Gen 1 Chapter 2

Time passed. I got promoted, and with the new responsibilities came new working clothes that looked normal for once. I had climbed the job ladder and was now the designated driver for robberies Rarely we would rob a bank, though, usually just grocery stores and gas stations. Still, a responsible position! It was also one of the few times that I was equal to Annemarie. Soon our career paths would split, and we wouldn't even see us at work anymore. She would do top secret thievery while I would aspire to be the new right hand of the boss. And who knew, in a position where I basically run the place anyway... people have accidents, if you know what I mean. I didn't even care that our reputation with the city residents were getting worse and worse. Not that anyone said anything (they wouldn't dare), but there were whispers, and we had few friends. Really, our friends were just other criminals like us. We also were not worried about money anymore, and had actually saved up quite a bit. 

It was close to my 29th Birthday when we sat down and had a long and serious talk. Well, actually it was a pretty intense argument. Annemarie was upset that we hadn't bought a new house and worked on her dream of having a child already, and I was torn between wanting to get out of this straw hut, and wanting to stay here forever so that I didn't need to tell her that I didn't want children anyway. The argument got heated pretty quickly. I practically screamed that I hate those little creatures with their dirty noses and drool and noise. That I could not handle fatherhood. She was very upset with me, and I thought for sure that our marriage was pretty much done with. Crying, she locked herself in the bedroom for an hour.  Well, I don't want to bore you with to many details. Surprisingly, she later said, that I wouldn't have to take care of all the unpleasant things and that she just really really wanted a child. 

I agreed to look for a new house tomorrow, so that we could start a family under the condition that I would care for her while she was pregnant, but would not be obligated to play caretaker for the brat. Believe it or not, she was the only person in the world that really meant anything to me, and I didn't want to loose her, even if it meant to make such an agreement. We made up and cuddled a bit in the living room, then went to bed excited, for the first time in many months.

I had my eye on a house just two lots down he road. It had been build 3 years ago, but the owner only lived there for a months or so, before his wife complained that she didn't like the sea air or some such nonsense and they moved back into some big city, I did not care where. Once a week a maid visited, sometimes potential buyers with the marker, but so far nobody wanted it. We sold our old furniture to our old landlord, since the new house would be have furniture already, and from what I did see, much better furniture then this old wooden hut had. The haggling with the marker wasn't too hard, I had witnessed such business many times when I was younger and knew how to manipulate her. Nevertheless we barely had enough money to afford the house, and spend the first week eating mostly instant noodles, until the next envelope of payment was handed out.

But we managed to make ends meet, and Annemarie was quite happy that there was a bedroom with a single bed. Though we trashed that bed later to make room for a crib... When I see those old photos, I always have to shudder a bit when I see those wallpapers. Not only were they ugly, but removing them was a pain in the...buttocks.

True to my word, we started trying for a baby pretty quickly. When we were both at home (which wasn't quite often these days, we had different schedules to keep) we either spend time training together, eating, or in bed. Sometimes we even combined some of this activities! Also we were busy saving up money from work and the occasionally side-job we could pull off without to much notice. Did you see those lilac windows and door frames? That really had to change. In fact, I didn't like any of the colors in this house.

We painted the door frames and window frames ourselves and had professionals do the outside of the building. Her favorite color was red, while I liked lime green, though we agreed that this would maybe be a bit too bright. We settled for this light tone of green instead.

 While we spend some weeks renovating, we didn't forget to try for a baby, of course. As the roof was covered again, we started to renovate inside by  tearing down the ugly wallpapers in every room and applied new ones, and then we painted, and tried for a baby again. We changed the bed-sheets  finished renovating the nursery, and tried again, and again, and again...

There came the day that she could not take it anymore. We drove to the hospital and had us both checked for infertility. I was pretty relieved when I was told that everything is fine with my little boys, let me tell you that! Annemarie wasn't so lucky. After days of different testing and a lot a worried tears, she was finally told that the chances of her ever having a child naturally were pretty slim. They said something in the lines of 'chances are 1 to 10.000' if I remember correctly. Annemarie put up a stoic face, but as soon as she was outside the hospital doors, she started to break down. I hugged her tightly, party because I can't stand to see  my love crying, and partly so she wouldn't see my relieved smile.

The atmosphere was pretty tense again. Annemarie was not getting younger, and some days she accused me of having waited too long, or she just screamed and raged for no appeared reason at all.

Other days, she sat in the nursery, reading, or sleeping in the rocking chair. Or, more often then not, quietly crying. I usually tried to sneak past her, since I am not a person who expects comfort from others, and I am not used to giving comfort. The few times I tried, she just pushed me away and told me to leave her alone. You could really think someone had died by the way she behaved! Well, in a way, her dreams had died.

At one point in time, I could not take it anymore. She was miserable all day, had changed her clothing and hair, looked older and lonely. It was breaking my heart to see her like this. I thought long and hard, and finally mentioned over breakfast, that we could adopt a child if she wanted to. In her depressed state she hadn't even thought about that possibility. He is happy to see her smile again, but of course she has many questions, which he can't really answer. He gives her the number of a colleague who recently adopted a brat, and left her to chat for a while. Pretty soon it was decided, adoption was the next step they would take.

