Chapter Two: Delivery for Goldie!

Momoko woke up about two o'clock in the afternoon, realizing that she must have accidentally fallen asleep when she only wanted to just calm down. Wait, the time had been two o'clock? Her eyes seem to widen about three times the size they were supposed to be. Work started at one o'clock! Ripping off the covers, she dashed out of the room to go downstairs, but maybe rushing had not been the best idea. Not even three steps down, she tripped and wound up falling flat on her face. Still, she had to keep going. She had to show that she deserved that house, otherwise the town would have been nothing but an unreachable dream.

She stumbled while getting up, but managed to make it out the door. The light completely consumed her in contrast to her darkened bedroom, causing her to shield her eyes. The poor girl was still tired, but she had to keep moving for the sake of her future in that town.

Taking out her map, she looked for the symbol that represented the store, apparently known as Nook's Cranny. Oh, wasn't that a wonderful name? (Not really, considering the name means Nook's small space.) The map had explained to her that is was not very far; it was located in the center of the town. Also, the tailor was literally right next to it, so that worked out well if Momoko wanted to do all her shopping at once. She put her map back into her rucksack and began racing off to work once more, not focusing on anything else for that moment.

After about five minutes of racing down pathway after pathway, Momoko finally reached the wooden shack with the sign "Nook's Cranny." That had to be it. Slowly walking inside, she scanned the shop and hoped that the raccoon store owner wouldn't be upset with her.

"There you are! Where have you been for the last hour?" the animal shouted furiously.

Well, that was some wishful thinking, hoping he wouldn't be mad.

Momoko bowed her head. "I'm terribly sorry, sir! It's been such a stressful day, and I fell asleep in the bed upstairs," she clarified.

Nook sighed and rolled his eyes, saying, "Well, I guess it's better that you showed up only an hour late than completely ditching your work in total." He paused for a minute to pick up a dirty set of clothes. He added, "Please go change into this. It is your uniform and will officially define you as a worker of Nook's Cranny."

She smiled brightly and ran into the back room to change. It took all of thirty seconds to throw off her cake shirt (Yes, a Gracie original.) and dress in the uniform. The uniform was all gray, including the symbol for the shop that was on the shirt. It looked old and worn too. Still, it was better than nothing, so she put it on and walked back out to prove she was ready.

The store owner beamed at the sight of her, exclaiming that it was a perfect fit and that she looked beautiful. Momoko blushed slightly, ignoring his comment. He laughed and plopped several packages into her hands. "Your task is simple: deliver these to the proper addresses. No stopping to smell the roses though. Do your job then come straight back here, understand?" he ordered. "If you feel the need to, use the company bicycle."

Momoko nodded confidently and marched out of the store. The so-called company bicycle was chained next to the shack unoccupied, so she placed the packages in the basket and hopped onto the seat. Her first stop was to deliver a round carpet to some resident named Goldie. Taking out her map again, she found Goldie's house down the hill near the waterfall, and rode away.

On her way, however, the girl seemed to notice the town for the first time. There was little vegetation growing no matter where she looked. If there were any trees, they were half-way to the end of their lives. All if not most flowers were wilting. The pathways were quite faded, almost to the point where someone wouldn't be able to see them anymore. The empty houses were all beat-up, and some of the occupied houses weren't in the best shape either, although they were habitable. How come she hadn't noticed these things before? Had she been that distracted on moving and going to work that she completely tuned out the rest of the town? Apparently, that seemed to be the case. If she had noticed these traits before, would she have left immediately? No, of course not, but she probably would have had second thoughts about living in Aniland.

No. Her mind was made up. She already bought a house, got a job, and met some really nice people. Why would she want to give up when she had such a good start? She had to keep going, no matter how hard it had gotten. For that moment, though, she had to focus on making her deliveries.

Getting a little lost on the way, Momoko scanned her surroundings for Goldie's house. She reached the bottom of the waterfall to find a house with a sign in front labeled "Goldie's House." That must have been it, unless there was another Goldie.

Taking the fairly light package out of the basket, Momoko carried it under her arm to the front door. She knocked a few times, then waited for someone to answer. Nothing. She tried again. Still nothing. After five minutes, she heard a voice say, "Stop banging; I hear you! Come around back!"

Doing as told, Momoko went around the house to find a golden-brown puppy on its knees in front of a dying garden. Her face described one word: miserable. Momoko gasped audibly and ran over to her, almost dropping the carpet wrapped in its box.

"Are you okay?" Momoko asked, concerned.

"No, not really. Nothing is growing anymore. I've tried to create a beautiful garden so many times now, but nothing is working. I wonder if it's even worth it to try anymore...woof," she cried.

Momoko didn't exactly know how to comfort the sad puppy dog, so she handed the box and said, "Um, here is your package."

Goldie looked at it, almost entirely uninterested by the decorated box. "Oh, thanks." She took it from the human girl and slowly opened it to find the carpet neatly tucked inside. She sighed and placed the open box next to her. Her expression changed in an instant as she told the girl, "I'm sorry, woof. I don't even know you, and here I am complaining. My name is Goldie. I don't believe we've met before." She smiled for the first time and held out her paw.

Momoko gave a slight smile back and shook her hand with the dog's. "I'm Momoko Toyotomi. I just moved her earlier today. It's nice to meet you," she greeted.

"Wow, first day and you're already working? I see Mr. Nook got you too, woof," she laughed. "Let me guess...you couldn't pay off your rent that was due as soon as you bought the house."

"Yeah, exactly that. How did you know?"

"Mr. Nook makes everyone who can't pay off their first rent immediately work for him. Everyone thinks it's so he doesn't have to work as much and can sit around doing who-knows-what."

Momoko laughed, thinking of the raccoon doing something like watching soap operas on television, or playing a Wii gaming system. How funny would that be if it were true?

Goldie glanced back at her wilting garden. She didn't understand why it wouldn't grow. She gave it clean water, healthy soil, and plenty of sun. Was the ground just not fertile enough? Some flowers grew though. She was totally lost on what to do. Momoko was lost as well. She loved to garden, and she knew Goldie was doing all of the right things, so why wasn't this poor puppy's garden growing?

Momoko suddenly thought of something. She tugged on Goldie's shirt and pointed to the garden. "I think you're space is too small," she suggested. "It looks like it's only three feet by two feet, when you might want five feet by eight feet instead for raised flower beds."

Goldie raised her eyebrows, giving thought into that suggestion. "I always thought it needed to be small... That might be the problem! I'll try that!" She beamed at the kind human girl. If this girl was able to help her struggling garden, then that would have been absolutely amazing.

Momoko looked kindly at the cheerful dog and told her that she needed to finish the rest of her deliveries before she got in trouble. The young puppy understood and thanked the girl for assisting her in her small problem. With that, the bicycle was riding off to the next house.