postcards from the new management

March 2087.


It should be noted that around the time the fires started, midnight, long after the cafe had closed, Ian Thompson was spotted eating a bowl of Fruit Loops at the counter. He claims to have had nothing to do with the fires, but nobody else could be placed at the scene of the crime accident at that time. The owner has graciously decided not to press charges.



As dictated by February's event, three fires were started on the Huffington lot. It's a very large lot (64x64), so I randomized a few more factors about the fires to help set the scene. ROS rolled up that the fires would happen in the cafe at midnight. A tricky time of night because likely everyone could have been asleep and the fires could have quickly spread. But hungry hungry Ian had to have a bowl of cereal, so here we are.


Ian will not be applying to the fire department anytime soon, but Heather was right on top of the action!

You might remember Heather Huffington from my (and everyone's) TS2 game. In my story, Heather Huffington was a longtime friend, sometimes lover, and bar manager for Maxwell Shaw. (And side note: oh, how I miss Max's "love shack" lol! Heather didn't manage the Love Shack though, she managed Lucky's Card Bar which was less of a brothel and more of a front for money laundering. Oh, Max. Who will ever fill his shoes?)

Like Maxwell took care of Bella and Cameron before he got put away, he also set up Heather with a little nest egg to start over fresh. But, being single and childless, saving good money for many years, Heather already had a sizable nest egg of her own stowed away. That was how she came to own a whole island village.

Anyway, until the fire happened...




The fire blazed for a good while. TS4 sims, being stupid TS4 sims, all rushed INTO the burning building to scream at the fire and/or help put it out. Because we *still* have no proper firefighters. It's kind of ridiculous, I guess, but considering these guys live on an actual island, I suppose it's realistic that they would have to put the fire out themselves.

Two sims caught themselves on fire, including the lady of the house. But nobody died.


Total damages are estimated at $5000. It could have been worse.


It's a personal gameplay rule of mine that any sim who catches on fire has to go to the hospital and be "treated" for burns and smoke inhalation. I don't make them roll the injury damage roll, because TS4 sims catch themselves on fire FAR too often for that. Dumb sims, lol! So they just go to the hospital for a simple checkup and some pampering. It might be kind of pointless from a gameplay standpoint, but at least it makes my doctors and hospital useful. And the fire moodlets last a really long time otherwise.




There, all better.


I had such high hopes for Heather's village. I had once dreamed of it being a self-sustaining community, full of historic buildings and vintage charm, where mainland sims could visit to shop for arts and crafts, eat at the cafes, dance and have drinks at the bar, and stay over in the B&B. But the 64x64 lot just didn't function well as five different things, especially since you can't easily change the zoning on an owned lot. If I wanted sims drinking and dancing at the bar, I'd have to give up the retail aspect. If I wanted sims to shop, everyone would ignore the bar.

So it's back to how I had it before, split up into three different lots—one bar, one retail, and one park.



Heather sold off the other buildings and kept this piece, The Sand Bar & Lighthouse Cafe.

(I had to lose a charming beach house to put this here—damn TS4 for having so few lots!—but I didn't have a sim ready to live in that beach house anyway, and Heather's bar is popular and well-used.)

She runs the place all on her own at the moment, although she is looking for some help in the bar and kitchen. Her daughter (surprise!) is not quite old enough to help with most of the work yet.


Meet Kelsey Huffington. She's twelve years old.

If you remember Heather from my TS2 stories, she never had any children of her own. Instead, she had a way of becoming mother hen to all the lost and confused misfits that Max attracted—like April and James. She still keeps in touch with all of them, and to this day, she is the only one who knows where James is. But she didn't stop mothering lost children when she parted ways with Max.

Kelsey ran away from her fourth foster home at the age of ten. She snuck onto a ferry and ended up in Heather’s village, hoping to run away for good and live on her own in the island wilderness. Heather found her eating from the garden and sleeping on benches, which of course she couldn’t stand for. Kelsey didn’t want to be sent back into foster care again, so Heather officially went through the legal process to become her foster mother. Now Kelsey is twelve and they’ve finalized her adoption. 

Kelsey is strong-minded and adventurous (clearly), but also clever and even sweet sometimes. She goes through the usual prickly teenage moods, and she's a little lazy with helping around the house, but she adores her forever momma and has no intentions of running away again. 

She even has a little buddy. Kelsey goes to school with Anthony Booth, (Bentley & Josie’s little brother with the smooth lines). They are “OMG totally just friends, eeew, gross, don’t even think about it!” at the moment, so I will refrain from planning their wedding.

(But you know, lowkey planning their wedding, lol!)

So, what happened to all the other properties from the village?


Sharon Coolidge of Coolidge House Country Inn & Dining purchased the cafe and art gallery. After restoring the fire damage and getting her retail business license for the property, they are open for business again. She intends to use the cafe as a retail extension of her catering empire.


With the purchase, Sharon acquired the Thompson twins as employees. Ingrid had a rental agreement for the art gallery half of this property (which I failed to take a picture of), and Ian, although lazy and clumsy, makes really great coffee. He isn't ambitious enough to desire more from his life at the moment, so making coffee will do. Sharon has upgraded the fire sprinkler systems just in case. 


By the magic of TS4, the cafe and art gallery lot has been transported to a new location on the mainland waterfront, bringing a breath of quaint to the modern surroundings. The gardens and gallery fit in nicely with the surrounding parks.



Stephanie enjoys stealing a few quiet moments in the park after she makes some deliveries from the Country Inn's kitchen to the downtown retail shop. She'll take her time getting back and just say that the traffic was bad.


Stephanie is unhappily brushing up her mixology skills this spring. Sharon is ready to give her a well-earned raise, but she would like her head chef to have at least a minimum knowledge of bartending. Stephanie never had much of a taste for adult beverages, so she's finding this a little difficult. She doesn't really get why she needs to know this—Drake is wonderful behind the bar, and even Maria can mix a cocktail or two. But Sharon is firm about it, so Stephanie persists. With three kids to feed and a mountain of legal bills to pay off, she can always use a little more money.


When the weather is nice, Sharon takes her crew on a little work field trip to study the culinary art of lobster rolls, clam chowder, and popcorn shrimp. When she purchased her new cafe, Sharon also sealed a catering deal with Heather Huffington of the Sand Bar to stock their kitchen with tasty seafood dishes, so her staff needs to add a few new tricks to their repertoire.



Who doesn't love being paid to take a road trip and study new seafood dishes?



After lunch, Stephanie found a sweet kitty on the boardwalk and she fell in love. But she already has three children, one grown man, a fish, eight frogs, and several plants to feed at home. This kitty will have to find a home with another family. 


So she turns her attention to the seagulls instead, which she can chase and not be tempted to take home with her. It was the most fun ever!

 —