Thank you for waiting patiently for me to have some free time in between my studies.
By now, it was a lot colder than the beginning of the season. This meant one thing: winter was around the corner.
Claire had heard from the other townsfolks that winter was not kind in Mineral Town when it came to crops. Nothing grew during that frigidness. It was another reason why she had decided to add to her herd.
The blonde-haired farmer slung her sickle on her shoulders, debating whether to cut her grass for fodder for the last time of the season. She then, in the corner of her eye, noticed a feminine figure with a splash of purple coming towards her. "Karen, this is a surprise," the farmer declared turning her attention to her guest.
"I know," Karen adjusted her purple silk scarf. Her outfit was a vast difference to what she normally wore – a purple vest over top of a white shirt with a jean short – when the weather was decent. Claire secretly admired her neutral coloured trench coat. "I just want to see how you are today."
"Well, to answer that, I'm alright so far. Work has decreased for the past few days, so it has been pretty relaxing on that front. But somehow I don't think that is your reason for coming."
Karen said nothing, avoiding eye contact with Claire. She occasionally looked on the ground, a look of hesitation splashed on her face. "What is it, Karen?" the blonde inquired further. She never had seen Karen act strange. "Oh damn, how seriou-"
"I like Andrew..." Karen blurted out. She tucked a strand of her light brown hair behind her ear.
"Everyone does here," Claire scrunched her nose.
"No, I like him," she now emphasized.
Claire mouthed an 'Oh,' realizing what she meant. Yes. Tell the person who has enough on her plate, she thought to herself. She mentally rebuked herself. This woman, after all, came to her – her! – in confidence probably thinking she could be trusted with the information. Claire took a deep breath, preparing what words to say.
Before she could, however, Karen quickly added, "I know it isn't fair throwing this on you, but it has been bugging me for awhile now. If I had told anybody else, I know somehow it would have gotten out and everybody would know. I wouldn't be able to live with myself, considering."
"But... you do know he is my brother."
Karen nodded.
"And you know he is with Ann who, I should add, is a friend."
This time, Karen slowly bobbed her head in acknowledgement.
"Right then. I'll keep your secret, of course. But I honestly do not know what you want me to do."
"Nothing, I suppose." She stuck her hands in the pockets of her trench coat.
Claire opened her mouth, ready to add to the conversation; but as if on cue, the subject of the women's brief conversation came strolling onto her farm. Noticing Claire's reluctance in talking, Karen turned around and shifted her stance. "I didn't expect to see you till Rick's," Andrew directed his statement at Karen as he approached the two women.
"Yeah, well, I should head over now."
"Claire and I will be leaving soon for Rick's. Why not join us?"
"No, no, I'm, I'm good," she replied, a bit scattered in her words. She turned her attention back to Claire. "Thank you for listening, Claire." And with that, she scuffled off the farm.
Andrew blinked a few times before directing his attention to his sister. "Why do you seem to have secret conversations that if anybody would overhear nobody would understand?"
"Why do you think that I do?"the blonde-haired farmer inquired. Tired from resting her sickle on her shoulder, she leaned it against the barn. She would deal with the possibility of cutting grass later. "You just so happened to appear at the end of the conversation. That's literally it, Andrew."
"Yes, but Ann-"
"Ann's a different story, my dear brother," Claire interrupted, knowing he was referencing the conversation she had with Ann back at the Harvest Festival, "and you know it. Besides, it's on the personal side what Karen told me."
"I see. Am I allowed to ask if everything is alright?"
Claire took a deep breath and promptly released it. "I think it will be," she stared off in the distance, "Eventually."
Her brother grunted in response.
Soon after, the two siblings headed off the farm. Their destination? The Poultry Farm. It was Rick's birthday – or more specifically, Rick and his family had invited a small number of people to their place in celebration. Claire and Andrew were not the only ones invited to the chicken farmer's place though. There was also Cliff and Karen.