Two months, a lot of paperwork and a surprise social worker visit (to check our 'living conditions') later, we finally waited for the child to arrive. Annemarie was pretty worried that our bad reputation wouldn't allow us to adopt, but since they could not prove anything, they finally had to approve our application. I passed the time quietly reading, really I was just here because my wife insisted anyway, while she was quite nervous, wringing her hands and biting her lips.

Annemarie jumped up excited "He is here!" and ran to open the door. I didn't bother to get up. The social worker was quite an unfriendly person, apparently he didn't approve of this adoption and would not even look at us.

Anne picked the boy up immediately. His name is Rupert Aurel Ackermann, and his biological parents died in an accident, so we should not get any problems in this regard. Brown eyes, black hair, the average ordinary toddler. After a last signature, the social worker left, and so did I.

Annemarie took the following months off to care for the boy around the clock. I had never seen her so happy, I think she really is predestined to be a mother. Whenever I saw her, she was with Rupert. Reading to him, talking to him, teaching him to walk, or just holding him. True to her word, I never once had to touch a dirty diaper and didn't care much for the boy overall. At least we were lucky that he already slept through the night, and we usually had the late afternoons for ourselves. Her happiness was contagious, and looking back, I can say that this were some of the best years of my life.

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All names are taken from this random name generator.

Gen 1 Chapter 1

Generation 1

David Othmar Ackermann

• Marital Structure: Mixed Couple
• Number of Children: Two
• Career Founder: Criminal: Evil
• Career Spouse: Criminal: Thief
• Generation Goal: Perfect Careers
• Miscellaneous Fun: Runs in the Family

My name is David Othmar Ackermann, I am 18 years old and I just moved here with my spouse, Annemarie. Maybe I should tell you something about me before I jump right into my story. Well you see, I grew up in Germany, and my childhood was kind of hard. My family… let’s just say, I disliked them so much that I hightailed out of the country as soon as I was legally able too. My wife Annemarie, I've known her since Kindergarten, we share a passion: watching others cry. And it’s just so much more fun if you can laugh about others with someone else!

We were together since we were teenagers. We married in secret just after we graduated. Why? Well, my family never approved of her, because of her “character”, at least that is was they told me.I think it is because her family was really poor (and mine was not). So I just grabbed as much money as I could, and we ran away, never looking back – to start a new live here in Sunset Valley.

Our new home! It's really just a small hut made out of wood, with a straw roof, but it was all we could afford without too much questions asked. The landlord said it was already furnished, and the rent wouldn't be too high for the next few years. We hug each other tightly before looking inside for the first time.

This is terrible. There is dust everywhere, everything is old and faded, and I swear some things just look like someone not very skilled crafted them by hand. It's a far cry from the luxury I am used to. And the rust! Don`t get me started on the bathroom. Well at least the view is good. It's on a little cliff and you can see the lighthouse in the distance. Annemarie thinks the simplicity is charming and romantic. I pretend to agree with her quickly, but inside I am crying. With only 500 € left we walked to the nearest grocery store to get basic supplies.

While we were out, my wife saw this monstrosity of a carpet in one of the windows. She managed to persuade me to buy it, saying that it would be the only splash of color in the whole house. That is what she said. What she meant was: If you don`t do it, you can sleep on the couch. Women!

While Annemarie was already busy doing her morning gymnastics,I studied the newspaper for a job but I had little hope. I did not exactly graduate with high marks, and I kind of had a shady history. If my future employer decided to look in my past, that could be a problem. Mhmhm, A-levels, no..., interested in plants, no! Mhmm... good physical condition, getting along in a team, okay, I can do that... 'no problem doing things that some might label as "criminal"' well that certainly sounds interesting!They even had two positions to fill. I called them immediately and they wanted to have an interview with us as soon as possible.

We put on our best clothes and took a taxi.

Was this really the right address? It didn't look like an office at all. We bravely walked around the building, and the high security back entrance convinced us that this was in fact the right place. We had to speak to the security and said our names and purpose into a microphone. I was a bit nervous, but I should not have been. They did ask about our past, and they were quite pleased that we spend our days in and out of juvey. Especially when I implied that we didn't always get caught. We got the jobs, and they told us that this is in fact the underground organisation of Sunset Valley. As if we hadn't figured that one out already! Well they gave us the passwords for the areas we are permitted in, gave us a uniform and told us that we should head home and that our job would start tomorrow. Of course we didn't sign any papers and we would get the money in cash every week, but that was alright with us. They didn't tell us what we had to do, though, just that they needed some decoys for the next big plan...

We spend the rest of the day with our workout, to be fit for tomorrow. Anne has those look in her eyes again, scanning my body, and I just know she is thinking about having babies again. This is the only topic we constantly quarry about. I told her we are too young and that we should focus on our carrier first. She always plays it down as being not so hard, and tells me how nice it would be to have a baby. Then I try her to see reason, and what a big responsibility this would be. This usually goes back and forth for a while, and is usually followed by some great reconciliation woohooing, so I am not complaining too much. But to tell the truth, while those reasons I tell her are true, I also just plain hate babies. I really can't stand them and would be just to happy to never have any. Well today we fell into bed quite exhausted, and I managed to make her forget about kids once more.

