CHAPTER ONE: Jeanine

Introduction to one of two main characters...

  

 Somewhere in Talabu Bay there lived a young lady named Jeanine. 

 

There also lived a young gentleman named William.

Neither knew of the other just yet, but soon… very soon they would meet.  It would almost seem as if they were destined to meet (if you believe in fate)… they would very well seem like soulmates.

 

While William grew up in Talabu Bay, Jeanine did not… In fact, Jeanine had only moved there 2 weeks ago.  She just finished her training as a Veterinarian assistant and it just so happened the first Veterinarian she applied with was located in Talabu Bay. Through a telephone interview, she was hired on the spot. 

 

The Veterinarian owned a small modular home which she rented to Jeanine.  Jeanine didn’t realize how lucky she was until she arrived.  Even though the home was equivalent in size to a studio apartment, it did, however, have a rather large backyard.

Along with Jeanine, came her pets.  She had 1 dog, 2 cats, and a kitten, all of which she rescued.  She rescued most of them from the local pound in Spring Valley, Simsville.

 

Her boxer Winchester was a happy dog!  You could almost say, by the look on his face, she knew she rescued her from certain death.  She was on the list to be euthanized in just 5 days.

Tuffy was the newest addition to her growing family of fur babies.  He was only 4 weeks old when she rescued him.  He was the only one not from the pound.  This little guy was extremely lucky.  During a horrific thunderstorm, Jeanine happened to be peeking out her front window when she was shocked to see a tiny fur ball floating down one of the storm gutters.  He was only a few feet away from being sucked into the storm drain when she lifted him into the safety of her arms.

 

After drying him off with a towel, she was able to see the unique markings on his fur.  He looked almost identical to a raccoon.  She named him Tuffy the Raccoon on the spot.  All of this occurred just about a week before her move.  He was at about 6 weeks old when she was somewhat settled into her new home.  She still gave him a bottle from time to time, but after being around her other two cats he seemed to grow fond of cat food rather quickly.

Harmony and Casper were Jeanine’s 2^nd and 3^rd adoptions from the local pound.  After spending time with Winchester, she realized she got along well with cats.  She noticed it the first time she got away from her at the dog park.  She got quite a workout chasing her from neighborhood to neighborhood.  When she finally caught up with her, she was at an old lady’s house, sitting in the front yard cuddling with two of the most adorable kittens.  After that incident, she just knew she had to get a cat.

 

 

The very next morning before class, Jeanine went to visit the pound expecting only to adopt one cat.  When she went inside to ask to see the euthanization list, it showed two cats due to being euthanized within the next week.  Of course, Jeanine’s heart melted and soon after she welcomed Winchester at the front door with two new playmates. 

 

Casper was from the Scottish Fold family of Persians.  She had beautiful fur of snow that was soft as satin.  It wasn’t hard for Jeanine to come up with her name, as she seemed to sneak around like she was going to haunt someone or something.

 

Harmony, on the other hand, was something else.  Jeanine had never seen a cat with markings like hers, much less the many unique colors.  It was almost as if she were a ‘harmony’ of color, therefore how she came up with her name.

It was hard on her other cats when Tuffy was brought in to their home.  They were used to having their own space.  Tuffy, however, was quite persistent in becoming their friend.  After one day at his new home, he was chasing tails, clawing at whiskers, and jumping on backs.  Jeanine got quite a kick out of this jumpity little creature! 

 

Tuffy grew on Casper faster than Harmony.  Not a morning would go by where he wouldn’t wake Casper with a swift swipe at her long hairy tail.  When Jeanine heard a long drawn out high pitched wail, she knew exactly who Tuffy was messing with!

  

In only two weeks, Jeanine would start her position with Dr. Trendleton.  Had it not been for her 4 loving fur babies, she would have been lonelier.  She spent most of her days planning her future life, cleaning, tending her garden and playing with her lovely creatures.

 

After 2 weeks of living in her new home, loneliness intensified and she realized she needed to meet some Sims. At first, Jeanine tried to ignore it and busy herself more.  She would take long walks with Winchester, research new microwave recipes online (as her home didn’t come with a stove), and check out tons of Netflix and Hulu shows on her tiny television.

One day, she was having an extra time of it.  Winchester seemed to be on a wild streak.  For no apparent reason, she started digging as many holes as she possibly could in the backyard. Jeanine literally had to chase her all over the yard to put her in the old tub she set up earlier in the week just for an occasion such as this. 

 

OH, how she hated baths though!  Soon as she was inside the tub, she began to whine and whimper.  Luckily the warmth of the water seemed to soothe and calm her.  Jeanine took her time soaping and scrubbing her down.  She was so clean that her white coat shined.  She even looked good enough to win first place at a conformation show.

   

As a result of overexerting herself through the day, Jeanine heard her stomach growling ferociously.  At this time on any other given day, she would have already been finished with dinner and had her dishes washed.  Winchester followed her inside instantly plopping down to a much-needed slumber.

 

Jeanine was beyond starving, and she was beginning to feel extremely irritable.  It was mostly due to her hunger, so she decided to make eat something quick and made a salad.

 

As Jeanine busied herself cutting tomatoes, Casper jumped up on the counter to join her. 

“Not tonight Casper!”  She declared as if Casper was really going to listen to her.

She wasn’t in the mood for Casper’s shenanigans, so she just kept slicing and dicing.

Almost as soon as Jeanine was sure she was going to lose it, Casper jumped off the counter.  There must have been something in the water because no sooner had she jumped down did she turn around and jump right back up.  It almost appeared as if Casper had it out for Jeanine as she frolicked across the cutting board.  Had it not been for Jeanine’s quick thinking, Casper surely would have been left with half a tail!

