A/N: Is this...is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide. No escape from reality.
No, but really. Is any of this real? Is this...*gasp*...a yearly update? (Well, close anyway.)
I recently finished my second year of college (and I feel dead), and I've just been lazing around at home, doing who knows what. Actually, I decided to pick up Harvest Moon: Animal Parade just a few days ago, and I'm falling in love with the game all over again. Hence, this story. Also, have you read this book called Attachments by Rainbow Rowell? Well, my inspiration for this story was born from that. I really liked the idea of Gill following the exchange of emails between Elli and Angela, but not quite for the same reason that the main character of that book does it haha. I don't plan on following the plot of Attachments or anything. I will just be borrowing ideas here and there.
Will I abandon this story like I have all the others? ...I can make no promises. But hopefully, my writing has gotten better over the years? It's been years since I last wrote anything Harvest Moon related, and I recently took a "writing poetry" class (It was a pre-requisite for the other creative writing classes), so I sure hope so.
One last thing: I was getting real frustrated by the limitations on formatting on this website. Why can't I use the right and left arrowhead symbols (or the 'greater than' and 'less than' signs, whatever you call them)? I was originally using those for the email exchange, and then the Doc Manager went and deleted all of them, so I had to go through and add in brackets [ ] in their place.
Anyway, enjoy the story! :)
CHAPTER 01
From: Elli Doyle
To: Angela Green
Sent: Wed, Spring 04, 8:37 AM
Subject: URGENT; LATE PERIOD
I think I might be pregnant…
[Angela to Elli] You don't sound particularly happy about that. I thought you always wanted to be a mother.
[Elli to Angela] Well, that doesn't mean I don't have doubts about it. What if it doesn't work out? What if I'm a terrible mother? What if I get even fatter, and Jeff wises up and leaves me?
[Angela to Elli] Okay. First of all, you're not fat. Not even a little bit fat. What made you think that you were? Second, Jeff loves you so much, he would never leave you. Third, you have the strongest maternal instincts of anyone I've ever known. And you're sweet, thoughtful, loving...you'd be a great mother.
[Elli to Angela] Because Popuri is so thin. She never gets fat. I really wanna go on a diet and lose some weight, but Jeff is always saying that dieting isn't healthy and that he likes chubby girls… But what if the pregnancy makes me swell up so much, that he'll think I'm too chubby? And then I'll be left alone to care for the baby on my own. Maternal instincts or not, I just don't think I could raise a child completely by myself...
[Angela to Elli] Okay, Jeff shouldn't ever say that you're chubby. That's just not true, and you should knock some sense into him. But Elli, if you truly love your husband, you'll have more faith in him. He won't leave you. Trust me. I've seen you two together. The sight is so saccharine, I almost wanna gag. In a good way, of course. The two of you look so in love… But that's exactly why it makes me sick.
[Elli to Angela] I do love him. You're right. I need to believe that he'll love me no matter what I look like. I mean, he chose to marry me even after...well, you didn't see me before I started working here. I really was chubby. I've just lost some weight since then. Nobody wants to see an ugly weathergirl on the TV. It wasn't easy either, being surrounded by all those cakes, pies, and pastries in the bakery all the time.
[Angela to Elli] Elli, you are not ugly. I'm not just saying this because you're my friend. No matter what you weigh, you really are beautiful. I wish I could look half as good as you. Have you seen your ratings? Everyone thinks you're the cutest thing.
[Elli to Angela] Aww, Angela… You're really cute too! ^ ^
[Angela to Elli] Okay, enough of this now. Sorry, but I just don't wanna go back and forth saying, "You're the cute one," "No, you are," "No, you." I've seen and heard it enough with all these couples milling about… You and Jeff included.
[Elli to Angela] Right, right. Speaking of couples, how was that date you had the other day? I never got to hear the details!
[Angela to Elli] It was okay.
[Elli to Angela] Okay? Just okay? That's all I get?
[Angela to Elli] Hey, weren't we talking about your unborn child here?
[Elli to Angela] Don't change the subject. And, it's just a hunch, I don't actually know if I'm pregnant yet. I've already scheduled an appointment to see the clinic doctor in a few days. I'm still scared, of course, but what you said helped calm me down. I guess I'll just do the rational thing and have a talk with Jeff tonight.
[Angela to Elli] It's not changing the subject if that's what we were initially talking about. And I bet Jeff is just going to be ecstatic about being a dad. I can see him now. Shuffling around the bakery, unable to contain his excitement. Not even a month pregnant, but I bet he wouldn't let you lift a finger, afraid you'll overexert yourself.
[Elli to Angela] Haha, that sounds like him! He worries too much sometimes. But don't think I haven't forgotten: I expect lots of details about your date when I see you. The whole thing. From beginning to end.
[Angela to Elli] Maybe, maybe. If I'm feeling up to it.
Gill stared at his laptop screen, reading yesterday's emails. Not his emails. Theirs. The conversations between Elli and this Angela person.
Yes, reading personal mail not addressed to you is wrong. This, Gill knew. But if they wanted to send private messages like these, they should use their own personal devices. Any employee should have known that their email would be monitored when using the work computers; they were notified of this for legal reasons.
Maybe they just didn't care then? Or maybe they didn't really think anyone in their right mind would seriously rifle through their messages. It's not like they were sending nuclear launch codes. And they were far from being deemed inappropriate. Just a waste of work time, really. (Gill made a mental note to write to Elli about her productivity.)
Either way, it was no bluff. Any emails sent and received through the Town Hall employee server were sent to Gill. And yes, he read them. Meticulously. Yes, Gill knew how time consuming this was, but there weren't many employees there to begin with. And his father, the mayor, still hadn't transitioned into the age of technology, so much of the paperwork done was still on...well, paper. Large filing cabinets of records and other important documents still filled the building. The few computers in the Town Hall were mainly for show and to play solitaire on slow days. They were big and clunky, but Mayor Hamilton was alienated nonetheless. He just couldn't warm up to the computers, so he never felt the need to upgrade when he didn't even want them to begin with. The public computers in the library were just as outdated.
He knew he could have set up an email monitoring software to flag specific words or phrases, but Gill found this to be more thorough. Emails could easily slip through if the software didn't recognize some new slang or a euphemism. There could be no room for error. Everything had to be perfect. And Gill's discerning eye and judgment were perfect. Almost.
Was he obsessive? Maybe. But his mind wouldn't be at peace otherwise. Everything had to be perfect.
Gill had been away from home for quite some time. He needed the space. But also...he worried incessantly about the town when he was away. What if his father starts a widespread fire trying to use the microwave in the staff lounge? What if his father accidentally sells the deed to the town in what he thought was a cardboard box of old knick-knacks at the Flea Market? What if his father emails Gill's baby pictures to the entire town?
The town would be in ruins without him around.
And that is how he rationalized his decision to monitor work emails. Yes, he realized most of these scenarios revolved around his own father's clumsy nature, but that's why he needed to keep a constant watch over the Town Hall, even if he didn't have a physical presence there. Because you know, Goddess forbid one of the Town Hall workers forward a popular cat video to the entire LISTSERV.
No matter how insignificant it seemed. Everything. Must. Be. Perfect.