Nightshade: A SimLit | Chapter 12: Thankful Hearts

"Elaine... what are we going to do?" Garrett asked, his voice shaky from nervousness. "On Harvestfest, of all days, this had to happen..."

"I...I don't know, Garrett," she confessed. "But we'll figure something out."

Garrett sighed. "This is all my fault. If I had just tried harder to get better tips... or maybe looked around a little more for some gigs... maybe I could have scraped up enough money..."

"No, it's not your fault. You work hard every day to provide for this family, Garrett. I wish my art would sell for more money, so that I could contribute something..."

Amelia and Alexander entered the kitchen, seemingly confused. Elaine spotted them and frowned. "Garrett..."

The children approached their parents, and Alexander spoke up. "Um... I kinda thought something was wrong with the light switch in our room, 'cause the lights wouldn't turn on... but the rest of the house is dark, too. What's going on?"

Garrett frowned. "Well, uhhh... I guess I'll explain to you the best I can," he said. "You know you have to pay money to the power company for the lights to work, right?"

Alexander nodded, and Amelia listened intently.

"Well... you have to pay them by a certain date, or else you can't use the lights, or anything else with electricity... like the stove, or fridge, or the radio," he continued. "And you know that most of the time, I barely make enough money to keep food on our table and a roof over our heads... and this month, to be able to do that, I didn't have enough left to pay the bills. They're overdue, so they turned off the power."

Amelia frowned. "You mean you won't be able to cook a dinner for Harvestfest?"

Elaine sighed. "No, we won't be able to have a Harvestfest dinner like we normally do. But Garrett and I thought we could order a pizza, and the family could all spend time together talking, since we can't really do much in the dark. Does that sound good to you?"

Amelia smiled. "Yeah! I like pizza. Don't you, Alexander?"

Alexander frowned. "Yeah..."

"I know it seems bad, but we have to be thankful for what we have despite all of this." Garrett said. "Come on, let's all go to the living room."

Amelia and Alexander nodded, and the four of them went to the living room, where the rest of the family had already gathered.

Everyone sat down and began conversing cheerfully, and Elliott spoke up. "I have a great idea! Why don't we tell some family stories?"

"Yes, that's a wonderful idea!" Elizabeth smiled. "You know, it was around this time of year when we met, wasn't it, Elliott?"

Elliott nodded. "It was late fall. I still remember it like yesterday."

"I had just moved to Brindleton Bay to pursue a career as a veterinarian," Elizabeth explained, looking at her grandchildren. "It was just me and my two dogs. It just so happened that Elliott had recently moved there as well, with his dog. I was at the dog park one day and that's where we met." She smiled fondly at the memory.

"The second I laid eyes on her, I thought, 'wow, what a beautiful woman!'" Elliott laughed. "I just had to talk to her. So I marched right on up to her, about to say hello... and stepped right into a pile of dog turd." Elliott paused. "I was so embarrassed..."

"Yeah, that was really attractive, Elliott. But I invited you to my place anyway," Elizabeth said, a playful grin spreading across her face. "And from that point I was stuck with you. Every day you called me up, wanting to know if you could come over..."

"Yeah, and you haven't gotten rid of me since!" Elliott smiled.

Elizabeth nodded. "And I never wanted to."

Alexander made a disgusted face, but Amelia smiled warmly. "And then you fell in love, right?" she asked.

Elliott raised an eyebrow. "Well, what do you think? If we didn't fall in love, we wouldn't be married now, would we?"

'Good point,' Amelia thought.

"Do you remember the day we met, Elaine?" Garrett asked.

"Of course I do. You were out on the street playing the guitar, and I tipped you a dollar... and my phone number." Elaine winked. "And you called me that same day, too!"

Garrett chuckled. "Yes, I did."

The family continued telling stories and discussing their lives, and in those moments, they were all without worry.

"You know," Elliott said. "I've had a lifetime of things to be thankful for. And I'm thankful for them every single day, not just on Harvestfest." He smiled at his wife. "Especially you, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth smiled back at him. "I'm thankful for you, too, Elliott."

"I guess we have a bunch of things to be thankful for too, don't we, Amelia?" Alexander asked. "Sure, the power's out and we're eating pizza for dinner... but we have each other, and that's what matters, right?"

Amelia smiled. "Yeah, you're right." She was thankful for her family, and all that she had, even if it wasn't much. But this year, she had something else to be thankful for, too, and her thoughts wandered to her dearest friend: Onyx.