Chapter 1: Memories and the First Day
The young man stood in front of the run down farm, his new home. It had once belonged to his grandfather who had recently passed. Once when he was younger he had visited this farm. It had looked a lot different from what he remembered. It's funny how different your prospective is when you are a kid. The young man, still deep in thought, didn't notice the funny looking man standing behind him.
"Excuse me? You must be Jack," Jack turned around to see a man with a large round nose and a curled mushtache.
"Yeh that would be me," Jack replied and grinned.
"I'm Mayor Thomas," the funny looking man said, extending out his hand. Jack did the same, and they shook hands. "Welcome to Mineral Village."
"Thanks."
"What do you think of the town so far?" the mayor asked.
Jack shrugged. "I haven't seen that much of it. I don't even know my way around yet."
"That's alright. I can show you around the town. I have just enough time this morning to do that."
"Thanks," Jack replied.
"Let's start with the farm." Both Jack and the mayor slowly walked into the feilds. "Do you remember when you first visited this farm? You were so small then."
"Of course I do," Jack replied. It was the best summer of his life. He could still hear his father's words echoing in his head.... I'm sorry son, I had to cancel the family trip this year. I'm too busy with work. The good news is that your grandfather said you may stay with him all summer.....
Jack closed his eyes remembering that summer.....
********
"Hey little man! It's good to see you again Jack. I'll be pretty busy during
the dayworking, but there are children in the village you can play with. You can
also play on the back hill if you would like.
After days of playing with all the farm animals Jack took his grandfather's
advice and went to play on the back hill. He layed down on the cool grass and
starred up at the sky for what felt like hours. As his eyes began to close a
little girl slowly walked up to him.
"Hello." She said and Jack opened his eyes. "Are you the boy who is staying
at the old man's farm?" Jack nodded. "Do you like to play up here?" Jack nodded
again. "Me too. Will you play with me?" Jack once again nodded his head, only
this time he also smiled. "Okay!" She signaled for him to follow her, and
together they walked up to the top. There she sang to him and he even joined in
on a few songs. That was who he spent his whole summer with.
The day Jack was to leave the farm the little girl came to see him leave.
"You leaving already?" Jack nodded. "Promise me that you will com back someday.
It's a promise right?"
"Right," Jack replied. "I'll come back someday..."
Jack's grandfather approached Jack, who was standing in front of the
house. He was only six.
***************
Jack quickly opened his eyes. The promise! He had almost forgot the promise he made to the little girl. Wait a minute... he couldn't even remember her name! But he could still hear her voice, so sweet and innocent singing to him on the hill....
"Jack? The Mayor looked at him concerned. "Are you alright?" Jack nodded. "Good. Before we begin there is something I need to talk to you about. Your grandfather worked very hard to make this farm prosperous, and we hope that you continue to work as hard as he did. We don't mean to test you, but if you are unable to make this farm prosperous in three years, or if you can't get along with the villagers, then you will be forced to leave. I hope you understand,"
Jack forced a smile. "Don't worry about me, I'll work hard. I'll make this farm as good as it was before," Although he tried to sound asure of himself, he really wasn't. Could he turn this run down farm into something prosperous?
"Good, let's get started." The mayor led him to the back of the farm. "Over that bridge is Mother's Hill. That is where Gotz the carpenter lives. If you have any questions about your house or the hill you should ask him. Now let's go into town."
The first stop was the Blacksmith's shop. "This is Saibara's shop. Here you can buy tools for your farm. Saibara's grandson Gray works here also" They continued on . "This is the winery," the Mayor said. "They usually need help durin gharvest season, so try to lend a hand if you can."
The next stop was the library. "This is the library," the Mayor began, "It isn't open on Monday's so we can't go in. Mary works here. She's a ice girl. If you ever need a book this is the place to go."
Jack looked next door from the library at a small house. Sitting in front was an elderly woman sitting in her rocking chair.
"Hello Thomas." The woman said.
"Oh hello Ellen, how are you today?" The mayor walked toward her and Jack followed.
"Fine thanks. Is this the boy who is going to work at the farm?"
"Yes this is Jack." Jack smiled.
"Well it was good to see you Thomas and ah, Jack."
Next door was another small house similar to the one Ellen was sitting in front of. "This is my house. Jack, you can visit me and my son Harris whenever you want. Harris is our local police force."
Next door to the Mayor's house was a small grocery store. "Come here to buy anything you need for your farm. They sell cooking supplies and even seeds. Why don't you go inside and look around? I'll wait for you out here."
Jack nodded and walked into the store. It was a small store, with seeds on the middle table, cooking supplies to the left, and misc stuff to the right. At the back of the sotre stood a mousey little man with jet black hair at the cash register. Walking around the cooking supplies was an older man with gray streaks in his hair.
The man held up a box of flour. "Hey Jeff, put this on my okay?"
Jeff sighed. "Your tab.... alright."
The man started to walk past Jack but suddenly stopped. "Hey aren't you that guy who moved to the farm? Jack right? I'm Duke, I run Aja Winery." Duke noticed a strange look on Jacks face. "Hey what's wrong?"
"You should pay for that." Jack replied.
"Oh, it's okay. I'm going to pay later."
Just then a beautiful girl with sparkling green eyes and two blonde streaks in her brown hair came out of the back room. "Duke!" She cried. "You should pay for things you buy!" She walked over and held out her hand. Duke reluctantly placed the money in her hand and left the store. The girl looked over at Jack. "Hi! I'm Karen. You must be the guy that moved onto the new farm."
