Many thanks to the following Simmers for providing most of the dialogue for their Sims in this chapter: OhRenSims (Ren) and BBQPenguinWings (Miss Penguin)
“Hey, everybody! It’s time! We’ll have open house all day. Just drop on by.”
Sugar Maple was so excited to invite over all the readers of Goofy Love.
She felt like she’d known these readers forever, and, since most of them have seen her grow up and grow young, she may very well have!
Ren was one of the first ones over, and as soon as she arrived, she ran right in to greet baby Sempervirens.
“Hey there, Squid!” she said. “I am so glad to see you and to know that you are here. We have been waiting a very long time for you.”
The baby felt warm, soft, and heavy, like babies do.
“However,”Ren continued, “you should not hold all of our waiting on your shoulders as pressure to be anything more than exactly who you are and who you want to be.”
Little Squid laughed in her aunt’s arms.
“I’ll be around if you ever need anyone to talk to,” Ren said, “anyone to paint with, or anyone to sing at the top of your lungs with.”
And so they started singing loud right then and there!
Thank you, Ren! We’re so glad that you’ve joined the family and that you’ll be around for Squid’s childhood!
“You’re welcome,” Ren said. In case you don’t know, Ren and Sugar are married over on Ren’s hard-drive, and now they’re happy that they get to continue their lives together here, too.
While Ren was getting to know baby Squid, Sabreene, Peachy Queen, Kit DragonFlight, Mak Plays (Pegasus), Noa Lyn, and Kitten Nell dropped by.
“Do they even realize we’re here?” Noa Lyn asked.
Redbud and onezero were in the middle of a conversation, and they hadn’t yet stopped talking to greet their guests.
“Whose idea was this, anyway?” Red was asking.
“Your aunt Sugar’s,” said onezero. “And Cathy’s.”
Aya Ikeda (the eternally youthful gen 6 spare from Meggle’s Ikeda Legacy), Sean Parodi (Seraphaeli), Eudora Rossini (Charming Maruska’s gen 2 goofball spare), Marketa Plumbob (The Plumbob), Joie Wilder, and Evelyn Lusk (Cici783) showed up at the front door.
Soon, Kit, Noa, Ren, Kitten, Sabreene, Rose (from DreamsinPixels), and Peachy wandered over.
Joel greeted them.
“Everybody’s busy,” he said. “You know how legacy families are. Even once the legacy is over, there’s always something to do. So they asked me to fill in as host. So, welcome! Make yourselves at home!”
Shannon SimsFan and her husband John, Debbie Van High (Vanity High), and Cathrine Henry (simlady 36) took him up on his offer and walked right in.
“It looks just like it does in the story!” said Debbie.
“What’s this I feel?” asked Marketa as she walked into the kitchen. “Confident? No, focused!”
“Yes!” said Debbie. “It’s all those focused objects in here! I feel like doing some programming! Where’s the nearest computer?”
“They’re right!” said Eddie Sims to Rae Rei. “I feel such clarity of mind! I could tackle anything! Get me a math problem, quick!”
Cathrine Henry was feeling so focused that she headed right up to the giant microscope on the rooftop.
“I feel just like a Bough,” she said to herself. And she should feel that way! As one of the longest readers, she’s an honorary family member!
“What’s it like to be the gen 9 spouse,” JRose (aroseinbloom) asked Knox, “knowing that you were the one to bring this saga to its conclusion?”
“Haven’t thought that much about it,” Knox replied. “I like the burgers, though.”
“Thanks for standing in as host,” onezero told Joel.
“No problem!”
“I just wasn’t feeling up for the whole thing. It’s more Sugar’s idea.”
“I can understand,” Joel said. “The end of a legacy is a little bittersweet.”
“That it is,” onezero replied.
Miss Penguin, who seems, in my mind, to live in the heart and soul of Goofy Love, rushed in to give Cypress a huge hug.
“Oh, Cypress!” Miss Penguin said. “I’m so excited to meet the first one to roll goofball and the final goofball of a legacy that inspired me to start my own legacy, start writing again period, meet my amazing Simming friends, and changed my life.”
Cypress laughed. “Oh, I’m sure we’re not all that!” she said. “But we’re so happy to meet you. You know, you’re one of the reasons we made it to gen 10! I’ve got a feeling CT would’ve stopped five generations ago, if it weren’t for you and the others who’ve come to join us today.”
“Can I meet the littlest Pepper Doodle?” Miss Penguin asked.
“Of course,” replied Cypress. “She’s right there in the crib. She likes to be sung to.”
And Miss Penguin started singing:
Rock-a-bye, baby
In the tree top.
When the wind blows
The Cradle will Rock.
When the Bough breaks
The cradle will fall.
And down will come baby
Cradle, and all!
“Oh!” she said. “Maybe that’s not the best song to sing to Baby Bough living on Cradle Rock!”
“Don’t worry,” said onez. “It’s prophetic. We’re all about endings and beginnings around here.”
Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology 