* Empty Nest

 So .... having left Claire and Captain Underpants to deal with their own honeymoon (if they even had one), I hunted around Sunset Valley for my next victim(s) and came across the Wainwrights... a couple of happily married adult sims with a young adult daughter (Blair) who no longer lived at home... no kids, no need to have kids, no need to earn money to support kids... the perfect couple.

Maybe.

I couldn't stand their house, Minihaus. It was almost completely unplayable because of various walls in various places and the rooms were too small for a decent photo - so I moved them to The Cormorant up on the cliffs and gave them a fresher, more modern decor than they'd previously had.... and of course, they had a makeover.

They both work in the Science career, and although Boyd's job is higher up the ranks, Susan gets paid more money than him, as she's a workaholic and appears to enjoy putting in the extra effort. She's more of a go getter than Boyd, and I find her more intense than him - even though Boyd has the neurotic trait he appears to be much more easy going and laid back. They compliment each other quite nicely and appear to enjoy spending most of their time together.

Obviously there are moments when a man has to escape his wife and go fishing... I think it's "written" somewhere in stone... as is "ice cream truck must stalk all active sims..... all of the f*cking time".

When they had lived in Minihaus, Susan and Boyd had grown a couple of plants in the middle of their front lawn (who does that????), but in their new home they decided to dedicate a whole corner plot to growing vegetables and fruit trees. Neither one of them was particularly interested in The Great Outdoors, but if they wanted to succeed in their chosen career - they were going to have to put a lot more effort into learning about gardening. It was a fairly time consuming hobby, so they made a deal to always do it together and half the work load.... and the time I spent watching them... thankyou Susan and Boyd.

Both Susan and Boyd had phoned their daughter Blair on several occasions, and invited her over. Each time she said she would come, she phoned back and said something had come up. She was a police officer in the local force, so both parents appeared to be somewhat ambivalent about her constant *crying off*... however... Susan took to scouring the town with her telescope, in the hopes of catching a glimpse of her wayward daughter...

Perhaps if she pointed the telescope down, rather than up, she'd have a bit more luck.

One night, after much woohoo and relaxing reading in bed (they really are joined at the hip), Susan confessed to a tiny, tiny seed of boredom.

"Boyd?"

"Yes dear?"

"I'm bored shitless."

"Oh dear."

"Fix it."

Sigh... "Yes dear."

The following morning, Susan boringly flipped a boring pancake and boringly wandered what would fix the boredom that she had succumbed to. She also wandered what had made her use the word "Shitless" - it was so completely out of character.

Heheheh.

After breakfast, Susan decided to do a quick swot up on the periodic table, and Boyd thought that licking his plate instead of putting it in the dishwasher, might relieve his wife's boredom.... because she'd get to shout at him. It probably would have done, had she looked up from her book long enough to see him do it, but she didn't, and after a few rude belches and a squeezed out high pitched fart that had him rushing to the bathroom "Just to check"... Boyd gave up and went out to do the gardening, alone, before the carpool turned up to take them both to work.

At lunch time, Boyd returned home from work with a promotion and a yen for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Susan had gone off to the local high school to give a lecture on the importance of being earnest and wouldn't be home until after dark. Whilst chomping on his meal, he contemplated Susan's boredom and his own lack of joie de vivre. Unlike Susan, he was able to admit that he was more than a little disgruntled at his daughter's lack of interest.

They had brought her up to be independent, not inconsiderate. They knew when she left home and moved in with her friends, that it was a healthy and normal thing for Blair to want to do, and they had wished her well... still did. However... it was one thing to aid your child's flight, it was another thing entirely for her never to return to the nest.... to go out of her way to take a different flight path - one that would never bring her anywhere near the nest, or the tree it sat in, or the forest that the tree was in... and what the f*ck was with the ice cream truck?... maybe the ice cream truck knew why Blair didn't visit...

.... at this point, Boyd realised he was on the verge of a panic attack and decided to *freak out* so that he could regain his equilibrium... which was when he came up with a small and slightly furry plan, to get rid of his boredom... ummm... Susan's boredom.. thats right... Suuuusan.

Good luck explaining that away, Boyd.