2. Time marches on, as it does,
and James Bailey was about
to age up into a toddler.
Miranda didn’t want a party,
so no one was invited to
share the moment with
them.
3. Tellingly, it was Warren who looked after
James and the house. He was a house
husband, so that wasn’t unexpected or
unusual. But Miranda worked from
home, and she never took any interest
in her son. Even in the evenings.
4. When Warren went out for job
interviews, or even just to the
shops, James would be left ignored
in the crib next to her desk.
5. In truth, Miranda had other,
weighty matters on her mind.
She had had to cut her hair
short to hide the fact it was
falling out. The headaches were
still persisting, and she had no
appetite, often vomiting
whenever she did eat.
6. In the end, she went to the doctors.
She suspected having James had
messed her body up somehow.
7. Warren waited for her to come back, but she
didn’t that night. And she didn’t call either. She’d
told him she was working late, not going to the
hospital. Still, he was worried, thinking she was
working too hard, they didn’t need the money
that badly.
8. The next day, Warren couldn’t
understand why she was avoiding his
questions. Where had she been, why
hadn’t she called? Her evasions just
maddened him.
10. She blurted everything out to
her husband in seconds. She
had brain cancer, was
undergoing chemo and wasn’t
sure if she would live.
Talk about a shock.
11. Warren did his all to make
his wife comfortable.
Nothing was too much
trouble as long as she’d
only rest. Money wasn’t an
object, he did odd jobs for
people whenever he could
top up their income while
she took time off work.
12. As the remains of her hair fell out,
she shaved her head. Warren
managed to convince her it didn’t
matter, he still loved her. He just
wanted to keep her morale up. The
tumour wasn’t responding, and the
spectre of surgery was looming.
13. He went with her to her appointments,
leaving James with Jen Martinez. They
chatted about how things would be
after she recovered. She’d get her job
back, maybe a promotion.
14. Warren and Miranda found a new closeness. She
opened up about her reservations about their son,
he confessed he wished he had been able to provide
better for everyone.
15. James didn’t seem to pick up on
any of the undercurrents in the
house. He was a fairly easy child
to look after, happy on his own
playing with his toys.
16. Warren was so impressed with his
son, occasionally he’d swear actual
tunes would emerge from the
random plonking on the
xylophone.
He understood that Miranda was
having trouble with him, but he
was sure once she was well again
she’d be better able to connect.
17. Occasionally though, Warren would leave James alone with Miranda to go out and
keep in with neighbours. Pablo Martinez was always throwing parties, he felt he had to
go to at least some of them. At this one, even the mysterious Ariette Vickers was in
attendance – one of the inhabitants of the original house at the end of Deasil Street.
18. If Miranda had attended, she would
have picked up on far more than he.
Warren was completely ignorant of
the strange undertones between
Pablo and some blonde bombshell
he’d not met before.
19. Jen wasn’t completely oblivious to
Pablo’s slightly inappropriate interest
in this colleague– but she decided he
was flirting with her because she
must be a superior he had to keep
sweet. So she let it go.
20. At the end of the Street, was the last
property of the once prosperous Vickers
family. Once used as a suburban stopover
while they travelled between homes, it was
now their only home. And they were feeling
the downturn in their fortunes keenly.
21. Ariette was now living
with her elderly father in
a house with only one
member of staff. There
were no more glittering
parties with society
gossip, no more foreign
holidays being wooed by
enigmatic members of
other cultures…. Just
Appaloosa. And latterly, a
lot of builders creating the
rest of Deasil Street.
22. She kept up with her dwindling number of
rich and feted friends as best she could,
but the titbits of gossip she could get from
them were now few and far between. She
was being forgotten.
23. That was why she’d gone to
Pablo’s party. She needed a
new network. Why not the
one that had literally been
dumped on her doorstep?
25. The doctors made her as
comfortable as possible, and it was
due in part to them that she slipped
away so peacefully. Warren was at
her side when her eyes closed for
the last time.
26. Her ghost emerged, as they do in the
final moments of a sims time on earth.
Though they could no longer
communicate, they shared a final look.
27. Then the grim reaper appeared, and Warren
went through the grim spectacle of watching
his wife leave without him. Normally an
experience only endured by elderly sims
expecting to lose a spouse, Warren was utterly
unprepared.
29. He took his son in his arms,
keeping him close in his grief.
Miranda never really warmed
to her son, but James was all
that was left of her now.
30. The news of Miranda’s death soon spread to the
other inhabitants to the Street. None of them really
knew her, so the news was mostly considered in
relation to themselves.
Pablo worried how Jen would react to a motherless
urchin across the road, and Ariette was just glad
she was contacted. She had been accepted.
31. Deasil Street
No. 1 No. 3
For Sale For Sale
No. 2 No. 5
Warren and Miranda Bailey For Sale
No. 5 No. 6
Empty Lot Pablo and Jennifer Martinez
No. 7
Harry Vickers and his daughter Ariette
Next
Time… How will Warren cope with his wife’s death?
Has Ariette really been accepted by the other
residents?
Find out next time on Deasil Street!