Chapter 5: The Boarding House / Community Garden
Rukiya Shabani glanced out the window as the taxi pulled up to their destination. It had been an unseasonably hot and humid spring day in the city and she’d dressed accordingly, but now that they were in the countryside she was getting cold. Luckily, she’d only be outside for a moment.
“Well, this is it,” the cab driver said as she slowed to a stop. “Appaloosa Plains’ boarding house…. I’ll help you get your bags out of the trunk.”
Rukiya didn’t own much, and brought even less with her to start he new life. When her mother passed away, she resolved to sell almost everything in their small apartment to fund a move to somewhere new. Her mother had moved to Sim Nation from Africa when she was not much older than Rukiya was now. It seemed like a fitting next step for her to seek a new life now that she was alone in the world, as her mother had been then.
Rukiya put her bags at the curb, then thanked and paid the taxi driver (it was an expensive trip, getting a ride all the way from the city – but there wasn’t any bus or train service to Appaloosa Plains). She took a moment to look around. It certainly was a land of ‘opportunity’… she’d expected more buildings to be here by now. Hadn’t the revitalization program started years ago?
Doubts filled Rukiya’s mind: ‘Was moving here the right choice? Where were all the houses – didn’t anyone live here yet? Was the revitalization program a failure, and she’d missed the news?’ She sighed. She could hear the sounds of the taxi driving away fade into the distance. Her escape option was gone and she’d paid for a few months’ stay at the boarding house in advance, anyway. It seemed unlikely she could get another cab out here this late and even less likely that she’d get a refund from the boarding house. So, after a deep breath, she picked up her bags and made her way up to the front door. She’d just have to hope for the best.
She put down her bags on the porch and tried the door. It was unlocked, so she lightly pushed it open. As she moved her bags inside, she was greeted by a man sitting on a couch in the foyer.
“You must be Rukiya,” the man smiled and stood up. “I’m Pablo Martinez. My wife Jennifer and I are the managers here.”
Pablo walked towards Rukiya as she put the last of her bags down and closed the door.
She turned back towards him and greeted him warmly, “It’s lovely to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Pablo said as they shook hands. “Well, you’re probably tired after coming all the way out here, so I’ll show you to your room and then we can get your bags up there.”
Rukiya nodded, but picked up a bag. ‘Better to carry the largest suitcase on its own,’ she reasoned.
“You’re up here on the second floor, in the back here,” Pablo said as he guided her up the stairs. “The door does lock and you’ll have your own bathroom, so no need to worry about privacy.”
“Are these other doors all bedrooms as well?” Rukiya asked.
“Yep, the closed doors are all bedrooms. Only the one next to you is occupied right now. That arch in the corner leads into a shared study, so if you need to use the computer for anything, that’s where to find it.”
Pablo unlocked the bedroom door and handed Rukiya the key as they stepped into her room.
“Is it just me and one other person here, then?” she asked as she put her bag down.
“We have two others upstairs and my wife and I have the room downstairs – the door just behind the stairs,” he answered.
The room was spacious and tastefully decorated. It had a large mirror by the door, a dresser with a tray of supplies you mind find at a hotel – shampoo, soap and the like – a cabinet by the bathroom door with towels and linens, a double bed by the bay window, and a small sitting area.
“This door here is to your bathroom,” Pablo explained, referring to the door nearest them. “And the door by the chairs back there is to a small balcony. Yours is the only suite on this floor with a private balcony and there’s an easel out there you’re welcome to use.”
He paused for a moment. “I’m sure I’m forgetting something,” he added. “But if any questions come up, feel free to ask me or Jennifer. Oh, and help yourself to anything in the fridge that isn’t labelled with a name.”
“Sounds good,” Rukiya smiled. “Thanks Pablo.”
“You’re very welcome,” he said. “Let’s go get your other bags.”
They headed back downstairs and Pablo offered to carry the large suitcase while Rukiya took the two smaller ones.
“What brought you and your wife to Appaloosa Plains, Pablo?” Rukiya asked.
