A Pleasant Story

Chapter Thirty-One

Investigating Cows - Part One



Carla returned home from a walk to find Kaylie and a stranger sitting at the kitchen table, surrounded by tools. With a cow sitting on the far end of the table. Then she took another look. That wasn’t a stranger—it was her friend, John Mole!





She walked up behind him and said, “Well hey there Hamster. How’s it going?”





John jumped up to give her a hug. “It’s so good to see you but I will thank you to forget that old nickname!”





Kaylie said, "John was just visiting. Now that you’re home, maybe We. Can. All. Go. Out. For. A. Walk.”


Carla and John understood she was speaking for the cow’s benefit and followed Kaylie outside.


When they were gathered in the yard, John began explaining what he'd learned. "I took the cow apart and was able to confirm the listening and transmitting devices. As near as I could tell, there are two location in town with receptors, but I wasn’t able to pinpoint the exact locations. I’ll need to bring in some equipment to track them accurately.”






“The cow has no receptors itself, so it is simply transmitting audio. But what it means is that somebody at receptor locations can listen to everything going on in any place that has a cow. That is, assuming every cow is the same."

Carla thanked him for the work she'd done, then asked, "Is there any way we can identify where the cows are?"

John shook his head. "Until I can get access to the receptors, I can't trace where all the signals are coming from. So the only way to find the cows is . . . find the cows."

"That means a house-to-house search," Carla said. "I'm not working tomorrow, so I guess I know what I'll be doing while the boys are at school."

John told her to look for a small panel, where the cow's udder would be, that would indicate it was an electronic device and not just a sculpture.





"Speaking of the boys," Kaylie said, "It's time for Anthony’s birthday cake! Let's go back inside. John, can you stay and celebrate with us?"





“I wish I could,” he said as he gave her a hug, “but I’ve got studying to do. I am next in line for Head of SCIA and need to make sure to get my skills up.”






"Just watch what you say inside," John cautioned. "You don't want to give whoever is listening any private information."

As he hugged Carla he said, “If you ever want to switch over to the Intelligence track, I could use you.”

“Nah,” she laughed. “Once I’m Captain Hero I’ll be able to fly. Nothing could compare to THAT.”





They went inside and saw Anthony and Dustin having dinner together.





“You’d better not eat too much of that healthy stuff!” Kaylie said, “Or you won’t have room left for cake!”

“Oh yeah,” Anthony shouted as he jumped off his chair. “It’s time for me to be a teenager!”

Everyone gathered around to cheer Anthony on to his teenage self, blowing the noisemakers that every Sim carried with them at all times.





As they watched, Anthony blew out his candles and began his transformation.






He chose knowledge as his aspiration, since that was what inspired him more than anything. He shrugged at the clothes he was given, though.






They all sat down to enjoy some cake, then Beau cleaned up as Anthony launghingly asked, "Moms! Can I have some money to go to the mall with? I have GOT to get some better clothes!"

Carla said, “Sure, but do you want to go now with me and Kaylie? I need to get some things too.”





Anthony agreed, then Beau asked if he could go meet Tina at the park. Carla nodded and said, “I guess that would be all right. Dustin, do you mind staying with Tom?”

“Nope!” Dustin said. "We’ll have fun! But can I call Lainey and invite her for a visit? She said she'd see if her parents would let her come."





Kaylie and Carla glanced at each other, then both nodded. "That's fine, Dustin, " Kaylie said. "We'll find some space for her. If her parents are okay with . . . "

But Dustin wasn't listening anymore--he had run to the phone as soon as he heard "fine" and was already excitedly telling Lainey that it was okay for her to come.






He was disappointed however. Lainey was saying, "I'm so sorry Dustin, but my parents said I am too young to go for a three-day visit. But listen, I got accepted to college and I am going to go today. If you can also go soon, we can meet there."

"Oh gosh," Dustin said, "that would be great! Académie Le Tour, right?"

Lainey replied, "No, I was not accepted there. I got in to La Fiesta Tech. They are good also."

"Well I can go there, too!" Dustin exclaimed. He was privately a little relieved not to go to Académie Le Tour, since he knew that was where Angela had gone. He didn't really want to risk running into her.

"Well, I will leave now, and hope to see you soon," she said, and hung up.





Dustin was thinking quickly. Would Kaylie and Carla let him go to college right now?

He began explaining his plan to them.

"So Lainey is going to college right now and her parents won't let her visit and I have the Young Entrepreneur's Scholarship and the Orphan Assistance so I'll have enough money and La Fiesta is a really good school and . . . "

Carla interrupted him, "It's not the money, Dustin. It's just that we weren't expecting it so soon."





Kaylie added, "But if that is what you want, I don't think it's a bad idea. But how about you wait until tomorrow morning so we can have one more night as a family? We won’t be too long at the mall."

