In the Heat of the Day

April 2029 - Oasis Springs, Nevada
Craig/Morris - Tucker is 41, Cynthia is 41, Raven is 3

Life with a toddler is fun, Cynthia thinks. She had forgotten her experience in these days from raising Violet. 

 

It’s been so long since she had a toddler and she’s reminded every day that living this life once again requires a lot of cleaning up behind Raven.

But it also includes the sweet times, such as reading to Raven before she falls asleep. So having a toddler again after all these years isn’t so bad.

Violet has come home from Pine State University during spring break.

With Violet in North Carolina and her family in Nevada, she doesn’t get to spend much time with her little sister.

Violet loves this little bit of time she has to help take care of this toddler by tucking her into bed when it’s time for a nap and then playing with her when she wakes back up. Maybe one day having toddlers of her own like this won’t be so bad. But she feels that she can wait on that part of her life!

“So Baine didn’t want to come out here with you during spring break?” Cynthia asks her daughter.

“He has his own family to visit in California,” Violet says. “He doesn’t have to come here with me.”

“Yeah, but I thought he didn’t care enough about his parents to visit them much.”

“His dad and stepmom,” Violet says. “He’ll remind you that she’s not his mom.”

“Okay,” Cynthia says. “So is everything good with you two?”

“Of course it is,” Violet says. 

“You know, your dad and I had a relationship already in college, but that doesn’t mean we stuck with each other. We certainly explored other people and didn’t hold each other tied down.”

Violet rolls her eyes. “Baine certainly isn’t allowed to explore anything outside of my bed.”

Sometimes Cynthia wonders how her daughter didn’t even inherit all of her parents’ genes. How can Violet already be so attached to just one boy?

Raven has learned to climb the furniture and tries to eat her food there.

At first, Tucker and Cynthia were going to let her eat there and be a big girl, but Raven showed just how young she is by throwing food everywhere.

So she’s bound to the high chair for a little while longer until she decides not to throw food on the couch.

Tucker is staying busy at work these days.

There is a request for new combinations of chemicals to help in some government studies. But many times the chemistry just doesn’t work out.

“You’ll figure it out,” Madison tells her uncle when he comes to mope about his latest experiments.

Tucker hopes she’s right. He could get a big bonus for figuring out exactly what the military base in Paradise City is looking for.

Tucker takes some time away from the lab and goes over to the machine that creates new weapons focused on mind control.

It looks like things are going well.

But then it just doesn’t turn out like it should. What happened? How does he keep finding ways to mess up his experiments and builds?

And so Tucker decides to go back to the easy work today and waters the plants instead.

***

Raven wakes Cynthia up as soon as Tucker has left for work most days.

It’s hot in Oasis Springs like usual, so in the mornings Cynthia takes Raven out to the little pool they have in the backyard before the sun starts burning too much.

Raven never likes leaving her pool. She would stay in it all day if she could!

 Cynthia makes flower decor when Raven is asleep.

Sometimes things don’t get arranged like she intends or she accidentally breaks stems.

But she is selling some of these flowers. Anna Richard likes them and will buy one every couple weeks.

“You should set up a website and a page on Simsbook advertising your work with these flowers,” Anna tells her.

“You think so?” Cynthia asks.

“Yes, I think you could get a good amount of work if you advertise yourself out there like that.”

Cynthia nods as Anna’s words play around in her thoughts. Maybe she should advertise herself online. Bringing in some extra money isn’t a bad idea.

***

Cynthia and Tucker try to take time out on the town when they can. Madison is baby-sitting Raven for them. Her girls love to play with their little cousin. 

“The lab is crazy right now,” Tucker says, letting out a long sigh. “I can’t keep up with everything the military base is asking for.”

This is date out on the town,” Cynthia reminds him. “No talk about work allowed.”

Tucker has a lot of things he could still complain about, but he listens to Cynthia and stays silent about his frustrations at the lab.

They move over to the couch at the other end of the bar when they finish eating.

“We used to hang out in places like this back when we were younger,” Cynthia says. College seems a lifetime ago.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m still young,” Tucker tells her.

“And what do you do when you’re young then?” Cynthia asks.

Tucker grabs her hand and pulls her closer. “Make out in public without worrying what everyone else thinks.”

Cynthia giggles as he pulls her into him, letting those memories of days gone by take over.

—————

As far as the family tree, Raven is one of Madison’s first cousins because Madison’s mom Suzie is Tucker’s sister. So that makes Madison’s girls Raven’s first cousins once removed? If I’m thinking correctly. It doesn’t matter, they are young girls who love to play with a toddler!

If you didn’t know yet, Paradise City in my game is StrangerVille. Even in my game it’s not a big city, it’s a small town that had hoped to make something of themselves with the idea of being paradise in the desert. But the stuff going on with the military base became really strange and caused people to not want to live there. But I just don’t like the name StrangerVille in my Sims world, lol!

In my story of these cities, the science research goes on in Oasis Springs, and they do a lot of research for the military base in Paradise City, which is focused on studying the worlds outside of Earth—looking for life out there. Not everyone knows about where Zane and Zared’s genes came from. They just tell everyone that the green skin is a fault they have in their DNA. Dewey and Anna’s daughter Piper is also alien offspring from when Dewey was abducted. But she has dark skin like Dewey instead of green so she can blend in easily. Pine Hollow may know about alien abductions but that doesn’t mean other cities do

One of the ladies visiting the Rattlesnake Juice Bar passed out at the door while Tucker and Cynthia were there. People walking in just glanced at her and kept on walking, lol!