“Oh,” Pablo said wearily. “We were looking for a change. Our careers weren’t going the way we wanted, but still seemed to take up all our time. So,” he sighed as he climbed the last step. “We decided to take a chance and move to be closer to nature.”
“Wow, that sounds like a big leap,” Rukiya said.
“Yeah,” Pablo chuckled softly. “We’re going to be here through the end of the year, but I think ultimately we’re going to move somewhere else. This is a temporary work situation for us. We like being out here, but the lack of amenities is definitely weighing on us… Might have leapt too far… We’ll see.”
They reached Rukiya’s room again and Pablo placed the case on the ground in front of the mirror. Rukiya placed the others on top of it.
“Well, I’m off to bed. Let me know tomorrow if there are any issues or you have other questions,” Pablo smiled. “Goodnight.”
“Night,” Rukiya smiled half-heartedly as Pablo left the room, then grabbed her toothbrush from her bag and headed to the bathroom.
The bathroom was smaller than she expected given the spaciousness of the bedroom, but it was all she needed. She’d also lived in far worse places growing up.
Rukiya looked at her reflection and sighed. Her doubts were encouraged by what Pablo had said. She wondered how long ago he’d moved there, and what was stopping more people from putting down roots or opening shops. She opened the toothpaste bottle at the edge of the sink, squeezed some onto her toothbrush, and started brushing. She was frustrated with herself. ‘Don’t be a coward for once,’ she urged herself.
She thought of her mother. She’d come from nothing; born in a small Swahili community in northern Mozambique near the Tanzanian border, her mother and father had fled when they heard about the increasing violence involved in the country’s fight for independence from Portugal. They made a home in a larger Swahili community in Tanzania, but her father fell ill and passed away shortly after her mother found out she was pregnant. Their family and a refugee organization supported the expectant mother’s escape in hopes of providing a better life for the new child. She settled in a city - where it would be more likely to find work, especially since she only spoke Swahili and Portuguese - in a shabby but affordable apartment. When the baby arrived, she named her Rukiya: she rises up.
Her mother had shown strength and courage to do what she did, especially so soon after losing her husband. That strength had given Rukiya the privilege of being born in Sim Nation. The least she could do now to honor her mother’s memory was show an once of courage. Her circumstances were not nearly as dire as her mother’s had been.
“I can do this,” she said to her reflection. She didn’t really believe it, but she had to try.
Rukiya woke up to the sound of thunder and wrapped the covers more closely around herself. She hated thunderstorms. The rain was so heavy that she could only see outlines of the mountains in the distance. Still tired from travelling and not wanting to face the thunderstorm, she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.
When she finally got up, she put on some warmer clothes and headed downstairs. She bit her lip to try to stop it from trembling… she really did hate thunderstorms.
She could hear voices from the kitchen. After taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she entered the room.
She received a warm greeting from two women sitting at the dining room table. One was still in her pajamas and the other encouraged her to grab some waffles from the counter. She did so and joined them at the table.
“I’m Jennifer,” said the woman who’d bothered to get dressed. “And this is Maria, she’s renting a room on the third floor,” she added, gesturing to the woman in pajamas.
“Not for much longer,” Maria said. “Too empty here, it’s not for me.” She looked at Rukiya adding, “This was an experience though. Jennifer and Pablo are great.”
Rukiya smiled half-heartedly. ‘Does everyone who comes here get tired of it?’ she wondered.
They made small talk for a while before Jennifer noted she should get back to work and Maria resolved to finally get dressed and start her day. They left the room as Rukiya washed her plate. She decided to take a look around.
The kitchen, dining and living rooms were at the back of the house, a hallway crossed the middle with a bathroom at one end, and the foyer, Pablo and Jennifer’s suite, and a sunroom were at the front. In the rain it was hard to tell whether the sunroom had a nice view, but it was pretty clear that it would be nicer without the giant billboard across the street that encouraged passers-by to buy a ranch property by the river.
