Once Upon a Time in Veronaville

Once Upon a Time in Veronaville

On the way home from Mama's funeral Elinor Stone held her baby sister's tiny hand in her own and stared out the window of the cab. Everything in her world had changed in a heartbeat, but Elinor knew she didn't have the luxury of feeling sorry for herself.

She had to provide for Eliza now. She looked down at the toddler, who had finally fallen asleep after endless questions of "Where's Mama? Want Mama!"

Elinor was exhausted, physically and emotionally. But she knew the social worker would be watching, and she would die before Eliza lost her as well.

Her needs didn't matter anymore. Everything she did from now on would be for Eliza.

Somehow, she'd keep what was left of her family together.

 

Just having fun. Don't worry, I'm still playing PDL, just had this idea and thought I'd explore it ... let me know if you like the story. Sorry if the start is a little corny. It's late, and I should be in bed.

Yeah, yeah, excuses, excuses ...

 

Elinor, also known as Nora, decided to approach the problem like a logic puzzle. If she kept her emotions out of it she could hold it together. Not that she wasn't affectionate with her sister. Liza was barely two and the two sisters were the best of friends.

But her own emotions were on hold. If she allowed herself to think about the enormity of the situation she'd freak out. So she didn't.

So, step number one. Nora had to go to school, so someone had to watch Liza. Nora interviewed several nannies the agency sent over and finally settled on Callista Despret, who seemed nice enough.

"No want nanny," Liza said.

"Yes you do," Nora said firmly. "It'll be like Mary Poppins."

"Mary Poppins?"

"Yes."

That seemed to mollify Liza, but when Callista showed up for her first day of work the toddler said, "Want to jump in pavement."

Hoping the nanny had a sense of humor, Nora gave her a sheepish wave and hurried off to the bus.

 

They were new to Veronaville. They'd moved to their no-frills house because it was in a nice neighborhood and Mama had been worried about crime. Since Daddy died she'd worried about a lot.

They were across the street from a mansion and down the street from two other nice homes, both vacant at the moment. Nora hadn't met the occupants of the mansion. In fact, she hadn't met anyone, other than the neighborhood welcoming committee, and they weren't all that welcoming, truth be told. Nora wondered why they'd bothered.

And then there had been that accident with the stove. Nora was still thankful that Liza had been upstairs at the moment.

Watching her mother burn to death kept Nora waking up every night in a cold sweat, the nights she got any sleep at all.

 

They couldn't afford a plot in the graveyard, so as tradition dictated Mama was buried in the yard. They couldn't afford flowers for the grave, either, but Liza kept it supplied with fresh dandelions.

"Pwetty," she said.

"Yes," Nora said, "they are."

Liza was not adjusting well. She had tantrums, something she'd never had before. She broke the nose off of her talking rabbit by pounding it into the floor and pulled one eye of her favorite teddy bear.

"You poor things," Callista the nanny said, and clucked.

Nora hated being called a poor thing. She didn't want pity. She'd been dealt her hand, and now she'd play it. She didn't ask for people to feel sorry for her.

She was worried about Liza, though. She knew losing Mama had been very hard on her, so she tried to be patient with her. They were slowly learning potty training, though Liza refused to let the nanny help her with it.

It was Nora, or nobody.

 

Nora yawned and stretched and tried not to fall asleep on her feet. She was downstairs in the kitchen, finally making her own dinner at ten in the evening. Liza had refused to go to sleep. Thank goodness she'd finally mastered potty training.

She heard a moaning noise in the empty living room and went to see if she'd left a window ajar. She saw a red glowy light, and then ...

"BOO!" said Mama.

Nora dropped the spoon she'd been holding and clutched her chest. She'd heard about ghosts, of course, but had never believed in them before.

Mama's ghost started to cry.

"Shh," Nora said, "Shhh, Mama, please don't cry," she said, starting to cry herself.

But Mama wouldn't listen.

Liza, Nora thought suddenly. Liza mustn't see Mama.

