Chapter 1: A New Leaf

My first sight of a new life abroad was of the forest, autumnal reds dappled with specks of orange. It passed by as a blur from the train-window when I looked away, a painter's smeared palette of vivid pastels. The train's clattering fell into a staccato beat, lulling me into a haze of near-sleep; how long had it been since I had last slept? It was hard to say if I'd had a wink since the whirlwind of transfers to various stations, some of which were of the 'one train a day' variety, including the one I was currently on. Perhaps it was for the best, considering my actions over the last few days. The last thing I needed was for a well-meaning conductor to start prodding me with questions, wondering whether it might just be better to call the police regarding a scruffy gentleman shouting in his sleep.

In my attempt to find some kind of distraction, I managed to catch the eye of a cat seated just a few aisles ahead of me. Despite my best efforts, the cat was evidently desperate for some kind of communication, as he immediately slid off his chair and started walking towards me. I found myself somewhat transfixed by his argyle sweater; my neighbourhood had never been a diverse one, and the few Animals I had known there were often working as janitors or scrubbing dishes in the back of kitchens.

"Sorry to be a bother," The cat said as he reached my aisle. "It's just my watch has been on the fritz for the last few days and I haven't had the time to get it repaired. I was wondering if you have the time?"

He seemed sincere enough, so I checked my own battered wristwatch (long overdue to be replaced) and gave him the time, 4PM. The cat fixed me with a big smile, and I realized I had fallen for his trap and actively engaged him in conversation. My consent was evidently a moot point as he immediately flopped down onto the seat across from me.

"The name's Rover, a pleasure to make your acquaintance." The cat said, extending a paw for me to shake. I narrowed my eyes as I returned the handshake; this cat was clearly a consummate professional when it came to needling information out of strangers.

"Nathan," I grudgingly conceded. "Likewise."

"Not much of a traveller I presume?"

"What gives you that idea?"

"I've been a freelancer of sorts for just over fifteen years now," Rover nodded towards my bulging suitcase on the rack above. "When you're not tied to anywhere, you learn to travel light. That's the kind of suitcase someone who left in a hurry carries."

"I'm not a criminal if that's what you're insinuating." Something about the tone of Rover's voice rubbed me the wrong way.

"Never meant to imply anything of the sort," Rover began, the smile wavering somewhat as he looked me over. "It's just, I've met a lot of your type in my years of travelling."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I should have just walked away at that point, not given Rover the opportunity to feed more fuel to the fire, but something within egged me on to stay and listen.

"Let me guess, you decided life in the big city wasn't working out for you?" Rover paused, as if waiting for an objection, and continued when I remained silent. "Find some small place out in the countryside, so you can live an idyllic life for a few months. Then you get bored, find some other town to sate your curiosity and move on, leave it all behind like it never even mattered to you in the first place. I know it's a hard pill to swallow, but with Humans, you tend to see it all the time.

"You don't know me," I tried to protest, but my words sounded hollow even to myself, more like the insistence of a petulant child. "Maybe I'll be different."

"I'm not saying you won't." Rover said with a shrug. "Just… Where are you headed to?"

I checked the crumpled printout in my pocket. "Animal Town, last stop on this train." Animal Town. A name only an Animal founder could love, though I was sure somewhere in the world permits were desperately being filed for a Human City.

"Alright, Animal Town," Rover nodded. "Well why don't we make some kind of bet on it. In one year from this day I'll drop by Animal Town. If you've been living there until then, and you're still there, I will take back everything I have said about you and everyone else."

I could feel the jaws of Rover's trap close around me with an echoing clack of finality. Machiavelli was no doubt rolling in his grave as Rover cranked his smile up to full-beam. With a sigh and a mental note never to allow myself to be drawn into conversations with sweater-wearing cats in the future, I gave a perfunctory nod. It was evidently enough for Rover who slid right off the seat, gave me a pat on the shoulder, and walked off to another carriage, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I awoke with a rather ungracious start, the kind that involved snorting loudly and a copious amount of saliva dribbling down my chin. It took me a few moments to realize the train had stopped, the sudden silence enough to wake me from my reverie. I peered outside, greeted by the jet-black sky of night, a few dozen stars twinkling merrily down at me from above. I could barely make out the hazy outlines of a few houses dotted along the horizon, though what seemed to be light from the train-station made everything beyond a few yards hazy and indistinct. Fortunately it seemed I hadn't made an absolute fool of myself in my sleep, sleeping as uncomfortably as a log judging by the ache in my neck.

