Chapter 2
After the initial shock at our empty lot, I turned to Alyssa. "How exactly are we going to build a house on this expanse?"
"Well, I figure we'll have to live outside for a while," she said casually. I stared at her.
"You're kidding, right?" I asked, dread filling me up.
"Nope," she said cheerfully. "I estimate that we'll need about $3,000 to get the essentials, and even more, maybe $5,000 or so, to build a small house."
"How small is small?" I asked her.
"Maybe a shack, if we're lucky," she replied. "I'd advise for you to go get that architect job and a husband to get this legacy started."
I sighed. "Fine."
I managed to call up a taxi and I got inside. It smelled horrible, and my sister hopped in next to me.
"What are you doing?" I asked her.
"Going to the library," she said, offering no further explanation.
We stopped at the City Hall first and I exited the taxi.
By the time I had left City Hall, I could see my sister entering the Library nearby...
...and I was now a Fabric Fetcher! It was only the first level of the Architect job, but maybe I was placed so low because of the way I had burst in; I was a little
inappropriate, after all. I went back home in a taxi (I really needed a car) and purchased my first item for the house -- a drafting table for researching architectural design. I liked to be
neat and tidy, as it was part of my personality. The table and stool only left me with $760, but once I started getting jobs, I would be sure to have more money.
When my sister arrived home, I put down my tools and looked at her sheepishly. "I'm sorry, but I want a promotion and--"
I was cut off by her no-nonsense look. "I may be a
savvy sculptor, but you don't see me buying a sculpting station! I'm better off using my
computer whiz and
genius traits to earn money without buying a single thing. In fact, I earned you $73 while at the library."
"Thanks," I said quietly.
"You should be thankful. Now go meet men at the park," she said, irritation lacing her tone.
"Yes, Alyssa," I said, already on my way to Central Park, leaving my half-finished sketch behind.
The only men at the park were Boyd Wainwright and Christopher Steel, and neither one struck my fancy. I decided to try the nice man I saw standing across the street outside of the City Hall. His name was Thornton Wolff, but again, I didn't feel any connection to him. My next stop was at the Le Petit Shark Pool Center. A man named Geoffrey Landgraab was there -- now, this man, I felt an attraction to.
We got to talking for a couple hours. I found out that he was also
family-oriented, like me, and that he was a Fan Fiction Writer in the Writing profession. Oh yeah, and that he was also charismatic, a hopeless romantic, and had a good sense of humor.
The bad thing is, our signs aren't compatible, which I'm willing to overlook, but he also has a wife and kid, Nancy Landgraab and Malcolm Landgraab, respectively. When I saw his wife come into the bathroom, I stepped away from him. She seemed like a bit of a snob, as she was looking at herself in the mirror and muttering kind words to her beauty. We hugged goodbye, and I felt a warm feeling go through me. By that time it was almost 7 in the evening, so I left the building.
On my way out, I met both Simis Bachelor and Hank Goddard, both of whom I felt attraction to.
But Hank put a feeling through me that I could not describe. I felt young and girly again, and I felt myself blush as I talked to him. But before I could say any more, I felt hunger pangs coming to me. I excused myself, called my sister, and told her to meet me at the fire station where we would live, but only until we had a house.
When we got there, I grabbed a bowl of cereal from the fridge and gobbled it down; after that, I went up to the third floor where I fell asleep on one of the beds. They were a tad uncomfortable, but I fell to sleep quickly.
The next morning I got myself a bowl of cereal, wondering how I would find Hank again. Just thinking about him sent electricity through my body.
"Alyssa," I said, as she finished the juice box she had gotten from the fridge, "how do you find a person? Not like stalking, but more like... if you want to reach them again?"
She threw away her juice box and looked at me, a grin appearing on her face. "Who is it? Is he cute? Single? Good reputation?"
"I just met him yesterday," I told her, putting my bowl in the sink to hide my heated face. "Yes, he's cute, and I have no idea if he's single or not. Same goes for the reputation."
"What's his name?" she asked me, whipping out her cell phone to look him up on Simbook.
"No, don't!" I told her, taking her phone away from her. Immediately after doing that, however, my phone rang. It was a customer asking for a Book Nook.
"My first job!" I shouted with glee, and I was out the door in a flash on the way to the client's house. His name was Jack Bunch. He was attractive, but my heart was set on Hank.
I went upstairs and renovated his room -- but when I came out, he told me that he couldn't live in that "squalor!"
Frustrated, I added a small blue sleeping bag to the room.
But again, he insisted he couldn't live there! I finally decided to simply add another sleeping bag downstairs, even though that wasn't part of the renovation. When even that didn't work, I simply added two single beds in random places of the house, removing the sleeping bags. If this failed, I would just move on to another job.
But he even went so far as to leave the house! I tried to call him but he wouldn't pick up, so I took a shower and was immediately kicked out by Judy Bunch. I called it off as a bad job, angry at the family. When I got to the fire station, I interrupted my sister mid-flirt with some attractive guy named Dale Blanchard and complained to her about Judy.
"Calm down, Clarissa. I agree with you, but maybe you just need to go to bed."
I readily agreed and stormed up to bed.