Covering It Up

Spring 8 – 9

My eyes flutter open and start to sit up slowly. I groggily begin the morning routine I have made up for myself; I can even do it half-asleep now. First, I take a slice of bread and nibble on it as I get changed in my cute work outfit that I actually bought before I came to Echo Village. Who knew there is a whole store dedicated to farmer outfits?

I wish I could have more than just bread, but Granny only sells ingredients and recipes for me to thrive on. If I want anything other than water and bread, I have to make it myself. Although, I think I will try out cooking herb soup tonight. I have naturally walked out of my house and started filling up my water can as I am focused on food. When I turn around, what I see makes me scream and jump with joy.

"I have made turnips!" I drop my water can and go on a turnip picking rampage. Finally, I can eat some real food and make real money! Selling stuff from the forest only gives you so much cash.

I replace the turnips with potato seeds I had stored up and bag up my fodder from the field in front of my empty barn. I can't wait until the animal seller comes back to town, these achy bones definitely could use some milk!

I run past the town and collect everything from the forests and rivers as fast as I can. It's amazing how much stuff there is; my bag is incredibly heavy from everything that I have to keep in it. My arms are actually getting toned from all the lifting I have been doing.

I dump a bunch of random stuff in the shipping bin, and I see Emma come out of her house. I check my watch, and it's just about lunch time.

"Hey Emma! How has your morning been?" I wave and meet her near her doorstep.

"Well it's been just peachy! Why don't you join me for lunch? We haven't had a real conversation in a week!" Emma gives me a motherly smile and guides me inside.

Emma sits me down and places a plate of mushroom salad in front of me. "Eat up!" She says before going off to clean up a little in the kitchen.

"So how long have you lived here Emma?" I inquire to test the waters a bit. I want to find out as much as I can about this town and the people. So far it seems like a good place to take refuge and hide for the rest of my life. The few people that live here are all very trusting and don't question anything.

"I have been here my whole life! A good thirty years!" Emma comes back from the kitchen with her own salad and sits across from me. She sighs, "It's been great being in this town, but it wasn't ever ready for the economic downturn that occurred a year ago. The town has struggled ever since even though it has always been small."

"How isolated is this town exactly?" I ask quickly.

"There used to be a lot of hustle and bustle, but it is only known by other farming towns. No one from the city usually comes out here, except for you and your dad of course!" She chuckles. I sigh with relief, and we eat in silence for a minute.

"So what is this animal trader like? He has a pretty nice looking house." I was a bit surprised when I first saw his house and learned that he was just an animal trader. He must do a pretty good job. Emma takes a second to seemingly collect her words.

"Well… He is something. Neil is a bit quiet, but you might be put off slightly when you hear him talk for the first time. He can be quite rude." Emma stares off into her plate. It seems like she is thinking about her own encounters with him. She looks back up at me and smiles. "But don't you worry! He doesn't mean to be, and Neil really does have a big heart. He is all bark and no bite, trust me." I nod and smile back at her to reassure her that everything will be fine. Before I walk off, I pull out a moondrop flower from my bag.

"Hey, I noticed you like flowers, and these flowers remind me of you. Go ahead and take it." I hand her the flower and her smile grows wider. "If you want, I can find you more flowers and give you some everyday. I already help Granny with her little butterfly collection." I giggle a little at the thought of Granny's fascination with them.

"Oh, that would be perfect Amber. Of course, only if it doesn't trouble you!" She holds the flower gently like it's a child.

"Of course not! See you tomorrow!" I wave as I leave the house and do my rounds to Granny's shop and Gramps house. I end up making another run around the forests as well to get some extra bugs and dump them in the shipping bin.

Once work is all done for the night, I eat the herb soup which was actually pretty great. As I am eating, I think about my story and what I should be telling the other villagers. Is it worth lying to them? Someone is going to ask why I volunteered to come here at some point. They are going to ask how old I am, where I lived before, what my job was before, and so much more. I could always play the college dropout card. I look young and ambitious enough. Suddenly, the phone ringing interrupts my thoughts.

Nervously, I pick up the phone, but I don't say anything.

"Hello, Amber? Honey?" It's my mom, sounding worried as usual. I sigh with relief, and I realize that I have been way too stressed out about everything lately.

