Forrest paced the room nervously waiting for a knock on the door, he still wondered if he was really doing the right thing, but honestly, his life in Willow Creek was going nowhere and Willow Creek itself was heading in the same direction, what did he have to lose. As the knock came, he had more or less talked himself fully into the decision.
Forrest walked to the door, his heart pounding with the anticipation, he peered through the glass before opening the door and greeting the lady that stood there. Now he recognised her of course, she was the Matriarch of one of the most influential families in the neighbourhood, not the Goths, but only a step below.. Vivian Lewis. She had a beautiful daughter-in-law that was often painting at the Museum while he worked and a little granddaughter. It made perfect sense that this women was willing to sponsor the beginning of a whole new town, to create a safe place where her granddaughter could move to in the future. Now he doubly hoped to be accepted as the one to begin this undertaking.
Forrest opened the door and invited Vivian in, addressing her of course in his most respectful tone as Mrs. Lewis. He gestured to his dining table and hoped the peeling paint and scratched table wouldn’t injure his attempt at the interview.
He needed have worried, Vivian quickly put him at ease by cracking a joke, not that “how many handcuffs you can fit in your back pocket – as many as you like if you are a sim” was particularly funny, it did however break the ice and considering the atmosphere in Willow Creek these days it was at least topical. Hilarity over, she quickly got down to business, asking him first what he would build as the first community lot in Newcrest. Luckily he had the answer already.
While Forrest’s father had the spirit of adventure, his mother was more a free wheeling hippy, hence the name that had dogged him since grade school. He’d inherited his love of outdoors from her of course. When Forrest was young, his mother had the most wonderful garden with all sort of exotic plants, he could still remember the scents drifting into his bedroom on the night air as he lay in bed reading as a young boy. Sadly his mother had died young, but she’d had a dream, she had wanted to build a garden in Willow Creek that would unite people. He had decided that the best way to honour his mother would be to carry out her dream, only in the new town, it would be his memorial to her and lessen the pain of not being able to visit her grave in Willow Crest any more. The only fly in this ointment was that Forrest had never been so interested in how his mother grew the plants when he was young but he wasn’t scared of the hard work required to learn, it had to be more interesting than making sure there was no dust in the cracks of a wooden floor.
As he outlined his plans to Vivian, he became more and more animated, his arms waving with enthusiasm as he explained his mothers dream and how he wanted to carry it out for her, talking excitedly about gathering seeds and nurturing not only the plants but hope for the future. Vivian was apparently reasonably impressed, but not enough to avoid suddenly stopping him in his tracks and remind him of the disadvantages. Living alone in a new town, no travelling except to two particular places that were deemed safe. This, she explained was because she knew his life would be in danger as the spearhead of the Cause, at risk of kidnap for ransom, or even just death to sabotage the project. He would have to take a wife and have at least one child who would have their own task to complete. Forrest nodded and told her he had considered this already, the travelling wasn’t important to him, he was a cheerful sim who didn’t mind spending time outdoors and alone but later the thought of a wife and child were a wonderful idea, he wanted to share his life with someone and to raise a child would be a great experience. The last, but not least, the lack of money, Vivian couldn’t fund the whole project herself, she had at least managed to procure the rights to the town, but Forrest would have to provide capital to purchase his lot and there was no bursary available, so beyond moving to Newcrest, he would have to survive alone on the money he could make for himself.
Forrest gestured to the room they were in and said he was already used to living with next to nothing and surviving on his museum wage packet was already a challenge. Vivian just nodded and made a few notes before putting her notepad back in her hand bag. She folded her arms across her chest and looked at him for a minute. Forrest felt the nerves rising again under her stern gaze, but she broke the silence at last and told him that so far everything he had told her sounded good and she would call him as soon as she’d made a final decision.
To be continued…
*author’s note: All screenshots for this story so far have been in a different save game to the one that will be used for the challenge.
Calli's SimThings 