Dustin grabbed her and hugged her and said, "Thank you! Thank you!"

Tom was listening to their conversation, then turned and went sadly to his room. After Anthony and Moms went to the mall, Dustin went in to look at his little brother.






“I’m sorry Buddy. I’m going to miss you,” he said quietly. “But I have an idea for something I can do for you.”


Dustin went to his easel and began to paint.





Beau was having a good time at Woodland Park and in no hurry to leave for college until Tina wanted to go, too!






When they got to the mall they went to the clothing store and Carla told Anthony, “You pick out whatever you need and we’ll wait for you at the table by the vending machines.”





While Anthony was choosing his outfits, Carla said hello to Matthew Picaso, who seemed to be pregnant again, and introduced him to Kaylie.





Carla said, “So did you change your mind about the big telescope? Last I knew you had three infants and seemed fairly certain you didn’t want to get abducted again!”

Matthew laughed and explained, “Well, those two are so cute and Jessica and I both wanted a big family, so we decided to both have another!”

“So I set up the big telescope again and just waited and pretty soon they picked me up and brought me back, and I heard the happy maternity music, so I knew it had worked. It was a bit shocking, but not too bad since I knew what to expect this time.”





“And then Jessica and I tried for another and now she’s pregnant too!”

Carla congratulated him and promised they’d come visit the family very soon.





She and Kaylie went to sit down and wait for Anthony and when he was done he came and joined them and they admired his choices.





“Anthony,” Carla said, “We wanted to tell you something. When we adopted you, we had no idea that our lives would get overturned so quickly and we just wanted to say we’re sorry if you felt left out because we had to care for . . . “


Anthony interrupted them.





“I want you two to remember back to when I arrived. What was the first thing we did?”

Carla and Kaylie looked at each other, then back at Anthony.

Anthony continued, “Well, first we went to the mall and took pictures together.”





“And then we played in the playground.”




“And then you swung me around,” he said, looking at Carla.





“Then I picked out new clothes and when we got home I played redhands with you!” He looked at Kaylie this time.





“And then you helped me decorate my space room, just as I liked it. Trust me, I did not feel neglected. And when my brothers’ Mom got killed, it was fun having them with us even though they were sad. So don’t worry!”

Carla and Kaylie each gave him a hug, then Carla said, “You are the best kid in the world. Let’s go home.”

When they got back they saw Dustin and Beau hanging out in the front yard and waved and went inside.



Dustin was saying, "If you choose La Fiesta, I’ll save you space in my dorm!"

Beau looked at him seriously. “Are you going there just for a girl? Because I thought you wanted to do oceanography? You know La Fiesta Tech is in the desert, right?”





Dustin nodded, “Yeah, but I looked at their catalog and they have a great zoology program, so I could study those kinds of animals. I wasn’t really set on oceanography as a career—I was just working in that track because it was the best one. The girl is just a bonus.”

He grinned at Beau. “And wait till you meet her! Maybe she has a sister!”


Beau thought to himself that he didn’t really want to meet any other girls.







The next morning, the family gathered outside to watch Dustin while he called the college. He got his expected scholarships, then called the van to pick him up.

Tom turned his back and thought about factories, while Carla watched worriedly. She knew Tom was taking this hard. Dustin had been pretty much the only Dad he’d ever known.





Dustin told Tom, “I put something in our room for you to remember me by. And maybe you can come visit me at college once I am settled in!”

The van arrived and Tom waved sadly as Dustin left.





He turned and ran inside to see what Dustin had left him and found a painting of the picture they’d taken one day when they were goofing off in the yard.




When the school bus arrived, Tom joined his other big brothers and went off to school as Carla left to begin her cow search.


She started at the Traveller's home. In addition to looking for the transmitter, she wanted to ask about the necklace Dustin had gotten from them. Dustin had told her that he hadn't found it in the jewelry display at Twikkii Island where he thought they had gotten it.





Trent came out and greeted her and asked how all the boys were doing, and she gave him the news about Dustin going off to college, then asked about the necklace.

"It wasn't on Twikkii Island?" he pondered. "Well, my family and I have traveled all over, so it is possible we got that one at Takemizu Village or Three Lakes. I thought I remembered getting it on the island, but I could be wrong."





Carla thanked him for the information, then continued, "I was wondering if I could take a look around your house. We've been worried about possible . . . " she suddenly paused. She hadn't come up with a cover story for why she wanted to search peoples' houses, and she didn't want anyone to know about the cows yet, in case they'd say something that would tip off the listeners.

She thought quickly, and went on, "We've been worried about broken water pipes because of the danger of water build-up and . . . toxic mold," she finished lamely.

Trent didn't seem to find her story odd though, and invited her in.




She looked around the large living room carefully as she entered but didn’t see a cow.

