Two days passed, and at first, I was glad not to see his face back at my library, though his book was due back. Besides, who else in the village would need that book besides him; the only other 'farmers' were the owners of Green Ranch, who'd been raising livestock for years, and Lilia, who already knew what she was doing, as she'd been planting and harvesting seeds for just as long. It slightly irked me that my book wasn't back, of course, as it bothered me every time, since I couldn't stand for my books to be out for lengths at a time. However, I had no interest in seeing that man again, so what worry was it of mine?
On the fourth day of it not being returned, however, Harris, of all people, walked in and asked me if I had 'some type of farming encyclopedia.' I blinked at the village mailman unbelievingly and somewhat begrudgingly.
"Why?" I simply asked as he fidgeted uncomfortably in front of my desk.
"Well," he said, placing a nervous finger on my lampshade and bouncing it, "I just… was interested, is all. In, you know, how farms work… I like to know how things work."
I did too, of course; I'd checked over the encyclopedia a few times myself, just to satisfy my own curiosity, but I never took Harris to be the intellectual type. Instead of asking further questions, I shyly replied that the book was not in at the moment, that Charlie, the farmer down the street, had already checked it out.
"Oh, I see," he said almost disappointedly and turned to leave. I silently pondered why he didn't pick another book instead. "Thanks anyway," he said before my door clinked shut. I gave a shrug and returned to my book without another thought.
I didn't think about that unusual encounter again until Harris entered, two days later, asking for the same book, and I embarrassedly had to tell him that I still did not have the book, that Charlie, the new farmer down the street, still had it checked out.
"But aren't you only allowed to have books checked out for two days?" He asked me cautiously, and I nodded, my cheeks flushing bright red; part of me felt like a scorned child. "Oh," he said, tapping his feet. "Maybe he doesn't know that rule, or something."
"…Maybe so," I responded, though I highly doubted it.
And so it became somewhat of a routine; Harris would come in at around two o'clock each day and ask me if the book had still not come back, and I was starting to grow tired of the disruption in my library, so I took it upon myself to go and retrieve the book.
To say the least, this wouldn't prove as one of my favorite tasks. I hated confrontation, so this little episode would certainly not go down in the book as my shining achievement in Flowerbud village. At four that evening, I closed up the library early and locked the door behind me, and instead of heading over next door to have supper with my parents, I continued down the path, towards his farm.
It was five o'clock before I finally reached the farm, as I'd lost myself here and there (I don't get out much, alright?), but upon entering, I immediately regretted my decision. I should have simply told Harris to find another book to read to pass his time, another obsession to fulfill. Instead, however, I decided to care about my job. Huh.
Almost as soon as I'd stepped into his farm, his little puppy came scurrying over to me, his tongue flopping about outside his mouth, his tail wagging furiously. It was like a scary movie, for me, as I anticipated his jump, the mud on his paws reaching my dress, and his sharp little puppy teeth sinking into my hand. I let out a girly shriek and fell backwards, right onto my rear, and tried to fight the animal off.
"Please, puppy, get off me!" I protested as he proceeded to lick me on my face continuously, and suddenly, my savior appeared.
Did you expect me to say Charlie? I don't think I'd ever call Charlie my 'savior', to say the least. Well, at least I wouldn't have, at this point. No, it was Zack, the guy who picked up all of the shipping at the end of the day, who pried the shivering mass of "cuteness" from me and gave me a hand to my feet.
"Whatever are you doing here?" He asked, somewhat confused. "Are you here to see Charlie?" I fought back a laugh; from the tone of Zack's voice, Charlie had an apparent reputation.
"Y..yes, actually," I replied, attempting to wipe mud from my dress. "Th.. Thank you very much for helping me up."
"Well it's not like Charlie would've helped you," Zack muttered under his breath, before turning towards the fields and shouting out. "Hey, Charlie!"
I looked behind Zack and into the direction he was shouting, and there, in the middle of a mass of weeds, stood the book-thief, Charlie Aldebaran. "What?" Charlie yelled back, holding his hands up to shield his eyes from the sun. "What is it? Didn't I put everything in the bin?"
"Yeah," Zack replied, lowering his voice slightly, "but you've got another visitor!"
"Oh," Charlie said, noticing me for the first time. "Right." He began to make his way towards me from the garden.
"Th… thanks again," I said to Zack, but he was already turning to leave me with this stupid man. He simply shrugged and nodded and was gone, and now Charlie was approaching me.
Charlie gave me a confused look, and I half-expected him to ask me what I was doing here, but instead, he threw my book onto the ground. "This has been no help at all," he said as if he'd just tried a gross type of food. "No help. My crops still won't grow, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong."