"You're here for Animal Town, eek?" A voice, strangely punctuated by a suddenly shriek, asked from behind. I whipped around at the shriek, managing to badly startle the monkey porter who took a step back, giving me a wary look. Brilliant, only a few seconds in Animal Town and I was already freaking out Animals who were just trying to help.

"Yeah, Animal Town," I muttered, hoisting my suitcase down from the rack. "That's me alright."

The porter decided to let me go first, and closed the train doors the instant I had stepped off. I watched the train go, standing awkwardly on the platform with a tattered suitcase at my side as I mentally prepared myself for my new life. One year had been promised, and I fully intended to live up to that promise, even if it was for as petty a reason as to see the look on Rover's face when I would be right here to greet his arrival. It was with a rare feeling of self-confidence that I picked up my suitcase, turned around, and walked out of the station into the brisk autumnal air outside. And a gaggle of Animals huddled just outside the entrance, staring back at me.

"Do you think that's him, wee one?" One of the Animals, a rabbit with black and white fur, whispered loudly.

"I wasn't expecting a Human, cha-chomp." Another, this one a wolf with light grey fur and a white muzzled, replied curtly.

"Looks like the future's finally c-c-catching up with our town d-d-dude." The third animal, a penguin with strange crossed pupils, stuttered.

"Places everyone!" A voice called out, and I realized there was a fourth Animal standing just to my side that I had somehow missed. What was it with Animals and sneaking up behind me? The Animal, a bright yellow dog with some kind of puffy hair-bun and yellow cardigan looked up at me with a smile that didn't quite mask the quiet apprehension in her eyes. "From those of us in Animal Town, welcome!" She bellowed, the other Animals following her lead with varying degrees of success, the penguin struggling with the 'c' long after everyone had finished the greeting. I wasn't entirely sure what to make of this welcoming party, but gave them my best thumbs up with the assumption they were all part of some Town Committee.

"It's so good to finally meet face-to-face Mr. Mayor," The dog said, raising a paw for a handshake. "Is your cold any better?"

"I'm sorry, my cold?" I thought I had heard her also call me 'mayor', but assumed it meant something else in Animal context.

"Yes, when we spoke earlier in the day, you said you had a terrible cold," The dog said with a sympathetic smile, slowly pulling her paw back when it became clear I was too confused to shake it. "Sorry, you must be so tired from your illness and the long trip. I just want you to know that we're incredibly grateful you were able to fill in the position of Mayor with such short notice."

"Rover," I hissed. "You did not just do this to me."

"I'm sorry Mr. Mayor, what was that?" The dog asked, looking more and more agitated by the second. A small part of me realized I was causing a scene, but it was hard to keep calm and collected while being referred to as 'Mr. Mayor'. Fortunately for both of us, the dog decided to take matters into her own hands by grabbing my own in a viselike grip.

"Maybe we should continue this discussion at town hall. After all, I think everyone else is ready to go to bed at this point!" She said with a look that dared me to disagree. The other animals nodded, the rabbit yawning loudly as if to emphasize her weariness, and they all headed off in separate directions with words of farewell to the dog and me. Then we were alone, a bedraggled Human with a small anthropomorphic dog keeping a bare-knuckle hold on his left hand, suitcase in the other. We would have likely made quite a sight for anyone walking by at that moment, but to my relief it seemed nobody had considered a late-night stroll past the station that evening.

"So, about this mayor situation…" I began, but the dog raised a paw to silence me.

"As I said before, I'd rather we continue this conversation at town hall," She said, finally dropping the smile which was replaced with a look of tired resignation. "At the very least, I have coffee there and I think I'm going to need it. Do you drink coffee Mr. Mayor?"

"Not really."

"Well it's as good a time as any to get started I suppose."

She finally relented her grasp on my arm, reaching towards my suitcase that I swiftly pulled away; she looked tired enough already, there was no need to add more to her already stressful day. She looked ready to argue, thought better of it, and lead me onward with a small nod. The path to town hall took us through a few trees bearing plump peaches, as well as mini-houses nestled in small clearings. The town hall itself was located next to a small river, starlight glimmering against its rippling surface, a small stone bridge located conveniently nearby. As I stopped to listen to the calming splashes of the river, I heard the faint chorus of crickets chirping away at the midnight sky. I took a moment to just stand there and listen, remembering a childhood spent out amongst the fields under a night sky almost like this one, though those stars of the past had remained veiled by the city's haze.