"Hey mom, what's up?" I ask. I'm a little worried since I told my parents that they couldn't call or visit me unless I told them it was okay. I needed to be away from everything for a while, and I thought they understood that. "I thought we discussed this."

"I know dear, but I have been worried. I just wanted to hear your voice. It isn't too late to come…" I interrupt her quickly without a second thought.

"I'm not coming back, you just don't understand. Is he looking for me?" I ask her nervously, not wanting to discuss any details. I start to scratch my arm, unable to stop.

"He has obviously been asking about you. He is very confused, but we told him we haven't seen you either. You have to know that he will find you eventually dear, he definitely has the means to." I nod to myself, accepting this reality in my head but at the same time denying it.

"But maybe he won't." I mutter it softly, but I know she could still hear me. "Mom, I love you, and I promise I will be ready to talk more with you soon. Just give me the rest of spring. Tell dad I love him too." I hang up without wanting to hear her response. I slam the phone back down, and walk to bed angrily. I feel stressed, mad, anxious, and a whole bunch of other emotions that I don't want. I rub my head to relax and think things through a little more. I look at my arm that I started scratching and realized that I had been digging my nails roughly against the same spot for the whole phone call. Almost my entire forearm is red and looks like if I continued just for another minute that it would have started to bleed. I let my head drop to my pillow and fall asleep within seconds, feeling my stress melt away slowly.

I wake up to my normal routine, except for the part where I hear a cow bell jingling when I walk out of my house. I look over to the main path and see the most adorable cow walking casually to my farm alone. I walk over to him and smile.

"Hey there buddy!" I give him a nice pat on the head as he looks up at me with his chocolate brown eyes. He moos in return and nudges his head into my hand. I giggle and pet him for a little before I hear footsteps as well. I look up to see one of the most intimidating men I have ever met. He scared me so much at first that I just froze on the spot, man am I an idiot.

"Are you Amber?" This man with medium-length blonde hair yells out to me and as he gets closer I realize that his eyes are an amazing cherry red. His entire outfit matches his tone and attitude with a longish red coat and camo pants. I wonder where he got those combat boots actually. "Hey!" His gruff tone that is slightly menacing and cold snaps me back to reality.

"Hey…" I whisper nervously. My body is still frozen but at least my mouth has defrosted. He gives me an amused smirk.

"Name's Neil, the animal trader. Dunhill told me to give you this cow as a complimentary gift from him to you. Seems like you already get along with this big guy." Neil mutters out these words like he isn't interested at all and just wants to leave. I sigh and realize Emma was right, all bark and no bite. Neil is just one of those jerks that don't really give a damn about people. I relax and go back to my normal self.

"Well yea! I love cows, they are my favorite animal!" The cow I am still petting moos in response again as if to agree that cows are truly the best animal. I laugh and smile. Neil coughs slightly in surprise but gains back his cold composure shortly after.

"He was a pain in the butt anyways." Neil mutters to himself while I am still focused on my new cow. "What do you plan on naming him?" I look up at him in surprise as if I didn't realize that I would have to name him. Now that I think about it, I better get used to it. I am probably going to have to name everything around here.

"Hmm," I take a second to think about it.

"What about Moopey?" We both say at the same time. I laugh and Neil gives me a scowl. I laugh so much harder due to his face that I start clutching my stomach. Tears come to my eyes and obscure my sight a little, but I swear I saw Neil actually smile a tiny bit.

"Thanks Neil! Here, take a bag of fodder to feed the rest of your animals." I hand him one of my rather large bags of fodder. "I take pride in my high quality grass that I have grown." I give him a small smile as he takes it.

"Hmph, whatever. I was just a messenger, but I guess I will take all the free stuff I can get. See you around." He walks off without waving or saying thank you in return. I snort and look back at Moopey.

"Seems like he is the moopey one, huh?" Moopey moos in agreement and walks over near the barn to graze. Now that I think about it, I don't really know how to take care of a cow. Just as I am starting to get worried, Neil has already walked back to me and is standing right behind me. Since I'm so absorbed in my thoughts I don't even notice him, and he pokes me in the back to get my attention.

