The Atwood DITFT: Generation 4, Chapter 3
Author's Note: Hi guys! Welcome back to the Atwood Legacy! I hope you're excited for chapter 3 :) I've been in a really Simmy mood lately, so I'm excited to get some real progress going on the legacy! I'm also sort of hoping to get chapters out more than once a month... we'll see about that, don't quote me on it, but maybe! For now, enjoy the chapter! Also, it's 11/12/13! :D
The Atwood DITFT: Generation 4, Chapter 3
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[Note: I'm sorry for how dark some of these pictures are. I tried to lighten them in Photobucket and apparently it didn't save :S]
“I’m so happy to be back here,” Beth said, sighing contentedly as she looked around her at beautiful Appaloosa Plains.
“I can’t believe it’s been four years since we were here!” Jackie exclaimed.
“I know,” said Graham. “I wonder what Genie is like now.”
“Well, I can’t imagine there’s much we don’t know,” Beth laughed. “After all, we’ve been Facebook friends with her for like three years now.”
“Not to mention the constant texting basically from the moment we got phones,” Jackie added.
“I know, I know,” Graham sighed. He couldn’t exactly explain what he meant, but he thought that there was something about Genie that didn’t come across in text messages or Facebook chat.
“Well, kids,” Rue said, patting her children on the back, “let’s go say hello to your grandparents, shall we?”
“Don’t forget to tell them Logan sends his love,” Beth said, smiling. Their older brother had changed a lot in four years, especially once Rue and James agreed to the idea of him going to China alone. That was why he hadn’t made it to the Plains this time around-he had just graduated high school and was finally setting off to China with the goal of meeting his father.
Rue had smiled to herself as the plans were made, remembering her own trip to China that had taken place not long after she herself finished high school. How time flew!
Inside the house, Reagan and Finn were overjoyed to see their children and grandchildren again. “It means so much that you’ve all come back!” Reagan had exclaimed.
The three Atwood kids smiled at their grandmother. “I was thinking, Beth, dear, that you might ask one of my sister Rowan’s grandchildren to take you on a tour of the new culinary school that’s just opened up here. I’m sure you’d love it.”
“Oh, wow!” Beth exclaimed. “I’d love that! And I’ve always been interested in Marigold’s Café…”
“Ah, yes, that’s named after my mother, you know,” Reagan said, smiling wistfully.
“Oh, and Jackie, I have some old relics that I think you might find fascinating,” Finn said.
“As if there are any relics we don’t have in our museum back home!” Rue teased.
“And Graham, I’ve been meaning to ask you to paint a picture for me,” Reagan said. “But we’ll do all that later. After all, I can tell that these three are just itching to go visit their friend Genie! Well, run along, you three, your grandfather and I won’t hold you up any longer!” She smiled, and the triplets gratefully took their leave.
Just before they left, they heard their grandmother say, “Rue, dear, would you tell Logan that he should expect a call from Jaden soon? He has something rather important to tell the boy…”
* * *
“Wonder what that was about,” Jackie said as they dashed along the path between their grandparents’ house and Genie’s. The sun was just beginning to rise, coloring the clouds a soft pink.
“I think it has to do with Jaden’s background,” Beth said. “I asked Mom about it one time, because I heard he wasn’t biologically related to us. Turns out, Grandpa Finn was dating Jaden’s mom before he married Grandma, and Jaden’s real mother couldn’t take care of him. So when Finn left her, he brought Jaden with him, and he and Reagan raised him like their own.”
“Ah,” said Graham, suddenly understanding. “So Grandma Reagan thinks Uncle Jaden will be able to talk some sense into Logan about biological parents versus the people who raise you. I bet Dad would appreciate that.”
The triplets laughed, although they all knew that the situation was very serious.
“What do you think Dad would do if we all started calling him ‘James’?” Jackie giggled.
“Don’t even say that,” Beth pleaded. “You know how upset he’d be.”
“I’m hoping going to China will snap Logan out of that,” Graham said. “Mom told me about Logan’s biological father, and as far as I can tell, Dad is way cooler.”
The three of them laughed again, and then Jackie let out a whoop. “Vacation!” she yelled. The other two cheered, before all at once they took off running down the hill and up the road to Genie’s house.