The building of the town hall was the biggest I'd seen in the entire town up to that point, three times or so the size of any of the houses we had walked up to by that point. Two pillars of smooth marble rose up so high that I had to take a step back and peer up just to see the roof. A giant clock centred above the door announced the time to be of the witching hour, and I half expected to see a witch go cackling by just above our heads. The dog nudged me, breaking me out of my reverie and gently guided me over to the door, which to my surprise had been left unlocked, as she opened it without the need for a key.

"What if somebody just waltzed in?" I asked as we made our way inside.

"I appreciate your concern," The dog replied with a small smile. "But in the fifty-odd years this town hall has stood here, nobody has taken advantage of its open-door policy."

Looking at the interior of the town hall, it was hard not to see why this was the case. The first word I thought of when looking around was 'homey'. In fact, it looked like a house that had one day been re-purposed into becoming a town hall; I began to wonder if this was actually the case. The room itself was divided by a long counter at the front and an ornate wooden desk at the end. The former was piled up with piles of colour-coded paperwork, a frighteningly large coffee-machine, a home-phone that had most likely been set up twenty years ago, and a potted plant I was almost certain was plastic sitting alongside a 'Secretary' nameplate that had a post-it note saying ISABELLE on it (it was hard to say which one felt more sad). The latter meanwhile sported a phenomenally dusty computer, what looked to be a rotary phone, even more paperwork (not colour-coded), and a #1 Mayor mug.

The only articles of value appeared to be at the very end of the room, which featured a large bookcase stacked with pulse-pounding titles like Learning To Live With Stress and Tending To Your Garden, a bonsai that may have also been plastic, some kind of… modern art display made of stone, and a few town-awards dating back thirty years or so. A painting of some kind of geriatric turtle in a top-hat and round glasses frowned down at me, as if daring me to try and take any of the valuables he watched over.

"That's Tortimer, the… Former mayor of this town," Isabelle said, walking up to my side. "He was mayor for as long as I can remember, we all saw him as an icon of the town. I applied for the position of secretary as soon as I could. Worked ten years under him, day in and day out, never took a day off unless I really needed it. Then, one day, he just quit, headed out to some tropical island and left me to deal with everything in his absence. Including finding a new mayor."

"Sounds mortifying." I said, feeling a sudden and unexpected yawn break through before I could stop myself. I think it took all the willpower Isabelle possessed not to strangle me to death right there and then.

"So," I said hastily, hoping to change the subject. "Look, I know things are evidently a bit chaotic here, but I'm really not the mayor."

"Technically not the mayor."

"Technically?" I turned to look at her, and she met my eyes with a worryingly defiant look. "Sorry, I think we might be having different conversations right now. I am not qualified to be your mayor, I never studied political science. I wasn't even head of any club in school! How would I be expected to run a whole town, let alone a town populated by Animals?"

"Enough!" Isabelle shouted, the first time I had heard her actually raise her voice. Even she looked somewhat surprised by the outburst. It was enough to shock some degree of sense back into my system, and I took a moment to take some deep breaths and calm myself down. Isabelle sighed heavily, rubbing her face and looking over at the counter. "I'm going to make some coffee. Just… Take a seat in the mayor's chair and close your eyes a bit."

It seemed like good enough advice, so I reclined in the deceptively comfortable office-chair while Isabelle began to work the coffee-machine; it began to shudder and sputter as if possessed by some kind of vengeful poltergeist. As I closed my eyes, I heard music begin to drift through the room, a gentle acoustic medley accompanied by the squeaky tones of some Animal. I wasn't normally into Animal music, but there was something about this song that helped put my heart at ease.

"Who is that?" I asked, still leaned back in the chair.

"K.K. Slider," Isabelle answered, her tone somewhat wistful. "Wandering. The first single I ever bought with my own money. I would play it over and over, to the point my brother would ask me how I didn't get tired of it. I always had a hard time in school, I would stress out over the smallest things and tend to give up after making even the smallest mistake. But when I listened to this song, I felt I could actually relax, leave my worries all behind me. It was hard, but eventually I was able find ways to cope, and managed to graduate top of my class. Found work as a municipal civil servant soon after that."

The grinding and screeching of the machine finally stopped as the music reached its cadence, the last few bars of the guitar giving way to silence. I opened my eyes, seeing Isabelle pick up a steaming cup of coffee and slowly make her way over to me. She put a paw on my shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"I know I'm asking you for a lot," Isabelle said. "Especially as someone who you haven't even met before. If your mind really is set against this then I won't push you any further. I'll go back to searching and maybe we will be able to find someone. But I just want you to know, if you do become mayor, you won't have to do it alone. As secretary, I will be behind you every step of the way, and I'm sure the townsfolk would understand if I explained the situation to them."