She observed the ghost. It never went upstairs, just wandered around the downstairs, and the yard.

Very well then. Liza would just have to stay upstairs after dark.

 

Nora bought her sister a sleeping mat for the floor so she could come and go as she pleased. She put her sister's toys and potty in the spare bedroom across the hall, and moved the bookshelf and sofa up there as well. With the stairs gated off it was a safe play area and Nora could actually get some much-needed sleep.

And Liza would never see the ghost that now haunted their yard.

 

OK, can't decide if I like this story or not ... let me know if you like it enough for me to continue ... it was just meant to be a short story about my teen raising toddler challenge.

I'll try to post some pictures tonight.

 

Please keep going. I'm hooked now.

 

Homework was hard. No one had ever had the time to teach Nora to study, and though she was a bright girl it still took her all night sometimes. After school she came home, said goodbye to the nanny, and made sure Liza was OK. Then she'd collapse on the bed for a long nap before getting up to do it all over again.

Somehow Liza got everything she needed, and her tantrums were getting fewer and farther apart. She spent a lot of time playing with her toy rabbit, and Nora was sorry she couldn't afford another toy.

They were running out of money, and Nora couldn't get a job. She spent enough time away from Liza as it was. She started eating her only meal at school.

And as for Nora's secret dream of getting into private school, forget it. The headmaster would take one look at this shabby house and laugh himself silly.

Someday, if she was lucky, she'd get to go to college. But she didn't allow herself to dwell on that. By the time she was ready to go Liza would still be pretty young.

She didn't want her sister to face the same hardships she had. If she had her way Liza would be happy and carefree.

Even if it meant Nora never would be.

 

Yay pictures! keep going please, i like it so far
I haven't read any other stories here because they are either too far into the plot & i have too much to catch up on or they just haven't piquied my interest lol this one has though & there's nothing to catch up on so please please go on, i like reading sims 2 stories

 

The kids at school were pretty clique-ish, and Nora was shy. She stood awkwardly on the edge of any crowd and tried to fade into the woodwork. She dreaded gym class, when there was a team sport where sides had to be chosen. Sometimes she didn't get chosen at all.

"Hey," said a vivacious redhead one day. "Hey, you, blondie."

Nora looked around. The girl seemed to be talking to her. She pointed at herself, a question.

"Yeah," she said. "Come on. You can be on our team. I'm Juliet."

Nora didn't completely disgrace herself at volleyball. She was no jock, but she was in pretty good shape, and the game was fun. Afterwards, Juliet invited her to sit at her table at lunch. She noticed Juliet looking at a boy at the other table, then looking away quickly when he looked up.

"Who's that?" she whispered.

"Romeo," Juliet said, with stars in her eyes. "Only, we're not allowed to see each other."

"Why not?"

"Why not?" Juliet looked at her in astonishment. "Because he's a Monty."

"Ohhhh," Nora said, as if she knew what that meant. She didn't, but she didn't really care, either.

She was just glad to have finally made a friend.

 

"So, can I come home with you tonight?" Juliet asked. "My parents are gonna be out and I hate being in that big old house by myself."

"Um, I guess so," Nora said. "It's not much of a house."

"That's OK, silly," Juliet said.

"I have to take care of my sister when we get home," Nora said. "It won't be much fun, I'm afraid."

"You have a sister? How old is she?"

"Four."

"I love little kids!" Juliet said. "I can help. Do your parents work late, or something?"

"Or something," Nora said, quietly.

 

Juliet looked around the house, and the yard, hands on hips. She noticed the gravestone in the far corner and went to look at it.

Carly Stone, beloved mother, it read.

She went to look for her friend. Nora looked dead on her feet, she noticed, and the sister, an adorable cutie pie, was drawing on the wall with her crayons.

They had, like, no furniture at all. A really ratty sofa, cinder block bookshelf, and a card table. Other than the appliances, a fairly nice bed and some baby stuff, that was about it.

