MURKLAND - SUNDAY - CHAPTER 13

THE CONTRACT

Well, after that exciting win last night, and coming down from the stardom cloud, it was just so great to relax on my own lot and dream. Dream....dream about a possible future between Karim and I. *Sigh*

Unfortunately, my dream is cut short with an unexpected visit from the Mayor of Murkland. He came by to congratulate me and the Murky Fire Dancers on our fabulous win last night, and to remind me of the "Winners Tour". He also came to check on my trashplants.

I wasn't sure if I heard him correctly. 
"My what? My trashplants? Are you a gardener?" I asked.

He laughed heartily and replied, "Oh no, I am the Mayor not the Gardener! I usually come a few weeks before the Recruiters come by to see if you have accomplished your goals."

"My goals? What are you talking about Mayor?" I mean, he was a bit dazed at times.

He then asked me if I had volunteered to come here and start a new life. Yes, I agreed I had. And he asked me if I had signed a contract that I had to do certain things in order to stay in Murkland.

What? Oh, right, the contract. Yah, I signed it, but I don't remember anything about having to do certain things to STAY in Murkland. I thought once I volunteered, I was here for good.

Unfortunately, not. The Mayor said that it was in "the fine print". And, that if I didn't fulfill the terms of the contract, that I would be sent back to Ash Valley, the town where I had come from.

Say what? I have got to really read that contract! I totally forgot about that contract. What did I have to do? I can't remember.

Don't worry, Kate, you still have time. That is why I come a few weeks prior to the Recruiters' arrival, to kind of make sure things are on track. I have prepared your mini-list of fulfillment obligations. I hope that you will still be here at election time so that I can get your vote! Good luck and hopefully not goodbye Kate!

He handed me the list and on it were all the things I had to do before...what? before the end of the month! That's just 3 weeks away! Why do things always have to be so short notice?

Oh my stars, I look at the list and realize I have one, wait, two things accomplished on this entire list! Okay, it's a start. Thanks to the dance competition, I have maxed my Dance skill. Yes! And my adventures in Granite Falls and meeting the Hermit have garnered me Level 2 Herbalism skill and making the lovely deodorizing cream. That is it! What am I going to do?

• Herbalism Skill to level 2 and make deodorizing cream
• Max Dancing
• Max Gardening
• Grow 16 trash plants from scratch and evolve to perfect
• Complete Friend of the World Aspiration
• Have $15,000 simoleons

Time to call an emergency meeting of the Trashplants United and my BFF's. They will know what to do.

When everyone had arrived, I told them about the contract that I needed to fulfill or else I would be deported back to Ash Valley!

So, Veegan and Ridge decided to check out the transplants first and they determined that I had 8 good and 8 great trashplants.

I don't know if that's good or bad. But bad in my books because they're not perfect! They need to be perfect. Look at these hands, Karim, do they look like the hands of a gardener? Can I get these plants up to perfect?

So, back to basics. Fertilize and talk to the plants. I really didn't want to go back to Ash Valley, so I was going to work really hard on getting all those goals met.

Veegan suggests that I try to use fish as fertilizer. Oh good, all those contaminated fish were actually good for something! 

Ridge informs me that I have a way to go on getting the plants to perfect. Good evolves to Great. Great evolves to Excellent. And after that to Superb, Magnificent, Pristine and finally, PERFECT!

Oh gosh, getting that done, and doing the "Winners Tour"...how am I going to manage? The "Winners Tour" was part of our obligation of winning the Freezer Bunny Dance Off. The Murky Fire Dancers had to visit everyone in Murkland and Nukecrest. 

Things were getting very complicated and murky all of a sudden.

Well, it was still early afternoon and I needed to thank Millennia for loaning us those awesome dance costumes, so a trip to Fort Murkland was on the top of my list. Luckily, I had well over the Level 7 Gardening and Level 8 Charisma needed to visit this lot. So, the Murky Fire Dancers were off on the start of their victory "Winners Tour".

The Salamander house, Fort Murkland, was very interesting, and there was only one way to go in...by water. So, we all jumped in at once to get to the house on stilts. Millennia swam out to meet us. She was also the Mayor's daughter.

Aeon, Millennia's mother, was the owner of the Murkland Mercantile Company. It was the one and only store in Murkland.

I met Millennia's brothers, Chiliad and Span. Chiliad and I became friends almost immediately.

He was very interested in Lavender Pink, and so I told him more about her. Who knows, maybe they will "hook up".

I really needed to "go" and was trying to find a pee bush. I took a wrong turn and ended up in another house on stilts.
I proceeded to climb some stairs and ended up on the roof, where I discovered 24, yes, 24 perfect trashplants! But no pee bush.

I did have an amazing view of their neighbors' house, the Cliff Dwellers, where Ridge and Crag lived. I didn't know they lived next to each other. Nice!

I went up another staircase in another stilt house and seemed to be in an office or the "infamous" drone quarters. Am I seeing this right...they have computers? They must have an electrical source somewhere.

Ah! There you are! I finally found Millennia in the kitchen and gave her an awe-sim hug to thank her for those costumes.

It was getting dark pretty fast. I hadn't realized I had been there that long. Must have been all the travelling between stilt houses. Chiliad invited me to do a bit of fishing. Ok, good idea as I needed more fish for fertilizer.

While I fished, Aeon took a swim.

I couldn't believe what I had just caught! Were the Salamanders so rich that they could just throw away their musical instruments? Hmmm...I am so going to try to dry this out and learn to play.

It was really getting late, but Aeon wanted to give me a tour of the house.
So, I followed Aeon up the stairs, and saw....oh my gosh...are those their drone servants? I had heard rumors about them, but now I know they do exist!

Aeon brought me up to the highest level and said that I could use the telescope if I wished! Oh my goodness...did I wish! Yes!

It was amazing seeing the stars. I just wish that Karim had been here to see this with me. I felt like I was on the top of the world.

Back at home, later that night I was able to evolve a few more of my trashplants. How long does it take a trashplant to evolve? Will I have enough time? Evolving all the trashplants to perfect was going to be the biggest challenge. The race was on! 

Another bonus occurred, and I leveled up in Gardening!

The next morning when the Trashplants United came over, Crag was happy to report that my all-nighter proved successful and I now had 10 Great and 6 Excellent plants! I was on my way! Yes!