I don't know what made me nod. Maybe it was that this was the first time anyone had talked to me with such kindness in some time, maybe the music had melted away some part of my resolve, maybe there really was some part of me that genuinely wanted to offer some kind of helping hand to Isabelle. All I can say is that I nodded, much to Isabelle's joy as she gave me a smile that seemed a little strange at the time. I only realized later that I had never seen her give an actual smile free from worry before.

"Thank you, I… Thank you." She said, breathing in a sigh of relief and taking a brief sip of her coffee. "Now, I know it's late and I'm sure you just want to head right to bed, but there are a few important things we should take care of now so that they're sorted in the morning."

"I hope these aren't going to be involved processes." I grumbled, feeling the onset of eyestrain despite my fitful sleep in the train.

"Not too involved Mr. Mayor," Isabelle assured me, walking over to the counter and pulling a sheet of paper from a filing-cabinet underneath. "You're going to need to fill out this Resident Registration Form. Every resident of the town has to be filed into official government records, think of it like a retroactive travel visa. There's not too much to write on your end, I can fill in most of the minor details."

She walked over and handed me the paper along with a pen, and I got to writing. As she said, it was a relatively simple if bureaucratic form, with one minor issue. I paused at the line under ADDRESS, glancing up at Isabelle who was hovering over my shoulder like a concerned mother watching her child work on his exam preparations.

So do they want my old address from when I was living in the city?" I asked.

"Oh no, you'll need to write in your…" Isabelle stopped mid-sentence, her eyes going wide. Before I could ask what the problem was, she rushed over to the counter and began hastily flipping through the paperwork on her desk. "Mr. Mayor, did you send in an application for residence before you got here?"

I felt a hot flush on my cheeks. "I uh, a friend of mine may have told me Animals live in a communal society and even the houses are shared and free for use by everyone."

Isabelle gave me what I could only describe as a deadpan stare. "So you decided to assume your friend's, rather racist if we're being honest, information about Animals was completely accurate and booked a train without checking up on the town even once?"

"That may have been the case, yes." I admitted, shuffling uncomfortably under Isabelle's incredulous stare. It took Isabelle a few moments to compose herself, as she sat down in her chair and put her paws over her face to stifle a groan. There were many times where Isabelle's refusal to fully call me out on my bad habits only led me to feel worse about them, and this was without a doubt one of those times. Motioning for me to stay seated, she picked up the telephone's receiver and dialed a number, mashing on the buttons a few times when they appeared to jam. I checked my watch (midnight), wondering if the Animal Isabelle wanted to call would even pick up.

"Yes, hello?" Isabelle suddenly said, putting an end to that line of thought. "It's me, Isabelle. Yes, I know it's late, I hope I didn't wake you. Oh, I see. Well, I happen to have the new mayor with me in town hall right now, and we've hit a bit of a snag with his residence. See, he's a Human from the city and he… Oh, really?" Isabelle shot me another incredulous look, to which I shrunk down as much as I could in my seat. "I know it's a bother, but could I send him over to you to get this sorted out? Thank you so much, I'll send a thank-you gift to you when this is all done. No, really, I insist. Alright, well he should be there in a few minutes." The receiver came down with a sharp clack, and Isabelle practically yelled out a sigh of relief.

"So, all sorted?" I asked with an awkward smile. Isabelle nodded, opening another filing cabinet and taking out a somewhat weather-beaten folded up piece of paper.

"Yes, though I'm going to need to ask you to do something for me," She said, coming to my seat and handing me the piece of paper, which turned out to be a sizable map of the town. "I want to get work on filing your paperwork, both for residence and mayoral position, right away so you'll need to head to the real-estate office on your own. It's called Nook's Homes, you'll find it in a part of town we call Main Street, just across the railroad. Mr. Nook will be waiting for you there, he's handled these situations before so just use this map to find your way there and you should be all right. It's a rather straight path so you shouldn't have that much difficulty."

Judging by the map, it certainly didn't look like a hard place to find; all I had to do was make my way back to the station, cross over to the other side, and Nook's Homes would presumably right on the left-hand side. Doing my best to stifle a yawn, I decided it would be for the best if I set off for the office right away, before I ended up falling asleep next to a park-bench or something. I wasn't even sure why I was so tired; evidently the seats of the train had been enough to trigger some kind of hidden princess-and-the-pea complex within me. With a parting nod to Isabelle who had returned to her counter and was sorting through all manner of paperwork as she worked on my registration as well as what looked be a few additional forms, I headed out once more into the crisp evening of the town.

