Round 7 Part 12: The Castle (2053-2057)

Corbin is 54, Audrey is 47, Charles is 11, William is 8.

"Shake it off"

narrated by Corbin Todd

I know Audrey and I aren't the most popular people in this town and maybe we deserve it (I'm immature and Audrey's a snob; I'm just gonna own that) but if Fate has a problem with us she's hasn't shown her hand yet. The only bad luck we've had lately was a minor break-in years ago, and nothing actually got stolen then. Audrey was unhappy about it, though. I'm not sure if she was more upset about a threat to her precious stuff or unnerved that the cops showed up. She's nervous around cops for some reason.

Audrey adopted a puppy after that in the hopes that he'd scare off potential burglars before the cops had to be called. I was a bit skeptical about whether this tiny fat puppy could scare a fly, let alone a burglar.

But within a year Leroy was a big brown and black dog, so I guess I would be intimidated if I met him on the porch on a dark night and didn't know he's a total pushover.

The boys kind of just do their own thing most of the time--Audrey and I aren't the sort of parents to sit there making up crafts for you during your summer vacation. They probably watch way too much TV, but they seem to be turning into decent people anyway. One time when they were in maybe 3rd and 6th grade they brought home this little kindergarten girl just because they thought she might be lonely and need friends. When I was their age I definitely wasn't sparing a thought for unpopular kids or the "babies" in the lower grades.

Charles turned 12 not long after that. I keep expecting him to get into girls but more and more lately he's got his nose buried in books! He's not shy or awkward at all, so I don't see why he doesn't get out more, but he says he wants to get good grades so he can go to college and become a teacher...so, basically, he wants to do well in school so he can do more school so he can spend the rest of his life in school. I don't know where he gets that studiousness from; certainly not from me.

When he's not doing his own homework, Charles is practicing his teaching skills on William--I swear William's never once come to me with a homework question! (Which is good because Charles probably knows the answer better than I do anyway.)

They do have fun sometimes, though. A lot of times on the weekends they'll spend hours fishing together and talking about their favorite sci-fi show.

Oh, and on top of all that, Charles has a part-time job helping out at the ER over at Sim City General. Like I said, no idea where he gets his altruism and work ethic...if he didn't look just like me I'd be seriously questioning his paternity.

As for Audrey, she's still working for Malcolm Landgraab, raking in the big bucks and having a great time spending them. Last year she bought herself a helicopter and took flying lessons as a 50th birthday present to herself. I teased her that she was having a midlife crisis and already had the fancy convertible so had to go one bigger. She pretended not to be able to hear me over the whir of her helicopter's blades.

I think William takes after his mom; he only just turned 12 and he's already talking about how when he's grown up he wants to run the whole town.

Lately when I'm home alone, instead of calling up my lady friends I find myself painting. I can really get in the zone and it feels like no time at all passes before the boys are home from school.

I've been doing a bit of pottery too.

My coaching job is going great; I even have my own star in the hall of fame. Lately, though, I've started to think that I spend an awful lot of time traveling and maybe it's time to cut back and really enjoy the last few years we have with them at home--maybe their school needs a basketball coach.








Notes:

1. Corbin is definitely coming across a little more mature and responsible in this update, mostly thanks to his new secondary aspiration being Family. But really I think that's kind of realistic--he seems like the kind of guy to party hard through his 20s and 30s and then one day up and decide that he's had enough of parties and wants to settle down a little. But of course that gets complicated when you father a few kids during those wild 20s and 30s. We'll see whether Corbin ever ends up rebuilding the bridges that got burnt when he broke up with Edith. 

2. Leroy the dog was actually Charles' 12th birthday present so he'd spin up a LTW, but it fit better in the story to have them buy a dog because of the break-in. He came with the name Leroy and I thought it fit well since it means "the king" and their last name is King.

3. Charles is a Knowledge Sim with the LTW to Become Education Minister, but currently working as an EMT because that was the job that happened to come up.

4. William is a Popularity Sim with the LTW to Become Mayor. He doesn't have a job yet.

5. Corbin maximized enthusiasm in his One True Hobby, Arts and Crafts. He also got his second TOC/LTW, Become Hall of Famer. Now he wants to Become Education Minister, amusingly enough. Sometimes the father takes after the son, I guess.