A crash of thunder made Rukiya jump and she decided to retreat to her room rather than explore any more for today. She unpacked her suitcases and curled up with a book, which helped distract her from the storm raging outside.
She fell asleep so early that she woke up before the sun rose. The rain had cleared up and a few stars were still visible. Even in the early morning darkness, the view from Rukiya’s window was much clearer than it had been through the rain. She got out of bed and went to the window for a closer look.
The mountains weren’t big enough to have snowy peaks, but they were gorgeous nonetheless. It was a much more pleasing view than she’d every had amidst the crowded city skyline. The only thing that troubled her about the view was how empty it was. It wasn’t just ‘not crowded,’ it was truly close to empty. The only thing she could make out from her window was a fenced in area at the base of the hills.
‘It must be the community garden,’ she thought, recalling a promotional article she’d read about the local revitalization program. The garden was the first project to get approved and completed. ‘Is it the only project that’s been completed?’
She decided she’d jog there that morning to check it out. She got dressed, put her hair up, grabbed an apple from the fridge, and headed out. As soon as she got close, she could tell it was a bit overgrown. Weeds were competing with the heather and boxwood near the gates.
It was even more overgrown than she’d expected. Had people given up on the garden, or had it just not been tended to yet this spring? It was certainly colder here than in the city, so perhaps it was the latter.
With nothing else planned for the day, Rukiya decided to get her hands dirty. At their last apartment, she and her mother had a small balcony that they’d grown a few plants on – a cherry tomato plant, some peppers and a cucumber vine. Rukiya enjoyed their little balcony garden and was happy to learn about the community garden when she was reading up about Appaloosa Plains. She hoped she wasn’t the only one who cared about it. Instead of dwelling on that thought, she looked around and began to pull out some of the many weeds.
She returned to the boarding house later in the morning to find Pablo in the kitchen wearing a robe.
“Good morning,” he greeted her with a smile. “I just made some waffles, if you’d like any?”
Rukiya accepted the offer and had brunch with Pablo. Their conversation made it clear to Rukiya that most of the boarding house’s guests didn’t stay very long, and none had paid upfront for several months like Rukiya had. Pablo seemed hopeful that Rukiya was invested enough to actually make a home of Appaloosa Plains.
“I can see why people might enjoy living here,” he said wistfully. “It’s just getting too late in Jen and I’s lives for us to make a permanent home somewhere that’s still essentially starting from scratch…”
Over the next few weeks, Rukiya mostly spent her time painting, reading and jogging over to the community garden to bring it back to its former glory.
Slowly but surely, she had the garden looking its best by the time summer arrived.
The weather was finally warm. Rukiya walked over to the garden to relax and enjoy the sunlight and the progress she’d made in the garden. When she opened the gate, she was surprised to see someone already there. The woman was pale, with dark brown hair held up with braids and a messy bun. She wore a white t-shirt, overall-shorts and light purple sneakers. She was surveying the garden beds, smiling.
“Hi,” Rukiya called.
The woman jumped, then turned to Rukiya and smiled brightly. “Hello,” she said warmly. “I’m Bridget, I live up the hill. Are you the one whose been taking care of the garden?”
Rukiya nodded happily. “I moved into the boarding house in the spring and came out here a few times a week working on it.”
“Ugh, what a state it must have been in,” Bridget said sympathetically. “I hope you didn’t feel obligated to do all that work. I was busy recovering and couldn’t make it down here – I just had a baby,” she explained.
“Oh, congratulations!” Rukiya smiled. “Your first?”
“No,” Bridget laughed. “My fifth!”
“Wow! I can’t imagine,” Rukiya said. “I’m an only child.”
“They can be a handful,” Bridget agreed.
After a brief pause, Rukiya realized she hadn’t introduced herself. She outstretched her hand, “I’m Rukiya.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Bridget answered as they shook hands.
“You started this garden, right?” Rukiya asked. “I was so happy to hear this was here. I grew up in the city and never had a real garden, just a few plants… I was a bit surprised – and a bit not, if I’m really honest – at the state the garden was in when I first arrived, but I loved reviving the plants I could and giving others a healthy trim.”
