Claire needed a change. She had known that for years now. The city felt too close. Too crowded. Too stifling. Too many people that she had nothing to do with - didn't want anything to do with. She was stagnating in her job. Oh, it paid well. She was making good money, but she had a considerable amount tucked away. Enough to start over.

Start fresh.

Somewhere else.

She let herself dream of somewhere without wall-to-wall buildings. Somewhere with grass, and trees and flowers - maybe even animals. Somewhere there wasn't a tangle of traffic and choking exhaust. Somewhere quiet. Somewhere slower.

In her mind, there were rolling hills with a carpeting of thick green grass that sparkled with dew in the mornings. There was water - it didn't have to be on the ocean, maybe a lake or a river or even a little creek. Something to burble by gently in the background that she could dip her feet in in the heat of summer. It would be peaceful, a smaller town where she could find a simple, satisfying job that didn't eat up all her time. Somewhere she could relax, with quaint little shops and friendly neighbors.

A clock chimed and Claire startled, blinking as the room came back into focus. She snorted softly as she realized she'd been staring at her computer and not seeing the screen in front of her while she day dreamed. It was time to clock out anyway. A quick sign out, a wave to the rest of the office and a moment's gratitude she wasn't caught up in a project and overtime, and then she was on the bus headed home.

It was a small apartment, the same one she'd bought when she'd first moved, fresh out of school. One bedroom, one bathroom, a little kitchenette off a small living space. It wasn't much, but it was hers. She'd thought about moving more than once, but there had never been the right time and place.

She sighed quietly, turning on the kettle on her stove for some tea and flopped down into one of the two chairs at the little wood table she'd picked up ages ago, idly flipping open the newspaper. There were some community events, but nothing she was interested in. She needed something new. Something unlike anything she'd ever seen before. Something…

Something caught her eye, an ad in the paper near the bottom of the want ads. Talking about a farm. There weren't any pictures, but the dimensions of the kind of land it was talking about… the price… it was entirely affordable.

Claire placed her hands flat on the table, staring at the ad. It was ridiculous, of course. She had a little planter of herbs, but that was the extent of plant life she'd ever tried to manage. She cooked, when she had the chance. And she'd done some canning over the summer with her grandparents when she was growing up. But a whole farm? And what about any animals? She didn't know the first thing about animals. It was ridiculous.

She shouldn't even consider it.

She should shut the paper right then, and go make dinner. Besides, a deal like that? Something was up. There was no way you could get a deal like that. That didn't happen.

Nodding decisively, she closed the newspaper and went to make dinner. She had work in the morning and couldn't be entertaining such wild ideas. It would never work.

But she didn't throw away the paper. She hadn't read it all, after all. It was just logic. Not because of the ad. And if she thought about what she could do with that much land at that price, if she entertained thoughts of the satisfaction of growing her own food and maybe owning some animals, it was just romanticizing it. A farm was a lot of work, work she couldn't possibly be cut out for. No matter how much she wanted a change, this wasn't the right route. And it was too far away to just go see, anyway. She'd have to buy it on faith and then go and that was a horrible idea. Absolutely terrible.

Blue eyes tracked back to the table, lingering on the newspaper as if she could possibly still see the ad within it.

It's a terrible idea, Claire.

But it couldn't hurt just to call and ask about it, could it? They could email some pictures over. Just to sate her curiosity, of course. Maybe then she'd see how out of her league it was. How much more than she could ever begin to handle. There was probably a typo, too. You didn't get farmland and a farmhouse at that price. Definitely a decimal in the wrong place.

But maybe she'd call. Just to see.

It wouldn't hurt, right?

It was too late that night, by the time she'd made up her mind, so she spent the rest of the evening winding down and headed to bed early, daydreaming about the romanticized image of farm life she had floating through her mind until she finally fell to sleep.

Come morning it was time for work, but she couldn't get the farm out of her mind. On her break she found herself doing some research. How-tos and all sorts of tutorials about growing plants and keeping animals. They were dangerously cute. She didn't think she could ever slaughter her own animals, but some chicken for eggs and maybe a cow for milk… and she could fillet her own fish. Her father had taught her how to gut and clean fish. And she could buy whatever else…

Of course it was just a daydream, she didn't need to be thinking about all that. It would never happen. It wasn't practical. Not for her.

And yet…

She daydreamed through her day and as soon as she got home she was on the phone. She chatted with the seller for over an hour, learning about Mineral Town and all the little local places - it wasn't very big, really, but it sounded amazing. And the pictures! Brick streets and a couple other local farms, a blacksmith who would help with any tools she might need. A little library and local store. It was a small town - smaller than anywhere she'd ever lived. A village, really. But it was beautiful. And there was a beach right off the ocean in walking distance, and a creek at the bottom of the farmland.

It was everything she'd dreamed of, literally. It was perfect. And it wasn't like she needed to go into commercial farming, after all, just enough to meet her needs after she'd bought the farm and feed herself. She did know how to can, she could prepare things to see her through the winter….

Claire bit her lip. It was insane. Nothing was this good. This perfect. That didn't happen.

But she had picture proof. She had evidence. This could be everything she needed, everything she'd ever dreamed. Could she really afford not to try? She'd be kicking herself if she didn't take the chance.

Impulse control, she would reflect later, was never her forte.