Fire and WaterIn fact, Phil had met his ideal woman long ago. She was a daredevil like himself, beautiful (at least, to him) in an unusual, almost unearthly, way and as brightly coloured as he was. She was also unattainable – but not for the usual reasons. He knew she was single. Her age was a moot point: was she younger or older than he was? Either way, she’d certainly be young enough to produce the next generation of Golds, given the chance. The tricky part was that she was dead.
Ruth had first caught his attention because she was different. All of the other ghosts at the cemetery had died in fires. It wasn’t too surprising when you thought about it: the town was surrounded by forest and the older houses were all made of wood. One of the reasons he’d joined the Fire Service was that he’d heard so many first-hand accounts of death by fire. Ruth, though, had drowned while boating on the lake. While the other ghosts were orange, she was a luminous blue. But just as dead.
If his grandfather were to be believed, a lot of his ancestors had been ghosts, so there must be a way of bringing them back to some sort of life – but how? Somehow, he didn’t quite like to ask.
He shelved the question for the time being and concentrated on his career. After all, he had tasks to complete before he could have a child. He could dodge the issue of the child’s mother for now.
Then, one day, his grandparents gave him a ‘box of memories’ that they’d put together for future generations. He’d always known Granddad Sam was a musician but he’d never realised how good he was, or that his great-grandmother Louisa was such an amazing songwriter. Phil became obsessed by
Annals, and by one track in particular.
Fire and Water was the story of a fireman who fell in love with a ghost. According to Sam’s sleeve notes, the song was about Louisa’s parents but it felt to Phil as though she could equally have been looking into the future and writing about his own life. The notes also hinted at the solution to his problem. It seemed that everything depended on a call from the science lab. He went back to his work and waited for the phone to ring.
Jaclyn had retired soon after Phil was given responsibility for the larger fires, leaving him on his own at the station. Just before his adult birthday, he made it to Assistant Fire Chief. Assistant to whom?
Then his phone rang. It wasn’t the lab but it was an opportunity. He only needed one more. The trouble was, he’d have to give up his job. Even if he sat on it until he’d got his final promotion, did he really want to give up being Fire Chief in favour of a very junior position with the Llamas? He was flattered to have been asked, of course, but it didn’t seem like a sensible move. After agonising over it for a few hours, he turned down the offer. He could always wait for another opportunity to crop up. He’d be OK, provided his mother didn’t find out.
His final promotion came through and he was able to work from home most of the time. While he was back at the station maintaining the other fire engine, he discovered that he had a new colleague at last. Kisha was a vast improvement on her predecessors. She was young, for a start. He discovered that she was brave and athletic like himself, with an interest in martial arts. If things had been different, she’d have made him a good wife –although she did seem a little lacking in common sense. The next time he was called out to a fire, she was one of the panicking people he had to rescue.
With his promotion to Fire Chief came recognition – of a sort. His ‘celebration of great success’ was sparsely attended, to say the least.
It probably didn’t help that the mayor had apparently decided it would be a good idea to present him with his medal in one of the flowerbeds.
Still, it did feel good to get the medal and he proudly hung it on his bedroom wall with his other awards. He was just heading upstairs to the kitchen to grab a meal fit for heroes when Lily took him aside. Had she heard that he’d turned down an opportunity? No, it was just the old ‘doing his duty by the family’ spiel. He was well aware that other people were making sacrifices for this dynasty, his mother most of all – but at least his parents had been (and still were) blissfully happy together. At last, it was too much. He’d kept his secret for too long. So now he told Lily about Ruth; about his hopeless love – unless the scientists came good very, very soon.
“But why don’t you ask a genie for help? There are plenty of lamps lying around the house.”
“A genie? What good would that do? Aren’t they just for getting even richer than we are already?”
“No. We’ve mostly used them for money but they can grant other wishes… like long life…”
“Oh, Mum, I’m sorry. I thought you were using the Fountain up the hill.”
“I am – but I also asked a genie for a long life. That spring’s not very reliable. Don’t tell your father. He thinks it’s wonderful.”
“So what do I do? Just rub a lamp?”
