Dear reader, thank you for all the time you have invested reading this story. Nine months after publishing it, I am proud to present you with the final chapter of Without Really Knowing You. I hope this message finds you well, and that this chapter brings you joy.
Epilogue
It took a few months before Mary and Jack could spend time together without experiencing heartache. They began to feel better by late summer of that year, and soon they were visiting and gossiping about other people's romances. Jack frequently called on Mary and her father for help around the farm, whether planting hardy, deer-resistant species around Lenney's grave, or wondering if that strange vine creeping up the apple tree was poisonous.
Jack's research on Lenney proved fruitful. Saibara was a powerful resource, and was able to call on a few old friends of Lenney's, some of whom were still living, many of whom had passed away. Among them, one had gone on to become an agricultural professor, and his son was kind enough to send Jack a copy of the professor's memoir, along with a few enormous textbooks. Jack spent many an afternoon at the library, cross-referencing the massive tomes to figure out which information was now considered obsolete. In studying his predecessor, Jack learned a great deal about farming, but he also learned about the man himself. The more Jack studied him, the more he felt that Lenney was a worthy role model.
That fall, Jack made another lucky find while Gotz was sealing up the old stowaway spot under the floorboards. Gotz had ripped up the loose board, handing Jack the box of letters and pictures, and was about to start pouring the sealant, when he stopped to reach into the hole again. It didn't look right, Gotz had said, upon discovering a false bottom. There lay a small lockbox without a key. Gotz and Jack looked at each other, deciding wordlessly to take it out back and smash it open. Inside lay a treasure trove of information, sewn together in one leather binding: Lenney's account statements, his business contacts, and his daily log of happenings on the farm. Jack was delighted, and made sure to give Gotz a generous tip for his help.
Tracing Lenney's contacts up to their modern successors, Jack invested a small fortune in men and women known to breed world-renowned dairy heifers. He laid the better part of his fields fallow early that year, spreading a thick layer of compost over them, growing just enough to sustain himself through the winter. The time he spent that fall and winter, fattening and breeding his herd, really paid off. The following spring, his best cows gave birth to three calves, two females and one bull calf. He culled the bull calf once he himself was nice and fat, and had the better part of the village over for a barbecue.
Outside of the occasional event that Jack hosted, the villagers saw little of him for the next twelve months. Once in a blue moon he would overlook a festival or appear in church. But for the most part, the only people who saw him were his friends, who he invited over for dinner several times a season. Beyond that, he was working tirelessly on creating a farm that could support a family and make Lenney proud. The quality of the soil in his field was several times better than when he'd started, and his second pass at breeding had produced four big, healthy female calves. He finally decided to take on a pair of sheep for a little variety, as well as a bunch of angora rabbits, whose hutch was built over the compost heap.
When Jack finally emerged from his intensive trance, he almost didn't recognize the town. Doctor and Elli invited him to their wedding in June. Becca's second birthday party was coming up. Gray was doing much better, and he and Mary were very happy together; Jack was quite bitter that Anna seemed to like him so much, but he took a little joy in the fact the Basil liked him better, and had told him so over a few mugs of wine. Joanna had returned to Mineral Town just a month or so earlier, to May's delight, to take care of her daughter and her ailing father. She brought a handsome man named Arthur with her, a boyfriend that she had begun dating in the UK.
In general, Jack was very relieved to find, the people of Mineral Town were getting along splendidly, himself included. He walked onto the beach with this in mind on a warm, early summers' night, and found Popuri sitting on the dock with her feet in the water. "Hey there, don't wanna surprise you…"
Popuri had matured a great deal in the past few years. Her eyes, which Jack had always found rather annoyingly wide and deer-like, now folded into little crescents when she smiled, just like her mother. Jack was stunned when she turned her head and no long pink hair followed. She still wore her headband, and a few unruly tendrils were still forever home on her forehead, but now her hair framed her face in a short bob, about chin-length. Her clothing had matured with her. Gone were the puffy-sleeved blouses of a child; gone was the bodice of a teenage girl, trying so hard to look like a woman, trying to make buds into breasts and a girlish figure into an hourglass. She sported a work shirt now that had probably been white at some point, and a pair of khaki shorts. Sitting beside her on the dock was a pair of yellow work boots covered in chicken shit and a pair of thick cotton socks balled up like little potatoes.
