Chapter 3: It's Good to be Home
Kaelyn was supposed to arrive back home in the afternoon, but her flight had been delayed and she didn't return until 1 AM. She had planned to take some pictures in Sunset Valley after she got off her flight, but she was too tired and just happy to be back home. She could tell her family about her trip tomorrow.
As quietly as she could, Kaelyn unlocked the door and entered her home. Just as she thought, the house was entirely silent, save for the soft humming of the refrigerator. She did notice that Sienna had finished her first sculpture, apparently a pedestal, and snapped a shot of it.
Kaelyn peeked in at Carina. She was fast asleep, cuddled up with her teddy bear. Sometimes, Kaelyn found it hard to believe such an energetic, hyperactive child could sleep so still and quietly.
Kaelyn took out the mummified teddy bear she'd bought and carefully slipped it into Carina's arms with her brown one. She then crept over to Kaelyn's dresser, cursed at a squeaky toy she mistakenly stepped on, and placed the butterfly she'd captured on her trip onto it. Carina loved the outdoors, so surely, a butterfly would be a nice little decoration to her room.
After one more glance at Carina, Kaelyn crept out of the little girl's bedroom and into her own room. Sienna was sleeping just as peacefully, probably because she worked hard on that sculpture. Kaelyn quietly slipped into her own bed, right next to Sienna's, and fell asleep in under five seconds.
Carina was the first to wake up at around 5 AM. She spotted the mummified bear as soon as she opened her eyes. "I'm going to called you Puppet!" she declared and hugged the new toy. "Oh? What's that?" In what seemed like a second, she spotted the butterfly on her dresser.
"Ooh, how cute!" she beamed at the little creature. "I'm gonna called you...Mira!"
Filled with energy already, Carina started spinning and dancing with her new bear around her room. In her joy, she forgot that it was still early and her noise from singing and bumping into things awoke Sienna and Kaelyn.
"Carina, shush!" Sienna called her from her bedroom.
"Sorry, Mommy," Carina whispered. "But come look at the presents Auntie bought me!"
Sienna sleepily looked at Kaelyn. "You bought her back presents?"
"Just a bear and a butterfly," Kaelyn answered. "How was I supposed to know she would be up at five in the morning, filled with energy?"
"May as well get up then," Sienna groaned. "What time did you get back anyway?"
"One, but I'll get up for now and go back to sleep when Carina leaves for school," Kaelyn said.
Sienna just shook her head and went to her sculpting station. She moved her first sculpture and started working on a block of wood. Kaelyn was a little surprised. How had Sienna gone from clay to wood in three days? Sienna said that was just how hard she had been working.
Sienna and Kaelyn were so busy talking, neither of them noticed when Carina snuck by them and into the bathroom to fiddle around with the sink.
She still had plenty of time before school, so Carina decided to play pretend with her dress-up chest. She chose her regal red princess gown.
And started a pillow fight with Kaelyn!
Sienna tuned out the ruckus behind her. She really wanted to focus on this wooden sculpture and get it done as soon as possible. For someone who had only gotten four hours of sleep, Kaelyn didn't seem too tired in Sienna's mind. Not if she was having a pillow fight with Carina. For some reason, that suddenly jogged her memory.
"Hey, Kaelyn!" Sienna said. "Are you still going to learn martial arts?"
"Yes!" Kaelyn replied between her and Carina's laughter. "That's where my next vacation will be. China. I can kill two birds with one stone."
Carina stopped hitting Kaelyn and put her pillow down with a serious look. "What?" she said softly.
"Kill two birds with one stone, Carina," Kaelyn repeated. "When I go to China, I can get started on martial arts and work on my photography skills at the same time. Easy."
"So you won't kill two birds with a stone?" Carina asked, feeling a little relief.
"No, I will," Kaelyn answered. "If I learn martial arts and photography while I'm in China, I'll be able to kill two birds with one stone."
"B-but...that's mean!" Carina sobbed. "Why would you kill the birds?! I like birds!"
"What? Wait a minute!" Kaelyn exclaimed, not understanding why her niece was about to go in hysterics. "I never said anything about killing birds!"
Sienna almost couldn't resist laughing. "Kaelyn, she doesn't understand," Sienna explained. "She thinks you
literally mean you're going to kill birds with a stone."
"Oh! Carina, no!" Kaelyn told her, trying to calm her down. "I would never do that! I didn't mean it that way!"
"So...what does it mean then?" Carina asked, wiping her eyes.
"It's a figure of speech," Kaelyn explained. "It's an expression. Killing two birds with one stone means getting two things done at once. When I go to China, I'll be working on martial arts and photography while I'm there. I'll be improving two skills on one vacation. Understand?"
