Chapter 2: The Long Days of Summer
It was an easy night. For the first time in many months, Sargent had slept through a full night. The pounding of the summer rain had not disturbed him, quite the contrary: it had helped him get to sleep. Rolling over, Sarge looked at his alarm clock.
9:27 a.m.
It was Friday, in the middle of June. The rain had long gone away, leaving no sign of it ever coming to Haven. Sarge rolled out of bed, in his dark gray pajama bottoms and white shirt. He hobbled down stairs, went to the fridge, and drank some milk. Just a few days prior, his house had been remodeled. Actually, Sarge's home was not that large at all. He had an upstairs bedroom, a large living room, a very small guest bedroom and an even smaller bathroom. He didn't even have a kitchen.
The 23 year old, who was a teacher and worked a few towns over, went to his computer. One of the only people to have a computer in Haven (Miranda and the Museum were the others) he checked the weather broadcast for the day. 102 degrees, with no chance of rain all week, or, as Sarge liked to say, "Perfect swim weather."
"Gotta get ready." Sarge said as he made his way back upstairs, to his closet. Haven was founded in November 2008, and Sargent was the founding human. He loved Haven, with its quirky citizens and delicious apples. It was those apples in fact that accounted for more than 45% of Haven's total revenue.
The blond human put on some swim shorts, a gift from Bunnie, and a white shirt. Blue flip flops followed. He drank the last of the milk, put it back in the fridge, turned off the light, and stepped outside.
Instead of a flood of sunlight, it was dark, and gray. It will probably burn off by mid day, Sarge thought. He had no new mail, but looked across the way, and saw Miranda's mansion. They both lived on the beach, which had positives and negatives.
"Hello Sargent!" Miranda came running up, and stopped short of plowing into him. She was wearing a sun dress, and sun glasses.
"Hi Miranda. How's it going?"
"Great Sarge. Can you believe this weather?" asked Miranda. Miranda was usually nice to Sargent, but could she cut you down if she didn't like you. Once, in The Roost, she unloaded on Pierce, calling him slow, stupid and "dirty."
"By noon it should go away. Probably from the rain last night. It's not going to rain for a while; I checked the weather on my computer. Say, have you met the new guy? Lucky?" Sargent asked.
"Antonio and I went this morning. Should be better than the last guy. What was his name?"
"Biskit."
"Yes, Biskit. Lucky should be better than him. Well, I HAVE to go. Going into the city and buying a new dress. 'Til later!" Miranda walked off, quickly disappearing in the trees. He never told it to her, but Sarge believed that Antonio and she were having a "thing." They were always together, Miranda picked out Antonio's clothes and she was always present at the booooring City Council meetings, which Antonio was a member of. But for the time being, she was focused on meeting his new neighbor.
He took out his city map, and looked for Lucky's name.
"Let me see…..He is….Next to Popo! Cool; not that far." Putting away his map, he started his trek. He passed Tangy's house, and saw she wasn't home. As he walked, he took an apple of tree and bit in to it. The sweet, sweet taste of a Haven Apple was unmatched anywhere; anytime. He climbed a hill, which connected the upper and lower sections of the town, turned left at PoPo's house, with her nice flower and vegetable garden, and arrived at Lucky's. Lucky lived at the same place where Jeremiah, a frog, once lived. Sarge stepped to the door and knocked.
"One minute!" someone yelled from within. Sarge waited, and the door swung open.
"Oh, hello!" Lucky extended his paw. He was a dog, who was dressed….like a mummy.
"Hello. My name is Sargent; Welcome to Haven!" Sarge took his paw and shook it.
"Great name! Would you like to come in?" Lucky asked.
"No thank you. You look busy. Maybe I will come back tomorrow. Hey; just to let you know, you can call me Sarge."
"Great. Well, see you tomorrow then." Lucky closed the door. Sarge turned around, and stared walking to the Able Sisters' shop. He needed some new sun glasses, Chow, who was not Sarge's best friend, borrowed the last pair and broke them. They cost 3,900 Bells. The roads of Haven, or, rather, paths of Haven, were lined with flowers, a project that PoPo and Pierce undertook some months back.
As he walked to the Able Sisters, Sarge looked up at the sky.
"Just as I thought, the Sun is coming back." He looked at his watch: 10:17 .am.
"Mr. Sargent! Wait for us!" He turned around and saw Wolfgang and Bunnie walking toward him.
"Hey! How you guys doing?" Sarge waived.
"Hey Sarge." said Wolfgang.
"Hello Sargent." Bunnie joined.
"What you are two doing?" asked Sargent.
"Actually, to tell you the truth, were going for a swim. Miranda and Antonio have invited us to the lake for a swim and some lunch. You in?" Wolfgang asked.
"Sure! That sounds great. What time is it at?"
"One."
"Great. Sounds awesome. I'm going to get some new sun glasses."
"I'll come with you!" Wolfgang jumped up and joined Sarge.