* * *
[Note: Ignore Rue's outfit change... she got pregnant while I was playing another household in the neighborhood. Classic Rue and James, can't keep their hands off each other for even one sim day :P]
“This is probably the last time we will see you kids,” Finn said sadly to Rue and James. They sat around the living room of Finn and Reagan’s house. “Reagan won’t admit this, which is why I’m telling you while she’s in the bath. But we are practically 90 years old. We don’t have a lot more time.”
Rue wanted to say, Don’t say that! But looking at her parents, she knew it was true. Both walked with canes, now, and often forgot what they were doing while they were in the middle of doing it. Ninety is a perfectly good time to die, she tried to tell herself. She recognized it. She just didn’t want to admit it was true.
James nodded slowly. “I know my mother doesn’t have a lot of time left either,” he said quietly. His father had passed away a few years before. “We can only hope that it will be peaceful, you know.”
“I am truly thankful that I have had this much time,” Finn said. “And that Reagan and I have maintained fairly good health even up to now. Most people our age, if they are even still around, have quite a few things going on. The worst I’ve got is a terrible back, and your mother has her forgetfulness-”
“Oh, don’t act like you’re not forgetful too,” Rue said.
“Who? Me? What are we talking about?” Finn joked.
Rue and James laughed. “Good talk, Finn,” James said with a grin.
“Love you, Dad,” Rue said.
* * *
Graham wasn’t sure what he had been expecting of Genie, but she seemed more or less the same when they finally found her. They had agreed to meet at the summer festival going on near her house, and they were all thrilled to see each other. After a few hours of catch-up chatting, soccer playing, and rollerblading, Jackie finally exclaimed, “Well, let’s go to your house, then! I miss Lizzy and the rest of the horses!”
Genie looked uncomfortable immediately. “I don’t think we can go over there right now,” she said. “I, uh, my mom is…”
“It’s ok, Gene,” Beth said kindly, “you can tell us.”
“I don’t really think I…”
“Let’s drop it,” Graham said decisively. “Yeah?” He looked meaningfully at each of his sisters in turn. There’s obviously something not so great going on. Let’s just leave her alone about it.
“All right,” said Beth, catching on. “Why don’t we go downtown? We could grab lunch and stuff? Marigold’s Café?” she suggested, naming the little restaurant run by some distant Atwood kin.
Genie and Graham agreed at once. Jackie grumbled something about everyone conspiring against her, but agreed after only a moment at the thought of some good old-fashioned Appaloosa Plains food.
Still, Jackie wasn’t the only one dying of curiosity about Genie’s home situation. Although the triplets had been to Genie’s house before, they had never stayed very long, and they had never seen her mother.
What is Genie hiding? Graham wondered to himself.
* * *
One morning a few weeks into their trip, Graham woke up before anyone else in the house and decided to go for a walk. He loved Appaloosa Plains in the early morning-peaceful and absolutely gorgeous. He strolled along the streets for awhile in the more suburban part of town, the part with paved roads and little houses like his grandparents’.
And he started thinking about Genie. She was so quiet and reserved-just about the opposite of everyone in his family. In fact, in his house, he was the quiet one. But he was nothing compared to Genie! What he couldn’t figure out was why. What was she so shy about? Why hadn’t he been to her house since he was ten years old? What was she hiding?
Without really thinking about it, his course changed, and he found himself on a dirt road. He walked among farms and ranches, passing barns and fields of horses. Genie’s neighborhood. He passed the farmhouse that belonged to his relatives, the descendants of his Grandma Reagan’s siblings. He knew his family was large, and that they were all in this town, but he’d never really met anyone beyond his aunts and uncles and cousins. That’s all right, though, he decided. Just those “few” are quite enough to keep up with!
Soon he came up to the forest that shielded Genie’s house from the road. Here we are, he thought. He wasn’t sure what his plan was, exactly-just that he wanted to take a look around. He looked carefully for the stone path that cut through the trees and led eventually to Genie’s house.