I scream loudly and run to hide behind Moopey. I dropped to my knees and curled up immediately. After a few seconds, I realize how ridiculous and odd I must look reacting like this, and I look up to see Neil standing over me with a worried face. Once he sees me look up with such a blank face, he goes back to his normal, sour look and pulls me up with on hand grasped on my arm. I give him a pouty face and tell him, "You're hurting me." He squints at me slightly as if trying to figure me out.

"I came back because I forgot to teach you how to take care of cows, so let's make this quick." He lets go of my arm and takes quick strides towards my barn while motioning for my cow to follow him. Oddly enough, Moopey follows him obediently. I feel a bit jealous of his affinity with animals.

I seem to obediently follow Neil as well into the barn. We walk around together side by side with Moopey following behind as he explains all the information necessary to keep a cow healthy. I actually ended up enjoying hearing Neil talk as his voice was rough but captivating. On that note, so were his eyes as I could not keep myself from looking at them. My bubble is burst as he asks with his brows furrowed, "Are you okay? Why are you just staring at me?"

"Sorry, I just really like your eyes." I cock my head to the side, still looking into his eyes as he blushes slightly. Oops, I guess maybe that was a little straightforward. My friends back in the city always used to tell me that I never think about how what I say may make other people feel awkward. Of course, they always thought I was just a naturally awkward person. Little did they know I often purposely made people feel awkward as I do not feel embarrassed about saying anything really; however, this was not one of those purposeful moments.

"I like your eyes too." He muttered so quietly that I wasn't sure I heard him correctly, but I smiled at him warmly. "Thanks, that's really nice of you!" He seemed to soften up at this moment. His whole body seemed to release all the tension he may have had and his face relaxed entirely. My view of him changed entirely with this moment, and I had a realization that he just had a difficult time conversing with others, instead of thinking of him as a grouchy sour-puss.

At this moment, I thought I saw a small smile from him, which made me feel warmer inside. Before I could really savor the moment, he handed me a bag that had some supplies in it. "These are some necessary items that you will be needing. They are pretty self-explanatory, but I wrote some instructions if you ever needed help or need a reminder." His tone seemed lighter and accepting. This made me continue to smile; I felt as if I was accepted into his small bubble, which seemed to be an extremely tiny bubble. Possibly miniscule.

"Thanks Neil! I really appreciate all of this!" I exclaimed with a burst of energy that may have been too sudden for someone like Neil and jumped onto him in a big hug that a good friend would give another. Maybe that was a little too straightforward as well. Although, I could feel one hand on my back, which let me know that the feelings of friendship were mutual. I let go of him and gave him a gracious offer. "You know, I have no problem giving you a bag of fodder every day if it helps you out. It actually does grow really well on my farm here." I had the feeling I was making a face that was practically forcing him to say yes; then again, he didn't actually have a choice in the matter.

"I definitely wouldn't mind it. Just—you don't have to bring it every day if you don't have the time or something." He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away from my eyes. I couldn't tell if he was being shy, embarrassed, or stubborn. I chuckle lightly and see the sun in all of its glory. Surprised, I look at my watch.

"It's almost noon!" I slap my other hand to my mouth. Everything on my chore list comes rushing to my head; it's almost dizzying. I am going to have to get my ass in gear today! Neil jerks back at my over-reaction but smirks.

"Guess you better hurry back to work. I certainly don't envy you, taking on this farm and all. Why would a city girl like you want to take it anyways?" He eyed me up and down curiously. I sort of had my lie planned out, but it really wasn't. I guess pops was always right; procrastination will be the end of me.

"Well, I am the oldest daughter in my family, and in our long family history, the oldest sibling always inherits the farm anyways. It was kind of destined to happen I suppose. Plus, college just didn't fit my style." I gave him a lopsided smile and shrugged. He seemed unimpressed; he was probably hoping for a more interesting story.

"I see. Well, my shop is open Monday through Thursday, 10 am to 6 pm. It's an open market-style setup, so I obviously won't be open on rainy days." He starts to walk out the door, but then turns his head slightly and says, "Come by when you can, so I can give you more info on animals." After that, he walks out and I release a breath I didn't realize I was ever holding. He is a pretty good-looking guy, and you can tell he has a toned body. If all country boys are this hot, I can't wait to get more of them to this town.