Having the chance to be on my own and admire the town without Isabelle rushing me past the sights, I was struck with just how quiet everything was. Every now and then a soft gust would brush through the trees, causing them to rustle in a chorus of whispers, but other than that it felt like I was truly on my own; such a far cry from the ceaseless hustle and bustle of the city I had known for so long. As I walked through the trees, scattered around the fields as if they had fallen from the hand of a careless giant, I heard the soft rhythmic crunch of footsteps on leaves somewhere ahead of me. I hesitated, not sure who else would be wandering around the town at this kind of hour, and peered at a cluster of trees where I could just make out the form of someone wandering between them, hidden by their shadow.

"Who's that skulking about?" A gruff voice called out, and the figure stepped forward into the light. It was the wolf I had seen at the train-station, carrying a shovel with him. "Oh, it's The Human, cha-chomp."

"Yep, that's me." I replied, keeping an eye on the shovel. What was he doing out here so late in the evening carrying that thing? I wondered if Isabelle would be able to hear me if I screamed loud enough. He also didn't look to be very tall, it seemed possible I could outrun him if he came after me for whatever reason, book it for town hall. Then again, looking at the wolf in the light, he didn't actually seem all that intimidating, with rounded features and a knitted white-and-blue shirt of some kind. Still, there was no telling with an Animal, especially one that was wandering the town at night, shovel in paw.

"The name's Fang, here's hoping you can do some good for the town," The wolf said with a curt nod. "I think we've been in desperate need for new blood for some time now cha-chomp."

I wasn't entirely sure what to say, somewhat taken aback by the constant 'cha-chomp's that so heavily punctuated his statements. I decided to settle with an understanding nod and what I hoped was a serious enough face, which was evidently enough for Fang, who proceeded to turn around and begin digging.

Building up the courage to ask, and hoping it wouldn't be too much of some kind of Animal faux-pas, I suddenly blurted out, "So what's with the digging?"

Fang paused, looked up at me, and then down at his shovel. "Looking for gyroids. It was raining pretty heavily last night so they'll probably be around cha-chomp."

"Gyroids? What are those supposed to be?"
"Oh, you don't have them where you're from?" Fang looked a little surprised. "You can find them everywhere in small towns like these. They're statues that sing, I have two in my house and I assume some of my neighbours would have them. You'll probably come across one if you go out digging after a rainy day, cha-chomp."

This was probably the first time I'd heard anyone refer to 'going out digging' as some kind of daily activity. I desperately wanted to ask Fang more questions, but my appointment with Nook's Homes outweighed my curiosity, so I said my goodbyes and left him to his gyroid-hunt. There were no other encounters after that, all the houses I walked by dark and silent, the only waking creatures I heard being the crickets nestled in the leaves around my feet. I felt good, my first conversation with a resident of the town seeming to have gone better than expected. I also made a mental note to see about getting a shovel, perhaps if I were able to find a gyroid of my own it would help me fit in better.

Finally I arrived at the train-station, a stairway snaking its way up a hill that rose just beyond the tracks. I could see the faint impression of lights at the top of the hill that seemed alarmingly distant. As I let out a sigh of resolution and began to make my way up the long winding stairway, I found myself wondering if Isabelle absolutely needed to work on the paperwork back in the warm confines of the town hall. Biting winds accosted me as I hunched over, nothing but a frayed jacket to protect me, almost crab-shuffling my way up the stairs.

"This is ridiculous." I muttered to myself as a sudden gust tried to grab at me and throw me off the stairs, forcing me to hunch down precariously on a step.

"Oh my, are you alright there wee one?" A soft voice called out from above, and I peered at the stairway before me to see the rabbit from the train station looking down at me with concern. Did any of these Animals ever sleep? I cautiously stood back up as she made her way down the stairs, carrying a flower-patterned satchel to the side.

"I think I'm alright, just got caught by surprise is all," I said once she was on the same step as me. "What about you?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about me," The rabbit said with a laugh. "I trained in ballet when I was young so I have grace and poise others could only dream of." She did a little ballerina pose, glancing my way with a questioning look. After a few seconds of looking at the pose, I realized what she was waiting for and gave her a polite moment's applause.

"Why are you even making your way up these steps at this hour?" She asked, looking me up and down with an appraising stare. "Didn't Isabelle take you out to town hall?"

"I just have to go see Mr. Nook to get some small things sorted," I replied, hoping she wouldn't ask any further. "Are you coming back from seeing him?"

