Death and Disaster: Part III

Welcome back to MonkeeSims, and the last of a three part series of posts following the Jackons down the road to ruin. So far, the family has fallen apart socially through a series of disagreements with one another, lost their beloved parrot through neglect, and most recently, suffered the loss of not only Steve Jackson, but the precious hot tub as well! Will they ever recover from the trauma? Well, read on if you want to know!

Where we left off, Steve had just become a crispy critter as a result of a fire he started on his barbecue. Doris managed to extinguish the grill, but no such luck with Steve. It looked like the family was just going to let the grim reaper take Steve without a fight, but at the last minute, Doris returned to the light side of the force (or something like that), and plead with the reaper to spare him. At the end of the last post, we were awaiting the reaper's decision...and Doris lost the game of rock-paper-scissors...

Reaper: "Hah! I was the rock-paper-scissors champ back in college, babe!"

Well after much painful anticipation, it turned out that the plea for Steve's life hadn't totally fallen on deaf ears (does the reaper have ears?). The reaper decided it wasn't Steve's day to go, but it also wasn't his day to come back as a normal human being. Instead, he returned as personality-free zombie Steve. Well, Steve never had all that much personality to begin with, so aside from the fact that he'll be meaner than usual and never pick up after himself, little changed.

Doris: "Don't just stand there like a zombie! Help put out the fire!"

Zombie Steve had no interest in helping quench the flames, but the fireman had finally arrived, and was doing an admirable job of putting out what little of the blaze was left. Steve just went wandering around the house doing not much of anything. Not much, until he wandered around the front of the house and found Henri LeStanc occupying the front yard. Well, the results were pretty predictable...

Henri activates his "anti-zombie defense system"...

Poor Steve...first he loses his girl, then he dies, then he comes back as a zombie and gets sprayed by a skunk. Try as I might, I can't imagine how you could possibly be more of a loser than that. While Steve was busy making things worse for himself, Doris and "Moon Dawg" were trying to improve their situation by sweeping up the seemingly endless piles of ash on the patio. Not the most fun in the world, but at least it gave them something to do in absence of the hot tub.

Doris: "No more hot tub...NOW what are we supposed to do?"

In the midst of all the ash-sweeping fun, Doris noticed Steve looking a little dejected (you probably would too if you'd been through all he has). She headed over and gave him a great big hug, as if to say, "I'm sorry I made out with your best friend and then ditched you for him like a dirty tramp!" Well, I'm sure the hug meant something like that. Whatever the case, choosing Steve in his current condition over Leon shows the power of true love.

Doris: "I love you, Steve...even if you are a zombie who smells like they got sprayed by a skunk..."

That cheered Steve up a bit, and our story could have just ended there on a happy note. However, that's not where it all ends. "Moon Dawg" took pity on Steve as well, and decided that even though Steve had booted him off the couch, he deserved better than spending the rest of his "life" as a member of the undead. It was then that "Moon Dawg" proposed a daring plan that might be able to help change Steve's luck a bit...

Kareem: "Hey, mon...I know this kooky old lady who lives in Old Town..."

The pair piled into one of the Old Town shuttles, and headed off to the Gothic section, where "Moon Dawg" had connections...apparently (he must have gone there on his own time while I was away from the PC, because I sure never sent him there). It was there that he introduced Steve to the kooky old lady, whose name I can't remember. She was all too happy to take their money, and although all she did was hold hands with "Moon Dawg", Steve was magically cured.

Steve: "Now if I can just wash off the skunk smell, I'll be as good as new!"

Though the pair had accomplished their mission, they took advantage of the fact that they were out of the house by doing a little souvenir shopping before they left. Of course, the selection consisted of a bunch of weird junk like skull shaped candles and ceremonial masks, for which the family had absolutely no use, but no matter. Steve bought some sort of strange fertility mask thing, which he kept in his pocket forever after. What exactly do you do with a fertility mask, anyway? Scratch that...I don't want to know.

Steve: "Hmmm...it's hard to know what to buy to commemorate someone reviving you from being a zombie..."

Well, the pair headed home, Steve took a shower, and everything was almost back to normal. The fire had totally destroyed the hot tub and train set, and Leon was forced to shell out a huge amount of money he didn't have to replace it, which was fitting punishment for his poor behavior in stealing his friend's girl. Leon agreed to try to leave Doris alone in a romantic sense, which is pretty much his only reason for interacting with women most of the time. I guess he'll just have to start spending more time with his actual girlfriend, Brooke. He's just lucky she's been completely ignorant of his piggish, unfaithful behavior. At any rate, Doris and Steve are back together again, so I guess all this disaster has a happy ending after all (except for Parrot Jackson, of course).

Doris: "I'm so glad you're not a skunk-sprayed zombie anymore!"

I think we've spent enough time with the Jacksons for now. Time to let them have a little privacy as they recover from the disaster that has been their life recently. Coming up next...has Kevin Wilson finally gone too far? Well, drop by next time and find out!