The Landgraab Family: Week 3

Welcome to what is going to be a busy week at Malcom Landgraab's mansion in New Maximiliania! The reports about his first two weeks here were lost; therefore, let me briefly bring you up to date: He is not on his own anymore...

...but has given birth to half-Alien twins some time ago, Lance and Lilo.

There he is, Malcolm himself, with the little old dog Alia who he got without me doing anything to make it happen, while I was playing another household.

Malcolm has had to neglect his own needs rather badly in order to ensure the wellbeing of his children, and I have mercy on him, letting him use the energizer when he is on gold or platinum mood. When this week starts, he is 15 days from Elderhood. His aspiration is Fortune and he wants to own 5 top level businesses. Will he succeed and still have enough time for the twins?

This is his first business - the slightly modified indoor pool in a side wing of his big mansion. It is on rank 10 - that's one down, four to go!

Malcolm has plenty of money and therefore can well afford not only to employ a gardener and a cleaner, but also a butler.

Whenever his single-father-duties allow, he sneaks into his office and checks on his business success - which is stagnant, since he is not able to visit his community lot business these days, what with the toddlers needing constant looking after and he not willing to leave them with a nanny.

On Monday, he manages to teach Lilo to talk and to use her potty.

On Tuesday, the dog Alia dies at the age of 37, quietly and unnoticed by her busy humans - but rest assured she did not lack anything, there were always customers paying attention to her on the lot.

Still on Tuesday, Lance turns into a child first...

...followed by Lilo in a rather questionable outfit.

Malcolm is overjoyed. "Now that the two of you are not toddlers anymore, you can go to school and meet plenty of other children there - probably even some of your half-siblings," he tells his son over dinner.

What used to be Malcolm's spacious study is turned into a generous room for Lilo and Lance, with their own adjacent bathroom. Malcolm's office furniture is put into his bedroom which, until now, had been almost empty.

When on Wednesday morning the children get on the school bus, a very happy Malcolm heads straight to his car. He can't wait to finally get back to his community lot business again.

He takes a little detour, however... (Yes, this is the shop that is now owned and run by Violet Jocque, but it wasn't at the time this was written)

...buying some new clothes for his children and for himself. Summer has begun, and he wants them all to have proper outfits for the season.

And then he is finally there: at Bluewater Baths and Salon!

Natasha Una, his employee, has done what she could while Malcolm was taking care of his twins, but that was not enough to make the business prosper. Now that Malcolm is back, the business reaches rank 5.

Back home, the kids happily put on their new outfits. I like Lola's colouring :-)

Malcolm makes sure to help both his son and daughter with their homework after that first day at school.

On Thursday morning, he wanted to have breakfast with his children, but the schoolbus already arrived by the time the butler had finished making pancakes. So after having had something to eat on his own, Malcolm heads off to the Salon again, and the business reaches rank 6.

Lance and Lilo love their activity table. Lance almost always plays with the blocks while Lilo prefers to draw.

On Friday, Lilo gets her first A+ report...

...followed a minute later by Lance. Well done, children!

Their father has been doing... erm... not so well at the salon. Look what happened to this townie lady!

He quickly makes up for it, though, and is rewarded with the Bronze Cosmetology Badge. Meanwhile, his business reaches ranks 7 and 8.

Another mishap, again with a townie.

Malcolm manages to make up for that one, too. (The lady in the background is Opal Contrary.)

Last but not least, a "special make-up" that went horribly wrong...

...but thankfully was repaired soon enough!

On Saturday, the Bluewater Baths and Salon achieve rank 9. Just when Malcolm is about to close for the day, lightning strikes in the garden and a small tree catches fire. The rain has already stopped, and this community lot was so "cleverly" built that no Sim can get to the small trees in the middle - it takes me several Sim-hours to convince Malcolm NOT to run back to the fire all the time before he finally gets into his car and drives home!

Sunday morning sees father and son enjoying themselves in Malcolm's room.

Later, Malcolm goes to the Salon to inspect the damage the fire has done. Thankfully, all customers had left or were leaving when the fire broke out, and so the pile of ashes does not contain any human remains.

Since he is already here and the butler back home can make sure the children are duly supervised, Malcolm decides to use the day for business. And rightly so - not only does he achieve his Silver Cosmetology Badge today, but before the day is over, he has his second business on rank 10! This means he has another 3 to go.

I would have liked to end the Landgraab family's week on a happy note, showing you these drawings made by Lilo. But...

...yet another thunderstorm, yet another lightning, yet another fire that was not extinguished by rain. Many customer stars were lost (thankfully, the home business is still on rank 10), with many a customer needing an urgent shower and some of them coming dangerously close to getting harmed - with the butler being totally useless and totally hysterical.

Finally, Malcolm took action (he had been asleep when the fire started) and extinguished the fire. For the female townie in the middle of the picture (Jan Tellerman, in case you want to know), his help came too late, though.

She died right there in Malcolm's garden; certainly not good for business, but such is life - even in New Maximiliania. 

What business will Malcolm open next? Will he ever become interested in a female companion? What will the twins be like as teenagers?