"The Thousand Lumber Bet"
A Tale of Harvest Moon: Animal Parade
By, Vivat Musa
Disclaimer: No, I do not own any of the rights to Harvest Moon—just this story.
It was the last day of spring. The weather had not become very hot yet, but each day the temperature was slowly rising. For a carpenter who is always out chopping trees, that is not a good thing. With hotter weather, Luke always found himself tiring out more quickly when he was working, and that's something he cannot afford. Especially now.
The sky was mostly clear, with only a few puffy clouds floating by. From the Horn Ranch nearby, the scent of fresh fodder and the smell of barn animals were light in the air. There was also a nice breeze that came from the windmill near the ranch, as well. The whole town had gathered around at Flute Fields.
The day before, each villager was visited by the pudgy, and somewhat clueless, Mayor Hamilton. Each person was informed that there would be a special event held at Flute Fields the next day, and they were all welcomed to attend. The large, wooden platform at the top of the hill ensured that the event would take place. However, nobody knew what the event actually was…
So now everyone was gathered around the stand, talking to one another. Luke was standing next to his best-friend, Owen. To the right of him, he could hear the sounds of Paolo, Chloe, and Taylor as they played one of their games. It appeared to involve seeing who could be the first to run and kick an apple on the ground. To the left of the carpenter, were Hanna and Barbara chatting to one another. Up ahead, Calvin and Phoebe were discussing the properties of minerals—not that Luke was really paying attention to that. Who would want to know about some old rocks when you have trees and axes instead? The rest of the villagers were wandering about nearby.
Owen had his arms crossed over his chest when he asked Luke, "So what do you think this whole event will be about? No festivals are coming up until next week."
Luke smiled cheerfully. "Maybe the mayor is finally realizing how important carpenters are, and is going to announce today to be Carpenter Appreciation Day. Then we can all eat lots of chocolate bananas."
His best-friend rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like that's going to happen."
"Hey, it might." Luke shrugged.
"And you might get a date with Molly, but I wouldn't bet on that either." Owen gestured to the new girl who had recently moved to Castanet last season. The brunette had taken over the old farm outside of Harmonica town, but Luke hasn't seen her very much since then. They lived on different parts of the island, so their paths rarely crossed.
She was currently talking to Renee and Kathy, and the three of them were laughing as they chatted. Luke had to admit; the girl was rather cute when she laughed; her little nose crinkled when she smiled. The carpenter pursed his lips and a loud whistle rang out, capturing the girls' attention. When the three girls turned to look at the carpenter Luke wiggled his fingers and winked at Molly. No girl could resist The Wink. Renee and Kathy giggled, while Molly looked annoyed and rolled her eyes.
"She digs me," Luke said confidently.
"Uh huh, sure she does." Owen shot Kathy his own wink, and she returned it with an air kiss. In just a moment, the three girls returned to their conversation.
"So how is everything at the carpentry?" Owen asked, with a concerned look on his face. "I've heard that things have been slow lately."
"It's been good," Luke said, putting on a fake smile. "Pop's been having me go to Fugue Forest even more often to get lumber for projects. Bo has been tired out trying to complete everything."
"That's great, Luke. It's good to hear that things are picking up again," Owen said enthusiastically.
"Yup," he said, letting the conversation fade.
In reality, all hasn't been fine. It's true that he has been going to the forest more often to chop wood, but not because Dale (aka: Pops) had ordered him to. Actually, Dale hasn't been ordering Luke to do much at all lately. No one has been requesting any furniture or projects, so there has been no need to get lumber. Instead, Luke has been going to the forest more often; not for the lumber itself, but instead to rid himself of his anxieties. At the thought of the carpentry, Luke couldn't help but be reminded of the morning of just three days ago…
Luke and Bo were just coming down for breakfast. The usual smell of pancakes, eggs, and bacon wasn't in the air, but the two of them didn't notice. When they went to the dining room, the two of them stopped in surprise. As was routine, Dale would wake up early in order to have breakfast already prepared on the table for the two boys—but not that day. Not a single plate of food was placed on the table. Dale, himself, had his hands grasping the sides of the kitchen counter, with his back turned to Luke and Bo. Even Chief, the house dog, looked sullen and was lying low on the floor with his head down.
"G'morning, Pops!" Luke said nonchalantly, as he tied his renowned fiery bandana around his blue hair.
When he received no reply, Bo asked hesitantly, "Dale, sir? Is something wrong?"
"Sit down, boys," the man said in a gruff voice, still not turning to them.