The rabbit laughed again. "Oh, Nook is a sweetheart but he's not exactly the kind of company I keep. I was just up to the post-office to check on my mail, I know it gets delivered in the morning and evening but I have some friends in other towns who like to be up late so the mail comes in around this time wee one." She reached into the satchel, pulling out a letter and then opening it up right in front of me, to my surprise.

"Don't you want to keep that private?" I asked, and she gave me an inquisitive look.

"But then who would I be able to share it with?" She scanned through the letter, smiled, and handed it over to me. "Go on, have a look at this lovely letter my friend sent me."

I still felt apprehensive, but I didn't want to somehow hurt the rabbit's feelings so I took the letter and began to read.

Dear Dotty,

It's so great to hear you're getting a new mayor! I can't believe we still have the same mayor, he's so old I think you could replace him with one of the fossils and nobody would notice. I'm honestly kind of jealous now, maybe I'll have to come and move over to your town and then we can be neighbours! Maybe if your mayor is a real looker I might try and steal them from under your nose. Just kidding!

Or am I? Love, Felicity

I handed the letter back to Dotty who read through it once more and sighed somewhat wistfully. "Gosh she's so good at writing letters, right? I do wish she'd come over so we could be neighbours, but then I wonder if we would share as much mail? Things really can be complicated, can't they… Oh my, I just realized I didn't even get your name!"

"Just call me Nathan." I said, shivering as another gust brushed past us.

"Well Nathan, I'm Dotty," She said, putting the letter back into her satchel and then pulling out a white woolly scarf with a red rabbit pattern, handing it to me. "You can think of me as the town mascot, since you're going to be the mayor. Think of this Dotty Original scarf as a welcoming present, you look ready to turn into an icicle wee one."

I gratefully accepted the scarf and wrapped it around my neck, letting out a heavy sigh of relief as I could stop hunching over to stop the wind tickling my neck with icy fingers. Dotty took a step back to look me over, gave a shrug and said, "We'll consider it a work in progress. Come and see me some time, wee one. I can give you pointers on how to up that fashion."

With a wave, she made her way down, and I watched her make it to the bottom, crossing the tracks and then fading away into the darkness of night. With renewed gusto I began my ascent, now with the scarf to protect me when the autumn winds suddenly decided to renew their frigid attack on me. My gusto dissipated after a minute, turning into wheezing breaths as I tried to push my grossly out-of-shape body up the seemingly endless trial of stairs. Upon making it to the top, I had to take a moment to crouch down with my hands on my knees, hacking up a lung and promising anyone in earshot that my first decree as mayor would be building some kind of escalator for Main Street.

Main Street itself was a row of buildings arrayed along the side of an upside-down T-shaped path, stretching along a section of the cliff that tapered off into flatter land. Many of the buildings were dark; at first I assumed it was because they were closed, but then noticed many of the buildings were boarded shut completely. There were only two near me that had their lights still on, one was the post-office Dotty had mentioned earlier, and the other was a two-story building with a hand-painted 'Nook's Homes' sign over the door. There was something eerie about the stillness of Main Street, the buildings standing there like silent sentinels watching over the path, windows like eyes peering at me with ethereal light. One of the windows of Nook's Homes was suddenly blotted out by a portly figure, presumably Nook, who walked over to the door and opened it.

Nook turned out to be raccoon in a green sweater (knitted just like almost every other Animal's clothing, apparently there was some kind of knitting craze amongst Animal communities that I wasn't aware of) who gave me the kind of smile usually found on the faces of cashiers working the graveyard shift at a convenience store.

"So you are the new mayor, yes?" He asked, rushing up to me with more speed than I would have anticipated from such a rotund fellow. The raccoon grabbed my hand to shake it furiously. "Pleasure to meet you, heard about your situation on the phone, terrible business. Still, you won't need to worry one bit, I've handled these sort of situations before so just come inside and we'll get you sorted, yes yes." He talked at such a rate that I could feel my head beginning to spin as I tried to unpack his sentences. Grabbing me by the arm, he briskly began to usher me into the real-estate office.

The real-estate office felt like a realm of controlled chaos; display-models for all kinds of house-features stood in rows along the spacious room like disparate terracotta soldiers. For a building called an 'office', it didn't resemble any office I knew of. Only a metal drawer and two well-worn sofas in the corner made any attempt to adhere to the floor-design values most offices held. Nook flopped over into one of the sofas, motioning me to take the one opposite as he reached over to the side and pulled out some kind of clipboard along with a pen.

