Chapter 4: This Sporting LifeAs she grew up, Chris developed an enthusiasm for all types of physical activity. From being the star of her ballet class, she moved on to martial arts.
With homework, her part-time job and frequent visits to the gym, she had very little time for a social life. She did have a boyfriend for a short time, but neither of them was really serious about it.
Fluffs didn’t approve of Damion and she suspected he fancied Vicky anyway. They soon split up.
High school seemed to drag on forever but finally she graduated and was free to do something useful.
Her classmates had voted her ‘most likely to become a sports star’ and it had a certain appeal – but she knew the Llamas were struggling at the moment and their new coach had come up with a horribly intensive training schedule to try to improve their performance. Chris liked working out, but on her own terms – and she was pretty sure that martial arts didn’t feature in the coach’s plans. On the other hand, team games weren’t the only way to be a sports star. Maybe she could be a star athlete and body builder – or a Sim Fu champion. She might not be surrounded by adoring fans begging for her autograph… but wasn’t that a good thing?
Still, she had to earn a living somehow. Mamma had lectured her about the virtues of a steady job but Chris knew perfectly well that her mother had been a ghost hunter before she married. A profession like that sounded much better than trailing off to an office, or even the stadium, every day. So she decided to become a private eye. The pay wasn’t bad, the hours were flexible and she could justify the gym as a business expense. Besides, it was fun.
Although you did meet some odd types. The expert psychiatrist she consulted for one of her cases really looked as though she should have been one of her own patients.
Sometimes Ana despaired of Christabel. The girl had no sense of family duty. She’d repeatedly tried to take her aside for a little talk about immortality and matters arising but Christabel always had an urgent appointment elsewhere. Maybe she thought the mother-daughter chat was going to be about something embarrassingly conventional, like avians and insects.
It was probably time for another talk with Deirdra.
“Ana! Hi! How’s the baby?”
“The baby is now a young woman – and so is her younger sister… and that is why I wished to talk to you.”
“Wanting to enter glamorous grandmother competitions, are we?”
“Certainly not! Although it would be nice to have babies around the place again. No, the problem is with Christabel – my elder daughter, the ghost. She is obsessed with sport and this silly private eye business she has started up. She appears to have no desire to settle down, or even to talk to me about serious matters, like completing tasks and finding a spouse.“
“What about your other daughter?”
“Victoria? She is human. Well, mostly human. You said I had to have a family of ghosts, so Christabel must be the one to fulfil the requirements.”
“Yes, but couldn’t you take Victoria into your confidence? It seems to me you need someone to talk to as much as anything. If she knows what needs to be done, maybe she could steer her sister in the right direction – and maybe even help with her tasks. And if Christabel’s rebellious, what about some judicious disapproval? Not too much, mind – just enough to goad her into doing what you want, to spite you. Her enthusiasm for sport sounds quite promising. Let’s see what we can do with that…”
Victoria was in the garden, of course.
To her surprise, Ana found that Victoria was intrigued by her life story and was willing to become her accomplice. She was finally developing some of that endless curiosity that that Ana had had in earlier centuries and was delighted to learn that, with the combination of Ana’s genes and the treatments she was developing, she was likely to live long enough to do all of the things she wanted. She even had some ideas about possible improvements to Ana’s potions – some of the plants she was growing seemed to have interesting properties. It seemed, too, that she was keen to travel in search of new plants and fish. Maybe she could also pick up some useful ideas from other cultures.
Victoria might finally be turning into the daughter Ana had wanted for so long but other developments were less happy. Vernon had refused further doses of youth potion, saying he was pleased to have lived long enough to see their children grow up and was now content to grow old. As he felt the end approaching, they spent almost all of their time together.
But Vernon was alone in the bathroom when he finally lost his grip on the mortal realm and slipped quietly back into his urn.
Chris was pleased to have a sparring partner. Practising with the board breaker and meditating could only take you so far. She’d tried to teach Fluffs Sim Fu but, although Fluffs found it funny to pose like a martial artist now and then, she usually just stood and laughed if Chris invited her to spar. Vicky, on the other hand, was a student who was threatening to overtake her teacher. Maybe it was because she’d been to China and studied at the Academy there. Still, Chris could feel herself improving rapidly now that she had a training partner and soon she’d achieved mastery of both martial arts and athletics.
With the Twinbrook hacking scandals finally cleared up, Chris decided she had time to visit China herself. Vicky had bought a small house near the Forbidden City, which was a good base for seeing the sights. Not that Chris wanted to spend much time on the standard tourist round. She was there because Vicky had told her about the martial arts tournament that was about to take place. Becoming a Grand Master of Sim Fu really would be sports stardom. Sadly, things didn’t go quite as she'd planned. She won her first few fights easily enough but then began to suffer defeats. Still, she’d reached the third rank when one of her opponents refused to come over and fight. In between repeated attempts to invite him over, she sparred with Vicky – but both her week’s holiday and the tournament were over before she’d improved her ranking.
Back home, she continued her training – there were still other goals she wanted to achieve.
Still, it was all beginning to seem rather pointless. Failing to achieve her dream of winning the martial arts tournament had left her life feeling somehow empty - but then a conversation with Vicky led to everything changing.
“Hey, Chris, I met someone yesterday who feels the same way you do about art. He hates it too.”
“Really? Was it someone in the shop when you were selling those vegetables?”
“No, it was last night, in the graveyard.”
“What were you doing there at night? Trying to prove how brave you are?”
“No, I was fishing. There are some really odd fish in that big pond. Anyway, I met Steward and we got to talking.”
“Steward? I don’t remember a Steward. He must be someone who started working there after I left. Is he a mausoleum clerk like I was or a gravedigger?”
“Neither. He’s a ghost. Would you like to meet him?”
Summary - generation 2Heir: Christabel Goole
Life state: electrocution ghost
Traits: Perceptive, loves the outdoors, heavy sleeper, athletic, can’t stand art
Lifetime wish: Physical Perfection
Toddler requirements: best friends with both parents, reached level 3 in two skills (xylophone, logic books)
Child requirements: on honor roll, one opportunity completed (ballet recital)
Teenage requirements: on honor roll, reached level 3 in mausoleum clerk part-time job, had a romantic interest (Damion Jeter)
Unique best friend: Fluffs (imaginary friend)
Two career rewards: frosted door, case board
Three unique opportunities: Hacked!, Digging for Dirt, The Case of the Hacker Elite
Four unique Lifetime Happiness Rewards: Professional Slacker, No Bills Ever, Opportunistic, Moodlet Manager
Five unique 5000+point wishes: master athletic skill, work out for 12 hours straight, reach level 10 of Investigator career, break 500 more boards, master martial arts skill
Six unique skill challenges: Body Builder, Timber Terminator, Marathon Runner, Fitness Nut, Master of Meditation, Sim Fu King
Seven items for mausoleum: gems from board breaking
House show-off postNext story chapter
