Chapter 9: In Another LifeThe next morning was still a school day, and so Rose, as usual, was up with the sun so she would have time to eat and shower before school.
She was just finishing breakfast when Iris came downstairs to join her.
"Morning mom," said Rose with a smile. "Got any big plans for your first full day as an immortal?"
"No, actually, nothing huge. I'll finish up some comedy routines for work, and then maybe I'll practice the piano while there's no one else home."
"Sounds like a pleasant afternoon," Rose nodded. "I'd better go to school. Tell Dad I love him and I'll him tonight."
Iris smiled. "Sure thing, Rosie."
Having finished breakfast and just taken the rubbish out, too, Iris found the boys in the kitchen, finally awake.
"Good morning Iris!" said Sergio. "So, you have any big plans for your first full day of immortality?"
"Funny," Iris mused, "Rosie just asked me the same question."
"And the answer," she continued, as the three sat down at the bar together while the boys ate breakfast, "is nothing out of the ordinary. I might run through a few comedy routines for work, and then practice the piano while the two of you aren't in the family room."
"That sounds very practical," said Sergio with a laugh.
"Do you two have plans?" asked Iris.
"I'm going to work tonight," said Joaquin, "so probably just some guitar jamming all afternoon. What about you, Serge? Any of your lady friends coming over for a visit?"
"Har har," murmured Sergio, "So what if they are? But actually, I was hoping to dedicate a bit of time to the garden. I've been pretty neglectful of it these last few days."
"Fair enough," said Iris.
"Yeah," Sergio continued, "I accidentally let the old cow plant die. Feeling pretty foolish about that. I didn't grow that seed, I fished it. But now I'm hoping to leave some cowberries growing in the garden for you, Iris, so you can plant as many cowplants as you want whenever you need to."
"Well that's very…sweet of you," Iris replied, wondering what on earth she was going to do with one cowplant, let alone 'as many as she needed.'
True to their words, each of the three of them set out to do exactly as they had intended to do with their days. Having mastered the Piano and the Violin, Joaquin was hoping to master the guitar as well.
Sergio had taken the 'super green thumb' trait long ago, in the days of his youth, but that didn't mean he could completely let the garden go. Every couple of days, he checked that each plant was still getting enough water and sunlight, and checked for weeds and bugs.
And Iris, once Joaquin had gone outside to fit in a bout of cloudgazing before work, sat herself down at the piano. She hoped, one day, to play it as masterfully as her husband played.
It was just then, that the unimaginable happened.
Iris dropped her piano playing immediately. The shout was not a feeble cry for help, it was barely audible, but she heard it, she
felt it, and she rushed outside as soon as she did.
She couldn't believe it. This was the moment she had been dreading since the day she fell in love with him. This was the moment she couldn't bear to witness. And yet, this was the moment she couldn't bear to look away from.
"Joey, no. Not yet, you can't."
"Joey, no," she whispered. "I still need you. Rose still needs you. You can't just leave."
Rose.
The words caught in her throat. She choked, on tears, on language, on forming each sound.
"Rose wanted me to tell you…She wanted me to say…"
But she couldn't force them out.
"I love you, Joaquin LeChien."
Sergio, being not quite as emotionally tied to Joaquin as his wife and soulmate, didn't come over until he heard the fuss and smelled the unmistakeable scent that the Grim Reaper carried around with him - the scent of death, of misere, of dreams gone by and broken hearts.
"Oh, Iris," he said. And then nothing.
There was nothing he could do but cry alongside her.
"You know," said the Reaper, in his booming but empty voice. "I'd be open to bargaining."
But Iris, knowing that this was forbidden - as were the death flowers growing in abundance in Sergio's garden, only sobbed harder.
And so, the reaping was completed. Joaquin was gone, the deed was done. Iris wiped away tears, trying to compose herself well enough so she could say to the Grim Reaper what was truly on her mind, when she heard another voice that made her heart sink even more.
It was 3 o'clock.
"Mom, where are you? I was looking for you in the family room - you said you'd be at the pia-"
"Dad," whispered Rose, dumbstruck.
"I missed him. I missed him completely."
"Wasn't there any warning?" Iris demanded of the Reaper. "This is too early. Much too early. You should have warned him."
"He was given as fair a warning as anyone else."
"So you mean he knew? He knew and didn't tell me? Why would he do that?" Iris asked.
The reaper merely shrugged. "Sims do unpredictable things when faced with death. Other times, they are more predictable than they would otherwise. Perhaps one day, you will have the opportunity to ask him."
There were many perhapses. Perhaps, in another life, things would have been different. Perhaps, Iris would not have moved to the grand house on the hill, but would have moved into a small house in town. Perhaps, unburdened by the curse of immortality, she would have lived a simpler existence. Maybe, she wouldn't have had to work so hard to be the very best - perhaps her youth could have been spent dancing and laughing and partying the night away in the streets of Windenberg.
Perhaps she and Joey would have lived together, in that small house in town. Sergio could have kept the house on the island, and married one of the beautiful girls he spent so much time with in the Paragons club. Siobhan, maybe, could have moved into the house with him. He could have founded the start-up he'd always wanted to build, and Siobhan would have risen through the ranks of the corporate world to become the very best. They would have grown old and grey, just the two of them, in the company of each other. Maybe, later in life, Sergio would have taken up fishing as a hobby, rather than a way of life.
Perhaps Joey and Iris could have had more children. Their firstborn daughter would have been Rose, of course. Followed by a son named Andrew and a daughter named Elizabeth. Their little house in Windenberg may have been too small for them, but with a little bit of remodeling, they would make it work.
Rose would have become a bestselling novelist, as she intended. She would have married a nice boy she met in high school and had half a dozen children with him - no more pining for a full house with lots of sims to keep her busy! Andrew wouldn't have gotten a traditional job, but he stayed in the house with his parents to save up enough money to purchase a small shop of his own. He would have followed his father's passion for music, and sold musical instruments and sound systems and DJ booths. His nights would have been spent at Discotheque Pan Europa, where he would keep the crowd pumping until the small hours of the morning.
Perhaps Elizabeth would have been the nerdy little overachiever of the family. She didn't stick around, but moved into a place of her own and became a highly respected medical doctor, the top of her field.
And Perhaps Iris and Joaquin still would have grown old together, spending less time on their careers and more time with their children, and with each other. And maybe, in another life, Iris was the first to go. But Joaquin would follow not long after, so that neither one had to live without the other for very long.
But, as a wise old Lion once told a young girl named Lucy, "no one is ever told what would have happened."
Rest in peace, Joaquin LeChien, and we hope to see you again soon.
