#9: The First Morning in Utopia.

Bill found a frog,

and a time capsule containing a trophy,

sold his collectibles for $40, and immediately ran back to the Utopia House to give the money to Kelly so she could start preparing meals, before returning to his digging.

Kelly made 8 servings of a Garden Salad.

After taking a serving for herself, she put the rest into the fridge.

Kelly decided to try to teach Alice how to make mac and cheese.  "It's just not that difficult, honey, and everybody will like it," Kelly assured her friend.  Alice seemed enthusiastic, which Kelly thought was a good sign.

Kelly then went to bed, in one of the 4 double beds the house had.

Alice enjoyed some of her own mac and cheese and, inspired, stayed up to watch the Cooking Channel and learn something.

 Derek had some success catching fish.

Bill dug up another couple sites,

then a couple more,

and got the household funds up to $614.

'Finally I can start painting,' Peter muttered to himself, spending $50 on a canvas.

Bill ate one of the mac and cheese dishes that Alice had made.  "Very tasty, Alice!" he enthused.

Alice was pleased--it had been a long time since a guy had paid her a compliment about anything other than how hot she was.

Having finished eating, Bill went to bed.

Derek came back from fishing soon thereafter,

and had caught enough fish to get household funds up to $652.  He had saved one bass--the best fish he'd caught--to give to Kelly to cook.

"Thank you, Derek," Kelly--who had just gotten up, and was embarrassed to have been caught by a man in her nightclothes--blushed and put the fish in the fridge.

"Nothing says 'I like you' like a dead fish," Lou said quietly.

Derek ate a serving of Kelly's Garden Salad,

and went to sleep in the bed Kelly had just left.

"Somebody smells nice," he thought as he laid his head on the pillow.

Peter finished his first painting, and stepped back to admire it.

"That's great, Peter!," Regina said supportively.  (She had turned around briefly to look at it.)

"It's okay," Peter said dismissively.  "I've gotta go pee."

"Well, THAT'S ugly!," Lou cackled to Regina, once Peter had left the room.

"Don't be mean, Lou," Regina admonished.

Lou felt differently when Peter returned and sold the painting for $72--a profit of $22.

"Well, that's more than twice what I've earned so far," Lou admitted.