“We’ve got three bathrooms and also a sink in the kitchen,” Trent said. “Do you want to start there?”





Carla agreed and Trent led her into the kitchen to show her the sink.

She saw the cow immediately, sitting innocently on the counter. She could even tell it had the panel.




Her work in this house was done, but Trent was looking expectantly at the sink, so Carla had to make a show of inspecting it.





“Helpful” Trent then showed her around to every bathroom in the house, joining her search for "toxic mold."





"I need to come up with a better cover story," Carla said to herself as she inspected the third one, "or I am going to become intimately familiar with the plumbing in every home in Pleasantview!"





At the next home she visited, Carla was better prepared, and simply told Tara Kat that she worked for the police force and was trying to meet everyone in the neighborhood to become familiar with their homes and locations in case of burglaries.

Tara invited her right in and was happy to meet her and showed her around her home.





Carla spotted the cow right away in the kitchen, but took a little time to meet Tara's housemates.

First there was Mickey.






Then she met Faline.





Finally she met Samantha, and commented to Tara that her kitties were certainly strikingly colored!






Tara laughed. "They've all become tops in their professions, but Samantha is in show business so I thought she should look like a star!”

She led Carla to the living room where she showed off three kittens sleeping in pet beds. “Oh, so cute!” Carla said, as Tara handed her one.

Carla snuggled the kitten and asked his name.




“I haven’t named them,” Tara said, “because they are all available for adoption. I didn’t want to get too attached.”

Carla put the kitten down and said, “Oh, do you think I could take one? I have a little boy who would love a kitten!”






Tara agreed and Carla said, “I need to call my wife and make sure it’s okay with her,” then phoned Kaylie. Kaylie thought it would be just the thing to make Tom feel better!





Carla thanked Tara then took the kitten home to show Kaylie before she continued on her inspection tour.





Kaylie assured her she’d get the kitten settled and sent Carla back out on her rounds. The kitten made himself at home right away after Kaylie installed a toy for him.





Carla went next to Nina Caliente’s and explained what she was doing going around to the homes in the neighborhood, but added, “I’ve been here so many times I don’t really need to inspect—I just wanted to see how you’re doing!” She’d spotted the cow right away so decided to speak with Nina briefly, then move along.





Nina seemed awfully sad though, so Carla asked her friend, “What’s wrong? Is it Don?”

Nina shook her head. “I wish. He’s fine. It’s Dina. She got kidnapped by aliens the other night and hasn’t been returned.”





“Oh no!” Carla cried. “That’s just like what happened to Mortimer’s first wife, right?”

Nina almost growled in her response. “Those bastard aliens are going to pay when I find out who they are.”





Carla assured Nina that she would try to find out what had happened. She’d only ever met one alien in town so far—a young man named Johnny who’d come over from Strangetown to visit the roller rink. She stopped on her way to her next visit to call him.

When she explained the situation, Johnny said, “Gosh Carla, I don’t know. That sounds weird. They usually return people after just a few hours. My Dad’s not here right now but I’ll ask him about it and call you back.”




Carla thanked Johnny, then proceeded to her next stop, the Kim household. Robert invited her in and said they were happy to have her come by. “We used to work in Hollywood so we have lots of valuable things, so this is a good idea.”





His wife Cynthia came over and said, “Robert, don’t talk like a snob. We decided to leave that life behind.”

To Carla she said, “This is our newest addition, our daughter, Little."

Carla laughed and said, "Little Kim?"

Robert nodded seriously. "I am not sure why everyone seems to find her name amusing. Our son Justin is in the kitchen if you want to meet him too.”




Carla went into the kitchen, where Justin was jumping rope. Behind him, she spotted the cow.





He stopped when she greeted him and said, “I know your kids from school! Anthony and Tom, right? We ride the bus together.”





“That’s right,” she said, “And we have two older ones as well.”

A dog and a cat marched into the kitchen and Justin introduced them. “The dog is Gabby, and Cheech is my kitty.”




Carla patted the dog and said “Hey, it's nice to meet you!" Then to Justin she said, "Can I ask you something? Your Dad looks really familiar but I didn't want to mention it."

"Yeah," Justin said. "He and Mom were in a TV show about space. She played the captain of a starship that was lost and he played the leader of a rebellion that got lost too. They meet up and he becomes her first officer."

"Oh yeah," Carla said, "I remember that! I was always hoping those two would get married on the show!"

"I think everyone did," Justin explained. "But the producers didn't pay much attention to what the fans wanted."

"So how did they end up in Pleasantview?" Carla asked him.

"They did the show for a while after I was born, but decided it was too hard to have a family and be famous. So they retired and we moved here. They've got normal careers now. Well, sort of normal. Mom wants to be a rock star."



Carla thanked the family and continued on her rounds.