Chapter 21: All Mixed Up

Before Jack could even realize it, Fall had turned into Winter and there was a light dusting of snow all over the town. He had spent the end of fall just working on his farm. Jack had saved almost all his money and was ready to upgrade the remaining buildings on his farm, including increasing the size of his home. He was also inspired by the Sheep Festival to purchase and bring one of the fluffy creatures home to his farm.

Winter was quiet, cold, and slow. Not many people went outside during frigid and snowy days. There was also significantly less farm work to do. Nothing could be planted in the winter. He only had a few farm animals that needed to be taken care of. Sometime after the wedding Rick had taken his chickens back, but that still didn't give Jack enough time to fill his coop completely with chickens. He only had one cow and one sheep. This provided Jack with a lot of free time he didn't really want to have.

Every day he would take care of the animals then chop some wood. He fished a bit then spent his afternoons in the upstairs of the Library. Jack spent hours with his head buried in the many books that were written by Basil. Who knew there was so much to say about the vegetation of the surrounding area?

He continued this schedule for about a week and a half into the winter season. On this particular day though, he decided to speak with Mary instead of going straight up the stairs to read. He hadn't had a good conversation with her in a long time.

"Hello Mary." Jack smiled at the young librarian as he tried to dust the snow off of his jacket. "How are you today?"

"I am well. It's nice to see you being social again Jack. You've barely spoken to me in the last few weeks. I was wondering if I did something wrong?" She was blushing just slightly.

"I've just had a lot on my mind. I'm feeling better now though."

Mary smiled. "Good, I'm glad to hear it. How is your farm doing?"

"It's doing great! The animals aren't really enjoying this cold weather, but they seem to be happy enough." Jack stopped and thought for a moment. "Oh yeah! I finally got an extension on my house. I now have a kitchen!"

"It must be wonderful to finally be able to cook your own food."

Jack sighed. "It would be, but so far the only thing I have to cook with is a mixer. I've only been able to make veggie juice."

"Veggie juice!" Mary squealed, which caused Jack's eyes to widen. He had never seen the shy woman so excited before in his whole time there.

"Um… what?" He wasn't sure how else to react to her sudden enthusiasm.

"Veggie juice is my favorite!!"

Jack laughed. He then had an idea. "Hey, why don't you come over to my place and I'll make you some. You can tell me if it's any good."

Mary nodded her head vigorously. "Yes! I'll stop by after I close the library for the night, if that is okay with you Jack?"

"Sure Mary, come by whenever you get a free moment."

-------------------------------------------

The whirring of the mixer slowed to a halt. Mary's eyes widened as the reality of what she was about to have became apparent to her. "This is so exciting Jack!" she exclaimed as he began to pour the juice into a glass. "We don't have a mixer at home so I haven't had this since before we moved here."

Jack handed her the glass and smiled. "Don't get too excited yet. You haven't even tried it."

"I'm sure it tastes excellent." Mary took the glass and looked at it for a moment. Jack couldn't tell if it was the way the lighting was in his house or if Mary really was blushing as deep a red as he thought. She took a quick first sip, paused for a moment, and then downed the entire glass in just a few moments.

Jack watched her with amazement. "It's that good?"

She nodded, wiping away any juice leftover on her upper lip. She then giggled. "It's the best I've ever had! Fresh vegetables make all the difference!"

"There is some left if you would like to have more." Jack looked over at the mixer he had left on the counter.

Mary looked away, almost as if she were embarrassed. "Umm. Well I was hoping you would let me take some home with me. I want to have some for another time."

Jack laughed. She was incredibly cute when she was shy like this. "Mary, of course you can take the rest home with you. You shouldn't worry about not getting any more other than this either. If veggie juice can make you act like this all the time then I'll bring you some as often as I can!"

Jack bottled up the remaining veggie juice from the mixer and they sat down at his table. They sat and chatted about whatever random topic came up for several hours. Eventually Mary casually looked at her watch and was shocked to see what time it was.

"Oh my! I've over stayed my welcome." She scrambled to get up and was heading towards the door when Jack stopped her.

"It's okay Mary. I really enjoy talking with you."

She smiled at his comment. "I should get home. It's very late."

"Okay. Just remember that you are always welcome here. Stop by whenever you feel like it."

"I'll remember that. Have a good night, Jack."

"Good night, Mary." She turned to look at him and lingered a moment. Then she hurried out the door.

---------------------------------------------------------

Winter 10th was the day of the annual Mineral Town Dog Race. Jack's pup Koro was too small to compete in the races. Jack had been talked into going to the race anyways because they were "super fun!" as described by Ann.

Jack went to Town Square as soon as all the animals were taken care of. When he arrived he saw Ann had already been there for some time and had in her hands multiple tickets. She was grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey Jack! Over here!" Ann called over to him and tried to wave her hands. A few of the tickets fell to the ground and she scrambled to pick them up.

Jack walked over and helped her. "What is all this?" he questioned.

"All the bets I made today!" Ann was absolutely beaming. "I just love this festival! It's so fun to bet on the dogs and try to win some money!"

"You might want to put those in your pocket so you don't lose them," Jack said with a laugh.

Ann looked at the tickets, then at Jack, then back at the tickets again. She frowned. "I already forgot who I bet on!"

"Hey, I have an idea." He started to reach for the tickets but Ann held on to them tightly. "Listen. I'll keep track of some of these so you don't get yourself all mixed up and end up misplacing them."

"Okay!" Ann grinned and handed a few of her tickets to Jack. He looked over them carefully to see which dogs he should be paying attention to during the race.

A few minutes before the race was set to start Karen arrived at the Town Square. Jack just happened to glance up the moment she entered and saw her. Her clothes were wrinkled and she had very dark circles under her eyes. She looked completely exhausted.

He didn't want her to know he saw her, so Jack quickly looked away. As soon as she passed he looked back to see what she was doing. She walked over to the Mayor's booth and put down a small sack of money. She was there for a few minutes before the Mayor gave her the tickets.

Jack's attention was suddenly snapped back to the race when he heard the loud beaming voice of Zack yelling, "On your mark! Get set! GO!!!"

The dogs were off. Jack was amazed at how fast they ran. Ann was standing next to him, leaning on the fence that outlined the track, and screaming her head off. Actually most of the people in Town Square were yelling, but it was Ann that was going to make Jack go deaf.

The dogs rounded the corner and were heading towards the finish line. As soon as one crossed Ann began to scream even louder. "I WON!! I WON!!!" Jack looked down at her tickets. How could she not? She bet on every single dog.

Ann began to run in circles and then jumped up to hug Jack. He returned the hug and laughed. He glanced over her shoulder and saw Karen off to the side by herself. Her head was in her hands.

Was she crying?