Alright, I'm going to give you some images and you tell me what you think of the people I've described…
Gleaming blond hair that falls as far down as the small of her back, clad in three-sizes-too-big denim overalls.
Eyes as cerulean as pieces cut from a perfect cloudless, summer sky; as deep as the world's largest ocean and twice as mysterious.
A smile to brighten the darkest corners and a laugh to warm the coldest hearts. Not to mention brimming with ambition.
The ability to stun everyone in her wake.
A lop-sided smile with huge, thick-lensed glasses that muddled the green-blue eyes behind them. Strawberry blond hair, way too long for a guy, swept away from a pale face by a white sweatband and falls to shoulder length.
An ever-present, worn blue apron that seemed to raise questions about the individual's orientation along with a green turtleneck and khaki pants.
A nervous and slightly shy personality. The kind of person who was over-protective bordering on obsessive and yet humble and kind.
Throw in a love for chickens and hard work ethics.
Unnoticed.
An aloof, level-headed, almost anti-social young man. Mature beyond his years, who keeps people at a distance.
An enigma like a vast puzzle just waiting to be solved, but no one to attempt it.
Tall, smart, handsome, completely independent. Alluring without meaning to be.
Good at his profession and admired by all, even if at a distance.
Constantly wearing a long white lab coat and a head light.
Always looking to better himself.
In his own way, kind. Concerned for everyone.
Now, which one do you think is me?
Yup, I'm the chicken-nerd. My name is Rick.
I'm not nearly as ambitious or successful as the doctor ( Mr. Enigmatic Puzzle Guy). I can't be, really. I have to work my ass of on the chicken farm my family owns to support them. My family is grateful, of course, and everyone in Mineral Town thinks I'm a amazing to take on all that responsibility, yet the Doctor is still held in higher regard. I suppose, as well he should be… He does save lives and all, not feed fowls. Even I need him, well, my mother does.
Oh, that beautiful blond? That's Claire. She recently moved to here and took over the farm at the bottom of town.
Who do you picture a young woman such as herself with?
Gee, hard one.
But let me start from the beginning, when she first moved here, to Mineral Town, to take on that deteriorating farm so close to my own…
--*--
It was the beginning of Spring, fresh air that smelled of new life enveloped me in the midmorning sunshine. It felt so great after the winter freeze. The air and slight breeze still held a bit of the chill, but it was refreshing all the same.
I was outside, walking back from my daily morning talk with Karen.
Ah, yes, Karen has been my friend since birth, pretty much. She's such a tomboy. But a great friend to confide in about anything.. While she knows I don't like her slight drinking problem, she still gets drunk bi-weekly at the bar at the Inn. She does it to irk me, I'm sure of it. But it's not so funny when I have to drag her home, slurring up a storm.
She just flicks her long brown hair with those two lighter almost blond pieces at the front and tells me the craziest stories from our childhood as she saw them. I can't help but laugh.
But… Sometimes I think she uses it as an escape… Her mother and father don't get along that well. Everyone knows about it.
That's one of the downfalls of living in a small town; word travels fast and is often altered from the truth. The ladies and their daily gossip group in the town square see to that.
Once, it got around that I was gay because of my apron (I told you it raised questions!). I never really found out how, but it all got sorted out when Sasha, one of the women in the gossip circle ( who also happens to be Karen's mother) had a talk with the rest of the ladies.
Sasha is a good friend of my mom's, she knew I wore the apron because I took care of the chickens, since neither my mom or sister could.
Oh, my sister. What can I say? Her name is Popuri and she can be quite a handful, so I try and protect her from everything. Especially this one guy that comes to Mineral Town every summer, Kai. He's an irresponsible jerk who spends all the other seasons out gallivanting across the world. He's a real ladies man.
Unfortunately, my sister has a crush on him, and I hate his guts. We often have fights about how over-protective I am. But I can't help it! She's making mistakes because she doesn't know any better.
I guess I'll talk about my mom a bit. She's been very sick for a while now. She doesn't go outside anymore unless it's to the Clinic. My ifather/i left us to go find a flower to cure her sickness. Something about a flower that blooms once every 10 years in a distant desert…? I don't remember. I wish he'd just stayed here…
So, anyways, I was just about on the Poultry Farm when I saw this girl run past me. She had long blond hair that streamed behind her and wore overalls and seemed to be in a big hurry to get to the north side of town. I knew right away she wasn't from around here, but I didn't think she could be a tourist. We didn't get many of those.
I shrugged it off and headed into the house/shop. You see, most everyone in Mineral Town lived where they worked and vice versa.