Bunnie, surprised: "Okay. See you two at the lake." She turned and walked off, no doubt to get ready, despite the barbecue wasn't for hours. But, hey, Wolfgang and Sargent knew how women were.
The two friends continued to walk, sometimes talking, sometimes silent. Their friendship was interesting. Wolfgang, by nature, was a bit reserved, and had a little trouble making friends. He was a great friend once someone got to know him, and very smart. In City Council, he took it upon himself to lower Haven's taxes, seeing, in his mind, that lower taxes would help the citizens of Haven. He was so far unsuccessful in his quest. Sargent, too, was like Wolfgang, which would explain their solid friendship. Sarge could go to his friend for any problem, and expect useable advice. Thus, it could be said that Sargent and Wolfgang had the strongest friendship in the village.
As they were walking, and coming upon the shop, Wolfgang turned and said: "What do you think of Bunnie?"
"I think she is a nice girl. She's always been nice to me. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I don't know…. I believe she likes me, and because were close neighbors, it would be awkward if everyday, we saw each others and were thinking the same things."
"I would wait and see. Talk to her at the lake. She what she thinks." Meanwhile, as they were talking, they came upon the clothing store. A small building, Able Sisters' Clothing was a hub for the fashion of Haven. With all sorts of clothing, as well as shoes, hats and glasses, there was something for everyone. Sargent walked in, greeted Mable, and picked out a pair of dark glasses, total cost: 2,000 Bells.
"Chow isn't getting his paws on these!" said Sargent.
After leaving the store, and saying good bye to Wolfgang, Sargent walked back home. There were still a couple of hours left until the meet, and he walked to clean up his house a bit.
Coming home, Sarge pushed some furniture around, fed his pet clownfish, named Henry, threw out some old food in the fridge, and combed his hair. By then, it was nearly time to go, and, with a quick glance around his house, Sarge locked the door and left for the lake. Bringing with him a cherry pie, he walked to the lake, humming a K.K. Slider tune
When he arrived, everyone was already there. Wolfgang was swimming; everybody else was setting on towels.
"Sarge! Glad you could make it!" Miranda waved both her wings crazily.
"Hello everyone; great to be here." Sarge laid his towel on the ground and started eating. Fish and apples, with orange juice, was served, with even a radio playing Slider tunes.
This went on for a few hours. Sarge went for a swim, as did everyone else, and, after the sun had dried them up, the five of them parted ways. It was 5 p.m.
Sargent went back to his house, talking with Miranda along the way. The duck gave her impressions of all her neighbors, and what she liked and didn't like about them. Sarge nodded as his listened, not wanting to be rude. After they parted ways, the young man fell on his couch and watched television. Many animals didn't have a TV, so community sporting game watches was a big event in Haven. Sargent looked at his watch.
6:07 p.m.
It was very early, and after he spent the day out in the sun, Sargent decided to go to bed.
BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!!
Someone was pounding at his door.
"What the hel……"
BOOM!!!
Sarge walked to the front door and opened it. It was Chow.
"Sargent. Good evening." said Chow.
"Hello Chow." At 6' 7'', Chow was massive. By far the tallest animal in Haven, he cut an intimidating figure. As stated, Chow was not very popular, and, if you were unlucky enough, you would receive the "Chow treatment." He would lean over you, grad your arm or wing, put his face within inches of yours, stare you in the eyes, and talk. When he was on City Council, he was very effective in getting what he wanted. Although he was on the losing side more than on the winning side, he was still a master politician.
"As a good friend of Wolfgang's (they were), I hope we will see you tomorrow at the City Council meeting." The truth was Sargent hated the meetings. He had only gone a handful of times, and each time that he went, he found them tortuous. For up to five hours, the Council (Chow, now Bunnie and Blathers, PoPo, Wolfgang and Antonio) would argue policy and decided where to spend the town's money. Sarge found it to be a circus, a joke really. The whole idea was the Mayor's, an honorary member. Nobody ever wanted what the other wanted, and at the end of a debate, they would be at a deadlock. Because there were four (now five) members, a 2-2 deadlock would be broken by the Mayor. Sarge found whatever community had a system like this was doomed to failure.
"I hadn't planned on attending. Is there something of importance I have to know about?" asked Sarge. He was very proper around Chow; Chow hated "rural speaking" people or animals.
Chow glared at Sargent. "Sargent, as a member of the City of Haven, it is your duty to attend ALL City Council meetings."
"But, Chow, you hardy ever attend civic events or town parties; aren't you being a hypocrite?" pointed out Sargent.
"HOW DARE YOU??? How dare you question my citizenship! I was a member of City Council; not you! So shut that whole in your face and be there tomorrow!" Chow shoved a flier with the meeting information on it at Sarge's face and stormed off. "City hall….6 o'clock………Fun….."
Sargent looked at the handbill, went back inside, put the flier on the table in his living room, and went up to his bedroom. He climbed into bed and fell asleep almost instantly.
He hadn't gone to bed this early in a long time.
