2.17 The Other Really Long Chapter

Dot is successful in attracting young families to her daycare. Her first two clients are Chase Bayless and Jaron Wheloff-Goode. 

Chase, after many years of being single, is now dating Shark Racket. Their daughter together is a pleasant surprise. 

Being back in business has its ups and downs... 

But she's happy to be open again. 

"Need any help?" Santos offers. He's writing his article about DeAndre Wolfe. He hopes it's the first of many. 

"No, there are only two of them. Before I closed down, I was looking after four or five at once!" 

Santos whistles, impressed. "Sounds like you already know what you're doing. I'll leave you to it." 

After years of being tucked away, the Sykes' toys are being played with again. 

"Mom, you gave my toys to these kids!?" Not everyone is happy about Dot working again. 

"Sweetie, you haven't played with them in years." 

That doesn't change the fact that Kaira doesn't want them playing with her toys! 

"They'll get them dirty," she whines. 

Dot turns a stern eye to her daughter. "That's enough, young lady. You have plenty of new toys in your room. Now, don't you have homework to do?" 

Karia pouts, but pulls out her worksheet. 

Damaris is enjoying her retirement. 

She's never just hung out at the beach. Now she has plenty of time to lounge around, meet people... 

It's a little too quiet for Damaris. She finds a lighter for the bonfire and decides to get this party started. 

Tatum, on the other hand, is not having so much fun tonight. Sure, she was the one who asked for driving lessons, but she didn't think they would be this difficult. 

"Eyes on the road," Dot reminds her daughter. 

Tatum's gaze snaps back to the road in front of her. How do people in movies have full blown conversations while driving? It's taking all of her concentration just to stay in the lane! 

The driving lessons are only so exciting to watch, so I checked the SP notifications. I got one about Pancho and Ume hanging out, so I checked it out. 

Apparently Ume likes to work out at the fire station. 

And Pancho comes here because...? 

"I don't have a console at my place," Pancho explains. The firefighters let him play video games there as long as he buys some new ones once in a while. "Anyways, how've you been? Did you go boy-crazy yet?" 

When Ume blushes, a grin splits Pancho's face. 

"Aaaaahaaaaa! Tell me, who is it?" 

"C'mon, I won't judge! You heard the stories of mom's ex-boyfriends! I can handle anything." Pancho is prepared to point out that his own father was a wanna-be tattoo artist. 

"Well... I met this guy at work..." excitement takes the better of Ume, and she starts gushing about her new boyfriend, "He's so nice! But a bit absent-minded... "

"Wait," Pancho stops his sister, "What did you say his name was, again?" 

"Woodrow, why?" 

"Weeeeeeeeeeelllllll...." 

Tatum collapses after a long, tiring driving lesson. She'd be happy if she never drove again! 

But her mom's already scheduled her next one. Tatum is to tired to dread it and falls into a deep sleep. 

The next morning she's feeling more chipper. Damaris smirks knowingly when Tatum hushes her to talk to "Elias". A boy, huh? 

"Say hello to your boyfriend for me." 

"He is not my boyfriend!" she hisses. 

"What?" Elias says on the other end. 

"OH! Nothing, just talking to my grandma. Anyyyyyways..." 

Smooth, Damaris thinks, suppressing a chuckle. 

There's not much room for Tatum to have a private conversation in the house, but she does move close to the backdoor. 

"I looked at your sketch that you sent me last night. I was with my mom so I only saw it when I woke up. It's really good! You should definitely submit it for the school exhibition," Tatum praises her friend's work. They're in the same art class at school. 

"You're just trying to be nice, it wasn't that good..." Elias sounds genuinely disappointed with himself. 

"No, no! I'm serious. You should show it to Mr. Potts, I'm sure he'd tell you the same thing!" 

The topic changes to prom eventually. 

"Oh, I was thinking of just not going. No one's asked me out anyways..." Tatum adds the last part nervously. Will Elias think she's a loser for not having a date? 

"I asked Jenell to go with me." 

"...Again?" it's no secret that Elias has had a huge crush on Jenell Curious-Prudence since, like, fifth grade. He's asked her out several times, being rejected every time. 

"It wasn't like the other times! She said yes..." 

"Oh! Congrats. I'm sure you guys will have fun." 

Tatum feels a pang of disappointment when Elias hangs up, then chides herself. What did she expect? For him to ask her to go? Prom is dumb, anyways. I don't need to go. 

She doesn't have a lot of time to dwell on it right now. The school bus is honking impatiently outside. 

"Did you get the ingredients yet?" Kaira asks in a whisper. 

"Huh?" Tatum totally forgot about their deal. "Oh... not yet. I need some time to find everything..." it is a pretty long list. "Hey, you could help me gather some of this stuff." 

Kaira folds her arms. "Why should I?" 

"Because you're the one who wants this potion? Or maybe I should just forget about this..." 

"No! Wait....urghhh fine. I'll help you." 

With an uneasy deal struck, Tatum has to leave her younger sister. She's going to be late for her first class! 

Kaira's already thinking about lunch. The cafeteria food is awful. She's not sure why her mom won't pack her something nice to eat, like roast turkey...or sushi... 

Tatum's stuck in a long queue to get inside. She waits impatiently behind a group of elementary school children who are pushing each other and rough housing. 

Behind her is Jereme Hong-Sykes, her uncle Aloiso's step-son and her half-brother, Jeremie Hong's, half-brother. Family trees quickly get tangled in a town this size. 

"Ha! They're probably not moving 'cause they think you're one of them!" Chanda mocks Tatum's inability to get through the kids in front of her. 

Everyone tries to ignore Chanda. 

No, Damaris isn't wearing a jetpack. 

She's just having fun on the trampoline! 

She steps off to collect some seeds. There's an empty planter in Tatum's room. Maybe she'll develop an interest in gardening? 

She runs into Marcie, now Pancho's wife. Damaris takes the opportunity to needle her about grandchildren. 

"I only have two! Soon I'll pass away and not see my descendants," Damaris bemoans her many difficulties. 

Marcie, to her credit, just laughs at Damaris's theatrics. 

"As soon as me and Pancho start trying for kids, we'll let you know." 

Damaris hmmphs, but it's the most she can ask for. 

It looks like her concerns were valid. 

Damaris passes before any of her other children have kids of their own. 

She goes with the reaper willingly. She moved out on her own, travelled, raised five great kids, saw the birth of two of her grandchildren, fell in love, and got to be a superstar! It was a pretty good life. 

RIP, Damaris. 

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AN: My life span is set to 100 days. Damaris passed away at around 101 days, which took me by surprise. I never got around to having her and Santos get married. It was actually only looooong after this point that any of Dot's siblings had children of their own, so Damaris would've had to live for a super long time to see that. 

Ume is in a relationship with Woodrow, which also was unexpected. He spent his entire life before this point not dating anyone, even just at the romantic interest level. 

Dot had a weird glitch with her career. She had a very long maternity leave and when it was over no one was bringing their kids to the day care. I had her quit and start over, which fixed the problem.