Chapter 2-10: Hands of Time

                Uvie quicky discovered that having a puppy was not as easy as she had thought. 

                 She had to get up early in the morning to take Rumpelstiltskin outside before he had an accident in the house. 

                 Then she had to feed him and play with him to tire him of his rather endless energy. Then, go to school, come home and do all those things again.

                Most days, Carrie or Shane would leave Rump outside during the day. He required a lot of supervision and, although he hadn’t destroyed any furniture, they would rather not chance chewing or puddles. Rump would found himself interesting things to do, such as a gnome in the yard. 

                 That looked like a fun chew toy!

                 As the children got older, Shane and Carrie heard more questions from their children. They certainly were a curious lot.

                “Mom, why do I have to go to school,” Vesper would ask. “I can learn loads more here. They don’t even teach art for my grade!” Carrie tried explaining that school wasn’t just about art but Vesper just threw her bookbag to the ground, spilling half the contents as she headed to her beloved easel.

                 “Mom, why does Donta live in a weird house? And wear weird clothes,” Verne mused, after visiting his cousin’s home. Carrie didn’t bother explaining that her sister was a penny-pincher and didn’t want to upgrade the house or use something other than hand-me-downs. 

                 Shane tried to spend as much time with his children as possible. Especially Uvie as it was finally getting close to the birthday where she would officially be a teenager. One night, as Shane was getting ready to tuck Uvie in for bed, she asked an unexpected question.

                “Daddy, what’s sex?”

                Shane sputtered and freaked out a bit, wondering where in SimNation she would have heard such a word! Before he tripped over his feet, he called for Carrie.

                 After discovering that one of her classmates had talked about it a lot (though their facts were ALL wrong: mommies and daddies hugging and then a cowplant spitting up a baby), Carrie explained things a little better to her daughter. Uvie, satisfied with the answer, went back to having tea parties with her stuffed animals. And thus it was decided that Carrie would field the “hard” questions.            

                “Honey, guess what,” Shane announced with a big grin.

                “I have no idea.”

                “I got promoted,” he practically shouted, ecstatic with the news. Carrie was so proud of him and his hard work. Then, he showed her the bonus check.

                “Pick out whatever you want for the house; finish our bathroom, add to the kids’ room, anything.”

                 Granted, it wasn’t enough money to finish the house, but it was most certainly a start. They might even be able to get a table for everyone to eat together at instead of some at the bar and some on the couch. Carrie wanted her home to reflect the hard work that their family did, especially Shane. She wanted him to be proud to bring co-workers home and good enough that the kids weren’t embarrassed to bring friends over.

               

                Renovations were done, just in time for Uvie’s birthday. Carrie had finally settled on getting a nice living space together. There still wasn’t a dining table but she did have wall coverings and a fireplace. She had decided that the eating space could wait until she and Shane could afford the formal dining room rather than spending money on a breakfast area and then the dining room.

                 Uvie was excited to finally become a teen. Her family was there, including her Uncle Tanner and her cousin along with her friend from school whose birthday had been earlier that week. After she blew out her candles, she waited with anticipation to feel special as a teenager. All of a sudden, there it was! That special, grown up feeling. Life seemed like a brand new adventure now that she was old enough to enjoy it.

                 “Uvie, why are you in your fancy dress, playing Rump,” Carrie asked, rather perplexed one day.

                “It’s so pretty! Why leave it in the closet for just special occasions?”

                Carrie scrunched her eyebrows but just let her daughter make her own decisions.

                 The next day after school, Vesper convinced Verne to go to the art museum with her.

                “Ugh, this is boring Ves, let’s go home and do something else.”

                “It is NOT boring,” Vesper countered. She stared, fixated at a landscape. “One day, my pictures will be in a museum too.”

                Verne rolled his eyes and headed back home on his own, leaving his sister to do her homework among the hanging art.

                 Meanwhile, Uvie was leaving when one of her classmates walked up to her.

                “Hey there, did you know sperm only has two calories,” he eye waggled at her.

                 “Ew, gross. Don’t come near me again,” she exclaimed and ran back into the building.

                “Was it something I said,” he seemed confused.

                 Carrie also received news that week that she had been promoted. It wasn’t much of a promotion but she had finally earned enough experience and know-how to be a taffeta trainee. She hoped that she would move up the fashion ladder a bit faster now that she was able to work with the kids in school. She got in a real doozy that week.

                 “If I can make her pretty, I should get another promotion” Carrie muttered when her next client stepped up. It was her job to prettify all of Twinbrook though and she planned on taking it quite seriously.

                 Uvie really loves her prom dress. She hasn’t heard when the prom will be yet but she wears the dress around just because it is so pretty. She loves it more than the rest of her clothes and can’t see why her mom always shrugs her shoulders when she sees her in it.

                 An old friend stopped by, just to chat and Shane was shocked by the change.

                “Old friend indeed! Has it really been that long since we spent time together,” Shane asked.

                “Soon it will be your turn my friend, just you wait,” Emil smiled to him.

                Of course, Shane’s neurotic tendencies made him worry about aging all the more. He knew that soon he would need to choose an heir to take over after he was gone. He had been putting it off for so long, hoping that the time would never come. 

                 He figured he had least had until the twins became teenagers. If something happened to him before then…”no, I won’t think about that.”

Chapter 2.9                                                                                                                                         Chapter 2.11