Gen 3 Chapter 35: Home Alone

So Gwyn, Sebastian, and I went on a vacation. I probably didn't think it through quite enough, though, because that meant that our little Nemo was left at home with Ariel. I love my daughter, but she's not necessarily the most the most responsible person. I know that one of my goals in taking the vacation was to teach her some responsibility, but I probably should have thought about what it would do to Nemo too.



The babysitter we hired to watch Nemo until Ariel got home turned out to be completely worthless. He actually left Nemo sleeping out on the lawn until Ariel finally showed up and put him to bed. (Nemo, not the babysitter.)



Ariel learned pretty quickly that staying out that late wasn't the best idea when there was a toddler depending on you for every little thing. This is the part where I gloat about my genius plan to teach my daughter a lesson. (And forget about what it might do to Nemo...)



Surprisingly, Ariel turned out to be amazing with her little brother! She obviously has no trouble skipping school, so she stayed home and took incredible care of him. She kept him clean and fed and safe. She even taught him to talk!



Ariel didn't even consider having a wild party or slacking off like some teens do in this situation. She was so exhausted and stressed by the time we were halfway through our vacation, that she did something completely out of character. She actually went to school just to get a break!



That left Nemo home with that idiot babysitter again, but at least he wasn't completely worthless this time.



After school, Ariel relaxed by pondering the meaning of life. Or the school bell. Something like that. Then she headed home to care for Nemo again. She may not have done her homework or cleaned the house, but it turns out that my girl is pretty good at taking care of the people that she loves. So I suppose I'll stop worrying so much about the book learning. Ariel is going to be ok.



Gwyn was more than a little skeptical when we left, but even she had to admit that Ariel will be a good mom someday.



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A/N: Nemo lives and the house is still standing! Ariel was really fantastic about taking care of Nemo and never wished for a party or anything. I was really surprised at how well it went, actually. Ariel was completely exhausted by the end of the vacation, though, and slept in... missing school again. I think Zeke and I just have to accept that she's never going to go to school and move on.

Outtakes!

Idiot babysitter Locke Barkley. He was so crazy that I decided to give him his own "outtakes" chapter, coming up soon.


Elder Lorali has developed a thing for sprinklers. Neli did the same thing in her old age...


Locke loves himself. I kind of want to get him together with Ariel.


Sorry it's so dark, but this is a fun traffic jam that happened when everyone got back from vacation. Sebastian and Gwyn are inside the horse and Zeke is, um, behind it.