Tentatively, the boys sat down on the wood table; the chairs making a loud scraping sound that seemed to echo in the otherwise tense silence.
"Pops?" Luke said, a little uncertainly. "Sooo, what's happening for breakfast?"
Dale turned his head just a fraction to snap, "Luke, can you just for once focus on something other than your stomach?"
Luke looked down at his gloved hands resting on his lap.
A tired sigh was heard in the room as Dale's shoulders slumped with it. "Sorry, son," he said, turning to face the boys. It was hard to see under his bushy eyebrows, but Dale's eyes looked slightly more watery than usual. "I…have some bad news for all of you." He paused for a second as Luke and Bo looked at each other in confusion. "As you two already know, the business has been slow lately. Too slow, in fact. I've been trying to make do as much as I could, but we just have to face it."
"Face what?" Bo said in a nervous tone. Now both of the apprentices were getting anxious.
Dale swallowed and straightened his shoulders before he continued. On his chin there was more gruff stubble than usual. "We might have to close the carpentry if things don't change soon."
There were gasps and a loud bang when Luke slammed his fist on the table; the sound perking up the head of Chief. "Pops, that can't happen! If we close this place, we'll have nowhere to go!"
"I'm sorry, you two, but we're running out of time and options."
Bo said quietly, "Isn't there anything we can do?"
"Just do the best we can, I suppose. Not much else we can do. I've been trying to get more orders in—even tried talking to that new farm girl, but she's not doing too well either." Dale shook his head sadly. "People just aren't buying during this time."
"Well, Bo and I can try talking around town and see if anyone is interested. You know, try to advertise our goods and stuff," Luke suggested hopefully. "And Bo's been making those little weird statue thingies, so maybe we can try and sell those also."
"They're called carvings," his fellow apprentice corrected.
"Whatever. And we'll even work with no pay if we have too. We can't lose this place, Pops."
Bo nodded eagerly in agreement.
A faint smile showed on Dale's face. "Thanks, boys. I'm not sure what will happen, but we're just going to need to figure it out."
As if a flip was switched, Dale clapped his hands and went instantly into "boss mode", as Luke liked to call it. His face became stern once more as he gave each of the boys orders of what to do that day: chop lumber, sand wood, advertise the goods, etc. A hasty breakfast was eaten and then Luke and Bo were off to work.
Neither of the boys mentioned how few orders Dale had given them…
…Luke was shaken from his flashback when Owen nudged him on his arm. "Look," his best-friend said, pointing to the platform. "It's starting."
Standing on the platform was the jovial mayor of Castanet, dressed in his usual periwinkle suit with a curled hairdo. Standing next to him was his haughty son, Gill. Luke couldn't help but feel amazed that those two were even related to one another: where Hamilton could never dislike anyone; Gill avoided everyone and believed he was the brooding superior of all.
"Welcome, everyone!" Hamilton said cheerfully, gathering the crowd's attention. "Today we have some very important news to discuss."
"Carpenter Appreciation Day," Luke whispered.
"Don't count on it," Owen said in his ear.
"We will be having a new resident coming to Castanet Island!" Hamilton continued. Owen chuckled while Luke looked thoroughly disappointed.
"Told you," Owen said.
Luke replied, "Just wait until next year."
From up on the stand, Gill glared menacingly at the two boys. "Will you two idiots shut it already?" A second later, an apple appeared out of nowhere and hit him square between the eyes with a loud plat! "Who threw that?" the platinum blonde hissed.
"Oops." A sheepish Chloe stood a few feet away with her hands behind her back. Taylor was chuckling impishly behind her, while Paolo looked shyly away.
"That's my girl," Owen whispered as Chloe ran off giggling. She wasn't the only one amused—the majority of the villagers were trying to hold in their laughter right along with her.
Gill looked like he would blow a vein as Hamilton reassuringly patted his son on the back. After a few hushed words between the two, Gill stomped back down the stage and out of sight.
"Remind me to give that girl some chocolate next time I see her," Luke said.
Hamilton cleared his throat, capturing the people's attention once more. "As I was saying, a new villager will be moving to Castanet. The newcomer said that she was moving here for her health, and that she has requested a mansion to be built in town."
A few murmurs in the crowd went around at this news. Everybody was thinking the same thing: Some rich girl was moving to Castanet? That would be interesting since the island was rather isolated and undeveloped. A few bets from the more uncouth villagers (namely Owen and Luke) were taken to see how long the newcomer would last.