The next two weeks passed quickly. At work, we had theory lessons, to learn all the secret signs and different bird hoots we would use to communicate, and a lot more. In the morning we'd usually just eat a salad  since we were both concerned with our health and fitness. I also had to complain about my back pains a lot. My wife had more of a knack for sports then I did, unfortunately for me. Some days I just wanted to sit quietly and study some chess theories, but I restrained myself, because that was no use right now.

Finally there came the first day that we would actually be in the field and act as a decoy. My wife was in a different team with a different leader, and as far as she told me, she did get along great with everybody. Me, not so much. My leader thought it would be a great decoy for me to run around town without my trousers. Well it kind of was, but I ended up in prison anyway. I was just too slow. You can image how miserable I was. But lucky for me, it was my first offence (here), and they could not provide evidence for anything else then indecent exposure in public. They had to let me go after a few hours. I talked with Annie beforehand about that possibility, so she wasn't too worried about me. 

I walked out f there with my head held high. They also didn't give me any pants and I had just spent some hours being laughed at by everybody. But I just grit my teeth and took a taxi home. The next day, I was told by a slyly grinning superior that my performance was really lacking, and I spend the next week working extra hard and had a lot of long hours at work, just so that I wouldn't be fired.

We saved up our first few payments so that we could have a shower installed. It was really nice to shower while the other bathed, so that we could go to bed together and didn't have to wait for the other. The next thing we got was a used chess set and two plastic garden chairs to go with it. I insisted on buying that since I was really obsessed with chess. Sure I would have preferred a computer, but that just wasn't in our budged.

The free days we had were spend with sport as well. At this time I was running a bit faster then her so we did't have to talk. I was pretty miffed that she got promoted to cut-purse while I still hung around as a decoy with not even a slight possibility of a promotion in the near future. She talked me into going to a cheap fast-food restaurant with her later, and since it wouldn't have been fair to not celebrate her success at all, we ate some cheap burgers there. The evening was a quite and tense affair, until she offered to train my in sports, so that I could impress my boss with my athletic skills as well. I wasn't overjoyed with being lectured by her like that, but it was quite important that we moved up in the world. I certainly didn't want to live in that.. that shack! forever. I reluctantly agreed and tried to force a smile on my face for her sake. 

The time flew by in a routine. A salad for breakfast,  a long day at work and at least 4 hours of training in the afternoon. On Mondays and Thursdays Annemarie would train me, the other days we would train by our self. I usually went jogging, because it got me out of the house, so I didn't have to listen to her nagging about children all the time. I tried to reconnect with her a few times, just cuddling on the sofa, but it was no use, we grew apart more and more.

We turned 25 without even noticing. In the last 7 years we got promoted a few times, Annemarie was already halfway on top of her career at that time. I never quite managed to balance out the mistakes I made in the beginning, even though I was working hard on most days. Coming home stressed and feeling empty did nothing to improve our relationship. I was so envious of her, she always was one step ahead of me on the  job ladder. On the plus side, we usually didn't have the same working hours and it was even easier to avoid her.

God how I hated this small house. Of course I never called the handyman, because that would have been a waste of money. Money that I was desperate to save up. Why I thought I could repair this old television all by myself, I don't remember anymore, but I got electrocuted soon after I touched it. At least I wasn't hurt, but we had to buy new clothing, and I don't know if that was cheaper then the handyman. That reminds me of the long weeks when I had to repair the sinks at least once a week, and unclog the toilet every other day. At least the house was spotless. I don't know how Annemarie did it, but she cleaned a lot. I didn't even notice when the toilet was dirty, but she always said it bothered her so much she could not sleep until everything was clean. She was a really neat freak, not that I am complaining.

A while later we decided to have a little party gathering at our house, only something small with our colleagues and team leaders. While I prepared a salad (I was getting quite good at those), Annemarie decided she had to take a nap before the guests were coming. Things between us were a little more comfortable since I convinced her that I wanted children, I just didn't want them to be raised in this house, and that we should move first. Of course I was lying through my teeth, but she usually fell for my lies, so I wasn't worried. And it got her really interested in saving up, that was just what I wanted!

The first two guests were here and we got busy socializing with them. Who is that girl with the butterflies on her jeans? She wasn't invited, we both didn't know her, and she was shamelessly stealing the food for our guests. I took her aside when nobody was looking and calmly asked her to leave, which she did without making a fuss.

I was relieved to see the strange girl go, because I wanted to spend the party talking with my boss. I desperately wanted to ask her for a promotion so that I would be at the same level as my wife for the first time in the last years. But it didn't work out, the party was coming to an end and she left before I had a chance to ask her. Well at least she said she considered me a good friend of hers, even if I was her employee. I think that counts as small success. 

Later that night my wife told me that one of her coworkers is pregnant, and then the discussion started all over again...