Chapter 37: Attack Of The NerdsIt seems like ages since Grace was last at work and she has quite a bit of catching up to do, Puzzle is just one promotion away from achieving her lifetime wish of Creature Robot Cross Breeder, while Grace is still stuck at level 4 of her career, during her absence some of her co-workers passed away so she has to start over again meeting the new ones, at least Bob is still her boss.
When she got home today a surprise was waiting for her in the greenhouse, Trigger.
This was the first time he had put in an appearance, he had spent the last couple of hours meditating by the life fruit bush.
When Trigger moved in his dream had been to become Leader Of The Free World, at 84 it didn't seem very likely, so instead he took up martial arts, he was very close to that final belt when Grim came, but it would seem it brought him an inner peace that he has carried with him to the afterlife.
Dallas has infected the whole house with his nerdiness, so far the only escapees are Max and Stone, and what's weirder is we infect him back making him even nerdier. So much so he got offered a job as a video game developer, he's 92 now hardly the time to be embarking on a new career so he turned it down.
The girls both wanted a new car, and not just any car but one worth 10,000, well Puzzle already has a motorbike, or her rebel ride as she likes to call it, but she was happy to let Grace have the car she just wanted the fun of buying one. So now we have an orange Toyota to go with all the other cars we hardly use. They also wanted makeovers but I had to say no to that one, they know the rules no makeovers allowed.
Lately it seems like every day brings more sad news, a lot of our old friends are passing away, first Sherman then Betty and today we got the news about Bob, before long everybody I grew up with will be gone, I realise that I don't really know Riverview anymore, it's a town full of strangers and my family is my social life. Would there be any point even getting to know new people, they too will grow old and die while I carry on, I think the magnitude of what we have undertaken has finally started to sink in, at least I will always have Grace and Stone, and all those to come, that is some comfort.
For Grace though this means she is not only losing her boss but a best friend too, a double blow to her potential immortality, she has one new advantage though, her father has infected her so much with his nerdiness that she has become more ambitious, with luck her new boss will appreciate her dedication as much as Bob did.
For a time Max stayed free of the nerd attack but it didn't last long.
I don't think Dallas will be happy until he's converted the whole house to his new way of thinking.
It's Stone's birthday already, we had a small family celebration in the garden and thankfully it went better than his last birthday.
As soon as he had finished his cake Dallas called him to pose for his sculpture, he put his best formal wear on for it, his outfit is a little
eccentric for such a young boy but then so is he.
I don't think Dallas quite captured the pose though, the one he did appeared to be gossiping, a bit of artistic license maybe.
"Once more Betty Yeti had saved the day and foiled Emperor MK's evil plan...."
I can see yet another nerd in the making here.
Grace had wanted to do the house up a bit so we did but we spent most of the 10,000 budget on Stone, he seems to be enjoying all his new playthings and has already spent a night sleeping in his treehouse.
He gets on great with Puzzle and they play a lot together, he particularly enjoys scaring her with ghost stories, Stone never received one of those strange dolls from our mysterious relative but it would seem Puzzle is happy to be his playmate just like she was Grace's.
After the evil Emperor MK stopped her wicked ways she joined the Llamas along with Max, her ambitious streak meant she soon left Max on the bench and she is already the league MVP.
It's strange how things are always changing, not so long ago MaryKay was a hated figure in town now she is adored, and not just by her fans, by her family too, it would seem her school friends were right after all, she did become a sports star.
Actually, they always choose the person with the highest relationship with the baby/toddler to take them to the cake.
Is that so, well I guess that makes sense, thanks Rikki.