The trees finally let up, and Graham found himself staring at Genie’s home, just the way he had remembered it. The pond was the same, with the bridge over it where it narrowed and became a flowing stream. And there was the barn, big and red and housing Lizzy, the animal that Graham knew was one of Genie’s best friends. On the other side, there was the little house itself, with the ivy climbing the walls as determinedly as ever.
Just then, Genie appeared on the tiny front porch. “What are you doing here?” she demanded, but very quietly.
Graham cringed. Whoops. He hadn’t thought about what he would do if Genie actually saw him. “Sorry,” he said quickly. “I was just-”
“Shhhh,” Genie said urgently. She was by his side in what seemed like seconds. “Come with me. And don’t say anything!”
“But-”
“Not one word!”
Graham had never heard Genie this assertive before, so he did as he was told. Genie led him across the bridge and through the side door of the barn.
They passed the many stalls inside, most of which were empty. “Hi, Lizzy,” Genie sang to her horse as they passed. They stopped at the foot of a ladder leaning against the wall that led, as far as Graham could tell, to the hayloft.
“Follow me,” Genie said, and she climbed the ladder.
“Can I talk yet?” Graham said, pretending to be grumpy.
Genie looked over at her shoulder at him, a hint of a smile on her face. “Not yet.”
* * *
At the top of the ladder, Graham followed Genie through a maze of hay bales. As they rounded a corner, the light from the floor below faded. “I can’t see a thing!” Graham complained. Genie shushed him once again, and wordlessly grabbed his hand to lead him onward. She seemed to know the way almost without looking.
Then another light appeared ahead of them. They passed another huge stack of hay, and then Graham saw what looked like a secret hideout in front of them. A few sparse candles and lamps lit the space, which was filled with what seemed to be toys from Genie’s childhood. A few chairs and a bookcase stood nearby, and a sleeping bag sat rolled up on the floor.
“You can talk,” Genie allowed.
“What is this place?” Graham immediately burst out.
“It’s my hayloft apartment,” Genie joked. “I used to come up here to escape my parents when I was little. When my mom was in a good mood, she helped me decorate it. My dad never knew. I’d sneak a few toys up at a time, so Dad wouldn’t notice anything missing.”
Graham was surprised. He’d never heard Genie speak this honestly about something so personal before. “Why… why did you want to escape your parents?” he asked.
“They fought,” Genie said. “Dad eventually left, actually. Just me and my mom now. Or just me,” she added bitterly.
“What does that mean?” Graham asked.
Genie didn’t reply; instead, she settled in one of the chairs. “Well, have a seat,” she said.
Graham sat. “So why am I invited up here?”
“You kind of invited yourself, don’t you think?”
“Not to this place. I never knew there was anything up here.”
“It’s not safe to talk anywhere else on this property,” Genie finally replied.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Genie, cryptic as ever, said nothing.
“All right,” Graham finally said, exasperated. “If this is where it’s safe to talk, then what are we talking about?”
Genie shrugged. “You’re the one who came here,” she said softly.
“Genie, what’s going on?” he demanded. “You’re being weird and secretive. If there’s something bad going on, you can just tell me.”
“It’s… it’s hard to explain,” she said.
“Well, try,” Graham said. “Please? I’m worried about you.”
Genie sighed. “Look, I don’t tell people about this, okay? So if I tell you-if-you have to promise me you won’t tell anyone else.” She looked at him fiercely.
Graham, surprised once again by Genie’s assertive attitude, nodded solemnly. “I won’t tell anybody.”
“Not even your sisters?” Genie asked, looking at him intently.
He hesitated. Genie seemed to understand the conflicted thoughts that swirled in his mind, so she waited patiently for him to resolve them. Finally, he said, “Not even my sisters.”
She nodded, knowing that Graham wouldn’t break his word, and also that he had just promised something more momentous than he was willing to admit.
