Midnight Sun Challenge Chapter 1.6 "When Life Gives You Lemons"

The week following the robbery was one of the most miserable he had suffered in his life.  Not only was he robbed of his sense of safety and security, but the bright shiny view of his paradise had been tarnished.  Who would think to come all the way out here in the middle of nowhere to rob him?  It's not like he lived on a big fancy boat and had lots of things to steal!

Then to steal a toilet?

His parents had taught him that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.  So he decided that he was going to make the most of his time to make up the money lost in the robbery.  He fished all hours of the day, painted pictures till his hands cramped and furiously typed away at the computer putting out not one book, but two!









He managed to work eighteen hour days by taking two hour naps to help him get through, which greatly cut down his full night sleep to four hours.    He thought he was being more efficient in using up most of his time to the best of his ability.  But no matter how exhausted he was when he went to sleep, his dreams were filled with images of the robbery.

Ian considered getting an alarm system for his tiny floating home, but realised it would do him no good without the police to respond to it. 














On the third day, it was like he had salt rubbed into his wound. This absolutely gorgeous blond woman arrived on the dock, to mourn at the tombstone.  He felt an instant attraction to her and wished he could meet her!  Just because he wished to live alone, didn't mean he didn't feel the pull of a man's needs and the desire to satisfy those needs.  It definitely had nothing to do with him being lonely, nothing at all.  She visited for two days straight, forcing him to stay inside and focus on the tasks of painting and writing.  He was determined to stick to his plan to remain alone. Focus on all his creative talents and he continued to remind himself of that every time a stray thought about the woman popped into his head.

On the last day of the week, Ian was exhausted from all his efforts and decided that he had earned himself some fun.  The deer and the raccoon had already disappeared for the day and the longing for some company hit him like a blast of cold air.  Standing on the edge of the island dreaming of days past, he heard a funny little sound and realised a bird was drowning in the water.  Scooping it up as quickly as he could, he examined the bird to check for injuries. None found, Ian began to gently speak to the bird in a quiet voice to try and calm it from its fright.  When the bird determined that Ian meant it no harm, it began to nuzzle Ian's neck with soft noises that Ian took to be gratitude for saving it's life.

The parrot was a beautiful macaw with a bright red breast, a striking green on it's back and blue on the underside of it's wings. Ian decided to call him Peter.  The two of them stood together on the edge of the island interacting with one another, until Peter had fully recovered from his terrible shock. With a loud squawk, Peter flew away into the afternoon sky and Ian was hopeful that someday, he would return.





Ian spent the afternoon swimming an snorkeling all around the island finding many gems and a few toys under the water.  He was tempted to do some nude bathing but decided against it, as he never knew when another band of people would arrive on the island to party.  






So he spent some time splashing and jumping in rhythm to the waves as they rolled in.









Back in the water swimming with the fish, he swam towards the boat and noticed something shiny under the dock.  With closer inspection he found a wind surfer up under the stairs.  Ian looked around, but saw no one in sight.  So either someone stashed up there out of sight, or it had got caught up under the stairs with the current.  He looked around again.  Hey it was on his land after all..... should he?




You bet I should, he thought and he pulled it a little further away from the stairs out into the open water.

Riding the board was the best rush he had in quite some time.  For such little wind, that thing could really move!  He was having the best time and after the week he had, he really felt he deserved it.

He rode that board so far out, that his boat looked like a small dot and it was then he discovered the scuba diving spot.

Well that was way too tempting not to check out for sure!












Down below, the sun didn't permeate the surface as far as it normally would in a much brighter area of Simworld, so everything was a grey-green colour that got darker the further down he went.

Holy Crap!  If he thought the sharks around the island were big, this must be the giant version!  He hung back waiting to see what it was going to do, but the shark continued to swim on by barely noticing him at all.

When he reached the floor of the ocean, sitting pretty as you please was a treasure chest ripe for the taking.









Ian looked around but didn't see any boat, so where did it come from?  Did that mean he had to worry about pirates as well?  But a treasure chest couldn't be left without opening so after taking one last look around, he opened the chest and found over three thousand simoleons!

Ian was so excited at the prospect of having all that money, he began to formulate in his imagination all his wants and needs.

Finding nothing else and not wanting to go anywhere near the cave, Ian headed back to the surface to return to his boat. 

This had been the best day since he arrived and he hoped that only meant things were looking up from now on.

He wondered if there were more dive spots out there, but he wasn't worried for he had plenty of time to find out!