Bridget was beaming. “Thanks so much,” she said. “I did start it, and I used to come often, but I’ve been so busy with my kids and my own garden at home that I’ve neglected this one, unfortunately.”
“No, no!” Rukiya insisted. “No need to apologize, really. It was rejuvenating for me to take it on. I’ve been unsure about my decision to come here, and this garden… well, I think it helped me stay sane,” she admitted with a small laugh.
“Sorry the town is so sparse. Growth has stalled a bit, to say the least,” Bridget sighed sadly. “Are you looking to move here, or is the boarding house just one stop on a trip or something?”
“My plan was to save up some money to buy land or a small house here,” Rukiya said. “I didn’t realize there wouldn’t be any employment here yet, though… I paid for the first few months of my stay at the boarding house up front, so I’ve just been waiting around hoping to figure out my next move.”
Bridget nodded. “My husband and I assumed that was a big part of the problem. Unless people can work from home there’s not much to draw them here yet.”
“It’s beautiful here – the river, the open space. I feel so much more calm than in the city,” Rukiya said. “I’m not looking forward to moving back to a city to find work, but that’s always where the jobs are.”
They stood in silence for a moment. Rukiya smiled at the bell pepper plant next to her and gently touched one of its topmost leaves, lost in thought.
“You know,” Bridget said. “I may have work for you, if you want to stay. With our kids and my husband getting older, it’s getting more difficult to manage our garden – it’s become almost a hobby farm of sorts,” she continued. “I’ll give you my number and you can call me in a day or two if you’re interested and want to talk about pay. I don’t have much but I can give you a fair rate for your work.”
Rukiya was in utter disbelief. “You… what? Really?”
Bridget smiled widely and nodded. “If you’d like. I’m impressed with the work you’ve done here and we could use the help. Give me a call tomorrow or the day after.”
Rukiya called the next day and Bridget went down to the boarding house to meet her.
They agreed Rukiya could start coming by Bridget’s house a couple times a week to help keep the fruit trees watered and weeded, plus any other support they needed on the main crops. She’d be paid per hour as well as a price per crop when they needed help with harvesting.
“I know it won’t be enough to support yourself long term, but it should be a bit extra you can put aside until you decide your next steps,” Bridget said.
“Thank you so much, really, this is incredibly nice of you,” Rukiya smiled sheepishly. “Since my mom passed, I’ve felt really lost. If we hadn’t met yesterday… well, your kindness means a lot to me.”
Bridget smiled again. Rukiya seemed younger the more they talked, but it was refreshing. She remembered what it felt like when she met Altman – that instant sense of companionship in such an empty town had been exactly what she needed to stay and follow through. Maybe now she could play a small part in Rukiya’s journey.
Author’s Notes:
In compliance with the Build A City Challenge rules, these screenshots were taken in an alternate save file. I wanted to give everyone a first look at the renovated boarding house and give Rukiya more of an introduction, in accordance with the backstory I’ve had in my head for her since her creation.
Rukiya was one of the original 8 “NPCs” for my challenge save file. While I show her painting and gardening in this chapter, she didn’t have any skills when she became playable in my challenge save file. Bridget met and befriended Rukiya as part of a skill opportunity; the last screenshot used in this chapter, of them in front of the boarding house, was their “real” first meeting. When they were talking, Bridget discovered Rukiya is a fellow Green Thumb, and the idea for this storyline/character introduction was born.
For the challenge, I only begin tracking the age of a townie or “NPC” Sim once they become involved in the storyline (e.g. romantic interest, childhood friend) of one of my playable Sims (at this point in the story, only the Tevellyn family is a playable household). Since the other 7 original NPCs will appear much later in the story, I didn’t want them to seem immortal, so I chose to include other background Sims for the purpose of this chapter. As such, none of the characters in this chapter – other than Rukiya and Bridget – are in my challenge save file.