On a spring weekend, Screwtape and Sheila went to the festival to play on the swings. While Screwtape was otherwise boring, he was like any other child in his love of playground equipment.
Sheila also spoke with her father in the only terms he could accept while on the job: “Garlic fries, please!”
As spring turned to summer, the household seemed to be at peace.
Wei put his genius to good use and tutored Screwtape when the little boy wasn’t preoccupied with the kid’s oven that he got for his birthday while mulling over the precise temperatures needed to make sugar cookies at low altitudes. Though his recitation of trivia got a little more disturbing during their tutoring sessions.
“Actually, parental unit, the settlement of Starlight Shores was driven by forces of cultural persecution.”
“That’s nice, son.” Wei saw a lot of himself in Screwtape, but the coldness of his delivery was far too unusual. Hopefully he’d grow out of it.
Wei had some bigger dishes to make than sugar cookies, and more pressing wonders about the world than the implications of the colonization of West Simnation. It was called ambrosia, and Vega demanded that he make some and store it in the food replicators. As much as Wei loved his wife, he wondered why she was so protective of the dish. It had to be stored, and he’d have an earful from Vega if he sneaked a bite of his own cooking.
His curiosity was quickly forgotten; Screwtape made some excellent caramel brownies to tide Wei and the rest of the household over.
Eva learned the pains of being a masterful sculptor, suddenly realizing why Harwood was trying to escape his sculpting duties by constantly visiting the Knacks instead. He spent a lot of time there that summer, to the point of almost seeming more like a Knack than an Ironstar. Vega hoped that Harwood would come home; she needed a good friend. And Eva hoped for a reprieve, especially since there was a new bookcase and a rocking chair in the living room.
Vega caught up with Angelique Jones-Brown at the Diner, with Screwtape in tow. Much to Vega’s enjoyment, Angelique was as neurotic as her and as easily impressed as Screwtape was.
“Aren’t you a little cutie?” said Angelique to Screwtape by the end of the day. “Oh my god, I have to tell my sisters about you!” Vega was very hopeful after that night. Screwtape was just happy over a new best friend.
A few days later, Vega dipped her feet into the real estate market. Her makeovers of Willowglen Ampitheatre were tested and given glowing reviews from Clark Peddler, but rumor had it that he was quite easily-impressed and not a good authority on those matters. As for the [WORD REDACTED] Wagon, she felt a connection to it that she couldn’t explain at the time.
Vega finished her fifth PI case, convincing Buck Green that Kat Hunter was nothing but trouble, regardless of their over twenty years as a couple. All she needed was one more case.
But something was clearly wrong in the mind of Vega. One day, she was a little more distraught than usual, even though nothing strange was going on. It all started with not getting dressed to garden outside.
No one could sense what she sensed. She sensed loss, heartbreak, and reality crashing down on her. And while it was all fear and worry, her sourness overrode it, and all Vega did was grumble before the world felt much different. Something was going on in her head; a personal turning point for her accompanied by a low rumbling and a threatening orchestral number.
It was the sound of her best friend staring out the window for the last time.