"Please Dale, you don't understand, my house is falling apart."
"Molly, you know I'd love to help but it's such a large workload I'm not even sure I'll be able to, not to mention I'd be losing out on supplies…" the older man sighed.
"I'll cut my own lumber! The house is unlivable and I haven't been here long enough to make any real money, please Dale, I'm begging you." Molly replied, on the verge of tears.
"I'm really sorry Molly, but you're not the only one struggling. Horn Ranch and Marimba Farm have hiked up their prices so much I can barely afford to eat, let alone lend you my only workmen to build a house." Dale replied, shaking his head.
"I'll give you any crop you want for the rest of your life! I'll even give you my cow's milk! Just please, Dale, I need your help." Molly pleaded. Thinking about it for a moment, Dale closed his sighed.
"Okay. I'll send my boys over tomorrow morning, but remember you're supplying the materials, you got that?" Dale relented.
"Yes! Goddess bless you, thank you so much Dale! You won't regret this!" Molly exclaimed excitedly. Smiling, the young brunette woman waltzed out of the carpenter's with slightly more pep in her step.
Rubbing his temples, Dale assured himself he made the right decision. After all, free food meant money that could be spent on more important things, like new materials for the shop and perhaps even advertisements on the mainland. The people from the mainland loved the hand made furniture the shop produced but with the boats being out for a while, no orders could be put in and the shop began to lose money. Even after the boats started coming to and from Castanet again, business hadn't exactly recovered like Dale had hoped.
Suddenly, the door to the shop opened, letting in Dale's son Luke and his apprentice Bo.
"Hey pops! We brought lots of wood in from the forest!" Luke said ecstatically. Luke was the spitting image of his father back when he was younger. He had bright blue hair that contrasted against his tan skin and brilliant amber eyes. Like his father, he was a tad bit taller than most of the men on the island and had more muscle from years of chopping down trees and crafting furniture. He was bubbly and talkative and must to the chagrin of his father, not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.
"Is dinner ready, Dale?" Bo asked, removing his shoes and collapsing into one of the chairs near his mentor's workbench. Bo was the complete opposite of Luke. Picked up from the mainland when he was just a young boy, Bo had pale blonde hair and freckles that seemed to dot his whole face. His sleepy green eyes contrasted against his pasty skin and he was at least half a foot shorter than Luke and Dale.
"Dinner'll be ready in a sec boys. I need to talk to you about an order put in today." Dale said, scratching his head. Both Luke and Bo's eyes brightened.
"An actual order?! Man, we haven't had one in ages! What is it? Is it furniture?" Luke asked excitedly. The shop wasn't the only one suffering from the lack of customers; Luke found sitting around all day waiting annoying and had resorted to making small carvings to get rid of his extra energy.
"That new rancher down near Flute Fields wants us to fix up her house. I haven't had time to see it yet, but from the way she's describing it, it's a pretty nasty house. It'll be a lot of work boys." Dale said, further exciting Luke.
"YES! Oh man this is gonna be great! We haven't had work like this in ages! When are we getting paid pops?" he exclaimed, leaning back in his seat.
"Now, that's what I wanted to talk to you boys about. The girl says the house is unlivable, but just moving in she hasn't made enough money to pay us upfront. Being the cost of food is on the rise and what not, we agreed to have her pay for the house in exchange for some crops and some products from her animals." Dale responded as he made his way over to the kitchen.
"WHAT?! But pops, we haven't had actual spending money in weeks! I mean, I know food is expensive, but if we were getting paid, wouldn't we have money for food?" Luke said, suddenly disappointed. He had hoped with a big order such as this, he could have had spare money to spend on tickets to Toucan Island, or at least money for the bar.
"Son, I know it seems ludicrous, but she promised to give us our pick of the lot for life. Now that we don't have to spend money on food, maybe we could get back on our feet and start putting some advertisements out on the mainland."
Luke sighed and frowned, sliding further back into his seat. While he did love food, he didn't think the exchange was fair.
"So when are you getting started?" Bo peeped up, as he began to clean off the dinner table. The table was solid oak and Luke remembered when they made it. At the time his mother was still alive and business was thriving. He almost wished he could go back to that time.
"That's the other thing. I'm heading out for the mainland tomorrow, just for a few weeks, to start advertising the shop and visit some of your mother's relatives, you know, so they know we're still alive over here. I told her I'd send you boys over early tomorrow morning, so after dinner, you guys will need to head down to her ranch and get started. Like I said, the house isn't in the greatest of conditions." Dale replied, placing dinner on the table.
[ ] [ ] [ ]
"Molly….Mooooooolly... Molly get up! Those carpenter guys are here!" the sprite said, jolting the young rancher from her sleep.
"I'm not even dressed!" she groaned, wrapping her blanket around herself and rubbing her eyes. After leaving the carpenter's place last night Molly headed to the Goddess Spring to talk to the Harvest Goddess as Finn, her sprite, had asked her to. While she said there was nothing she could do to help Molly's situation, she did suggest finishing ringing the bells to bring life back to this island. So far she had succeeded in ringing the blue and the red bell, but had no luck with the others. In fact, she hadn't even found them.
Yawning, Molly ran her fingers through her auburn colored hair quickly and opened the door, expecting the carpenter she had spoken to last night.
"Wow! That sure is a great way to introduce yourself!" a voice she hadn't heard before say. To her surprise Luke and Bo, two boys she had never seen before, greeted Molly.
"Uh…oh my goddess, I'm sorry…um… just give me a moment to get dressed, okay?" Molly said, her face turning bright red.
"Why didn't you tell me they were coming!" she hissed to Finn, rummaging through her drawer to find her usual daywear.
"I said 'those guys'! Come on Molly, hurry up!" Finn urged her as she quickly put on her top and bottoms. She quickly raced to the door and opened it once again, this time, fully clothed.
"Sorry about that!" Molly said, blushing. "I'm Molly, I guess you're the boys Dale was talking about." She continued, extending her hand.
"I'll have you know, I'm no 'boy'. What you're looking at is 100%, pure man!" Luke said, smirking. Bo rolled his eyes and silently apologized to Molly.
"…Riiiiight. So, I'm assuming you saw the outside of the house, right? The inside isn't as bad but there are a few holes in the ceiling I guess, and it leaks when it's raining out. My room's over there, the bathroom is to the right and the kitchen is in the living room, as you can probably see." Molly said, as Luke inspected the house.
"Damn, you weren't kidding when you said this house was unlivable! I don't know how anyone could live like this! I mean, you'd have to be a complete idiot to buy-" Luke was about to finish his sentence before looking up at Molly's annoyed face.
"Did I say to buy? I meant not to buy; I mean this place is a steal! The leaky roof makes ya feel so connected to nature, doesn't it?" Luke said, trying, and failing, to recover himself.
"I am so sorry for him, he has no filter." Bo said quickly, shoving his friend in the ribcage.
"I can see that." Molly said flatly. "Anyway, I'll be out in the field and running some errands so just come outside and tell me if you need anything." She continued before exiting her house. As soon as she left Bo sighed.
"You're such an idiot."
"You know…when dad said rancher, I wasn't expecting someone so…so…girly." Luke said surprised by Molly feminine appearance.
"Oh I see…you think she's pretty don't you?" Bo smirked.
"I do not! I just… I appreciate her not ugliness is all." Luke said confidently, setting his toolbox down.
"Come on Luke, we're pals! I won't tell anyone. Except maybe Owen and Chase. Oh and Julian! He would just love that!" Bo laughed.
"Shut up and start working, okay?" Luke said, blushing