1. Lies! Let’s Re-count!
I could have sworn there was another.
Am I seeing double?
How many are there, anyway?
THEY’RE MULTIPLYING!!!
I could have sworn there was another.
Am I seeing double?
How many are there, anyway?
THEY’RE MULTIPLYING!!!
?????
?????

2. Everything was going so fine and dandy. Erik was
keeping to his marriage with some success, Bindi had
grown into a fine young Family Sim. (Confused? Go
read the last two updates).
Alas, on such a place as FunTime Island, living in
blissful family harmony is not a “happily ever after”. It’s
an indication that things need to be shaken up a bit.
This is Charlotte. Knowledge. Butt-ugly, horrible
personality (it’s worse up close). Rumor is out on the
town that her brand-spanking-new, state-of-the-art
basement is hiding something.

3. Old, fuzzy pictures are surfacing. Pictures of a young man
that keeps to his mother’s basement. A young man with ever-
distinctive black hair and blue eyes.
This is Noah, the son Erik never really knew about. Named
after what “Knower” sounds like in a British accent, and
rather fond of painting. Dislocated to BluewaterVillage
after the installation of Open For Business, Noah has no
idea who he’s related to.
This could be a problem.

4. “Must look my best for school.
Must make FRIENDS!!!”
There’s more of them than we bargained for. Of
course, there are only three children living at the
Phantasma house now. Linder, a new Popularity, and
her younger twin siblings Ivy and Gabriel.
Side note: Ivy is fromThe Changeling, even though she
is anything but. Gabriel is after that angel or
whatever, and always wants to give hugs and do nice
things. He kind of gets on my nerves a little.
This means that Bindi has grown up and moved out.
That means weddings and grandspawn…two things
everyone cannot wait to see.

6. Bindi and Zane were married in the
backyard of their brand-new cottage,
which was specially set up to become a
gallery for Bindi’s famous landscapes,
available to the public.
Linder sulked through most of the
wedding. The available spouse for her
was none other than Zane’s younger
brother Peter. Peter was not something
Linder particularly wanted to spend her
life with.
In the midst of the party, no one
noticed the sulky teen, even as she made
up her mind.
Linder was not getting married. Not
without a fight.

7. “Baby…” :D
What happens when Family Sims get married?
That’s right. Babies.
Bindi and Zane got right down to business. Once they
knew the little one was on the way, the gallery opened
to the public. It was quite a hit, and the little cottage
got furnished rather lavishly from paintings going for
seven and eight hundred dollars each.
Zane, unfortunately, was not nearly as observant or
outgoing as he had been as a teen, and spent most of
the time sulking behind the cash register taking large
amounts of money from stranger townie Sims.

8. “Is this a baby? Must have
been one heck of a party…I’m
seeing two of them!”
Twins once was surprising. Twins twice meant
that I knew it COULD happen; I just wasn’t
expecting it again so soon.
Wesley and Dena were delivered in the dead of
night, during a little break from the outdoor
chess table. Wesley I named afterWesley in the
Princess Bride; Dena surprised me and was
made up on the spot.
Bindi was quite thoroughly delighted. Zane, to
me anyway, just started looking perpetually
baffled, as though wondering why this was
happening to him. He still has this look, even
though all the children are gone.

9. Count them
once, and
count
again…the
number
keeps
changing.
Quick recap: Erik Phantasma has five
children. Three of them live at home (Linder
and twins Ivy and Gabriel). One lives in a
basement, and is not his wife’s (Noah). One
has moved out and gotten married (Bindi).
With me so far?
Bindi has twin babiesWesley and Dena.
Linder has vowed to herself never to get
married, but marriage seems to be her only
problem.
The twins are still little phantoms—I have no
idea what to do with them yet.

