were in front of the door.  With AJ.  I wanted to know what happened, and the officer told me that he’d thrown eggs at this one kid’s house. 

One thing I have ZERO tolerance for is bullying.  ZERO.  I was bullied as a girl and I know how it feels.  It may not seem like it but I still bear scars today.  It disappoints me greatly that a child of mine is engaging in this behavior. 

So I was waiting for him when he got in.  “I cannot believe you, AJ.”

“Believe what?”

“I cannot believe what you did.”

“I didn’t do anything, I swear.”

“Then why were you brought home by the police?”

“I swear, I didn’t do anything.”

I took a deep breath.  I’d risen my hand to slap him across the face before I restrained myself.  “You are so lucky the deputy is standing here, because I’d have whipped you into the middle of next week.”

“You can’t tell me what to do, I’m a grown man.”

“You are not a grown man, and as long as you are under MY roof you are going to abide by MY rules.  You are GROUNDED.  Go to your room.  I shall definitely tell your father what has transpired today.”

Have to admit, seeing the police in front of our door brought back memories of another child gone wild.

Me.

Satis-fied Part 3

 

Hey everybody, its me, Satis… I didn’t finish telling you guys about prom night.

So anyway, Michael Falcon (yes that’s him in the red sweater) asked me for a dance and I said, sure, okay, why not.  He’s a senior and I mean once you get past the pocket protector he’s actually kind of cute.  And then he told me he’d had a crush on me since he first saw me.  That part was a little bit much. 

Sierra became a toddler, and she spends a lot of time playing with this strange looking doll.  I’ve never seen this kind of doll before, some far-off relative sent it after she was born.  I swear, all Sierra does is cry and poop.  Mostly cry.  A lot. 

So Sety and I were in the kitchen eating PB &J sandwiches and we were casually talking when I found out Mr. Pythagoras, the math teacher and debate coach, had asked him to try out for the presidency.  “I so nervous,” he said between bites, “I dunno what to say.”

“Say what you’ve been saying in the debates,” I told him, “and you’ll do fine.”

“But I not been saying anything in the debates.”

“Obviously the teacher wouldn’t be suggesting you for the post if he didn’t see you had potential.”

I looked over.  It was mom, she’d been listening the whole time. 

“Why did you even join debate if you’re not going to say anything?”  I asked him.  But it hadn’t taken me long to figure it out.  He did it because of a girl.

Sety, Sety.  I love him and he’s my brother but sometimes I don’t know what to think.  I can’t see him not being president though, as I can’t think of anyone else to do it. 

As for me… well, I’ll be doing a lot more writing.  As in, I was just chosen to do articles for Student Gossip Weekly. 

Right up my alley.

Now that I’m prom queen and my brother is prom king, I get to dish out as much dirt as I got while I was in elementary school and just learning Simlish after coming from Egypt. 

And my first order of juicy gossip at Community School for the Not-So-Gifted….

Do everything you possibly can to avoid this girl. 

Her name is Candice Lakin and she makes a lot more enemies than friends.  Most of the other girls hate her and the boys do whatever they can to avoid her.  Candice picks fights with people for no reason at all.  Doesn’t matter if she knows them personally or not. 

There’s a new student in two of my classes.  I happened to come from newspaper when I saw the moving van park down the street.  Saw a man and a woman and this teenage boy get out.  I assume they’re his parents???

Scenes from a Marriage … and Family

Hey it’s me, Savannah, sitting in the counselor’s office with my parents.  I finally convinced them to see a marriage counselor. 

Here’s what you have to understand about my parents.  They are drastically different people.  That they’ve been together this long and have produced me and my brother is a small miracle in and of itself.  And they didn’t have the benefit of a Toya or a Halima to keep them straight. 

What I’m not really understanding is, why now?  Why did it all have to fall apart like this?  

I love my parents to death.  I just wish they could see eye to eye.

To my right is my mother.  We had a rough relationship, but now, in truth, I feel sorry for her.  She actually had it pretty rough.  My grandmother was domineering, my grandfather disappeared when she was a little girl, and she didn’t even know who half her family was.  She waited years for my father to commit and then when he did, finally, he goes and does this.   Of course, it didn’t help that I wasn’t exactly a typical girl. 

My mother was basically a single parent, even though my father was right there in the house.  My mother and I definitely had our rough moments, times when we couldn’t stand the sight of each other, but she is still my mother, the only one I’m going to get.  And I love her.

To my left is my father.  When I was little I thought he could do no wrong.  We did everything together.  I was a total daddy’s girl.  I think in some ways I still am.

My father was never the ‘typical’ dad.  For starters, he never ever raises his voice above a whisper.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen him angry or upset.  He’s very even tempered.  It’s a Plumb family trait, both Aunt Margaret and my grandfather, I’m told, were the same way.  And I see traces of this even-temperedness in both Noah and Bassy.  I wish I had it but I don’t.  I get really angry, really easily – a lot more like my mom. 

For example, Noah’s reaction when he found out Neil’s GF was pregnant?  A simple posting on his Simbook account, calling himself “Grandpa Noah.”  So typical of him.  But I digress. 

“How did the two of you meet?” the counselor begins, looking in my dad’s direction.

When my dad didn’t answer, my mom spoke up.

