Days in the Life of Sammy Simm

From Create Your Own Story

You were lying on your bed, reading through an Engineering book.

"Can I come in to talk for a second?"

Her appearance at the door had surprised you and, in that moment, the events of the last few weeks flash through your mind:

It was just 2 months ago that your mother had died, leaving you -- the youngest of 7 siblings -- alone at the age of 17. You had just "graduated" from home school and your Mom, though she was 62, had taught you herself for every single one of your schooling years on the South Dakota farm where you grew up. You had been the surprise baby, born to your parents when they were 45 years old. Your mother had been faithful to your Dad's desire to have you home-schooled, even though he'd died when you were 13, leaving you with a lot of work to do around the farm.

The result of those circumstances was that you were pretty sheltered. You'd worked all day, every day on that farm, and at night you had done your studies. There had been no time for socializing much. Sure, you had some friends on a few neighboring farms, but they were mostly a bit younger or a bit older. Not much contact with girls, either. Your Mom had seen to it that you kept your distance from the girls in town. You always knew that she'd planned to have you marry the Anderson girl. She was your age and she lived in the next county over. Only problem was that you weren't much interested in her. She wasn't much to look at.

But the result of your mother's death had been that, since you were a minor, you'd been sent to live with your godparents in Capital City. This made sense: You'd already been accepted into Engineering school at Capital University on a full ride. You had just needed somewhere to live for a couple months until the fall semester started. Besides, you had thought, this would give you some time away from the farm before you plunged into college life. You'd spent most of your time recently helping your godparents (who were also in their 60s) around the house.

Just two weeks ago you had turned 18 and received the shock of your life: You inherited $347,651.39 as your share of the money from the sale of the farm. Your godparents had helped you set up a money market account for most of it. The rest was in an interest-bearing checking account.

Four days ago, your godparents' granddaughter, Julia, had arrived at the house for a visit. She was going to be a senior at Capital University. You hadn't seen her since you were maybe 10 or 12 years old. She was now a tallish brunette with sparkling brown eyes and an easy laugh. She was pleasantly pretty and kept in fairly decent shape by walking early every morning. You knew a bit about her because you could usually overhear her nightly phone conversations through the ventilation duct that ran from her room to yours. Just last night you'd overheard her talking to one of her girlfriends about you:

"Kelly, I'm telling you he's totally hot," you had heard her say. "Yesterday I saw him digging in the garden for my Grandma. When he took his shirt off, I was like, Oh my God!"

You'd been flattered. You had never heard anyone talk like that about you. You had had no idea what college females might think of you. It was true that you were pretty muscular and very lean, having worked on the farm all those years. But you didn't really know what to expect, since you had no experience. In fact, you had no idea what to do at all, since you had never really had the chance to talk about girls much with anyone -- even other guys.

So it was that you found yourself lying on your bed in your boxers at 11:30 p.m. on the night before you move into the dormitory ... looking up at Julia's face. She had poked her head in your room after knocking lightly on the door. She had asked you something. What was it?

"What?" you say quietly.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Julia repeats.

Do you:

• Invite her in
• Go to the door and ask what she wants
• Tell her you need to get some sleep before the big day tomorrow

Status
Health	80	Equipment: Nothing
MP	{{{MP}}}
Level	0