Ramblings of a Sim Addict

The Cobra Family

For twenty-five years, Liam Cobra dedicated his entire life to the Hangman Mine. He had sat in the distance, as his friends fulfilled their dreams, by getting married, starting families and leaving the grueling work of a miner. Liam secretly wished he could find the perfect woman to settle down with, but since he was always too busy working; he could never establish a meaningful relationship. Soon Liam found retirement staring him in the face and he didn’t know how he was going to handle not having the mine in his life. Unfortunately, the mine went bankrupt one year before Liam was scheduled to retire, even worse; Liam’s entire pension was gone. He had little money and big bills to pay, so he sold his magnificent, three bedroom home and moved into a one bedroom trailer. Liam felt as though he was starting his entire life over, but he wasn’t sure if he had the energy to succeed.

The sun was shinning brightly and Liam found it hard to sleep. He decided it was time to wake and start his day. As the hot water ran down over his tired, worn joints, he began to wonder how he would survive. There can’t be much work available for a man of my age, he thought. I’m sure it will be difficult to convince anyone to hire me. Liam slowly emerged from the shower refreshed, but defeated. His mood lifted slightly, as he peered from his window and saw the paperboy placing his newspaper on the ground. “Hopefully there will at least be one job I am qualified for,” he whispered to the empty room.

Liam walked out to the curb, picked up is paper and quickly headed back into his home. Once inside, he flipped to the classifieds section and started to peruse he ads. “Computer experience needed, well I don’t have any of that,” he mumbled. “Degree required, well that job is definitely out. Ah Ha, here is one I’m qualified for.” Liam had finally found a job that didn’t require a “technological background”, so he immediately called the number provided and had a nice chat with the supervisor. When Liam finally hung up the phone, he was ecstatic, because he had a new job. Tomorrow morning he would be heading to the Hangman Village Nursing Home, to begin his medical career as a nursing home attendant. The pay wasn’t much, but Liam looked forward to helping out his fellow elders.

Liam spent the rest of the afternoon brushing up on skills he knew he would need for his new job, but was soon interrupted by his doorbell. Who in the world would be visiting me, Liam thought, but all of his thoughts disappeared from his head as soon as he opened the door. Standing before him was the most beautiful, young woman he had ever seen.
“Hello there, my name is Brandi and I live a few houses down from you. I thought I would pop on over and welcome you to the neighborhood.”
It took Liam a few minutes to collect his thoughts, but once he had his bearings back, he suavely introduced himself and invited Brandi in for a cup of coffee.
“Oh goodness, I love how you have decorated this house,” She said, with a friendly smile playing across her lips.
“Well thank you,” Liam replied, as he motioned her to take a seat at the kitchen table.

“Did you just move to Hangman’s Gulch,” Brandi questioned, well sliding into an empty chair.

“No, no,” Liam said, “I have lived in Hangman’s Gulch my entire life, but I just moved to this part of town. I used to live up on the ridge.”

“I see, so then you used to work for the mine?”

“Yes I did, until it closed down,” Liam sighed.

“The closing was awful,” Brandi said sympathetically, as she sipped her coffee.

Brandi and Liam spent most of the afternoon chatting about Hangman’s Gulch, their families and careers, but soon darkness began to fall. Brandi explained that she had to leave soon, because she was expected to be at work early the next morning. Liam hated to see her go, but understood her reasoning, plus he needed to get some sleep before his big day at his new job. Liam walked Brandi to the door; she turned around and gave him a kiss on the cheek, thanked him for a wonderful afternoon and headed for home. Liam stood in the doorway for a few minutes and watched her walk away, as he shut his front door he felt like a schoolboy. It had been years since he had had a crush on anyone, but he could certainly foresee himself developing feelings for Brandi. That night, Liam laid in bed, thinking about his new life and for the first time, he was happy to be starting over.