I went upstairs to our bedrooms and proceeded to do the chores that lay waiting for me.
AS I was folding and putting away the laundry, I heard Popuri from downstairs.
"Oh! So you're the new girl at the farm? I'm Popuri, nice to meet you!" she said in her usual bubbly voice. Somewhat quieter introductions followed.
New girl at the farm…? Oh no, that stupid newspaper ad the Mayor had put out had reeled in another poor soul? I wondered absentmindedly how long this one was going to stay. Most took one look and ran.
I heard Popuri come bounding up the stairs and looked over. She had an enormous grin plastered on her face.
"Hey, Rick, there's this girl that's—"
"Yes, I heard." I sighed, still folding.
She looked a little miffed that I'd interrupted her, but continued all the same.
"She's going to stay! For sure! She moved—oh, why don't you go talk to her?" Popuri was only this excited whenever he came to town. This farmer girl must really be something… There was something else she was keeping from me that she wanted desperately to say…
I decided not to ask, as I might be sorry for it after and just sighed again. "Another day.. I need to finish these chores or they'll keep piling up."
Popuri puffed out her cheeks and raised her shoulders like she usually does when she's angry.
Just as she was about to launch a lecture on me, someone called from downstairs, " Is everything okay up there?"
"Yes! Just a minute and my brother will be iright down/i" my sister replied, then glowered at me again. "Get down there and be polite!"
"But—" I protested
She pushed me towards the stairs and I glared in return.
Suddenly, she seemed to change her mind about letting me go just yet; she walked over, smoothed my hair a bit and straightened my clothes.
"What are you doing?" I grumbled. "I have a lot to do! I'm not going to stand here and have you give me a make over."
Popuri seemingly ignored my complaint and said quietly, "She's cute."
I felt my face grow warm. "So?! Why would that matter to me?"
My sister gave me a smirk and raised an eyebrow.
"Go on." She giggled and gave me another light shove. I ended up stumbling down the stairs and would have turned right around and given Popuri a piece of my mind if…
…If I hadn't seen her.
She looked at me quizzically and with concern through blonde bangs.
It took me a moment to realize she had been the girl who had rushed by me not an hour before.
She was taking on that monstrosity of a farm? By herself?!
I gave her a quick look up and down.
"So…" I began slowly, tying to smile. "You're the new owner of that farm, huh?"
She nodded, sending her long golden tresses into a cascade of small, shimmering ripples. "I'm Rick. I work here, on the Poultry Farm." I said, stepping closer and extending my hand to her.
"I'm Claire." She smiled and shook it. And for the first time in a long while, I felt my face crack into a big, giddy grin.
She laughed a bit and tugged her hand, which I was apparently still holding on to.
"Oh—" I felt the tips of my ears go red. "Sorry…"
She shook her head. "Oh, right! I came here to look at prices!" she said, slapping her forehead.
She asked how much a chicken was, then the feed and the medicine and I answered. At the end, she looked slightly dismayed.
"What's wrong?" I asked, pushing my glasses up on my nose.
"I don't have enough money…" Claire sighed, twiddling her thumbs. "I'm trying on the farm, I really am, But I'm still new at this, it's hard… I did just move from the city, after all."
Wow, I was behind with the news. When had she come here? And--- hey, wait, she's a city girl? A city girl is going to run that farm? It was almost laughable, and had Claire been anyone else, I would have doubted she could do it.
Even though I'd just met her, there was something that practically emanated from her. A determination of sorts: she'd set her mind to making that place into a real farm and she was going to stick with it. I knew she wasn't going to give up like all the others.
I guess that's what made me offer what I did.
"Hey, listen.. Tomorrow is Sunday, and I don't have any chores tomorrow since the Poultry Farm is closed… What if I..." I paused to lick my lips, suddenly nervous.
Claire looked at me, curious."…if I come down to the farm and help for the day?"
Her blue eyes widened at my suggestion.
"Really? You'd do that?!" she was ecstatic.
"Well, sure! Why not?"
She almost leaped over and hugged me, but caught herself and just grinned from ear to ear.
"I'll be over at around, say, eight, okay?" I couldn't help but mile back. It was infections, that happiness of hers.
"Alright! See you then!" and then she was out the door in a flash.
Eight, huh? I thought to myself, realizing my small mistake. Well, I was sure Karen wouldn't mind if we missed one day out of the year of our morning chats.
The rest of the day went far too slow, in my opinion. I was eager to go help my new neighbour the following day, but nervous again at the same time. I couldn't figure out why…