I blinked, picked up the book, and examined it thoroughly. Not only was the cover completely drenched in mud, but a few of the pages inside were torn. I fought back tears as I cradled it close to my chest, biting my lip as I stared up at this book-murderer.
"H..have you read it thoroughly?" I asked him, my voice quavering. "Have you read all of it…?"
"Well no, I just skimmed the beginnings of the chapters. It was way too boring for me to read all the way." He glanced down at me and cocked his head, as if he could sense my feelings. Something about his expression, at this moment, reminded me of the puppy that had greeted me just moments ago.
"You should probably read all of the chapters thoroughly," I noted, but when he tried to reach for the book, I held it tight against my chest. "It's been due back for a while," I added as he stared at me questioningly.
"Well, at least tell me what I've been doing wrong, or something, my gosh." Charlie muttered, rubbing his forehead in frustration. "I've been trying all week to get these damn things to grow, and it's not working."
"Th..then let me see the fields," I said, and slowly began to walk towards them, still cradling the damaged book to my chest. He trailed not far behind me, his hands shoved deeply into his pockets.
Right away I saw the problem. I've never planted a single thing in my life, but this problem was so painfully obvious that I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from bursting into laughter.
"Charlie," I said slowly and cautiously, almost unbelievingly. He was by my side, leaning down towards his fields and listening apprehensively. "It doesn't help," I continued, "to till the ground in the first place, if you're not going to cover the seeds up with more soil." His seeds were simply sitting atop the tilled ground, the sprouts poking out slightly. I almost asked him if he'd been watering them regularly, until I glanced over at another patch, in which the seeds weren't sitting on the ground at all; they were floating in a small puddle.
"I'm supposed to cover them up with more soil?!" Charlie seemed frustrated at this. "Farming is stupid. Why do I have to do all that?" He threw his arms up over his head and I leaned back up, fighting an amused smile.
"You just do," I replied, and with that, I took the hoe, sitting next to his field, and scooped up loose dirt. I spread it carefully over the top of one patch of his seeds and set the hoe aside, leaning back down to pat it down gently. "Like this," I said, resting on my knees to inspect my handiwork. He leaned down next to me now and took another patch of seeds, doing the same thing I'd done, just much sloppier. Once he was done, he looked at me expectantly without saying anything, as if waiting on approval.
"It's… it's good," I said cautiously, as his handiwork was definitely much sloppier than mine (he'd accidentally mixed in a few weeds here and there), but I figured some of that didn't matter with farming. "Just like that." He continued to do this, until he reached the seeds floating in water, and sat for a moment.
"I think you should find a new patch for that," I said slowly, and took the seeds from the puddle, as he lifted his hoe and tilled another patch of field for these seeds. We silently placed them into the soil and covered them up, patting them down loosely.
"Alright," he said, placing his hands on his hips confidently, as if he'd come up with the solution all on his own. "Now I'm going to have myself a farm—"
"We're not done yet," I interrupted quietly as I stepped forward to rip a few weeds out of the ground. "These shouldn't be here at all." He paused for a moment, before inching up to help me, too, stepping all over his newly planted seeds. I winced, but bit my tongue.
"Why shouldn't they?" He asked, and I detected a hint of normality in his voice. Amazing.
"Because they'll interfere with the other crops growing and kill them," I responded simply, and he nodded. "Oh," he replied, and I was flooded with the satisfaction I usually felt while informing someone of something. However, as if he could detect my happiness, even for a fleeting moment, he interrupted it completely by saying,
"You're a real nerd, aren'tcha?"
"Mmhmm," I simply muttered as I pulled up the last weed and tossed it in the neat pile I'd made to the side. Once again, he crossed his arms over his chest and inspected our handiwork, a slow smile coming to his face.
"Thanks," He suddenly said, and I found myself slightly surprised. He was thanking me? Really? Such a rude man was capable of being thankful? I smiled, until he continued, "But this is why I asked you, in the first place, but you just made me read some stupid book."
I inspected his face and was somewhat surprised to find that he was still smiling, and I smiled back, though timidly. He wasn't so bad, but he still got on my nerves quite a bit.
"I…it's fine," I replied, wiping my hands on my already dirty dress and noting to wash it as soon as I got home. I turned back down the path towards the village, but he called out before I was able to leave.
"Wait," he said, scratching his head. "What's your name?"
"Maria," I replied, a blush meeting my cheeks like normal, when I first introduced myself. "Maria Arcturus."
"Strange name," he said, but shrugged and continued his work. "Thanks," he said again, and I left, my muddied book in tow, without another thought, feeling disturbed but somehow satisfied with my newest encounter with Charlie Aldebaran.