10. Linder
Gabriel
Ivy
“So then she says…no, you won’t
believe this…she says…”
Very bad picture of a birthday party.
Both Linder and the twins are grown
up; Linder to adulthood, Ivy and
Gabriel to teen. I took the liberty of
labeling them for easy reference, and
even took out the nasty plumbob.
I finally had some plans for everyone.
Ivy and Gabriel were going to be
some of the first beneficiaries of my
recent OFB installment.
Quickly dispensing another round of
the “family fortune”, I had Linder
moved out and a pair of smallish
stores purchased for the twins.

11. “Come on, Wesley. Come to
Mama.”
*Giggle!*
Erik’s twin grandchildren didn’t manage to charm me
quite as much as their mother, but I did realize one
thing.
Grandparents get old.
I could not allow the most successful Sims I had ever
met to die and make my precious Bindi miserable. I
refused.
Elixir of Life came out in storm to keep them young
and happy. Bindi was not going into aspiration failure
on MY watch, thank you very much. Erik and Faustina
both got great heaps of the stuff.

12. With their ever-vigilant (not) guardians secured in
immortality, the twins took on a new life. Linder moved
out; we’ll be seeing her in another chapter in a little while.
Two activities in particular interested the young teens. The
first was dating. I introduced a specially genetically
engineered family next door to the Hatfields, of which Zane
married Bindi. The newcomers are Leo (plaid, next to Ivy)
and Maria (redhead).
The four teens got on Erik’s nerves a fair bit, mostly be
occupying his hot tub for long stretches of time and by
sneaking out at all hours of the night.

13. The other activity taken up by Ivy and Gabriel
was business. In a desperate attempt to keep the
young ones busy, Erik bought both children their
own businesses; Ivy a book shop and Gabriel a
bakery specializing in cheesecake. The free
samples at the bakery were a hit, and it took me
three pregnancies to work out the mystery twin
plague (Wesley and Dena being the first).
Neither business got too far; Gabriel was a bit
preoccupied with Maria, and Ivy got obsessed
with her own books (respectively, Family and
Knowledge).

14. “So good to see you! Zane has been
out with that special job of his so
much…thanks for coming!”
Meanwhile, Bindi was expecting again. She
stayed home for most of it (and away from
the cheesecake, which remained
unidentified for that reason). Zane, now
working in the Science career track, spent a
lot of time absent. Not wishing Bindi to
suffer potential twins alone, Linder came
over to visit.
I had to admit, I was getting a bit more
fond of Linder. Her story is coming up
later, keep an eye out. Her general doings
interest me.

15. Be careful with that baby, Linder. I
like her more than you. Hurt her and
I shall smite you.
Welcomes extend to baby Miri! (this is
before I started keeping the AI
on…personalities didn’t mean much back
in the day, and I don’t have records). Miri
is named after the main character in
Princess Academy (which, contrary to the
two women in this picture, I don’t like all
that much).
I didn’t quite know what to make of Miri
at first, but she develops a distinct
favoritism from toddlerhood, seconded
only by a future sibling I shall not yet
name.

16. Wesley and Dena were growing up nicely, taking art lessons
and attending private school, and in general getting very little
attention, even from a Family and a Knowledge (which I
assumed would work better than Romance and Popularity,
who turned out one good one with my help, although I
always put it down to the natural magic of the oldest child).
Dena was looking to be a ready-made Fortune; she was
addicted to her lemonade stand outside and piggybacked on
her mother’s business. Wesley I finally decided could be
popularity.
Please excuse the nasty Plumbob in the photo. I promise my
photography does get marginally better.

17. Ivy took to randomly showing up at the
gallery, mostly to play with Dena. She
bought lemonade, played dolls…I like to
put it down to her fascination with another
twin.
The baby in the picture is Miri.

18. Catch the next update sometime in the next week…still
debating whether to do a continued Bindi feature or a Linder
side note.
Guess how I got the title? “Lies, Let’s Re-count”, is all
the letters in “Election Results” scrambled up, with a few
punctuation marks.