Chapter 11: Political Progress

As we saw last chapter, Tammy is well on her way to a bright political career. She’s a member of the town council already. She spends her time becoming active in environmental protection, making sure that the green parts of the neighborhood stay green, and protecting the area around Alderwood Manor from development.  Her position pits her against the Landgraab machine several times, but she has great popular appeal and the voters like her.  This of course, keeps Tammy pretty busy, but she still makes sure to find time to continue teaching her son to talk.

Ash learns political words from mommy

The work of the council keeps Tammy away from home most days, but Birch is fine with that. He never wanted a job, and he likes staying home and working the land.  In fact, he eventually has a large garden with four rows of nice plants, of four plants each.

4x4 garden

Birch does get a little stir crazy though, so when Tammy is home in the afternoons or on days off, he takes the opportunity to explore. In the last chapter we saw how Tammy mentioned that there were ghosts at the cemetery, so Birch goes to check it out.  He doesn’t find any ghosts, but he does find an odd looking plant with some flowers on it, and harvests one of the buds.

Harvesting death

He also notices that there are some fish in the pond right there at the cemetery, so he pulls out his portable fishing pole and sets to work.

Fishing in the graveyard

Birch doesn’t catch anything though.

“I must not be using the right bait,” he murmurs as he reels in his line and heads back home for the evening.

In the mean time, Tammy learns that there is a vacancy in the state legislature, where someone in the Simocratic party is retiring.  She runs in the primary for the open seat, staking out a position for saving the town’s landmarks and preventing over development.  She wins the primary in a landslide, and with the help of her friend Cycl0n3 Sw0rd, who donates a few simoleons to her campaign, she manages to squeak out a victory by a narrow margin.  Tammy Alder is the new representative to the state house from Sunset Valley.  She races home on election night to tell Birch the good news.

Election night

Birch is, of course, all smiles, and is extremely proud of his lovely wife, who he is sure will do a great job.  He’s also pleased because the election comes with a higher salary, and now without Birch having to do any more work (he just gardens and fishes, most days, other than taking care of little Ash), they can start to afford things, like a new TV…

New TV

Tammy is happy about that too… this TV gets much better reception than the last one.

Now, of course, you might think that this new job would make Tammy extra-busy, and it does, but she’s a good mom, and she still finds time to work with little Ash on his vocabulary. And in very short order, Ash has learned how to talk.

Ash learns to talk

You may also notice that this was accomplished in an enclosed living room, rather than on a “deck”! That’s right, with her new job, a few paychecks is all Tammy and Birch need, along with his sale of fruit that is now sometimes of Excellent or Outstanding quality, to finally enclose the last room of the house and finish out their living room. The floors are still bare wood, and the walls are covered in cheap paint, but at long last, their home is an actual house, with a full interior from one end to the other.

The completed house

It will be a little while before they can afford to put up siding, so right now it’s just bare dry-wall. We’ll have to hope it doesn’t rain before they get the siding up.

Where will Tammy’s career take her next? Will Birch finally grow some perfect fruit? Only time will tell.

Author’s Note: More details about, and shots of, the house can be found on the House page.

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