“Okay, here goes,” said Genie, taking a deep breath. “There’s something wrong with my mom. I don’t know how to explain it, so I just make sure nobody else sees it. It’s… I don’t even know what it is.” She settled more comfortably into her chair. “There are two ways my mom can be. Last time you were here, she was the first way, the almost ‘normal’ way. Energetic, all over the place kind of. She cleans the whole house twice a day when she’s that way. She rides every one of the horses until they’re all exhausted-and that was saying something last time you were here, when we had five. Now there are just two… we had to sell them because we couldn’t take care of them. Mom makes enormous plans, or she spends all our money on something ridiculous, like a sports car.” Genie sighed. “When she did that, I had to go back to the dealership and explain that we didn’t actually have the funds for that car, and ask them to take it back and return whatever down payment she made.” She shuddered. Graham knew that Genie hated talking to strangers, and he imagined that this must have been extremely difficult for her to do.
“But the first way is much better than the second way, which is how she is now. When she is the second way, she shuts all the curtains in the house, and she doesn’t leave for weeks. Sometimes she doesn’t even leave her room, but that’s better because then at least the mess is confined to one place. When I was little, the house used to become a disaster during the second way, because she’d just leave dirty plates and trash everywhere. She can’t get the energy to clean up after herself. She can’t get the energy to do anything. Now that I’m older, I can clean up after her, so the house isn’t as bad… but I still wouldn’t want anyone to see it, especially you, Beth, and Jackie. Not when you guys saw how it was before, spotless and beautiful. When my mom is the first way, the house is my favorite place in the world. She puts wildflowers in vases everywhere, and every surface shines, and there is always something delicious cooking and making the whole place smell wonderful. Even if I have to deal with angry car salesmen, I still prefer the first way to this.”
Graham was noticing as Genie spoke just how exhausted she looked. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her hair seemed a little dirty and straggling, and the skin on her hands looked rough and dry.
“When my mom is the second way, like right now, I have to do a lot more,” she said. She watched Graham as he looked at her calloused hands. “I have to take care of the horses completely on my own, muck their stalls, haul their water, groom them and exercise them, lug the hay down from up here to feed them.” She shrugged. “I love them, but they are hard work. That’s why there are only two of them left. And I have to clean the house, and keep up the lawn and the garden. My mom doesn’t believe in asking for help from anyone, so it’s all up to me.”
The two were silent for awhile. Graham wanted to make sure Genie was done talking before he said anything. When it had been long enough, he said quietly, “I can help you, if you want.”
Genie glanced at him, assessing.
“I’ll haul the water. I’ll get the hay. I’ll even muck the stalls, if you want. I don’t have to go in the house; I can stay in the barn. I’ve never met your mom, and I don’t have to do that now if that’s not what you want.”
Tears had filled Genie’s eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Could you help me with the hay?”
* * *
“What are you doing up here in the dark? Didn’t you notice the sun go down? Graham, I feel like I haven’t seen you in weeks,” Jackie complained. She had just climbed the stairs that led from the kitchen to the office, where Graham now sat at the computer, his back to the open section of the wall that let in a brisk fall breeze. “Can you please come downtown with me and Beth? We miss you.”
“Not today,” Graham said absently, his fingers clacking away at the keyboard, making no movement to turn on the lights.
“Ugh,” said Jackie in frustration, “that’s what you say every day! When is this going to end? You’ve been doing nothing but typing at that computer since we got back from Appaloosa Plains.”
Graham didn’t reply, absorbed as he was in whatever he was typing. Jackie clicked on the light, but not even this gained her brother’s attention.
After a few moments, Jackie said, “Fine, have fun shriveling up inside while me and Beth have fun without you.” And she walked back downstairs.
On the computer, Graham was busy with two different things, and hardly noticed his sister leave.
Sisters wanted me to go out with them, but I said no again. I can still talk, he typed into a Facebook message.
Thank goodness, came Genie’s reply. Mom’s driving me crazy today. She’s Phase 1 again, and this time she wants me to help her pick out a houseboat. A HOUSEBOAT! She won’t even listen to me when I try to say we don’t need one. Ugh.
That’s awful, Graham replied. Ever since their talk in Genie’s hayloft, she had been much more open about her mother’s behavior-but only with Graham. His sisters were left wondering what was going on now that some secret communications were passing between the two of them. It only seemed to worsen when they returned home to Monte Vista, because Genie became distraught with loneliness without them, and Graham wanted nothing more than to make her feel better. The result was that he stuck to Facebook like glue so that Genie could contact him anytime she needed to talk. I have an idea, he said to her now. What if you try to drag out the process? It’s been Phase 1 for a while now, right? If you keep finding something wrong with every houseboat she wants to get, maybe you can delay her from actually buying anything long enough that she’ll get to Phase 2 before she spends any money.