Karen was an obvious invite, Claire had surmised from what she heard periodically from townsfolks. Her and Rick were best friends since childhood, after all. To her, it was only a matter of time before the two would hook up or something to that effect. Of course, her only reference of the eventual hook up between the best friends was based on her years of obsessing over fictional worlds. That, and her best friends in the city eventually hooked up, though she quickly pushed that scenario to the side considering the two did not know each other since childhood.
It wasn't completely out of the box of Karen liking Andrew in that way, but that did not mean the whole situation puzzled the blonde. Claire had noticed in her short time in Mineral Town that Andrew treated each bachelorette with respect and kindness. There was nothing wrong with that, of course. But Claire knew that it was only a matter of time before one of the other eligible women, also known as not Ann, would take a keen interest in her brother. She had thought that perhaps Popuri or even Mary would, but Cliff's sudden interest in the pink-haired woman and Kai's interest in the black-haired librarian threw that theory out of the window.
Glancing around the Poultry Farm, Claire's attention shifted periodically from listening to her brother converse with Rick and his mother Lillia, occasionally commenting herself, to observing Karen. She occasionally focused on Cliff as well whenever Popuri was nearby or talking to him. The way the long-haired man shifted his stance and conversed as he gained courage only to remain silent shortly after entertained the blonde.
Cliff was another puzzle Claire never got around in solving. Observing Cliff, she wondered why he was the subject of Ann's admiration. She never understood it. Was it looks? He was fairly rugged and handsome if one so happened to rest their eyes on him. Claire was certainly not blind to that, but neither did she understand why his mystique had lured her friend. He was just someone that blew into town who was extraordinarily quiet. From where he came from no one in Mineral Town knew. All except Carter who she suspected knew everything there was to know about the man, since Cliff had made it a habit to visit Carter at his church consistently.
It was starting to get darker and darker outside which signalled to everyone it was time to go their separate ways. The two siblings were the first to say their goodbyes to everyone, and once accomplished walked back to Claire's farm. Claire sighed in relief which grabbed the attention of her brother. "Exhausting, eh?" he spoke up.
Realizing that her sigh was louder than she expected, she quickly smiled and nodded in response.
"Let me rephrase," Andrew added stroking his chin, "it was exhausting to someone who did most of the talking." Claire bit the inside of her bottom lip.
"Sis, you were extraordinarily quiet," he continued after a brief pause. "Is everything alright? Was it whatever you talked about with Karen?"
There it was. Her brother inquiring yet again whether she was alright. He was doing that a lot more. At first, she did not mind. It reminded her of simpler times of when she had her brother to constantly look up to as an example. However, with the weight of the world practically on her shoulders and the uncertainty which came with it, being asked whether she was alright was slowly wearing her patience thin.
"No, yes – I just have a lot on my mind," the blonde somewhat snapped. The two of them were now standing in front of her house.
Andrew grabbed the door knob. He then twisted the knob, opening the door. He motioned for her to enter, looking at her in a very serious manner yet gently and kindly – the type of look only a brother would give when his sister needed him most. Briefly, Claire stared at him then quickly shuffled her way into her house.
This was going to be a long night for the both of them.
Once the pair made themselves comfortable on Claire's couches with her on one couch and her brother opposite of her, the coffee table between them, he gave her an expected look. "What do you want me to say?" the blonde started as she shifted her weight on the couch.
"I don't know, Claire. How about whatever is on your mind? And don't say it's nothing you can't handle. That excuse can only be used for so long. And I know I'm tired of hearing it. Talk to me." As he uttered his last sentence, the tortoiseshell cat hopped on the couch and proceeded to make herself comfortable on his lap. He stroked her, thus releasing a purr from the cat.
Claire avoided his stare somewhat. "It's not just one singular thing on my mind. More like a bombardment of things colliding with one another, not knowing where is the proper place to be." She focused more on him as she uttered the last word.
"Okay," Andrew blinked, "what's the one thing that's been bugging you the most?"
"Andrew, what are we doing?" the blonde sighed, "You're not exactly a psychologist."
"But I am your brother."
