The Greaves Family ISBI

Chapter 1

So welcome to another project. I know I’ve got two others that I should be working on, but then I got this idea in my head for an ISBI and I had to try it. So far, I’m having a blast. These chapters are likely going to be short, but hopefully you enjoy my take on the ISBI Challenge.

In the kingdom of Veronaville there lived a peasant farmer named Peter Greaves. The Greaves family had served the Monty family for 5 generations. A difficult winter and a war with the Capp family had left Peter to tend the soil of the family farm alone.

And while Peter spent his days toiling in the fields, his young wife Marla tended to the duties of their homestead. She rose early to make breakfast then moved on to cleaning the hovel in which they lived.

Peter would often return from the field to find his wife carefully making marks in the family’s account log.

Peter would inhale the provided evening meal. His days were long and full of hard work. He and Marla hardly spent anytime together it would seem.

Yet the couple clearly spent enough to time together to produce an heir. Their first born child was born at the end of Spring. Peter chose to name his son and heir Amalric.

While having a son was indeed a blessing, it also came with its own share of worries. Almaric meant the family had another mouth to feed. Now more than ever the Greaves needed a bountiful harvest.

As Spring turned to summer Marla spent more and more time in bed. The midwife said she was once again with child. However, this pregnancy was taking its toll. What would Peter do if his wife died? He could not afford to hire someone to take care of his young son during the day and it would take time to find another wife. And he loved Marla very much. He couldn’t just replace her.

Even though she was ill and tired, Marla still had to get up each day to care for her son and home. There was just no other option. Amalric needed his mother. And he reminded her so much of Peter. He certainly had his nose.

Yet he seemed to have inherited his mother’s somewhat quiet nature. He could pull some of the most adorable faces while his mother tried to teach him to talk.

Despite a difficult pregnancy Marla delivered a healthy baby girl which they named Isabella.

Peter did his best to give his wife a chance to rest and recover after his daughter’s birth. And although he was still needed in the fields most of the day, he found the time to teach his young son how to walk.

Life more or less returned to normal for the Greaves family. Marla’s strength seemed to return although she did spend more time sleeping than before. Or at least, Peter found that she rarely stayed awake more than an hour after he returned home each day.

When he could, Peter took to the local fishing hole to supplement his family’s meager funds and food supply. It was a good think our founder enjoyed the outdoors as he spent almost all of his time there.

Time flew by in the Greaves home and before either parent knew where the time had gone Amalric had grown into a healthy young boy. And although he was quiet, he had also inherited his mother’s playful spirit.

It also wasn’t long before Isabella grew up to be a very fussy child. She cried and often kept her parents up at all hours of the night. This made her parents jobs that much more difficult.

And although the couple had once again been trying they had yet to conceive another child. As much as Peter did not want to further risk his beloved wife’s health, if something happened to Amalric there wouldn’t be anyone to help him in the fields. And no heir to the family line.

To her mother’s great relief the toddler years ended and Isabella became a beautiful little girl. She was still quite a handful for her mother, still fussing quite frequently, but at least now she was somewhat more self sufficient.

Isabella loved to tell the tales of the kingdom. Much to her mother’s displeasure her daughter was something of a romantic silly heart. She was forever going on about lords and ladies and the latest gossip of the kingdom. Whatever was Marla going to do? How could she teach Isabella to curb her unruly tongue?

Her daughter had also taken to fishing with her father and brother. Such an unlady like thing to do. And she would do it in the rain no less!

The only reason Marla did not fuss overly much about her daughter’s fishing was that Isabella proved to be better at it than anyone else in the family. She caught more fish than her father and brother combined and this certainly would help the family during the long cold winter.

But splashing about in the puddles? Oh no, Marla would have to put a stop to that. Isabella was going to ruin all of her clothes and the family did not have the funds to make her new ones.

Well for all her faults at least Isabella did not keep her parents up at all hours of the night anymore. She was now old enough to sleep on the ground floor with her older brother. And after a full’s day of helping their parents the Greaves children always slept soundly.

But each and every morning, Peter and Amalric would head out to the fields or the lake leaving Marla and Isabella to tend to things at home.

Unfortunately, Isabella was more trouble than help most days. Marla found she spent half her day doing most of the cooking, cleaning, and needlework. The other half of the day Marla spent chasing after her unruly daughter who had run off to play in the puddles she’d created in the outhouse so that she could get out of sewing or cleaning.

It was also growing colder which meant that soon the harvest would be brought in. The crop looked okay for the year and it seemed as though the Greaves would have some left over for themselves after they paid their tribute to the Monty family.

Peter was also quite sure that he and Amalric could catch some more fish before the lake froze. They could sell some of it and put some of it on ice.

Peter and Amalric cleared the fields and gleaned all the fruit from the two trees at the end of fall. Most of it went to pay their tribute, but the family was able to bring in one fruit tree and row of crops to get them through the long cold winter.

The family had also put 12 fish on ice. The rest had been sold for a small profit. Winter had finally come to Veronaville…..would their hard work be enough for the family to survive?

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I leave you this chapter with a picture of proof that Isabella is indeed the whiniest little thing ever. She’s constantly complaining and it is almost impossible to influence her to do things. I swear getting her homework done every day is like pulling teeth.

So at the beginning of Winter the Greaves family has a bank balance of 3,870 silver pieces. That’s not too bad given the fact they started with 0 and no one is permitted to have a job. So will the Greaves family ever manage to climb out of the peasant class? Just how high can I get the sims in a medieval social structure when I can only control one of them? Stick around to find out!