Round 7 Part 3: Riedmayer Cove (2053 - 2057)

Jill Smith is 60 years old, Johnson Simpson is 57 years old, Agatha Riedmayer is 33 years old, and Andrew Riedmayer is 2 years old.

"Golden years"
narrated by Johnson Simpson

I never thought, thirty-some years ago, that this is where I'd end up, but life is pretty good. My "grandson," Andrew, turned five a while back.












Agatha is really good with him. Helps him with his homework and stuff, so he can get the best start in life possible.












We managed to get him into private school as well. Jill talked to the headmaster over coffee while I cooked dinner.











Then Agatha spent some time schmoozing him over drinks. I think she got a little tipsy, but apparently it worked since Andrew was accepted.












Now that he's in school all day, things are pretty quiet around here. Jill and I are both still working, though she's got enough time off to take up a pottery-making hobby.











I think she's continuing other hobbies as well, based on the little--and not-so-little--gifts that end up on our front porch. Either that, or Agatha is following in her mother's footsteps. As long as it's not affecting Andrew, I figure it's none of my business.

Week Six Part Three: Riedmayer Cove

Jill Smith: 53 years old. Aspiration: Romance. Lifetime want: Have 20 Simultaneous Lovers. Astrological sign: Libra.
Johnson Simpson: 50 years old. Aspiration: Fortune. Lifetime want: Become Chief of Staff. Astrological sign: Gemini.
Agatha Riedmayer: 26 years old. Aspiration: Romance. Lifetime want: Woohoo 20 Different Sims. Astrological sign: Sagittarius.
Gretchen Riedmayer: 23 years old. Aspiration: Fortune. Lifetime want: Become Space Pirate. Astrological sign: Aries.
Jacqueline Riedmayer: 23 years old. Aspiration: Fortune. Lifetime want: Become The Law. Astrological sign: Aquarius.

Agatha moved back here after college, not having any other plans. The only person missing compared to last week's portrait is Annie, whom we just visited at Dejackome Place. 

The family tree. Johnson had two daughters, Annie and Gretchen, with his late partner, Quinton Riedmayer. Jill had two daughters, Agatha and Jacqueline, with her late husband, Elwood Riedmayer. Elwood also had a daughter from his first marriage, Beata Riedmayer-Landgraab, who now has 7 children and about 16 grandchildren. (Grandchildren not pictured for the sake of space.)

"A New Generation"
narrated by Jill Smith

I suppose you know my whole backstory already, right? Great, let's cut to the chase. My soaps are on soon. Yeah, who'd have thought 30 years ago that Jill Smith would marry some old guy and then end up raising four kids with a gay man and then turn into a grandmother who watches soaps? Not me.

Where was I? Well, I'll start when Gretchen and Jackie left for college. They were getting near the maximum age for admittance, but they wanted to stay home and get as many AP credits as possible before they started on their higher education. They both ended up getting 5 scholarships. Gretchen got hers for good grades, good performance in her after school job, cooking skill, charisma skill, and logic skill.

Jacqueline got all the same except creativity skill instead of cooking skill. That girl looks just like me but she takes after Johnson, work work work all the time. (Come to think of it, her father was like that too, though he'd slowed down a lot by the time we married.) She'd be a real pretty girl if she took some care for her appearance.

Agatha, my other daughter, is the opposite. She looks like her father's side of the family but has a lot more of my personality. She's got an interesting face shape, but she knows how to cut her hair and dress to flatter her unique looks. She moved back here after college, since she didn't have any other plans and we have plenty of room in this drafty old mansion.

The three of us just kind of led parallel lives for a few years, working and socializing and doing whatever. Then one day we all sort of decided at once to go on vacation. We'd been working hard enough and had a good bit put away for a rainy day; why not splurge? So we left early one morning and flew to Twikii Island.

We saw all the usual sights. Agatha did her own kind of sightseeing besides. She seemed to hit it off with one of the natives. That grass skirt look doesn't do it for me, but she's entitled to her own opinion, I suppose.

I had the room next to her in the hotel, so I heard some things at night and when I'd go over to see her in the morning she'd be barely dressed. Maybe she was just sleeping like that to stay cool in the tropical heat, but I have a feeling there was more to it than that. I kind of subtly told her stories about how when I fell in love I let myself get swept off my feet and next thing I knew I was a widow with two tiny kids. I don't know if my little lecture got through to her at all. She's a grown woman and can make her own choices, but I just know she's not the type to want to be tied down for long.

