Pete Anderson:

I remember the first day I visited Grandpa's farm.

I was six years old, an only child, with parents that didn't really seem to have any time for me. Although we lived in a rich neighborhood with a rather large house, my mother often works every single day at a company, while my dad would be off overseas for business purposes. In the end, I was either home alone, or I would be with a string of nannies that would come and go. In a large house, I had to be independent. Don't get me wrong, my parents didn't neglect me- they provided me with food, clothes, and toys. But I had to teach myself how to read, or had imaginary friends to fill the void. Although I went to a prestigious school and indeed had my fair share of social life, I never clicked with any of them. I would often dive into the world of books or simply pretended like I was like an average, snobby six year old to my peers.

When my mother told me that we were going on a family trip, I was quite excited. I always felt jealous when I hear my classmates going on about what they did with their parents, while I had nothing to say and felt a little left out. My excitement built up when I even saw my mother and father planning when their days off were, and even talked on the phones trying to negotiate. I was so happy… I couldn't contain myself. We were planning on going on vacation by the end of my school year, in the beginning of summer. Although I hated the heat, since I was born in the winter and loved the cold and snow, I didn't care. It was my first time having a family vacation, and I couldn't contain my excitement.

But as always… there is always something. Since my mother and father worked at the same company and department, there was a crisis. Unfortunately, my parents were forced to cancel the family trip and my mother had to break the news to me. It hurt me the first time she said it, but over the years, she would always say the same excuse: "I'm sorry but I've had to cancel the family trip this summer.I couldn't rearrange my work schedule… I'm sorry. I know I promised you. Please understand… I'm very busy. I'll make up for this. I'm very sorry, dear… but I asked Grandpa if you could stay at his farm. Take it easy and enjoy nature for a change." Sometimes… the wordings would change, like the times when my mother would schedule something in the winter or spring. Regardless, that was the first and only time when my mother said that she would drop me off at my grandfather's farm.

I'll be frank- I had never heard of any grandpa, and although I have read plenty of books (and I mean books by Vladimir Nabokov and a couple of Edgar Allen Poe's literature pieces), the word 'Grandpa' I've seen is in books. However, I've never seen an old wrinkly man before in my entire life! Besides, my parents never told me anything about him, and when I asked them, my mother would usually get quiet and say that I shouldn't ask such things. It wasn't until I turned sixteen did I learned that my mother left the village grandfather lived in (more on that later, of course.) When the time came for my first botched family vacation, I dreaded every second on the ride there. Apparently, I had to stay at my grandfather's house for the entire summer because there was a possibility of the entire department losing their job. I didn't mind being alone in the house, I was already used to it. But like a good boy, I sat in my car seat, silent.

After a day or two to a car ride towards Grandfather's place… I was sleeping with my head against the window. But then, I woke up to a port of a small town. My parents couldn't drive me, so they hired someone to escort me to the town. The escort hopped out of the car and told me that we were almost there. We walked across the dock and went inside of a boat; it wasn't my first time, but I would always get seasick, and still do to this day. It took the boat ride about an hour to come towards a rather large island. To my knowledge, there wasn't any record of this large plot of land in the map. I suddenly assaulted my companion with a flurry of questions: "Where are we?" "What is this place?" "Why is there so few of us on here?". But each of these questions were only answered with one irritating sentence, "I don't know."

In the end, I stayed silent throughout the entire boat ride. But once we got to 'Mineral Town,' I was a bit astonished, even scared. There were so many trees and the scenery itself looked absolutely gorgeous! Maybe it was the city-boy me talking, but I have never seen a forest (but really, I thought it was a jungle when I first saw it when I was six.) When we disembarked from the boat, we walked through the town. It looked as if it was something you'd see in every child's book. The people looked so nice, they wave at you while you walked by even though you're a stranger, and there was absolutely no roads or cars… it was such a small little world. When my companion and I walked up those very steps, I wasn't ready to what I saw next.

My escort told me to walk alone the rest of the way there, and since it wasn't too far off, I didn't care. As I went closer and closer, the fields over the fences were so green and full of life. I saw plenty of cows and sheep grazing the fields, with a variety of crops being grown at the side. The chickens looked so very happy. When I walked through the opening and passed by the dog house… I was greeted by a rather tall, muscular yet old wrinkly man with his larger than life dog. When he saw me, I saw his eyes getting all watery and even wiped a tear or two. He looked at me as if I was some sort of ghost, and was reluctant to approach or touch me in any way.

