T w e n t y S i d e d

The year is now 2012. This is the moment that I realize I’ve made Logan just a few years younger than myself. He turns 12 as the year does (or close to it, anyway) just like my younger brother Peter did when he hit 12. This makes keeping track of time relatively easy, thank god.

Lottie’s BookNook has had some shockingly successful months, three to be exact, since they opened. Michael and Kelly had imagined a steady stream of cost or income which they would find once their store had been open a year. They assumed that once open it would be clear if they would enjoy a little boost from it, or an ongoing cost they’d have to budget for. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Some months the shop feels like a consistent bleed of money, and some they get an exciting little payout. Annoyingly, it doesn’t ever line up with when they expect the highs and lows to be.  A popular book comes out and they expect more traffic, but the mall has it for cheaper and the wholesale price for a store barely makes it worth carrying. A month is supposed to be bad and then a regular D&D group rent the place every Friday night for two months. They get used to the group and appreciate the people they bring in, and then the party stops meeting because someone went to college and someone else got a new job.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Sims 4 Overthinking: The 8th Graders”

Bay Jubilee Oldest child of Shamus Young. They/Them

Time gets the better of our couple for a good while. The year they renovate the new entryway, ‘taking a month off’ turns into six months, turns into a year, turns into things just feeling normal. Logan hits double digits, the big one-zero, ten years old, and it’s like Michael and Kelly blink in unison, and realize all at once how much time has passed. The ‘bookstore’ portion of their house has turned into an accidental playroom. The weird open floor plan upstairs just became a big living room, and they’ve forgotten to do the next steps.

The year is now 2010, and the question of if a bookstore is a good idea crosses both Kelly and Michael’s minds. The conversation they have about it is awkward and clunky, because each thinks the other is going to shoot the idea down. Surely, their intelligent and loving partner isn’t going to swing for the idea of a bookstore when the demographic is clearly turning to digital media…

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Sims 4 Overthinking: Lottie’s BookNook”

Bay Jubilee Oldest child of Shamus Young. They/Them