April 2043 - Cynthia Kim is 46, Julie Kim is 9 (Robert Kim is 46, Justin Kim is 19).
Over spring break Julie and her mother take a trip to Takemizu Village. Cynthia wanted Justin to come too, but he refused. Julie wasn't sure she would go, but her father thought it would be a good idea for her to spend time with her mom.
Cynthia has been making lots of changes to the house. She's been talking about moving here after the divorce is finalized. "What do you think of the house? I bought some new artwork for the walls, and I got some new furniture. I'm still working on it, so let me know if there's something specific you'd like for your room."
Cynthia spends most of the mornings working on her new novel. It's been years since her last book, and she finally feels inspired to start a new series.
While her mother is writing, Julie hangs out around the house and reads. Her father bought her a book about divorce to help her understand what's going on between her parents.
She also calls her father and brother every day.
"How's your trip?" her father asks. "Are you having fun?"
"It's raining again. It rains every day."
When her mother is finished writing for the day, they explore the village together. Cynthia buys her daughter new earrings and a necklace at the pagoda and market.
While they're at the market, Cynthia starts chatting with another expat.
The three of them go to the Immortal Zen Garden for tea.
A few days later Cynthia finishes the first draft of her novel, and to celebrate the two of them go out to dinner at a hotel.
"So is this book about aliens like your other ones?"
"Well there are aliens, but they're very different than in my first books."
"So you're really going to move here?" Julie asks her mother.
"I want to make a new start. And I feel inspired here. It'll be good for my writing."
They run into the expat on the way out of the restaurant, and Julie watches her mother flirt wth him. Maybe her writing isn't the only reason she wants to move to Takemizu Village.
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Robert and Cynthia's divorce won't be finalized for a few more months, but once it is I'm going to have her move to the vacation house. After the scandal with Grayson, I think she'd want to leave and start over somewhere else.
This picture didn't really fit the tone of the story, but I thought it was funny. Julie doesn't like seeing her mom flirting. Her mom and the townie (I can't remember his name) have three bolts, so we'll see what happens with them. I don't think Julie wants to get a stepfather though.
Poor Julie. She's going through so much turmoil with her parents now but it's good that Robert is encouraging her to spend time with her mum.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting idea, to have Cynthia move away! Are you just planning on extending her "holiday" indefinitely with InSim? As far as I know, there's no reason she'd need to come back to Providence at all, except to age to elder and to die.
I was going to have Cynthia move to Bridgeport after the divorce, but I thought the scandal of her affair with Grayson would probably make her want to get far away. I had Cynthia return from her vacation to Providence when it ended. I thought she might have to go back to take care of her divorce. I will "move" her there permanently in a few months once the divorce is finalized. After that I will move her to the Minor Character page, and you won't hear from her except when she makes an appearance in her children's stories.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, it's interesting what you have planned for Cynthia. But man, poor Julie, to witness her mother flirting, and have her Mom move so far away. I hope she visits at least... but I don't know how that can't hurt a child, and make them feel like they don't matter at all. I would totally take it that Cynthia cares more for weird guy, than for child, if it were me. :(
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting maisie! This is very hard for Julie, and I wanted to give a little insight into what she thinks about all of this. Cynthia is making some big changes in her life, and it's hard to see how Julie will be part of that. Her mother isn't very family-oriented, and her father really isn't either. He keeps rolling wants to make money and go on dates. Julie doesn't roll wants for either of her parents, but she wants to talk to her brother every day. She and Justin are very close, and hopefully he can help her get through this.
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