More Cape Garner Happenings and Ghostly Stuff

River didn't like looking in the mirror. She'd given up trying to dye her hair and was letting it go naturally...and every single day it seemed, or maybe it was psychological, she noticed a few more grey hairs creeping into that red. She'd noticed that her beloved husband was more salt than pepper now with grey interspersed between his wiry black hair on his head.We're getting up there, she thought. Yet it was even more jarring to see Blair and Michael Steel as they frequented the downtown area on their regular walks. Blair had aged into elder status and the sight made River realize that time was fleeting. All the more reason to make the most of it.

Braden when he was not commuting to Vancouver Island to take care of things at Comox. was home tending the bees, while the kids had their own schedule - which meant making sure that they were at school on-time. And believe me, with Braden being a Major in the Royal Canadian Air Force, he was certainly not going to put up with tardy shenanigans from the youngsters. They had a responsibility; to get to school on time and to get good grades. Anything else was just unacceptable. Braden was just carrying on the tradition of Chikamori kids being studious. (yeah, I'll go with that... not in real life though...at least not with me; my real kids however... one's taking six mechanics courses in one semester and the other is working on computers.)

River painted yet another painting, while Greta contemplated how much trade-off tax dollars would be towards developing the tourist trade on Cape Garner Island. Certainly the not-in-my-backyard types would complain vociferously, but the additional tourist dollars that came into Cape Garner would more than offset the complaints as businesses weren't under the crunch of being unable to meet operating costs. Haruo's thoughts weren't so lofty. He was more concerned with cleaning out the grease trap on the teppanyaki grill. After all, it needed a good cleaning or bacteria would build up and people could get sick.

There was a reason why Cape Garner residents wanted to keep Cape Garner a pristine wilderness setting. After all, deer and other wildlife were around the area and if that was razed, then where would that wildlife go? And how would they survive? There were also rumors of bears (not of the zombie variety) within the woods in Cape Garner, that fed on the fish by the shore, but those appeared to be rumors and not substantiated by any means. It was probably somebody in a bear costume that was in the mood to freak residents out for fits and giggles. Probably some sadistic no-good-for nothing. But there was no rumors that Jared Frio had moved to Cape Garner to seek his retribution on Haruo. But then again, Haruo wasn't in the mood to beat up on the elderly (unlike his Evil counterpart).

It was certain that nobody outside of city hall wanted development in Cape Garner and it was unlikely to pass even if placed in a resolution and especially not in the court of public opinion should the matter go to town hall meeting. But the Cape Garner Chamber of Commerce wanted something to be done. They were hurting in terms of capital and income to offset expenses.

However at that particular moment, none of that worried River in the slightest; (she was one of those who didn't want Cape Garner developed and had mentioned to her daughter-in-law that there would be stiff opposition to the proposal). She was more interested in her husband; his body to be exact.

Yippee...Woohoo.

Finally Haruo was able to go get the mail. As usual it was the tax rat wanting his twice-weekly contribution to the Endowment Fund for the Continued Financial Well-Being of Civil Parasites. At least it kept their bloodhounds away from the door.

Towards the afternoon, it started to hail; and quite considerably too, but as the sun started to go down, the skies cleared and there was a gorgeous sunset.

Colin worked on his computer work, after doing his homework, but all too soon it was time for him to go to bed.

The next morning was bright and early for Braden as he had to go into headquarters and deliver a briefing on the detachment readiness and well, Haruo took over the gardening for that day. When he was done that, he helped River out by transferring the load from the washer to the dry. Of course the elevator door got him. Darned elevator; always trying to kill him.

A paparazzi was lying out in wait outside the City Hall waiting for Greta to make an appearance, mainly to line the local gossip rag with more innuendo and garbage. The Watcher took care of him with a well-timed lightning bolt.

How about you find something more constructive to do? Eh, Paparazzi?

That allowed Greta to go home without being accosted by unwanted attention.

The Watcher is good; the Watcher is wise...

Greta when she got home played with Colin on the table-top arcade game. Colin appreciated the attention from his busy mom. And Greta was more than happy to provide that attention to her child.

And River and Haruo were in the shower AGAIN! I think River was washing Haruo's back...yeah...that's it. Yes, she was being a dear sweet wife and washing Haruo's back for him since he can't reach around and it's more effective...(yeah...I'm not going there).

Meanwhile, one of the various Chikamori grandchildren was in the family graveyard doing his homework. Don't ask, I don't know either...he's an NPC.

...maybe he was just finding out what the quieter half of Cape Garner was doing. (badum...tsssshhh - could be worse, I could have pulled the old saw "things are dead at the graveyard" out...yeah, I know it's moldy.)

At least Junior didn't stick around to see the graveyard actually get active. Looks like a ectoplasmic family reunion. Of course Mayumi decided that she was going to be a jerk to Yasunobu. Well he was dead, what more could she do to him?