new stories from the lakeside

This is a two-part announcement. Let's start with the happiest news, shall we?!

(Also, this is going to be long... but when aren't they long?)

I've been plotting this little project under the radar for a few months now, and I'd like to make it official.

The Lakeside Files is a "new" neighborhood story illustrated with the Sims 3 game. Sort of new, anyway. The town will be familiar. It's Lake County of 1984, about 100 years before the point the Lakeside Heights blog ends. (Um, more on that in a minute!) Some of the characters you'll recognize, and some will be completely new to you.

on the safe side, part 6

January, 2084 - Summer Phoenix is 19, Hayden is 34, Ryanne is 13.
Soundtrack: "Because of You," by Kelly Clarkson.

warnings: a severe lack of pictures, more difficult conversations, renegade third person past tense narration, the Phoenix family's last story on this blog.

***

The future was full of plans again. After dinner, after talking, after the tears had all dried, you could have counted the plans in a list. Nessa looked forward to going back to work. Jack looked forward to getting her pregnant again, which her doctors told her there was a decent chance would be successful. Hayden and Piper's baby, would it be a boy or a girl? They didn't care as long as it was healthy, of course. And then the night quieted down, Nessa and Jack and Grandma Sophie went home and it was just the four of them -- five if you counted the baby -- what a strange thing to get used to.