“We were both members of the Sunset Valley orchestra.  I had been there awhile and he was the hip, flashy newcomer.  I asked him once, ‘Are you sure you’re a classical musician? Because you don’t look or act like one.’  He told me, and I’ll never forget this, ‘I’m as much of a classical musician as you are.’  He reminded me he was capable of doing pop numbers too.”

“So he played a few bars of my favorite song at the time, Debussy’s Claire de Lune…

“..and then he turned around and told me that he’d once played for the Grim Reaper himself.  I was sold.  I was buying what he was selling.”

“So we had a small commitment ceremony in the community park, for our family and a few of our closest friends, and I moved into his house that he was building on Summer Hill Court.  Then I found out I was pregnant with our daughter, Savannah…”

“When I told Nathan I was pregnant and that I was having a girl, he was ecstatic.  And I remember asking him why he was so happy, and he told me, ‘I’ve got four sons.’

“I fell in love with Nathan because he made me believe the impossible dream.   It was like he had created his own personal wonderland and he wanted me to join him there, if only for a brief moment. 

And for awhile, it worked.  For a while we were blissfully happy.  We were raising our daughter, and then our son Sebastian came after that, and we made it work.  We somehow made it all work.  We lived our lives as members of the orchestra and we were pillars of the community…”

At that point I had to interrupt my mother, because she was engaging in revisionist history.  Lots of revisionist history.  I reminded her that all the parties were her idea, to keep up with her own personal vision of a society dame. 

“I never wanted or needed any of the parties,” I shouted.  “I used to disappear to go to the cemetery just to get away from everything.”

I’m tired of being their band aid.  For once in their lives, why can’t they just tell the truth?

-to be continued -

A Big Day

 

Hey, it’s me, Savannah, looking up from my novel to tell you about a HUGE day in the lives of the Plumbs. 

It began inauspiciously enough, with crying Sierra in the crib in our bedroom. 

The little tyrant disturbing my sleep really pissed me off.  It took me awhile to calm down, so I simply walked away. 

All Andy did was pick her up and she stopped crying.  Hate to say it but he is STILL way better at this parenthood thing than I am.  And yet he wants MORE children.  He has lied.

One of the neighbor kids, Michael Falcon, asked Satis to the prom.  Michael is kind of geeky, actually.  I’d rather her with a geek than a muscle bound guy who’s going to cheat on her. 

Meanwhile, Sety and AJ managed to chase each other around the house before finally taking it outside. 

And Andy, fresh from tending to Sierra, went outside to play hide and seek with Sage. 

It was time for AJ to blow out his candles.  Today he would become a teen. 

My little man all grown up *sniff*  and already he’s asking for a car and a driver’s license.  Sigh. 

Here he is after he got cleaned up.  Goodness he looks like his dad.  The brown hair is from my mom, shockingly enough.

After AJ blew out his candles, Sety and Satis sneaked out to go to their prom, also being held that evening. 

But AJ wasn’t the only person celebrating a birthday.

Yep yours truly.  Joining the ranks of the adults.

And who did I spy at my party?  Oh yes.  Bassy and then a lady in a bright pink vest.  Ugh.  Dad didn’t have to bring HER here.

Dena Hart.  As in, his new girlfriend.  Ugh.  Such a killjoy. 

Yep it’s me, with a few more age lines on my face.  I’m no longer a young adult.

 

I was tossing and turning in my bed when I heard Satis and Sety coming in from their prom.  They’d been named king and queen! 

They came in and ate PB & J sandwiches and went to bed.  By then we were ALL tired. 

Field Trip!

Hey it’s me again, Satis.  My 4th period advanced Simlish class took a field trip today, to the community theater to see Bill Shaxbury’s play “Much Ado About Sims.”  Michael Falcon as usual was in the front, and my partner was Amy Phillips.  She just moved in the house next door to ours with her parents and her older sister Carrie.  In the back were Eugene Hicks and my brother Sety. 

I heard Eugene in the back of me laughing at something, and when I saw that Sety had put a sheet of paper in Michael Falcon’s back that read “Kick Me” I sighed.  Sometimes Sety can be so immature. 

Andy actually managed to make me laugh before school today.  He cracked a joke about pyramids – in decent Arabic, too. 

When we got home, Sety and I were in the kitchen eating Toya’s peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  “It's YOUR turn to clear the plates, Satis, you promised!'
”Yeah,” I reminded him, “but I'm not the one who's in dad's doghouse... am I? So I guess YOU'LL have to do it .... again.”
”Sooo not fair.”
”Serves you right for pulling that prank on Michael Falcon this morning and getting caught.”

“How’d you know about that?”

"Besides, it's Friday night.  I promised Amy I'd meet her to go to the movies."

“Amy,” Sety sighed, “oh, great.”

“What was it about a prank this morning?”

It was mom.  She’d overheard our conversation.

“Uh, nothing,” I hurriedly said, saving Sety from MORE trouble.  For now.

Sety was a good little trooper and put up the dishes. 

Meanwhile, Sage is made of cute.  She stood at the kitchen table after dinner and decided she wanted to ‘hold court’ as a queen for a couple hours.  We listened to her babble on about nothing in particular. 

She managed to sneak outside at night and deposit the contents of her piggy bank in a mailbox for charity. 

It so happened I got to crying Sierra’s crib before dad did.  As long as I tucked Sierra into bed and fed her her bottle, I could get dressed and meet Amy to go to the movies.