"Oh, goodie! That sounds much better!" Carina rejoiced. "Can we go play tag?"
"Sure. It's almost daylight."
Their game of tag lasted until the school bus arrived. Carina threw off her costume, hugged her aunt and ran off to catch the bus.
Shortly after Carina left, Sienna also left to get some air and let Kaelyn have the house to herself while she caught up on her sleep.
Before Kaelyn returned to bed, she wanted to wash her hands a little. Too bad she hadn't known the sink was rigged.
"Well, that was refreshing," Kaelyn groaned. There was no need to back to sleep now. That cold surprise had woken her up and reminded her of something she had to do: go to City Hall. She had to register herself as a self-employed photographer.
Kaelyn hopped in a taxi and headed over to City Hall. Now, she could really get started in her career as a photographer. It was a good thing she hadn't sold any of her pictures yet. They weren't worth much anyway, but everyone starts at the bottom.
After coming out of City Hall, Kaelyn met a woman named Molly French. She was a nice woman, but looked tired, despite her heavy make-up. She also had a little baby named Sandi. Kaelyn didn't have much of a hard time striking up a conversation with her, though she couldn't tell whether Molly was enjoying it or loathing. The baby didn't seem to mind, though.
When Kaelyn mentioned she had recently come back from Egypt, Molly asked if she had learned any music there, something she was very interested in. Kaelyn sang her the song "Oh, Where is my Mummy" and she loved it.
Sandi seemed to find her own foot more interesting.
It was soon time for Molly to go to work, so she picked up Sandi and headed off in a taxi. Kaelyn walked across the street into the local park to take some snapshots.
After school was dismissed, Carina made her way to the park so she could fish after she did her homework. Kaelyn was still there, so she gave Carina a little help. She didn't mention the prank from earlier, deciding that Carina probably didn't remember it anyway. Plus, there was no real reason to bring it up.
Meanwhile, Sienna had returned home, taken a nap and finished her wooden sculpture.
She only needed a few more simoleons to advance to the next level of her sculptor career, so she started on a wall of clay for her next sculpture.
Hours in, she was working feverishly.
Kaelyn and Carina were still at the park. Kaelyn was snapping photos while Carina was catching fish. One fish she caught was almost half her height.
Eventually, Kaelyn decided it was time to go home. Carina wasn't too disappointed. She was happy with her big catch and, as much as she loved the outdoors, she didn't like being in the dark anyway.
"Hey, Auntie," Carina said in the cab.
"Yes?"
"When are you going to China?"
"In two weeks, I suppose," Kaelyn answered. "Maybe just one week. Don't worry. I won't kill any birds with stones."
"No, I was going to ask something else," Carina told her.
"Okay. What is it?"
"What does martial arts have to do with photography?"
"Nothing, really," Kaelyn replied. "I just want to learn both. Though, you do have to travel to get started on either, so I guess that's a similarity."
"I want to fish in different countries," Carina said. "When will you take me?"
"I don't know really know about taking you," Kaelyn hesitantly admitted. Carina was immediately shocked by her answer. "It's not that I don't want you to go!" Kaelyn quickly explained. "You're just a little too excitable."
"No, I just want to fish everywhere!" Carina cried.
"Excitable was a bad word," Kaelyn said. "I mean you're too hyper. I worry you'll run off."
"I'll be good!" Carina promised. "I'll be good in China! Please, can I go?"
"It's not that I think you'll misbehave," Kaelyn explained. "I just think you'll run off every ten seconds because you're so hyper. I mean, look at you now. You're not even sitting correctly."
Carina sits down in the chair and puts her feet down. "I won't run off. I promise I won't. Please?" Carina pleaded. "Pretty please with all my fish on top?"
"I'll think about it," Kaelyn replied. "Not on this trip, though. Maybe if I return to Egypt again. I actually met two girls there you might like. But for now, the answer is no. You can't travel with me."
"Okay," Carina said sadly. "Is this punishment for my prank?"
Kaelyn wondered where that suddenly came from. "No, it's not, though thanks for admitting it," Kaelyn told her. "I said the answer is no
for now. Another trip perhaps."
"Okay."
When the two got home, Carina took a joy ride on the couch to cheer herself up. She pretended she was zooming all the way to China.
Sienna was almost finished with her sculpture.
"Sienna," Kaelyn said, "will you be finished with that by tonight?"
"Hopefully. Why?"
"I have to talk to you about Carina."
"Did she run off and you had to chase her?" Sienna asked.
"No, something else."