Hamilton waited patiently until the crowd was quiet once again. "As you might've guessed, the resources to make a mansion will be quite substantial. It will take one thousand pieces of lumber, to be exact."
Luke whistled appreciatively. He knew that would be one heck of a job, but hey; it would be no sweat for an experienced lumberjack like him. Luke was just waiting for Hamilton to declare the job to him, but the mayor's next words gave him a shock.
"Usually this job would go to the carpenters," he gestured to Dale, who was watching stoically nearby, "but I have decided we should liven things up this summer."
"What?" Luke's eyes widened, but Hamilton paid him no notice.
"This summer we shall have a contest to see who can collect a thousand pieces of lumber first. The excess lumber shall be used to upgrade the rest of the town. Each volunteer will have until the tenth of summer to finish. We will have another event at night on that day to declare who is the winner. The victor will receive 100,000G for an award."
Luke's head instantly perked up at that. He may not be very good at mathematics, but he knew that 100,000G would be more than enough to save the carpentry. Maybe they could even get a few more tools with the excess money. Oh, and some axe polisher too. And maybe a few trips to Toucan Island…
Luke was deep in his fantasy, and he almost didn't hear it when Hamilton said, "So! Who will volunteer to be a contestant?"
Once the carpenter dropped out of his daydream, his hand shot straight up in the air. Luke was practically jumping up and down as he flailed his hand. "Oh, oh pick me! Me, me, me!"
"Okay, Luke, you're one of the contestants!" The mayor smiled as the carpenter fist-punched the air excitedly.
"Big surprise there," muttered Chase from where he leaned on the fence.
"Would anyone else care to volunteer?" Hamilton called out. When no one raised their hands he asked again uncertainly. "Anyone?"
"Yeah, who wants to go up against the BIG, BAD LUKE!" Luke said enthusiastically.
"I will," a calm voice said.
Luke looked in surprise at a small hand that was raised in the air. He looked down to see the owner of the hand: Molly.
"Ooh, challenged by a girl." Owen said coyly.
The carpenter just stared blankly as Hamilton said, "Oh, Molly! It's so good that a newcomer is participating so quickly."
The girl just nodded politely as Renee and Kathy stared at her in puzzlement—as well as the rest of the town. The girl may be tough for working on the farm, but it was no question that everyone believed she couldn't do it. Luke shook his head; she's cute, but she's just too skinny to do what a professional, like himself, could do. Even this amount of lumber would be a challenge for an experienced carpenter. Still, the girl didn't back down under everyone's doubtful stares, but held her head firmly high.
"Bet you 50G that she backs out after day two," Luke said.
Owen shrugged his brawny shoulders. "Eh, she may be tougher than she looks. I'll give her until day five."
Luke couldn't help but snort and shake his head. "And you say my ideas are outrageous."
Hamilton said, "Well if no one else is joining," he paused for a second but no one spoke up, "then that concludes today's event! Luke and Molly will be competing in the Thousand Lumber Bet. The contest shall begin tomorrow. Good luck to the both of you!"
Once the crowd dispersed and the wooden stand was taken down, Luke found himself wandering near the gate of the forest. He could already smell the woodsy pine even outside of the gate. Owen had already left to flirt with Kathy, so it was just him alone. That is, until he was met by his father.
Luke smiled cheerfully as his father walked over. "Hey, Pops! So how did you like the event? Sounds like a pretty good deal, eh? Sure it might be some tough work, but I could use a challenge! Am I right or am I right?"
Dale clapped his hand over his son's shoulder. In a stern voice he said, "Luke, I know that Molly is a nice young lass, but you need to win that contest. Do you understand?"
His son's grin faltered slightly. "Of course I understand. Like I said, it'd be no sweat!"
Dale grunted. "Don't fail me, my boy." With that he walked away.
The blue-haired carpenter nodded to himself, his father already gone. "I won't, Pops." His voice grimly echoed around the trees as he was left by himself. With a sigh, he went into the forest to blow off some steam.
There he made a decision. He refused to let that farm girl win—no one will beat Luke.
Pieces of Lumber Left: 1,000
7/5/13
I have decided to make a little mini-game out of the "Pieces of Lumber Left: Number" I have invented a little pattern with each set of numbers at the end of the chapters, and it is up to YOU to try and figure it out. Just so you know, this is just a silly mini-game and it does not alter the story in the slightest. At the very end of this story, I will include a mini-chapter that will reveal the answer to the puzzle that I have set for you. Until then, I hope you enjoy it!