Previous letter
Dear Lucy,
Watching the kids mature and knowing they feel comfortable trying to solve a problem themselves instead of immediately calling out my name is a good thing.
A very good thing!
Under the watchful eyes of their parents, Pepper and Piper are learning new tricks.
The high school graduation ceremony is held at City Hall and I wish the two of you could have been there to see Tom graduate with highest honor. He was also Valedictorian and classmates voted him “Most Likely to Become a Sports Star”.
Tom decides that this afternoon is the perfect time to do a few things that need to be done so he calls Vanessa and they make plans to go out the next day instead of today. We’ve already talked about it and he knows I am fully on board with all of his plans.
Plan A: Teach the twins to drive.
Tom is showing Mark the ropes while I work with David.
It will take several sessions before the boys are ready to take exams and receive permits, but I’m confident we’ll be car-shopping this coming weekend.
In the meantime, they can work on …
Plan B: Teaching the dogs, young and old, new tricks.
Piper is learning to “Speak” while Pepper learns to “Shake”. Sarge has mastered all except “Play Dead” so we’ll work on that. Not sure what Tom will be teaching Scout because he and Abigail took her for a walk.
When they return, Abigail seems to be in a contemplative mood and heads upstairs to slap some paint around. Her words, not mine.
Tom smiles and tells me not to worry. “She has a good head on her shoulders even though her mind sometimes competes with her mouth.”
I’m glad he’s there for her and can provide a different perspective than what I would offer.
Whatever happened, it did the trick. I heard her singing so I dared to push the door open a little bit and the sight I saw made me breathe a sigh of relief.
Abigail appears to be happy again and her painting shows it.
I head downstairs to thank Tom and he has an odd look on his face.
“Psst … I feel like someone is watching me. However, it’s more comforting than creepy.”
I know exactly what he means. Once again, it feels like Cass and you are here, somewhere, keeping an eye on all of us.
I might be wrong, but I continue to think that you’d approve of what we’re doing.
It’s getting late and my eyelids are starting to close. Time to put my pen down and grab some shuteye.
Goodnight, sis.
Love,
Luke
PS.
Addy’s Note: I couldn’t resist sharing this screenshot with you! Ghosts can be fun as well as frustrating.
Have I Got A Story for YOU! 
Who would have thought that a car would be in the way for a ghost! Nice chapter. Great job on all the dog training. I’m just happy when they don’t puddle on the floor!
I know, right?! I wonder if Lucy planned on driving around AP to see what’s changed since her last visit.
Thanks. I believe Sarge is the only one maxed on hunting and all 6 tricks but the others might/might not follow his lead. I’m using reinforcement and teaching tricks as if they were training tools … the better the tricks, the better behaved the dog is.
Not sure which dog leaves puddles the most but there have been at least 3 puddles in the kitchen for my sims to mop up after. Ugh!
Reinforcement is the best way to teach them.
Lucy would certainly be proud of her kids… Now why do ghosts can go through walls but not through cars? That’s the question I’d love an answer to.
I like to think she would be 🙂
I haven’t a clue as to why they can’t. I fully expected her to go out and haunt the car, but she did this instead. Silly ghost sims!!
The reason, bad coding. LOL
Actually, it was probably never spec’ed out to allow it so the devs never coded it that way. We are never given enough time to do everything so if the Product Manager does not explicitly say to do something we tend to skip it.
That makes sense. Thanks for explaining from the standpoint of one who codes on a daily basis. I think it would be very different to consider every single situation in a game of this magnitude.