In the end, he kept his distance and said to me, "Hello there, sonny. There's not much excitement out in these parts… but you're welcome to stay as long as you want. I'm too busy with my farm chores to play with you much… but there are some children in the village and you can play with them." Although I was a little disappointed with my grandfather, mostly because in the books I read, grandfathers would always play with their grandchildren and what not. But after a while, I didn't mind. I was used to being alone anyways. Besides, there were other children in this village that could keep me occupied. Also… I am inside of a real life farm! I was a six-year-old filled with live things I have never seen before… how could I not take advantage of the situation?

So began my first month of daily mischief. I rode on a couple of cows, even though my grandfather would scold me, saying that I shouldn't do something so reckless (but either way, he laughed while saying so, especially when I fell off the floor and face planted the floor. Don't worry, I didn't get hurt or anything.) On one of the days of the first month, he showed me a horse and helped me on top. He taught me how to ride it. On the last couple of days, I was chasing after a chicken with a stick like Link was on my Nintendo 64. As fate would somehow have it, when I attacked one of the chickens with my trusty stick, I had a bunch of chickens starting to attack me! I was sort of hurt, and it took my grandpa to calm all of them down. A couple days after, I fished and laid on the field nearby the farm's river. On the last month, I was laying on the field one day, dozing off a little. I was having a rather good dream, until I was waken up by a little girl singing. Although I was a grumpy person when I would stir up awake, I didn't mind being woken up by a catchy and pretty song.

When I sat up and looked to the side, I found the girl looking at me. I stood up and gave her a small hello. She replied with, "Oh, it's you… the boy visiting the old man's farm." I gave her a little chuckle and replied with a nod and introduced myself, Pete Anderson. Then she asked me, "Do you always play alone? I like it here, too, so I come here a lot to play alone." The first thing that came to my mind was how I liked this girl's style. Either way, when I told her where I came from, she suddenly had this little glitter in her eyes, a sense of adventure. She said, "Tell me some stories about the city…" and when she heard herself say that, she blushed, waved her hands in front of her face, as if I took offense because she only mentioned about the city, "and about you…!" I couldn't help but giggle a little, not minding at all. Besides, this was the countryside, and I came from the City. Two worlds colliding. So, I suggested to her that if she wants to know more about the city, she has to tell me more about the country. It was a fair trade…

Once we made a pinky promise in agreement, I asked her for her name. "Mary," was all she said, before beckoning me towards places I've never seen before. It was a rather eventful month. I brought Mary to the farm and my grandfather just simply laughed. We had a lot of fun together. I will never forget the last couple of days. Mary and I were running up towards the mountain and we just sat up together at the cliff. We sang her little pretty catchy tune, and held hands. By the end of it, she kissed my right cheek and giggled. I giggled as well… but I didn't feel anything for her, and I didn't know why, until over the years that I discovered something about myself.

Once my first summer vacation was over, the very same escort was waiting for me by the gates, and my grandfather looked so sad of me going. He held me tight and cried… I didn't know why at the time, but I hugged him back all the same.

When he pulled back and wiped away his tears, he asked, "So how was it? Did you have fun? When you go home, tell your mom and dad that I enjoyed it too…" I nodded happily and said goodbye to my Grandfather.

Just as I was about to walk over to my escort, Mary came running towards me with a sad smile. She cried while saying, "Oh, are you leaving…?" When I told her yes, "That makes me feel lonely… you'll come back again someday, right?"

I couldn't help myself. I held up my hand and stuck out my pinky. We both giggled and we sealed the deal with a little pinky promise. I'll never forget what I said next, that changed the course of my life. If I had not suggested this… I would have never found out about my mother's past, nor ever had word about my grandfather's passing. Hell, I wouldn't even be here in this little town in the first place! I hugged her quickly and whispered softly, "We'll write to each other. I'll tell you my postal code and address… so you gotta remember, alright?" Mary smiled and cried a little more, before nodding her head and gave me such a dashing smile, that if I were like every boy, I would have fallen for her at such a young age and told her that I'll be her husband in the future.

Once I walked towards my escort, I turned my back and gave my grandfather and Mary one last wave, before I left with my escort. We left the village and began my long trip back. I couldn't sleep this time. I memorized every road, every sign, and direction. I wanted to come back to that village, both because of the promise… but at the same time, there was something so enticing about that village that I couldn't put my hand on. All the same, when my escort drove me to the same old pathway, my life resumed back to the boring and lonely lifestyle I called home. When my escort rung the doorbell, my mother was the one who opened up the door and gave me a big hug, saying how she missed me. I once again played the role of the dutiful quiet child and said nothing at all.