"Yep, that's me. I'm Jack, nice to meet you Karen." Jack grinned.
"Nice to meet you too." Karen quickly shook Jack's hand. "Well I have to get back to work. Maybe I'll talk to you later." Karen walked back into the back room and Jack left the store.
"Always pay for your stuff when you shope there," the Mayor said. "Karen and her mom get very upset when you people buy on credit." Jack looked as if he was starring off into space. "I guess you met Karen and her family?" She's a nice girl. You better watch out for Rick though. He seems to like Karen a lot."
"Uhh yeh," Jack quickly changed the subject. "So what is that building over there?" Jack points next door to the grocery store.
"That is the clinic. Elli and the doctor work there. Why don't you go in and introduce yourself?"
Jack did just that. He entered the clinic and standing inside was a cute girl with short brown hair. "Hello!" She said cheerfully. "I'm Elli!"
Jack smiled. "Hey. I'm Jack."
"Nice to meet you Jack. So what can I do for you? The doctor is on his break right now..." Elli squinted and starred at Jack's arm. "Hey! You have a cut on your arm! Does it hurt?"
"It did when I first cut myself," He admitted. "But I'm okay now," He grinned.
"Oh dear. Here take these." Elli handed him a few bandaids. "Just in case you get cut again.
"Thanks."
"You come back again if you need more okay? And don't forget to visit the doctor is you ever feel sick!"
"Thanks Elli. I'll definately come back soon."
"Bye Jack!"
Jack smiled again. Elli was nice, and she seemed very caring too. He turned around and left the clinic.
Outside the clinic the mayor was waiting for him. "Shall we continue?"
"Yeh, what else is in this town?"
"Well," the Mayor began, "down that way is the church. The pastor is a odd but nice man. Now this way is the village inn..."
Jack and Thomas stood in front of the inn. It was probably one of the largest buildings in town. "Here at the inn you can rent a room or buy some food. The owner is the best cook in town. At night this place also serves as a bar. Go in and look around."
"Jack opened the door and stepped in. Inside stood another cute girl with bright blue eyes and red hair that was pulled up into a single braid. There's a lot of cute girls in this town, Jack thought to himself and grinned.
"Hi! I'm Ann! Are you the new guy?"
"Yeh that would be me. I'm Jack," he replied, still grinning.
"Excuse me," A man behind the counter said to him. "Could you come here for a minute?" Jack walked over to him. "I'm the owner of this inn. See that girl over there? That's my daughter Ann. What do you think of her?"
Jack looked over at Ann and then back at Doug, a big grin on his face. "She's cute," he replied.
"Good!" Doug smiled. Ann walked over to where they were talking.
"What are you guys talking about?" She asked.
"It's private business. Now go finish your work," her father said sternly.
"Fine," Ann turned to Jack. "It was nice meeting you! Come here anytime you get hungry.
"I definately will." Jack replied.
"Bye!" Ann walked away and Jack left the inn.
"How was it?" the Mayor asked once Jack came out from the inn.
"Ann and Doug are really nice."
"Yes they are. Doug;s wife died a few years ago and he raised Ann by himself. There are a few other places I need to show you before I hae to go back home. Let's continue."
Jack and the Mayor walked down the street until they came to the middle of town. "This is Rose Square. We hold most of our festivals here..."
The mayor continued talking about all the different festivals but Jack wasn't paying attention. In the middle of Rose Square was a girl with black hair and glasses talking to a guy wearing a blue hat. Jack tried listening to their converstation.
"So you're Saibara's grandson, Gray right?" The girl asked.
"Yes I'm Gray," he replied.
"Well I'm Mary, I run the library. You should stop by if you get the chance..."
So that was Mary. She's not to bad looking Jack thought to himself. The mayor noticed Jack starring at them. "That's Mary and Gray. I'll introduce you to them."
Thomas and Jack walked over to them. "Hello Mary, Gray. This is Jack."
"Hello." They both replied.
"Sorry we can't stay and chat," the mayor explained. "We have to finish Jack's tour of the town." They said goodbye and continued on with the tour.
"I'm running out of time Jack, so I'll make these last two places real quick. This is the Yodel Ranch. Here you can buy cows and sheep. Just talk to Barley if you want to buy anything. Now next door is the Poultry farm." The mayor said as they walked towards the farm. "You can buy chickens and chichen feed here."
They both stopped in front of the Poultry farm. Jack looked in to see a guy with red hair and a girl with.... pink hair?! They were both argueing over something.
"I hate you Rick!" The girl yelled, then turned around and almost ran into Jack. "Oh hello," She said, and blushed from the embarassment. "I'm Popuri, hello Thomas."
Thomas smiled. "This is Jack, your new neighbor."
"Nice to meet you Jack.
I must go now, bye!" Popuri ran off, oviously not mad at Rick anymore.
"That's Rick," The mayor said, looking over at the boy with the red hair. So that's the guy who likes Karen, Jack thought to himself.
"Well that's all for the tour." Jack and the mayor walked back to the farm. "I'm sorry but I must go now. Good luck Jack. Just ask if you have any questions. Bye!" The mayor walked off to leave Jack starring at the farm.
Can I really fix up this place in three years? I have a lot of work ahead of me... I wonder if the girl with the beautiful voice is still here... I wish I could remember her name.....