Hi Mum, It's Sammy (Clone 63 - Part 4)

Mum, they gave us some good news at work. Apparently we don't have to be able to quote from memory the entire code. Given how long that was going to take me, the fact that I won't have to memorise the lot is a relief.

In fact, my supervisor may have me man the front desk soon. Mind you, he says it's so a real police officer can get out on patrol but if I can get away from these books, I'll be happy.

While I was stuck studying again, my housemates were having a much better time. Well, mostly. Jericho spent some time trying to teach the parrot a few words.

And then he went fishing. He tried fishing at the water treatment plant for a change and found it's salt water not fresh. That discovery made him a much happier guy. I think just being near salt water helped him recharge in some way, even if he wasn't allowed to go swimming.

Eddie was off somewhere in the middle of town, practicing his guitar. You want to find Eddie? Drive around till you hear a guitar and follow the music. It works every time.

And Howie was inventing at the bench most of the day. Well, up until the accident.

It was around the time I was due to get off work that Howie did something completely wrong. It quite literally blew up in his face.

I came around the corner to find Howie marching into the house. "I am going to sell that god damn bench. I hate it. It's trying to kill me."

I looked at Howie with some surprise. "Howie, what will you do with yourself without inventing?"

"Sam, right now, I don't care."

"Take a shower and let's go out." I lightly touched his arm. "You just need a break, that's all." My fingers trailed down his arm to the back of his hand. I squeezed the hand. "You will let me take you away from this?"

After Howie finished cleaning himself up from the blast, we went off to that little lake up in the hills. The air is fresh, the waterfall beautiful and I was hoping we might meet up with that herd of wild horses again. Hopefully there will be something here to brighten Howie's mood.

Sure enough, the herd had returned here. It must be a favourite feeding and watering ground for them.

"Wow, Sam, this is cool. Did you know about the horses?"

"I couldn't be sure that we'd find the herd but this is place I've seen them before." We watched the herd for awhile. It was getting late and the place was getting quiet.

"Howie, the horses aren't the only reason that I brought you here."

"Really, Sam?"

"Really. I thought it was time for us to get a little better acquainted."

"And what might you mean by that?"

"You are cute. In a scrawny, brainy way."

He sighed. "I know. I'm such a geek and you guys make me feel..."

I didn't like the way that sentence was headed so I stopped him. I think he was startled for a moment but that didn't last at all.

"So we make you feel; loved, wanted, desired?"

Howie looked at me with an adorably quirky grin. "What happens if I say no?"

"I go back to proving you wrong."

"In that case, no. Don't feel loved or wanted at all." We both laughed and I went back to proving that he was wrong.

"Hey, Sam, you want to watch the stars? The sky looks lovely tonight."

It was going to be one of the last really good star watching nights for nearly a month. The moon had been new a day or two ago and it was going to rapidly get brighter every night for the next little bit. 

"So Howie, what brings you to a place like this? And a house like ours?"

"I was dissatisfied with where I was. Who I was. It was time for a change."

"What kind of change are you hoping for?"

"Find the real me. I was trying to be someone else for someone. It didn't work. I guess it never would."

"True, Howie, you can only ever really be you."

"Look, Sam, a shooting star. Do you believe in wishing on a shooting star?"

"I don't know, Howie. I think you have to make your own wishes come true. Like right now, my wish is for some food. Because it's been a long time since lunch."

"Well, that is an easy wish to fill. And not one you need a shooting star for." He closed his eyes for a moment. "There, I've made my wish."

"What's your wish, Howie?"

He sighed lightly. "Can't tell you. It won't come true if I tell you. Let's go back to town and take care of your wish."

Since it was a date, we splurged on the good restaurant in town and not the two bit diner.

The food was pretty good but quite expensive for some fairly basic dishes. Still, it is a nice romantic spot to eat.

After dinner, we went to the local pool. There was no one else around.

"Howie, want to go for a swim?"

"I didn't bring my swimming trunks."

"Hey, neither did I. Let's skinny dip." I stripped off and jumped in. Howie was standing there by the pool, looking very indecisive. "You are going to get wet. Now you have a choice, stay there and I'll ruin your best suit or get naked and jump in." He made the right choice.

So Howie and I had a nice little swim. It didn't last long, we heard a car pulling up in the car park and decided getting dressed was a good idea.

"It's been a great date, Howie. I brought you some flowers."

End of date smooching is just the best, hands down. Actually, the hands were everywhere not just down but that's creeping into the "too much info" basket there.

For the record, no, we didn't run home and jump into bed. I won't say I spent the night alone but Howie just isn't the one.

The next day, the chief put me on the desk. He told me I could keep up the studying unless someone actually came into the station to make a report. I'm not in uniform since I'm still not officially a cop yet.

I was still trying to work out where the hell the various things were on this computer when suddenly there was a voice.

"Excuse me but are you going to pay attention to me today or should I come back tomorrow?"

I looked up to see someone sitting in the chair opposite the desk. How I missed that he was there was a bit of a mystery. I wish I could say he was extremely quiet but I think I had just been too distracted by the damned computer.

"I'm sorry, sir. I'm still a trainee. What can I do for you?"

"I want to report a missing cat."

"Missing cat...missing cat..."

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm trying to find the right form for you. I don't understand how they've organised anything on this machine." I spent a frustrating few minutes searching by folders, searching by name, going back down to the desktop. I looked up to find the guy with his eyes closed, looking incredibly patient.

"Try looking for Lost and Found," he finally said.

"Oh, you're right, there it is." I finally pulled up the form. "Name?"

"Noir. Merlot Pinot Noir." I got the cursor into the name box and was finally ready to type. "En Oh Eye R. And Merlot ends with a Tee." How did he know that I wanted the correct spelling of his name?

"305 Sweetapple Ridge Way." I was just going to ask that. Maybe he's just done a lot of these reports before?

"My cat's name is Cocoa. She's large, brown, a persian. She has a white star marking over one eye and her paws are white too."

"How long has she been missing?"

"Since sometime yesterday. She's a good hunter so I wasn't worried until she failed to come home this morning."

I slowly finished typing up the report and carefully saved it. "Thank you, Mr Noir. We'll keep an eye out for Cocoa."

"I'm sure you will. I'll see you around."

Ok, so now I go and talk to the chief about what the next steps are.


---
Bonus pics

A brief welcome to my new Sims.

The only reason this Sim would need an introduction is that he's usually a lot more colourful. Welcome Merlot Pinot Noir - from Splash of Color by Berrypie27. Merlot may well be the most famous and used Berry Sim of all time. This is what happens to the poor soul if you don't have the custom skins and hair for him.

This is Kaleeko's Simself and Jared Van Allen from Cami's Sims by camimh. Again, the CC free versions don't match up with their normal selves, but I think they'll have a good time.

Finally, Ice Crisp and Cameron Jones. I thought Cameron was a simself but blond and no facial marking means I'm probably wrong. Ice Crisp is from altheaquin's Noir Nights. Ice actually survived the removal of CC remarkably well.

Not one of my brighter moments. I was trying to get Eddie and Sam slightly less fascinated by each other.

Small insult.

Eddie confessed to cheating.

Sam wasn't happy about that.

And did they stop rolling wants? No. Eddie is definitely the sex kitten of the group, they all want Eddie.