"You didn't mention you were an orphan," Juliet said.

"I know," Nora said, blushing behind her glasses. "I was afraid you'd feel sorry for me."

"Well, I do, in a way, because I don't know what I'd do without my mom and dad," Juliet admitted. "But mostly, I mean, wow. I'm in awe. I can't even take care of a pet."

"You do what you have to do," Nora said, and yawned mightily.

"Tell you what," Juliet said. "You go to bed. I'll make sure Miss Thang here gets her dinner and whatever she needs." She took the crayon from Liza's chubby little fist and said, "No, no. Draw on the paper." She handed her a sheet.

"Are you sure?" Nora asked.

"Yes. Now get," Juliet said, "Before you tip over and I have to haul you into bed. You're skinny, but I still think it'd be a chore."

Nora giggled. "OK." She turned back. "Thank you."

"Sure," Juliet said with a shrug.

It felt good to be needed. Juliet had always had everything handed to her. It had never occurred to her that other kids had to work for everything they got.

 

Checked in again (because work is so boring) and found that you'd posted even more! It's good. Now, I'm all choked up. *sniff* I'm glad Nora's found a friend.

 

It was Liza's sixth birthday, and Nora wanted everything to be perfect. Her little sister had had to settle for twinkies with candles in them for her other birthdays, and homemade presents.

For this birthday, Nora baked her a cake and bought her a toy box filled with nice, used toys. Next week Liza was going off to school, and Nora wanted to mark the special occasion.

Liza came downstairs, rubbing her eyes from her nap, and goggled at the cake, and the large wrapped present.

"For me?" she said, running to hug her sister. "Oh, Nora, thank you."

 

Liza was in bed, happy and sated, no doubt dreaming of her cake and toy box. She'd been thrilled to have all those new toys and couldn't stop thanking her sister, and hugging her. Nora felt happy that she'd liked her party, small as it was. She'd considered inviting Juliet but decided it should just be Liza and herself.

Thank goodness Mama hadn't made an appearance. She'd been showing up less frequently the older Liza got. Nora hoped it would stay that way.

Nora started up the burner to make herself spaghetti. She was too hungry to wait for lunch the next day, and besides she and Liza could always eat leftovers tomorrow. She was lost in her daydream and didn't notice at first when the stove caught fire.

 

Nora panicked. She didn't know what to do. She dimly heard sirens and the front door bursting open, saw the firefighter put out the blaze, heard Liza screaming and the firefighter, a woman, saying "You really ought to be more careful, Miss. Miss?"

The room swam before Nora's eyes and she fainted.

 

When she woke up it was morning. Liza was shaking her shoulder.

"Nora, get up, it's almost time for school. Nora, please, I'm so worried."

Nora opened her eyes. "I'm sorry, baby." She hugged her sister. "I didn't mean to scare you. I guess I just freaked out."

"It's OK," Liza said. "It's OK."

But it wasn't. What had Nora been thinking? How could she have thought she could raise her sister on her own? She couldn't even cook spaghetti. She felt like crying, but she smiled for Liza and said, "Of course it is. Now, let go of me, silly. I need to get ready for school."

Liza giggled and released her.

 

Nora couldn't concentrate at school that day. She felt dazed and drained, and fantasies of running away, just leaving it all behind, nagged at her. How easy it would be to just have herself to worry about. She could eat peanut butter sandwiches, and never have to go near a stove again.

And never see Liza, or hear her laugh, or feel her warm cheek against her own, or have her snuggle up to her at night ...

Nora burst into tears in the middle of English class, alarming her teacher. Amongst titters from her classmates--which promptly stopped when Juliet gave them the evil eye--she was sent to the nurse's office to collect herself.

"You poor dear," the nurse said. All of the adults at school knew of Nora's situation.

"Don't call me that," Nora said, a little snappishly. "I'm sorry," she said, seeing the woman's expression. "I know you mean well, just ... don't call me that, please."