"Now, I'm just going to draft up a simple invoice for your new house. There's not much needed on your end, I'll just need your signature, and for you to tell me where in the town you'd like it to be set up." He handed me the invoice and I glanced through it, narrowing my eyes as I noticed a conspicuously blank section of the sheet.

"There's nothing written down for Down Payment," I noted, pointing at the offending part of the invoice. "Isn't that something we should settle before I write my signature?"
Tom Nook gave a rather condescending laugh. "You won't have to worry about that at all, as I said, I do have experience with these situations and I've found it's often best to work things out through a prolonged loan of sorts, pay when you can, that sort of thing. Though there was one Human I knew, back before I got into the real-estate business, goodness he was… Oh! Pardon, I got lost in my own thoughts there. In any case, the price will need to be determined after I make all the calculations as to size, materials, time, all kinds of things to consider, you know."

Deciding I could do without hearing Nook fall into reminiscence about his old days, I quickly scribbled my signature. If worst came to worst, I had my passport stashed away deep in my suitcase with an embassy number scribbled down on it; they would probably be able to help me out. I handed the invoice back to Nook who looked it over, nodded with approval, bringing a signature-stamp down on the end and filing it away in the drawer. Rooting around in the drawer, he pulled out a yellow jacket and put it on, turning to me with a smile.

"Well, no time like the present, yes yes?" He asked, bustling right past me and throwing the door open. The cold wind snaked its way into the room, and I only then realized how warm the office had been. With a heavy heart I forced myself up from the warm embrace of the sofa and walked back into the spiteful grip of autumn night, adjusting the scarf and silently thanking Dotty for her generosity. At the very least I wasn't the only one suffering from the cold; Nook rubbed his arms, muttering something about the cold and his age, and we both made haste down the stairs for a few moments before I almost tripped and we wisely decided to take such a precarious way down a little more cautiously.

It didn't take me long to find a part of town that suited me, partly due to being rushed by the increasingly cold night, but partly because I noticed a nice empty part of town on the map. It would afford me a nice view of the river, and a few trees grew in a semi-circle around the spot I had chosen. Nook also seemed pleased with it, as he walked around marking a few calculations in a pocket-notebook and nodded to himself.

"Yes yes, this should do nicely. I'll have to move one or two trees to make sure we have the space needed, but all in all there should be no problem. Now, of course I can't just make a house appear with a snap of my fingers, but while you go back to town hall and sort everything else out, I can set up a temporary residence of sorts for you."

"Hey, Nook," I said, feeling a little bad that this raccoon was doing so much for me at such an hour, especially considering this was all because of my own blunder. "Thanks for all of this, it really does mean a lot to me."

"Oh, it's no problem, no problem at all," Nook said with a smile. "Besides, when you… Oh, no need to worry about these things, you really should be getting back to town hall, Isabelle is a wonderful secretary but I fear she does push herself too hard in the evenings, yes yes?"

I had completely forgotten about Isabelle, probably sitting there in a cold hall, waiting for me to get back as I dawdled about. Thanking Nook again, I rushed off towards town hall, hoping Isabelle wouldn't be too angry for how long I had probably taken. Town hall loomed in the horizon as I drew closer, the clock angrily informing me that half-an-hour had already passed since I had left for Nook. How did the time pass this quickly?

Skidding to a stop just in front of the door and slowly opening it, I peered inside. Isabelle reclined in her chair, snoring loudly with a paw-print blanket wrapped around her, a mound of papers splayed out on the desk before her. I tiptoed over as silently as I could, checking over the papers; most of them were completed forms for residence and mayoral application, all they needed was my signature. I picked up a pen and scribbled down my signatures, paused, then grabbed a sticky-note and wrote down Thanks for everything, hope I can do you proud, sticking it on the very top-most form. With a last glance at the sleeping Isabelle, I picked up my suitcase and headed back out to see Nook.

I had to give it to Nook, he worked fast; stakes and rope had been set up to make a makeshift square fence, and a large tent had been pitched in the middle.

"It's not much, but I've left a portable heater in there and the tent should be insulated enough to keep you from freezing through the night," Nook said, yawning loudly. "In any case, I am incredibly tired and need to get back to the office. Do come by tomorrow, I'll have the down payment figured out by then so we can discuss such things at your leisure. Good night, Mayor."