“I think you’d need her gravestone. You could go and collect it from the cemetery.”
“No need. I’ve been carrying it around for ages.”
“Well, in that case, put it down somewhere and grab a lamp. After you’ve eaten, of course.”
Of course. Honestly, mothers! You finally had the chance of a lifetime and they still insisted on you having a proper meal first. Oh well. Best not to argue.
He might not have appreciated Zoë’s cooking to the full or chewed every mouthful properly but he did at least shovel down some food. Then he placed Ruth’s tombstone carefully down on the lawn…
…and rubbed the lamp.
Myron the genie seemed pleased to be asked for something other than money. He took a deep breath and did that show-offy glowing thing they liked to do.
“Yeah, nice trick, making the tombstone disappear. The shadow’s still there, though. And where’s Ruth?”
“In the immortal phrase,
she’s behind you!”
He turned around and there she was, still floating a little but otherwise as solid as he was. How could he ever thank Myron enough?
* * * * *
Ruth’s introduction to her new life was eventful, to say the least. While Phil was, rather nervously, asking her to join the household…
… out in the garden, Adam was leaving it.
Then, the following morning, the stove caught fire again. Ruth showed she was the right woman for Phil by attacking the blaze with her extinguisher. In fact, she got to the fire faster than he did.
Even with both of them fighting the fire, it was hours before the flames died down. Zoë’s daughter Lucy, who had just blown out her candles, really should have used the potty before she’d grown too big for it. In her panic over the fire, the poor girl had an unfortunate accident on the kitchen floor, adding to the general mayhem.
With the blaze finally extinguished and the cooker and cabinets replaced yet again, Phil promised to use his contacts to get the whole house fireproofed. It was just too embarrassing for a firefighter from another force to be called out to the house of the Fire Chief of Hidden Springs. The man was useless but that didn't make Phil feel much better.
Phil didn’t really believe that bad things came in threes but he did keep a sharp eye out for meteors for the next day or two. In fact, the next significant event was a good one. His phone rang. It was someone from the sports stadium again: if he didn’t want to play for them, would he at least be willing to join in their fitness campaign and improve his athletic skill by one level? He was happy to accept and spent the night at the gym with his moodlet manager.
Then he rushed home to tell Ruth that his requirements were now completed and, er, well, you know…
She knew.
And soon after that, she realised that she was pregnant.
In the finest traditions of dynasties, their daughter was born in a bathroom.
They named her Dora.
Next chapter
Summary – Generation 2Heir: Philip
Traits: Athletic*, Brave, Ambitious, Daredevil, Handy
Lifetime wish: Tinkerer (not yet finished)
Unique maxed career: Firefighter
Two unique best friends: Kisha Andrew & Myron Gamez (genie)
Three unique skill challenges: Plumber, Electrician, Tinkerer
Four unique opportunities: Scavenger Hunt: Precious Materials, Shower Upgrade, Try the Traps, Add It Up
Buildings bought this generation: Centre for Naturally Scientific Studies. (Well, actually, I had to call it ‘Centre for Natural Sciences’ because its full name won’t fit in the box. Neither will ‘Landgraab Industries Science Facility’, for that matter.)
Newly-upgraded properties: Mick’s Master Karaoke, Landgraab Sell’n’Swap, Performance Park, The Scholar’s Garden**, Champs les Sims Nectary**, Redwood Peak Viewing Area, Eloise C Vanderburg's Home for Books, Crystal Solarium Rejuvenating Waters
Vacations used: 4 out of 4
*Trait allocated by the game
**Putting the WA venues into town was a misjudgement. Adam ended up travelling to all three locations anyway, so it was adding to the file size and number of properties to be bought for no real benefit.
Halfway through the time in this town, they own about half of it. In fact, they probably have enough spare cash to buy the rest outright but I’m trying to keep the file size down. It might have been better to have delayed the property speculation even more.
I chose Ruth as the generation 2 spouse on the basis of her Sims Wiki article. She looked to have interesting genes and her colouring (grey skin/white hair) sounded different, if not particularly interesting. In fact, she turns out to be rather better looking and more colourful in person (well, in pixels).