Jack choked on his words and forgot them. "Jesus christ, have I been toying around on the farm for that long?"
"What do you mean?" She laughed. Her voice wasn't high and pithy anymore. She wasn't trying hard for anyone's attention. If you asked Jack, he would have said that her voice was buttery and smooth, and perhaps that's why he melted.
"You've really grown into yourself!"
"Same to you, Jack. Care to join me?"
"Sure. I'm gonna take my boots off on the beach, so the stench doesn't kill you."
"Mine are right here," she laughed again. "If you can survive girl sweat and chicken shit, I can survive man sweat and cow shit."
"Yeah, I happen to think cow shit smells better." They chuckled together, as he tugged off his black boots and socks and stood them neatly beside hers. He rolled up the hems of his overalls before letting his feet sink into the water, sighing heavily. "Oh my god, I forgot how much I love this."
"Me too. It took a long time before I could be on the beach without thinking of Kai."
Jack looked over his shoulder at the boarded up snack shack, sneaking a peek at Popuri's face when he thought she wasn't looking. "I don't blame you. I guess he never came back?"
"No," she smiled sardonically at him. When speaking, she usually faced the sea. "I received a letter from him a few months ago, where he apologized for falling off the face of the earth."
"Wow. How did you feel about that?"
Popuri leaned back on her elbows with a sigh. "I was glad he was alive and well, but there was a big part of me that would've liked to have forgotten about him."
"I'm really sorry about that, Popuri. I get that completely."
"What about you? I know you and Mary split up. Are you doing a little better now?"
Jack took off his hat, loving the feel of the sea breeze blowing through his sweaty hair. "Much. I still love Mary, and she's a great friend to me. Her dad and I are actually really good friends, too."
"So what happened?"
Jack shrugged easily. "We wanted different things, you know?"
"Unfortunately, I do. I should've known that Kai was eventually going to take off, but what teenager wants to hear that her overprotective older brother is right?"
"You're too hard on yourself. How could you have known? You were young and in love. If you weren't naive, I'd have been sad for you."
Popular sat up and leaned towards him. "I don't remember you ever being this nice to me."
"I'm sorry," he smiled, hot in the cheeks. "When I said you've grown into yourself, you really have. You're a beautiful woman."
"Dressed like this?" She laughed.
"Yeah. A lot of guys claim to like the 'natural' look- guys who don't know what a girl's everyday make up looks like. But I love the look you're rocking right now. The hardworking rural girl is my favorite look."
"I'm flattered, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do."
"Oh, that's right- your brother's gotta be busy with the baby now, huh?"
"Sort of. My mom and Sasha and Jeff take turns watching her, but Karen more or less runs the supermarket now. My brother was trying to help her and my mother for a few months, but it was running him ragged, especially with a colicky baby keeping him up at night."
"So that's where you came in?"
"Yup," she straightened up proudly, throwing her chest out. "My dad didn't trust me when he left, but now his precious son has a girlfriend and a kid and a store to run. My mom needs me to look after the chickens and the accounts, and I'm awesome at it."
"Good for you!" Jack clapped her on the back, laughing. "You know what? Fuck Kai. I'm so glad you took all that pain in stride. I never knew what a strong person you were, Popuri."
She was beaming. "Neither did I." She planted her hands on the dock, pulled her feet out of the water, and scooted back a step. She then produced a small rag from her back pocket and dried off her feet, flicking sand out from between two toes, before tucking her feet back into their socks and then their shoes. She stood and patted Jack on the shoulder. "Hey, before I go."
"Yeah?" He glanced back.
She kissed his forehead. "I'd really like to do this again sometime."
"Yeah. Me too."
