Slaveship

Round 28: Winter 2028

last update/next update

Augustin and Hanna Novak are both 73, Naomi is 53 and Owen is 51.
(Adrienne is 21 and Malcolm is 18)

Narrated by Naomi Novak

It's so quiet without Adrienne and Malcolm around. No stomping through the house every afternoon after school, no constant stream of teenage visitors coming in and out the door, no whining about homework, or dinner, or anything else.

It's a little strange, after being a parent 24/7 for 21 years to have so much time to ourselves. To have just about all our time to ourselves!

We've been pretty lucky having my parents live with us, as they've always been willing to watch the kids whenever we wanted to go away. We love travelling though, so we took another trip recently.

We recently had a zen garden put in the front of our holiday home, and it's such a relaxing place to be. I can't wait until we get to go back again.

I haven't been so inspired to paint in a long time.

Our house is so isolated - there's no one else around for miles and it was wonderful to just be so completely alone.

We didn't stay at a hotel, obviously, but the restaurants at the hotels are open to anyone, so we didn't cook dinner once! It was fantastic.

Well, except when the waiter tipped a salad over Owen's head. That wasn't so fantastic.

But the waiter was very apologetic about it and we got a free meal, so it wasn't all bad.

We didn't let it ruin our trip, anyway.

Owen was like a machine while we were away. He got up every morning before the sun (and before me).

Then he'd eat, then go for a jog.

By the time I was up and ready for breakfast, he'd be doing tai chi in the kitchen.

Once we got home, Owen was very focused on improving his public speaking skills. He was in the bathroom for at least an hour sometimes.

It turns out he was working on a promotion - finally! And this time he was successful!

I'm so proud of him and I think he's pretty proud of himself too.

Mum and Dad say they're too old to go out all the time now, so they have their little date nights at home.

I used to be a little embarrassed by them when I was younger but I've grown used to it as I've got older.

Mum is still working and Dad still spends his days looking after Matthew and Simon.


Dad seems to think they're both destined to be musical geniuses, so he's working with them on their nursery rhymes.

I think the boys are a little young to be able to see that right now, but I won't ruin Dad's fun.

My boutique, Vestiti, is really turning a great profit now.

I recently expanded my line to include shoes. The customers really love them and my earnings are up $32,000, compared to this time last year.


Malcolm hardly ever comes to see us at home, but he comes into the store all the time. Mainly to be a pain in the ass, it seems.

I try to get him to buy something a little more stylish - with a huge discount, of course - but no luck so far. He says he likes his slobby stuff.

Adrienne's a lot better at visiting us than Malcolm. Mum and Dad love it - they really miss having us all at home.

She comes over once or twice a fortnight and is usually there by the time I get home from work.

I keep waiting for Adrienne to bring a guy with her on one of her visits but she never has. There was Nick but they broke up before we got a chance to meet him.

I'm sure she's probably getting sick of my constant warnings to be careful but I worry about her.

I never did while she was in high school but your daughter coming home from college pregnant in her freshman year tends to do that to you.

I think Adrienne is definitely on a better track now than we could have predicted a few years ago.

It looks like she's going to graduate at the end of this year, and with honours, at that! Adrienne was never very studious at school, so it's such an achievement for her.


We're all thrilled about that but I don't think anyone is more thrilled than me about Adrienne's plans after uni. Right now, she's looking at going into fashion design!

She wanted some of my advice and the main thing I told her was to learn to sew! I don't sew all the clothes I design, of course, but it's such a useful skill in this industry.

She promised me she'd get started on that as soon as she gets settled back in Sullivan. I'm going to put in a good word for Adrienne at the fashion house and see if I can get her an internship. I'm really excited about working alongside my daughter and I hope it all works out for us.

Extras:
Adrienne is the only Sim I've used the pierced tongue on so far and I think it's pretty cool!

Notes:

• Title is from Slaveship by Josh Rouse.
• Malcolm followed Naomi around the store trying to tell her dirty jokes. Naomi's shy, so she doesn't like them. He tried one on Matilda too. She didn't like it either but that's mainly because she doesn't like Malcolm. ;)
• I honestly don't think I would have been able to choose a career for Adrienne without the criteria I came up with for custom careers. I added them to Apple Valley's criteria for Maxis careers and it makes choosing jobs so much easier now! I already have some careers planned out for kids who aren't even in college yet!
• Owen didn't roll the want to study charisma but I was so sick of him being a paralegal! I'll leave him as a personal injury attorney now, unless he happens to roll some skilling wants. He's practising law, that's good enough for me!
• Naomi's $32,000 was the result of a chance card - she didn't make that much just with her store!