ASYLUM CHALLENGE - HARD MODE BY SOULGAL7

   BreeMiles  BissenNess  QuinShay5 

ASYLUM CHALLENGE - CHAPTER 9 - HENFORD-ON-BAGLEY OUTING - PART 1

Snow had explained to everyone that they were going on an outing to Henford-on-Bagley so that Snow could purchase some garden seeds. All the residents seemed quite thrilled with the idea.

They travelled to the Village of Finchwick, and were dropped off in front of The Gnome's Arms Pub. Jackie had told Snow that the stalls were in the central square near the fountain, and as Snow looked around, she could see them. The residents seemed content to chat amongst themselves and Snow figured they would be fine. Afterall, Snow wouldn't be very long, as she only had an hour, so she set off to the stalls before they closed.

Snow headed to the Market Stall first where there was a display of fruits and vegetables. Snow eyed the pumpkin on display and thought about Jackie.

Snow introduced herself and chatted briefly to Kim Bloomberg, who was the owner. After looking over all the items for sale, Kim told Snow that if Snow was looking for seeds, she needed to head to the Garden Stall.  Snow thanked Kim and headed there.

Snow introduced herself and chatted with Agnes Crumplebottom. Snow found out that Agnes and her cousin, Agatha, owned the Garden Stall and they specialized in all kinds of seeds and gardening equipment. As Snow was a novice gardener, Agnes helped her select some seeds, and Snow also purchased some oversized pumpkin seeds. With her seeds in hand, Snow thanked Agnes for her help. 

As Snow turned to leave, Snow glanced over to where the other residents had been dropped off and realized that they were gone!

Snow had a momentary panic attack and turned to Agnes: "Um, did you see my friends who came with me to town? They were over near the pub and now they're not there."

Agnes: "Oh don't worry. They probably headed inside for a bite to eat. The pub serves the best aubergine parmesan in town..."

Snow sighed in relief, "Oh right...they're probably inside..." she said as she hoped that Agnes was right.

~ ~ ~ 

Meanwhile, at the pub...

Shanda had been the first one to head inside. Who wanted to chat with those "loser" residents, when there might be more, exciting things to do in the pub? Like order a drink, which is exactly what she did. As she was enjoying the much-needed drink, a rather good-looking sim sat beside her.  She found out his name was Lucha Harjo and he lived in Copperdale. As they chatted, she did some innocent flirting with him, which he didn't take too well. He told her he was very happily married and not interested.

Egads! Shanda couldn't believe he was married! All the good ones were already taken. Obviously, Lucha was loyal to his wife, unlike her ex-fiance, Cassanova Don. Just the thought of her own almost-wedding sent her into a tizzy. Oh yeah, she needed another drink.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Emilia and Donte entered the pub at the same time. Emilia had thought there might be some music for dancing, but she didn't see a dance floor. She was just about to go upstairs when Donte asked her if she wanted to play a game of chess with him. Emilia wrinkled her nose and then noticed he wasn't wearing his hat.

Emilia: "Who are you?"

Donte: "Emilia, it's me Donte. We met yesterday when you arrived."

Emilia: "You're not wearing your hat."

Donte seemed embarrassed, "No...I...well, that's actually Geppetto. He comes out and he always wants to cause trouble."

They headed over to the chess board and sat down.

Emilia looked at Donte: "He was mean to me."

Donte: "Emilia, I'm so sorry for anything that he might have done. I will try to speak with him about his behavior, but sometimes I can't control him..."

Emilia got a far-a-way look in her eyes when Donte mentioned that, "I understand about not being able to control things..."

Donte: "But I am Donte now, and I thought we could get to know each other better over a game of chess..."

Emilia: "I guess so, but I didn't know you were on both the Chess Team and the Football Team. I bet you talk about strategies to the quarterback all the time. And maybe other things, too. Does he talk about me when you have football practice?"

Donte: "Er...um..."

Emilia: "Oh, it's okay...I was just hoping that as his teammate that you would have talked about the prom, and that maybe you knew what type of flowers he wanted to buy me. I was hoping the color would match my dress..."

Donte: "I am sure that whatever flowers he chooses for you will look really good on you..."

Emilia smiled at Donte and they started to play chess together.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kahi decided to leave the group and walk around the building. Just as he suspected. There was a garbage can around back, although the can was upended and its contents were spewed about. Was there someone else, like himself, looking for clues? Kahi decided to sift through the contents to see if anything had been missed. Gah! Nothing! Perhaps there was another garbage can inside.

As he looked up, he spied a gnome just standing there as if he was waiting for him. Ah, yes, Kahi needed to speak to this resident to see if they knew of more clues. After speaking with the gnome, Kahi decided that it would be prudent to bring the gnome back to the house for further interrogation.

And so, looking this way and that, he carefully stuffed the gnome in a bag he carried. 

TO BE CONTINUED...