That native fellow was standing around watching us when the taxi came to take us back to the airport. He looked kind of sad, seeing Agatha pick up her suitcase and walk away from him without a backward glance.

Well, it wasn't three months later that Agatha came to me and told me she was pregnant. I told her I'd support whatever choice she made, and she decided to keep it and raise it. I worry a little that she thinks that being a single mother is easy just because I did it with two, but I had lots of help and it was still the hardest thing I'd ever done, caring for her and Jacqueline when they were little.

Anyway, soon the whole family knew and accepted Agatha's baby wholeheartedly. I think Annie was the most excited; she was just three months farther along with her first child. (Ed. note: Pictured is actually Annie's second pregnancy, but pretend it's her pregnant with Rivka.) She and Agatha swapped stories about morning sickness and whatever else all the time.

Other days, though, you'd think Agatha didn't even know she was pregnant. She spent a lot of time out on the exercise equipment, trying to keep her figure. I worried sometimes she was going to overdo it and hurt herself, not to mention the baby. I am turning into a bit of a worrier now that I'm old, I guess.

One day a few weeks before the baby was due she and I were sitting down at the old chess table just talking about this and that, and I found myself asking if that native guy she'd been so taken with was the father. She said yes, but that she wasn't going to tell him about the baby because he was one of those family-oriented types who'd want to get married right off and make an "honest woman" out of her. But they wanted such different things out of life that she knew they'd be miserable married to each other.

One rainy day in January, Agatha felt her first labor pains right there at the chess table. I tried to help her as much as I could, but I don't know how much help I really was. Johnson ended up being a lot more useful, I'll wager, but then again he was working as a surgeon at Sim City General at the time, so he had at least a little relevant experience. I just birthed two babies, and I kind of tried to block out those memories.

Fortunately, Agatha didn't have too much trouble and before we knew it she was holding her son. Andrew Kimbrell Riedmayer, born January 14, 2051. He's mostly got Agatha's coloring, but then again his father had about the same coloring, that I recall. His eyes are dark blue instead of gray like Agatha's; I guess he got those from his father for sure.

 We all pitched in with the baby, feeding him, changing him, getting up with him when he cried in the night. Well, Johnson and I handled most of those night wake-ups. Agatha was working nights as some kind of phone psychic or something so she could be home with Andrew during the day when Johnson and I were at work. It wasn't so bad; now that I'm old I'm up half the night anyway.

Between the three of us, we actually managed to get everything done with a little time left over. One day I saw Johnson out on the front lawn with Korey, the guy who's the headmaster of the private school our girls attended.

Later on they took it to the bedroom. I never bothered to tell Johnson that I'd gotten some action with Korey years ago; it was a one-time fling and Johnson deserves to be happy. I don't think he's been with anyone since Quinton died all those years ago.

I had my lovers too during that time, but a lady never kisses and tells. *smile*

Andrew grew like a weed, as babies do. He's three years old now. I think he looks a lot like his mother did at that age, but maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see. Haven't got anything against his father, but from what I saw he was no looker, not compared to my Agatha.







Blast from the past: Agatha just before she grew up to child. Neither picture is good enough for you to really tell, but I like to imagine that Andrew has his mother's pointy nose at least. I will have to check when I next play this house.








Well, I guess I've got you all caught up, and just in time to watch The Pleasant Twins. I just love watching those girls slap each other silly. You can show yourself out, right? Mind you don't trip going down all those stairs.

Also during this week:

Johnson reached his LTW and TOC #1 just in the nick of time. His new LTW is to become a Business Tycoon, but there were no business jobs on the computer so he took a job as a Theorist in the Science track instead. 

Later on in the week, Agatha topped the paranormal track and immediately switched to being a Broadway Star in the Show Business track. Her LTW isn't career related, though, so she's a very unhappy Romance Sim at the moment, having only 2 of her desired 20 woohoo partners. Since she did her duty and produced a Riedmayer heir, she will get to focus more on her wants this coming round.

Jill is still putzing her way up the Law Enforcement career track. Meanwhile, she's up to 14 (of 20) lovers, but this screenshot from the beginning of the week is meant to highlight one of her lovers in particular.

I was surprised when I discovered this (having apparently not paid enough attention to Audrey's relationship panel after she moved in with Corbin), but it ended up providing an interesting twist to the story.