Genius!! Genie wrote back. I can’t believe I never thought of that! Oh, here she comes, wanting me to go look at another boat. I’ll try your strategy. Wish me luck. Thank you! She logged off.
Graham sighed, hoping his advice would help, and turned his attention to the second thing he was working on: a story. Graham had treasured an ambition to become a writer for years, and the curious case of Genie’s mother had sparked an idea in his mind for his first book.
He had done a fair amount of research, and was pretty certain that Mrs. Clearwater suffered from bipolar disorder. What they called Phases 1 and 2 were officially known as mania and depression, and the presence of such stark mood swings from one to the other indicated the bipolar issue. He hadn’t told Genie about this yet, but he was using the information he had found to write a character in his story.
Graham liked to think of himself as something of a psychologist. He’d been taking tons of classes on the subject at school, because he figured the more he knew about how people’s minds worked, the better characters he could write. And he had plenty of people in his life to analyze, from his brother and sisters to the many relatives in Appaloosa Plains. But his most intriguing subject was Genie.
He just couldn’t seem to figure her out. On the one hand, she had been incredibly open and honest about her family situation lately. But this was extremely unusual; Graham knew that she kept many secrets from many people. There were probably still plenty of things she wasn’t telling him, and he figured he was the closest confidant she had in the world.
He also thought she was much stronger than she gave herself credit for. Most of their conversations these days revolved around her fear that she would end up like her mother. That was why he was afraid of telling her about his unofficial diagnosis of her mother: she would certainly look it up right away when she heard the name. And when she did, she would get to the Wikipedia article, and she’d see the words “genetic factors contribute substantially to the likelihood of developing bipolar disorder,” and he wasn’t sure what impact that sentence would have on her. He had listened as she told him every day what she did to help her mother, taking care of the entire ranch as if she were a much older woman, dealing with financial affairs and horse manure with equal force, and he knew that she was not like her mother-not now. But the fear of that happening was ever-present in her mind, and Graham couldn’t bear to tell her that, through no fault of her own, she might indeed end up just like her mother.
* * *
Six Atwoods dressed in black stepped out of the cab and stood frozen at the gates of the Appaloosa Plains cemetery. It was the middle of the night; the graveyard seemed to be completely deserted. The family had arrived thirteen hours late due to numerous flight delays, and as a result, they had completely missed the funeral.
It had been a combined funeral. Just as Finn had predicted, Reagan had been the first to go. He had insisted, Rue heard from Jaden, that a funeral for his wife be postponed a little longer. According to Jaden, he knew his time was not far off, and he hadn’t wanted to make Rue and her family take the trip out more than once if they didn’t have to. Grief clutched at Rue’s insides as she remembered her brother telling her this over the phone. Considerate and wonderful until the very end: that was her father.
Rue led the way into the cemetery, her husband and children trailing behind her. Near the back was the family plot; she scanned the headstones, reading the names, Nick, Marigold, Mason, Rowan, Raleigh… Reagan.
There she was, her triplets on one side, her husband Finn on the other. Tears spilled across Rue’s face as she reached down to touch the headstones, first her mother’s and then her father’s. She couldn’t believe both her parents were gone.
She spoke to them in her mind, thanking them for everything they had done for her. In her mind she heard them answer, but she knew that was only her own imagination, and this made her feel even worse than before. Tears coursed down her face, and she gave up on trying to stifle the sound of her sobs.
At last she turned away. Her children stood silently behind her, with James beside them, and they all looked solemnly at her as she faced them. And without a word, she began to walk, and the five of them followed her, and they left the cemetery as silently as they had come.
* * *
And another chapter done! Please let me know what you thought. I hate to end on such a sad note :( But then again, Reagan and Finn sure were old. I like to think they were ready to go. But, what do you all think about Genie's home situation? And about Graham trying to help her? This is like the beginning of Genie's plot, so I hope it's at least got you interested :) Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you enjoyed! And happy Simming :)