With that he left me to give a cursory inspection of my temporary accommodations. It was mercifully warm inside, the heater already doing its best to noisily pump out as much heat as its battery would allow. It was otherwise sparse in terms of decoration, I propped my suitcase in one corner and took out a threadbare blanket that would hopefully be enough for the night. The grass underneath the tent's floor felt soft enough, outside of a few patches with a rock underneath that I would have to avoid rolling onto. Just as I was about to get comfortable, I heard rustling outside, the sound of something coming towards my tent. I froze as the noise, footsteps most likely, drew ever closer. Finally they drew to a stop just outside the tent, I heard some kind of soft breathing outside.

"Mr. Mayor?" Isabelle's voice called out. "Are you awake? Sorry to bother you at this hour, I just wanted to bring you something for the tent."

Breathing a sigh of relief, I opened the tent-flap to see Isabelle wrapped in a massive puffy jacket, holding up a comically oversized lantern. "Sorry, I just remembered we had a spare lantern in town hall for emergencies, and felt you might want to use it while you're here in the tent?" She said.

"How did you know I was sleeping in a tent?" I asked. Isabelle gave me a somewhat sheepish look.

"Well, this is actually an old tent me and my family used to use when I was really young," She admitted. "We went camping a lot, but it didn't see as much use after I got my job as secretary, so I ended up giving it to Nook so he could go camping with his nephews. I assumed he would probably set it up since you don't have any housing yet. That and… well I kind of wanted to give the tent another look-around, just remember the good times I had with it."

Isabelle gave the tent a sniff, closing her eyes and smiling. "If I close my eyes, I can still smell the marshmallows we used to cook over the fire, the four of us all together and warm. It really was the happiest time of my life." I wasn't sure whether to interrupt her reminiscence, but she suddenly remembered I was standing right in front of her as she gasped and raised a paw to her mouth.

"Oh, I'm really sorry Mr. Mayor! I'm sure you want to go to bed and here I am talking so much about my life. I'll let you get to bed now, really sorry about keeping you, goodnight!"

I waved goodbye, but before Isabelle was fully out of the tent, she whirled back around with a small yelp. "Oh! Before I forget, Mr. Mayor!"

"Yes?" I asked, hoping Isabelle wouldn't be knocking my tent down at 4 in the morning to remind me about some small detail she had forgotten to impart.

"There's going to be a special ceremony to celebrate your arrival here in Animal Town in the morning. I was hoping to do it today, but with how late you arrived I felt it would probably be best to just do it tomorrow morning. Or, this morning I suppose. It's a tradition that goes back a long time and it's very important, all the townsfolk will be there and it will be a few residents' first time seeing you, so please do come to town hall just before 9 o'clock so we can prepare."

"They won't expect me to do some kind of speech, will they?" I asked. Isabelle stared back at me with a somewhat worried smile, before saying "Not a big one. Goodnight Mr. Mayor." and closing the tent-flap. I tried to remember the last speech I had ever given; maybe it was that time I managed to embarrass myself during a short-lived attempt to run for school-mayor, a shaking little boy so nervous that he vomited all over the principal, on stage, in front of the entire school. Hopefully this time would go better, and Isabelle's clothes and pride would remain in better condition than the principal's. I shook my head; it was bad enough having the responsibility of mayor thrust upon me, I didn't need to drudge up embarrassing memories to make myself feel any more stressed than I already was.

Finding a comfortable patch of land, I lay back and draped the blanket over me. The heater sputtered to a halt, apparently the battery had run dry already, but the tent seemed retentive enough to keep the interior from suddenly freezing over. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable accommodation I'd experienced, but it was most definitely better than nothing. Outside I heard a soft whisper of wind, the sound of shivering leaves and gentle sonata of night insects. I stretched, trying my best to relax, but it was proving impossible to get the feeling of nervous tension out of me as I pondered my newfound mayoral status.

Still, maybe this was for the best. I had to admit, I had never quite been as much of an active person as I had (well, my parents) wished for myself to be. Maybe this would be the spark that would light a fire, an unexpected road that would reveal hidden talents within me I had never had the time or opportunity to awaken. Or maybe I would end up messing everything up and have to pack it up and leave the town behind, like I always did.

I saw Rover's face swim up in my vision, that smug self-satisfied smile as he told me I wouldn't even last a year. Other faces drifted in behind him like phantoms, peering down at me with tacit disapproval in their eyes. All thoughts of defiance within me melted away, I shrank down and curled up into a little ball, hoping I could somehow become so small as to avoid their notice. Nothing but the wind answered me as I cried softly, the walls of the tent keeping my voice from the rest of the world outside. On the first night I spent in Animal Town, I didn't feel like a mayor. I just felt like a small little man, lost in a world he didn't know how to handle.