To be frank, my mother never really made it up to me as she said she would. We never did anything as far as I knew, but really? I didn't care. every single week, I got a letter from Mary while I wrote back. We were pen pals, always discussing about our daily lives, and although there were some weeks where we didn't write to each other, I knew that we didn't forget each other. This went on for another twelve years. Mary told me about a lot of things, especially the awkward once like how she had her first period. While I in turn…? Well, when I turned fourteen, I told her a secret that made me cry my eyes out once I found out what made me different from everyone else. I wrote to her that I found out that I was gay. When that new fact dawned upon me, I was panicking and prayed to God that this wasn't so. I went to church more than I ever had at the time, considering that I wasn't religious. But when that didn't work, I tried to force myself and go out with a couple of girls, but that didn't really work either. I found my eyes wandering towards boys my age, staring at them out of want. Once I sent that letter to Mary… she never responded to me for a whole month. It was the hardest time I have ever went through. There was no one I could talk to, nor anyone I could cry to. I felt so alone. I couldn't talk to my parents because they openly told me that 'Faggots' should burn in Hell. Neither to my 'friends' at school, because I never hung out with them outside of there, and I couldn't trust myself with strangers. Mary was the first and only true friend I could have ever asked for, and she seemed to have abandoned me…

Until I received a letter from her. I was both scared yet overjoyed, and when I ran upstairs into my room with the letter… I felt guilty yet relieved. What she wrote was her admitting to me that she loved me, hoping that when I come back to the village, she and I would get married and settled down with a family. but she apologized for not writing back sooner, because she had no idea what to say to me, she had never seen or heard of a homosexual. But either way… she wrote something that gave me hope, and my friendship with Mary grew even further.

"You will always be my friend, no matter what."

I felt so overjoyed. I told her all of my hardships and everything that burdened me for the past few months suddenly went away like magic. I realized that in this world, there is always someone you could depend on, not matter what. Mary and I? We wrote to each other that we knew that we're kindred spirits. She told me her problems, on how she was jealous how every kid in her town seemed so outgoing, and how there were some qualities she wished she had. I comforted her, and told her everything I could- but since I was limited to a sheet of paper, I felt so useless. It wasn't until I wrote to her that she needs to look herself in the mirror, look into her own eyes and say, "I am proud of who I am" every single day. When I suggested that, the next letter Mary wrote to me, she wrote that she is starting to gain a bit of confidence every single day.

Over the years, there was one thing that has never seem to go away… it was the calling of Mineral Town. I remember that one day, when I was sixteen, I told my mother that I wanted to visit grandfather, and she went ballistic. She went on and on about how I should give up that childish dream and focus on my future. Like every cold and calculative mother, she would always say, "Think of your future." And I have. I envisioned myself in Mineral Town, because for some reason… I felt that it was a town that calls to people who have major baggage, a safe haven. I wrote to Mary that day, saying how I just wanted to run away. I had a part-time job in a local restaurant, and I saved up enough money in my savings. I could do it! One winter season, on my eighteenth birthday, Mary wrote to me that my grandfather has passed away. I felt extremely sad, because he was like a father to me. He taught me how to use tools and never looked down on me just because I was a child. However, because there wasn't anyone who could take care of his farm, the property was set for a lease and the animals were sold. I decided that it was now or never… I wrote to Mineral Town's Mayor, Thomas, and ran away from my home one winter's night and traveled for a week. I wrote to the Mayor on how I wanted to take over my Grandfather's farm. I had to take many cabs and buses just to get to the same dock.

It was spring when I finally reached Mineral Town. And oddly enough… once I disembarked from the boat, it felt as if nothing's changed. I walked through the same roads and pathway. To me, it felt as if time would stop in this village. The Mayor met me in front of the gateway of the farm. When we walked in together, the entire farm looked desolate and barren. Thomas told me that the farm was neglected after my grandfather's passing.

When he asked me if I remembered my first summer here? I couldn't help but reconsider my entire life, including now. It was never just a memory… I felt that I was destined to end up in Mineral town. And although what I have before me is a piece of work, I am an Anderson. If there is one thing I know about being an Anderson, it's that we never give up what we set our minds to and we see it to the end. Mayor Thomas told me that I had to live up to my grandfather's name, and in the span of three years, I have to prove myself worthy of being the owner of my Grandfather's farm.

I didn't care. I always had the pressure of living up to my Family name. Once the Mayor left me to the fieldwork… I decided to rename the farm after my Grandfather. William Anderson's Farm.

Whoo! It's been a long time you guys! I certainly hope you enjoyed the prologue. I don't know whether the chapters will be as big as the prologue, but hey, I just hope you guys are enjoying it all the same.