>> Chapter Two - Starting a Family
Jessilyn Falcon began life in Sunset Valley with her family, and she grew up in the normal way. Father and Mother worked nine to five, and she was an only child... so she spent a lot of time on her own. She began to like it this way more and more. In her early teens, a stereo her father was upgrading spontaneously caught fire, and the fire department arrived too late to save him. Lost and sick at heart, her mother wandered aimlessly through life for a couple weeks, then made a reckless decision to go swimming in the community pool when she was already tired.. and drowned. Because Jessilyn was "too young" to live on her own, she was promptly put into the social services system and dropped around from home to home, never really fitting in anywhere. Finally one family decided the only place for her was boarding school, and sent her off to the School of Peace and Love, one of the cheapest schools, and the one that offered the most tuition support for a lost, outdoorsy-type teen. As soon as she graduated high school, Jessilyn was free of Social Services, and she packed what little she had, and the stipend they had given her as her "start in life" .. and she left town. Literally. She researched in the library and found an area that had once been slated for colonization, but had been abandoned. Through pleading and contacting the media for support, she managed to get City Hall to allow her to re-zone the area and re-instate postal and cellular phone services. She knew life would be tough, but she felt she could make it on her own. She initially petitioned for a small military base to be installed, but they insisted she would need to recruit her own commanding officer to move to "that god-forsaken place" before they would even think about it. Jessi packed just enough food to get by, and had a wind turbine and solar power cell shipped out to the island so she would be able to run electricity to her new home. She also arranged to have a well dug and a rudimentary water pipe system installed from a local underground spring... and then she took the plunge. With nothing but some money, the clothes on her back and some changes in her suitcase, a little bit of food she felt would last her until she could find her own sources, her cell-phone, and her diploma.. she set off for the land of new beginnings.
Meet Jessilyn!
... At least the grass was green and lush, right? With some help of contractors she had hired, Jessi set about building a small home. She knew she would need to expand with time, so she planned ahead as much as she could. She also tried to use as much as she could in the way of local resources - logs and wood harvested from the local forest. During lulls in the construction, she explored the area.. and the lush green-ness struck her everytime. Soon she began to call her little home "Falconvale". She noted lot of small wildlife in the area that she felt she could catch because of their non-shyness around humans, and contacted a pet store back in Sunset Valley. They agreed to buy anything she would catch, and the postal service agreed to ship the live animals - very carefully.
Home Sweet .. Tiny Home
Finally, her tiny home was complete. Two tiny rooms - living area and bathroom - and just the bare amenities... but it was home. She put in a call to have her wind turbine and solar panels.. and well dug.. and sat down to wait.
Learning cooking and handiness while waiting
While waiting, she decided it was past time to "better" herself, and set about reading all about cooking. There was no sense in burning down the house when there was no fire department, right? After picking up cooking, and the workers still hadn't arrived for their appointment, she decided she'd learn handiness. It wasn't like the repairmen lived right around the corner, either.
Finally, the workers arrived and set to work, and with them her new bike and ... the paparazzi. All that media attention she'd had to get to make City Hall let her move had backfired. Now they were sending story hounds after her! She guessed it only made sense - not many people had the guts to set out into nowhere, to build a town from nothing. People were only curious, right? Sighing deeply, she made her way over to the two journalists that were sent, and completed the interview. One of them, Dave Ramsey, seemed extremely interested in her ideas to start a new town, and .. maybe she was reading him wrong.. but it seemed he might be interested in her, too!?
They talked all day as the workers did their job, and by the time darkness had fallen and the workers had finished, Dave and Jessi had decided they needed to pursue this attraction between them. A quick, awkward first kiss goodbye before the workers and Dave set off in the boat back to the mainland.
Jessi and Dave's first kiss.
Jessi, feeling a bit lonely for the first time since she had moved to Falconvale, headed inside to plug in her appliances, make dinner, and go to bed.
Early the next morning, she set off on her new bike to explore a bit more. She managed to catch several animals to send to the pet store, and, even better.. she found what she was just sure was a lettuce seed! With her limited food stocks - and equally limited cooking knowledge, finding this was a godsend, and she hurried home to plant it. One of the animals she had managed to catch was an injured falcon, and Jessi decided to order a bird tree and keep the bird as a mascot. While ordering the bird tree, she decided to order a washing machine and a clothes line, since her clothes were getting rather ....grungy.
The next day, the bird tree arrived, and with it... Dave Ramsey! They decided to call this day a "date" and spent all day talking and getting to know each other before the boat had to leave.
An exciting ... date?
(note the dirty sink in the background.. haha) After Dave left, she did laundry for the first time on her own, and headed to bed. The next morning, with more exploring and animal catching, she also discovered a tomato seed, and hurried to plant it. While exploring, she noted a wonderful waterfall lot, and decided she wanted to make it into a fishing hole... if only she knew how to fish.. so she set about learning how to fish.
A week or so later, while tending her tiny garden, she finally felt she understood the basics of gardening... and planted some more seeds she had found recently.
The mini-garden
(note the paparazzi in the Lord Sponge t-shirt.. I swear I didn't put him in that...) Over the week, Dave and Jessi had kept in touch, and, finally, they decided to tie the knot. He really believed in her "living simple" approach, and wanted to do everything he could to help. .. So Jessi proposed. Unorthodox, yes, but so was her home.
After, of course, a romantic woohoo...
He said yes, and stayed the night - (starting a family wouldn't be a bad thing, either!) The next morning, they filled out all the appropriate forms. Jessi hired some workers to put a small addition onto the back of her tiny cabin to support a full bedroom with a double bed, and once that addition was complete.. and the marriage license arrived... they had a small .. and VERY private ceremony at home.
.. yep, he's thinking about bed again already!
The wedding night was everything Jessi could have hoped for, and she fell asleep in her new double bed in their new bedroom with romantic visions of a wonderful family dancing in her head.
Another new beginning... what comes next??
>> Chapter Two - Starting a Family
