ONE DAY IN SIM CITY
The day was just beginning as the people of the night shift exchanged places with those who lived and worked during the day. Central Willow Creek was just gearing up for another fine, Summer day. There was an optimism in the country right now: The space programme was just starting to deliver results and, for the very first time, it seemed like America was just ahead of the Russians in getting to the Moon. The war in Vietnam was going in the Allies favour as well. On the cultural front the Beach Boys were riding high with their critically acclaimed album, Pet Sounds but word was that within weeks The Beatles were going to launch their next album and word was it was going to be revolutionary in sound. Plus there was a tour by them in America soon after release of the record.
In Pack's Clothing, Barbara Dubois was doing one final stock check before opening the shop. Business was going well; there was now enough money for her to hire a full time shop assistant and word on the street was that Pack's was the place to shop for all the latest Mod gear.
So business was good, very good, and it was certainly keeping her on her feet. The choosing of what clothes to sell and putting outfits together for display was a real buzz but dealing with customers who wanted to be at the cutting edge of fashion...especially young people who wanted to look as cool as the top British Carnaby Street models...much like Barbara herself, made her feel like she was doing an important job for her community.
If she had any worries right now they concerned her boyfriend, Jeremy Saint. He was always considerate, caring and loving towards her and their time together was a joy. But he was clearly troubled by his thoughts.
Jeremy was leading a double life. On the surface he was a conscientious employee at the Landgraab Corporation with a brief to raise the public profile of the company. It was "yes sir, no sir" in public and he always handed his reports in on time and perfectly typed...
He had been working with a colleague to gather that information but with the recent high security checks in the corporation building they had to be extra vigilant to avoid being noticed.
...because the Landgraabs were always just around the corner, an ever present threat...
There were moments when Jeremy felt his courage might desert him. He just wasn't used to a life of intrigue and investigation...unlike his neighbour, John Action...
Like Jeremy, he wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on with the Landgraabs and their schemes. He knew things about the mystery that Jeremy didn't; darker, more sinister intrigues but like Jeremy he too had been subjected to a form of brainwashing...someone had wiped certain, specific memories from his mind. Two people were responsible but he only had the name of one...and she had completely vanished from view: No one could find her but Action was certain she was out there, somewhere.
The other person was a barely remembered face but, like his cohort, he was proving difficult to find as well.
Action gave the punchbag one last, powerful belt before he hit the shower and got dressed. He pushed thoughts of his investigations to the back of his mind as he headed into town to enjoy some time with his girlfriend, Katherine. Other than she was rich, intelligent and stunning what turned him on about her was her doggedness and that she wouldn't take his crap about "keeping safe from danger". She was the one person in his life who could speak frankly to him and keep his impulsiveness in check.
Action was getting known around town...he had his network of informants and his presence was well known in the bars and clubs in the inner city. An undercover cop he was not...
Another man who was known all around town was Alan Cuffe. He was keeping a watchful eye over his newest business venture, The Kitten Club. A popular night spot for the young, not so young but definitely fashionable. A physical, bricks and mortar representation of his magazine, Lothario, and the lifestyle it espouses: Free, sexually liberal and with the veneer of sophistication.
There were others who disagreed though...some called him a pornographer and that his magazine, with pictures of naked ladies in them, was pure smut but Cuffe played by the letter of the law and had avoided a couple of attempts to have him put out of business. Then there were the "Kittens". If the club was the bricks and mortar incarnation of Lothario and Cuffe's ideas, then the Kittens were the living embodiment. They were young, stunning women who adorned the pages of the magazine and who were a presence at the club in their figure hugging costumes; stylised cat outfits. Again, the detractors claimed they were being objectified and exploited but every one of them were there out of their choice. The life of a Lothario Kitten wasn't for every one of them...a couple had quit because it became too much, too intense and not what they hoped the experience would be...but the image of the Kittens seemed to embody the permissive society of today.