At one point Andrew got glitched--none of the adults could interact with him--which was particularly terrifying given that he's such an important baby. I minimized the game and did some frantic googling and then with fear and trepidation deleted him (using move_objects) and then reloaded the lot. He was happily lying on the ground next to the mailbox, and I sent Jill to fetch him. She could interact with him just fine, but then she had quite a time getting him back up to the house...it's a long walk and the ghosts scared her half a dozen times on the way. Poor Andrew.

Not much has changed in the house since Week 5. The DJ booth on the porch is a gift from one of Jill's lovers.

Johnson has the large red room to himself, while Jill and Agatha share the smaller pink room and Andrew sleeps in the hallway. I think I am going to majorly renovate this floor when I next play this house.

The attic now has musical instruments (bought to keep aspirations up, no doubt) and a Grim Reaper Phone in addition to Elwood and Jill's old bed. 

The greenhouse is finished and half of it has been turned into an indoor pool. There might be actual plants at some point, but then again maybe not.

Week Five Part Three: Riedmayer Cove

Jill Smith*, 46 years old. Aspiration: Romance. LTW: Have 20 Simultaneous Lovers. Astrological sign: ?

Johnson Simpson*, 43 years old. Aspiration: Fortune. LTW: Become Chief of Staff. Astrological sign: ?

Agatha Riedmayer, 19 years old. Aspiration: Romance. LTW: Woohoo 20 Different Sims. Astrological sign: Sagittarius.

Annie Riedmayer, 18 years old. Aspiration: Popularity. LTW: Become Captain Hero. Astrological sign: Aquarius.

Gretchen Riedmayer, 16 years old. Aspiration: Fortune. LTW: Become Space Pirate. Astrological sign: Aries.

Jacqueline Riedmayer, 16 years old. Aspiration: Fortune. LTW: Become the Law. Astrological sign: Aquarius.

*Jill and Johnson both have the last name Riedmayer in-game because of having married/joined the Riedmayer brothers.

A very partial family tree. It took me a week just to make this much; the photos did not want to cooperate. The six people with actual portraits are the people pictured above, just older in some cases. (The most noticeable difference being Jill's white hair.)

The brothers' death dates were generated according to my birthday rules. Jacqueline's birth year (and therefore all the other girls' birth years) was moved up by 1 year for the sake of realism. (Nobody is actually born 2 years after her father's death. At least not without serious assisted reproduction technology.) Her birth month was the first randomly generated month that worked with the storyline. The day of the month was purely random.

Thanks to Johnson keeping track of her, Agatha managed to earn lots of scholarship money. She was very happy to leave for college; it was high time to have some fun instead of work work work all the time. It'd be really nice to finally snag a boy or twenty.

Annie left for college too. She hadn't chafed under her father's guidance nearly as much, but it would be nice to meet new friends.

Jill figured that Johnson had done a really good job with the first two girls and would do fine with the other two. So she spent a lot of time on outings. Johnson didn't seem to mind her not being around, and the stuff her various dates brought over as gifts sold for a pretty penny.

Jill had another reason for not wanting to be home at night--the ghosts were really active. At first she had thought that the ghosts were just something Jacqueline made up--Jacqueline did seem to have kind of a nervous temperament. But then everybody else had a ghost jump out at them at least once. Jill for one was a believer and no longer got mad when Jacqueline crawled in bed with her at night. It was nice to have company.

The younger girls were working hard at after-school jobs and didn't have much time for friends, much less boyfriends. Gretchen did meet a nice boy at work, though. His name was Jaden Kules and he said he lived just on the other side of town. Gretchen made sure to say goodbye not long after dark; she didn't want Jaden getting scared off by the ghosts.

Since she couldn't sleep very well, Gretchen started honing her robot-making skills at night, figuring it would come in handy later to be able to craft items to sell.

Portrait spam: Jill as an elder.

The first floor. Jill's old bedroom got turned into an office; otherwise not much has changed.

The second floor. Jill sleeps in the pink room now, along with Jacqueline and Gretchen.

The attic. Used to store the old green bed so Ghost Elwood doesn't get madder than he already is.

The roof, used for the telescope.

A panoramic view. The stairs from the house to the street are now finished and catching the schoolbus is a much easier thing. Meanwhile we've started on a greenhouse. (I used to not like starting building projects unless I could finish them, but then a bad chance card or two convinced me to keep the cash account low. A bad chance card will never reduce your account past 0, so if you lose $20,000 when you only have $5,000 in the bank it's a lot better than when you have $15,000 in the bank.)