At that point, Jeanine finally had enough.

“OK, out you go.” She demanded as she let Casper out the side door.  Little did she know, Winchester snuck out the door behind her. 

 

As the growl of her stomach began to echo, she felt a bout of dizziness come over her as she walked back into the kitchen.  Thankfully, her salad was just about put together.  All she had to do was add the rest of the vegetables and it was ready to go.

Jeanine stood for a moment as she stared down at her salad.  Thank goodness no one could hear her as she began to argue with herself. 

 

“Should I stay in this hothouse to eat, or should I go outside where it is cooler?”

 

She already knew the answer to her question before even asking it.  She just wanted a good 10 minutes away from her furry loves, but she knew she would only lose her appetite after a few bites if she stayed in the hotness of her home.  It was too bad she wasn’t already working.  She couldn’t wait for her first paycheck so she could buy a small window unit to cool the house.

Jeanine made her way to the back steps as she began to feel disgusted.  Trying not to gag, she looked around the backyard for the source of the smell.  It seemed as if Winchester just got even with her for the bath.  In front of the picnic table, laying on the freshly watered grass were two HUGE piles of dog poo!  The stench alone was enough to ward off an army of ants! 

 

She was way too hungry to deal with it, so she decided to try her best to make it through dinner.

When she sat down at her picnic table, it was almost as if the wind shifted in her direction.  OH, that horrid stench!

 

“Oh, my GOODNESS!”  She said as if talking to someone, “WHY?!” 

 

Throwing her hands in the air, she went to grab her fork.

…that’s when she realized… she HAD no fork!

 

After muttering what sounded like a glossary full of ugly curse words, Jeanine stomped back up her stairs into her house.  Soon as she had a fork, she snatched a few paper towels.  There was NO way she was going to let that vile aroma ruin her appetite any longer.

When she finished cleaning up the dog droppings, she was too famished to go inside and wash her hands properly.  She did, however, have access to a garden hose, which worked just fine. 

 

She was so hungry at that point, if someone had been watching the way she grabbed her fork, they would have surely thought they were watching a scene right out of Nightmare on Elm Street!

Jeanine picked up her fork, stabbed at the salad and brought it to her mouth before she realized… there WAS no salad on the fork!  Apparently, it had fallen off on the way to her mouth. At that point, she gave in and broke down.  If any of her neighbors were in hearing range, they probably would have thought someone was in a lot of pain!

 

Poor Jeanine.  As she lay her head down on the hard wooden table, she let out a long wail followed by sob after sob.  She was a true mess of tears.  Her appetite was gone, so she got up and put her salad away.  To bed, she went.

She spent most of the night tossing and turning.  She woke halfway through in pain.  When she got up the pain grew in severity.  Then she felt cold and hot at the same time and began to shiver.  She felt as if she were coming down with an ear infection.  She used to get them as a child.

She headed to the bathroom to look for her thermometer but instead found something else.  She nearly jumped to the ceiling as she met a gigantic spider almost face to face.  Letting out a shriek, Jeanine ran to the kitchen to look for her fly swatter.

That’s when the pain inside her ear grew out of control.  She knew it was not a good idea to stick her finger in her ear, but she felt she had no choice.  As she dug around deep inside her ear, the pain intensified.  At one point, she even thought she felt something with the tip of her finger. After prying around in there for about a minute, she knew she was getting nowhere.

 

Finally giving up, she pulled her finger out.  When she did, something was stuck to her finger… something big, green and squishy.  On a good note, the pain was gone!

 

Letting out a sigh of relief, Jeanine found the fly swatter on top of the fridge.  It wasn’t long before she was disposing of a now squished spider.  She watched as it slowly got sucked down the toilette stool.

 

Jeanine sat down in deep thought.  She knew she needed a break.  Soon her days would be full of work, with not much time for fun.   She knew of a small club somewhere on the other side of town. She didn’t know any Sims other than her new boss.  Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to go out soon.

(To be continued with Chapter 2 “William”)  

Author's Note

Please enjoy... reviews are highly welcome!!! :)

Reviews

[barleygirl]

This is one of the best stories I’ve read in a while and also this displays your highly original writing style. I’m amazed by many things, first of all the illustrations which it looks like you did yourself, since they go with the story so perfectly. Another thing that stands out -- your description of attaining the fur friends makes it sound like you’ve been in the pet sheltering business becuz you include many realistic details. All in all your story is riveting, as far as pulling the reader along with interest. I would not number the paragraphs as you’ve done – it’s an unnecessary distraction. Another thing that makes your storytelling good is the way your scenes are very dynamic, lots of action to keep things interesting. Finally, I would not put any self-deprecating remarks about your spelling & grammar in the authors notes – another unnecessary distraction becuz the mechanics of your writing are nearly perfect. I’ll put your next chapter in my reading list & get to it soon. (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Rebecca J Martin]

I haven't been on here in a while, and today was very thrilled to find someone had read part of my 'chapter' book! I really 'listened' to your review.. I appreciate the suggestions and will most definetely consider the changes. It does make sense not to use numbers per page since this format is one long page (I used numbers on Facebook as It was page by page being it was in a photo album :P. ) And I will for sure look into a re-write for my author's notes! OH btw.... the illustrations are snap-shots from my sim's game. Not sure if I mentioned that in my author's notes or not.
Again, thank you so much for your very informational review!!! It totally made my day!! :)