As Cuffe walked around his club, meeting and greeting the clientele and entertaining them with his anecdotes one would be mistaken for thinking he had reached the pinnacle of his life: He's the man who has a successful business empire, a millionaire living in a mansion in the most exclusive part of Sim City and surrounded by beautiful women. Yet his bonhomie was a facade: He knew too many dark secrets and was haunted by what he had seen and knew. There were things he discovered recently that almost drove him to madness. His live in assistant and sometime lover, Madelyn, had kept his growing fears and paranoia secret from the world and effectively ran the company on his behalf whilst he sought ways to regain his sanity. Few people knew that the slightly older Kitten, in her figure hugging outfit, was the one person Cuffe depended on but even she didn't know what his darkest secrets were.
In another hot nightspot in town, not too far away from The Kitten Club, another couple were dancing the night away but this couple had no secrets between them. Travis Scott and Summer Holliday had recently become engaged and tonight was a double date with their housemate, Liberty and her boyfriend, Gary at the Orange Peel Club.
This was perhaps one last opportunity to spend time going out as a group before the serious business of wedding planning began. Travis had been living with Summer for 2 years now and he knew, deep down, that he was always in love with her but it took him all that time for him to realise it. For Summer, she had loved him from afar for even longer: Back when they were in high school but Travis was that little bit older and was in an upper year from her so he never even knew who she was until they moved in together.
Marriage...he had only vague ideas what would be entailed on the day and then afterwards but he had resolved to learn on the job. Summer, however, was brimming with ideas; ideas she had since she was 12.
The houseshare happened by chance and their third friend, Liberty, wasn't to be left out or be a third wheel. She had found love with Gary; a young man with a romantic heart and a rich father. Liberty's cool, scientific mind complemented Gary's poetic and gentlemanly style. Would they go the distance? Well, so far, so good...
By the time of Kennedy's presidency the Sneedleys had it made. They had Sneedley Burrow, their home, constructed out of their own money, in 1962...complete with underground nuclear bunker. Edna adored the First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, and her style and modelled her wardrobe on hers.
And she wasn't the only one who admired the Jackie style...her husband, George, envied it as well (although he would never say so to Edna). His transvestism was starting to take over his life. Once an occasional hobby, he now had a fully fledged female alter ego: Beulah Boutee.
Now he was working and living a double life. As George he was a hotel chef, as Beulah he was a maid at the Landgraab mansion, working two days a week and no one suspected his real identity. How long could he keep up this life? He put that question well to the back of his mind. He was enjoying being Beulah too much.
So too was Joanna. She had her own secrets; once a streetwalker and now a college student. She was just starting to get ahead in life so absolutely no one could find out about her background.
But she had resolved to look forwards, not back. She would earn her place in the world and she figured she had time on her side, just starting out and trying to find who would be good to have by her side as she progressed...
It would be a hard sell trying to convince young Jamie McGregor that time was on his side. His parents would tell him that his life in high school was here today and gone tomorrow...that he had college, work and decades of life and opportunity ahead of him. Jamie couldn't see beyond next week. His social progress was at a snail's pace and he found that girls still struggled to remember his name or be impressed with him.
His main hope now was with his band, The Bluestones. If he could get a set list, practice some and get some gigs he would crack it with all the girls. They'd want to be with him and jocks like David Watts would envy him as well. He just needed his own guitar and not having to rely on borrowing one.
It had been a long while since Suzy had picked up her guitar and played. It sat there, in the living room, in between the TV and a bookshelf and it had more dust on it than either of the others. There just wasn't time to play with everything that was going on.
"OK, keep still just a moment longer..." said her husband, Neil.
"My nose is starting to itch" she replied.
"Let it...I'm almost finished here!"
"Why are you painting me? You specialise in landscapes, Neil."
"I want to branch out and try my hand at a portrait...and who better to paint a portrait of than the most beautiful woman I have ever met!"
"Awww, that's so sweet of you!"
"DON'T MOVE!"
Eventually she had to but only after another half an hour of standing still for Neil. For there was something that was weighing heavily on her mind, maybe the culmination of months of work that began with a torn page from an unknown book that promised all the secrets of Sim City. She now had the book the page was torn from but she approached reading it with trepidation. She had been threatened, chased, had her career attacked and had discovered many unsavoury things about certain citizens of the city. Scandals involving crime, drugs and even murder. There had also been a hint that Soviet or some other foreign power was meddling in the affairs of Sim City.
So many questions that needed answers and they lay in that book. She picked it up, sat down and began to read...The Hidden History of Sim City by Patrick Cornelius.
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