The Headmaster Visit.

The family got home very late that night after closing the restaurant,

and Yulia was happy to see that her new car had been delivered. As was her teen daughter.

“Wow, Mom!,” Yevgenya cried. “Cool—so … what’re you going to do with our old car?”

“Oh, I’ll think of something,” Yulia replied, amused.

**************

As Derek’s limo pulled away from the curb the next morning, he noticed that none of his kids had yet made it out to the school bus. ‘I’m sure my enterprising wife has a plan,’ he chuckled to himself.

When Genya came downstairs, Yulia presented the teen with a gift. “This is for all your hard work at the restaurant, honey. Your father and I really appreciate your contribution to the family’s success.”

“Oh, Mom—AWESOME!,” the girl exclaimed.

“Of course, with this gift comes responsibility,” her mother said, trying not to laugh. “You can start by taking all your siblings to school.”

Genya was thrilled, and barked—in the most authoritative “Dad” voice she could muster—“Come on kids, shake a tailfeather!!!”

Yanastasia was pretty cooperative, but the boys deliberately lagged, just to annoy their big sister.

Right after the kids left for school, the new home venue reached Rank 3.

Komei took advantage of a day off from the resto to stop by to soak in the hot springs. He told Yulia that he was thinking of inviting Marisa over to his place for dinner that night.

“You should DEFINITELY do that!,” Yulia encouraged him.

Yulia spent much of the day chatting with her customers, but had also invited the headmaster of the local private school over for dinner that night, so she also spent a bit of time redecorating the house and making sure there were 3 rooms that would make a good impression on the academic.

When her kids got home from school, Yulia ordered them to do their homework pronto. “I don’t want a bunch of half-finished homework assignments littering the floor in here when the headmaster arrives,” she admonished.

She started dinner well in advance of the headmaster’s arrival.

“Is there anything I can do to assist you, Madam?,” the butler inquired.

“No, Venkat, I’m fine,” she responded. Yulia had no intention of letting the butler help; she had a vague memory of an elderly butler who had repeatedly prepared servings of juice for a headmaster visit. She had no idea where this memory came from, though. ‘Maybe it was a dream?,’ she wondered.

The headmaster arrived shortly after Derek returned home from the hospital.

“We’re so pleased you were able to fit us into your schedule, Headmaster,” Derek said ingratiatingly.

“Not at all, not at all,” the headmaster assured him. “I have been hoping to meet your impressive family—you have several successful businesses, and you are not shy of money, obviously! Just what we at The Academy are interested in. And your home looks quite fine, at least from the outside.”

“Well, why don’t I give you a tour of the inside,” Derek offered.

The headmaster heartily approved of the front hall,

and the family room.

Yulia set out her Lobster Thermidor

just as Derek and the headmaster entered the dining room. The headmaster also loved that room. (Yulia had borrowed several tapestries and paintings from her restaurant, just to dress up the room for the headmaster’s visit.)

Though Yedrek was too tired to attend dinner, the rest of the children were there, dressed in formal wear and having been instructed to be on their best behavior.

Yasiu turned out to be quite the little charmer—he chattered happily to the headmaster about his interest in Science.

Genya, who was extremely neat, averted her eyes from the headmaster’s atrocious table manners.

Yasiu was in the middle of another story when the headmaster abruptly rose from his seat,

and announced that the 4 children had been accepted into the private day school.

The home venue had reached Rank 4 during dinner.

Derek immediately went to bed, exhausted,

while Genya cleaned up, and Yana and Yasiu celebrated by playing Cops and Robbers in the front hall,

“Get yourself into bed, little one,” Genya told Yana. (Genya was feeling quite the grownup these days.)

Yulia wasn’t tired, and joined Christy Stratton in the sauna.

“So, how’d it go?,” Christy asked.

“Not bad at all,” Yulia answered. “We got through it in record time, from what I hear from other parents.”

The two friends cooled off in the pool,

and, before dawn broke, the venue had reached Rank 5.

______________________________

NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR:

What is this???:

I thought super-neat Sims didn’t do that!!!

Annoyingly, Genya only dropped off her siblings at school—she didn’t go in herself! So, I had her get back into the car and drive herself to school. Not sure why “Take All Students” didn’t apply to her….

I had Komei “Move In” in order to get him into the Sim bin to make him playable so that his date with Marisa could happen.

Here’s where Yulia’s mysterious memory of the “elderly butler who had repeatedly prepared servings of juice for a headmaster visit” came from:

http://veilsmilliondollarchallenge2.blogspot.com/2009/01/days-26-32.html

(The problematic evening begins about halfway through the post. You can also see Yulia as a child, as well as Yuri—one of the contestants in Kara’s new Bachelorette Challenge!)

The game’s usual headmaster shenanigans went on: despite the doors being locked (after the headmaster was inside the house) swimsuit-clad customers kept drifting into the dining room, Yulia tried to walk away from the oven while preparing dinner, Genya took her lobster out to the picnic table, and Benjamin Long was struck by lightning.

Did you notice that little Yasiu was apparently the source of the extra 9 Schmooze points that put the family over the top?

Too funny—Yulia while diving punctured her ceiling.

Did you notice the stinky green snapdragon just outside the sauna?

The home venue actually reached Rank 3 right when Yulia et al. got home from the restaurant. But, since the game had that happen at 10:30 a.m. (as opposed to at night, which is in line with the story), I delayed it till it was light next morning. And the venue reached Rank 4 about 24 hours earlier than I’ve written it (in case anyone’s suspicious at how quickly the venue went from Rank 4 to Rank 5).