There was brief pause before Claire spoke up in response, " How... how do you know that you liked Ann?" It might have not been the most pressing matter on the blonde's mind, but if her brother was requiring her to talk about something with him, she figured this was better than saying nothing.
"Oh, that's easy," he sighed then continued, "the moment I saw her I just knew."
"Sure, but I mean, when you realized you liked her..."
"Oh, then probably when I struggled to get her out of my mind which was fairly immediate, I must admit. Just took a bit of – why are you asking this?"
"Did you ever like any other girl in town?"
"That's somewhat a relative question. Ann, Karen, Popuri, Elli and Mary all have likeable qualities. They're amazing women, and I've been blessed knowing them and everyone else here for that matter. Obviously, I have a favourite..." he trailed off then quickly snapped back to the matter at hand, "Claire, you're deflecting here. Why are you asking all of this?"
"Just wondered. I mean, you are a guy."
"What gave that away?" Andrew joked.
Claire stifled a laugh. "I just," she regained her composure, "I guess I wanted to know a little more of a guy's mind. Maybe."
"Ah. Wait..." the chocolate haired man lifted his index finger to mouth in contemplation, finding the right words to say, "does this mean you like someone in town?" He slightly pointed at his sister. The cat looked up at the inquiring man and soon received a pat on the head.
"I don't know," the blonde half-lied as she fiddled with her fingers.
"Hmm, right. Then again, the fact you asked tells me you really don't know," he concluded, expecting some sort of hint from his sister either through words or body language. Yet he completely missed an earlier tell. "I mean, sis, you must have had some experience before your arrival to Mineral Town. What's that telling you?"
"Not to listen to said experience..." She refused to hold eye contact at that moment.
Now that was obvious to Andrew. "Oh shit, Claire. I didn't mean to drudge up some bad memories." Claire waved it off with her hand, somewhat returning eye contact. "Tell me this though: were you the one to dump them?"
"Most, yeah. Though in high school, something strange happened."
Andrew cleared his throat, "High school?"
"Yeah. It was strange. Granted this ex was beyond awful. He," she paused to collect herself, "he didn't exactly treat me right. In retrospect, I don't even know why I was with him." Claire grabbed her elbows, slightly hugging herself.
"Sounds like an asshole and a bastard. So what happened?"
"Well, one day he came up to me and declared he wanted nothing to do with me."
"And you found that strange?"
"Uh, yeah. Cause the previous day he said quite forcibly that no matter what I was going to be his girlfriend, screaming that no girlfriend of his will talk to any other guy or anyone else without his knowledge."
"Okay, definitely an asshole and a bastard," Andrew narrowed his eyes. He then leaned somewhat forward, still allowing Minnie the tortoiseshell to lie on his lap peacefully. He cleared his throat yet again, "Any other details?"
Claire furrowed her lips to one side then quickly remembered a small detail, "As a mater of fact, yeah. Dunno how I almost skipped over this: on that same day, his face was extraordinarily gruesome to look at. To this day, I still dunno why he was sporting not only a black eye but also his whole left side was – let's just say it was bruised. I don't want to describe further if you catch my drift."
"Sounds like someone beat the hell outta of him," the chocolate haired man leaned back into the couch as he crossed his arms. He gave a tiny smirk, unnoticed by his sister.
"Logical assessment. Whatever the reason how or why or whatever – I learned one thing: get a spine. Cause Rassilon knows had that not had happened, I could be somewhere else. I needed to respect myself, you know? Of course, ha, that didn't stop me from going to men who ended up cheating on me. Baby steps, I guess."
There was a blanket of stillness that fell upon the room. Both of the siblings appeared to be in deep thought, none of them knowing what the other was thinking exactly. Andrew stroked the cat again on his lap before he decided to speak up, earning the attention of his sister again, "Claire, I – I wished-"
"Don't finish that. Don't think that. I already put you through many guilt trips. I don't need you doing that to yourself now. We are beyond that. It's the past. Besides, let's say you were there back then, there's absolutely no guarantee that either of us would be her in this town. You probably would have never met Ann. And the experiences that I had wouldn't have led me here."
"And you wouldn't have met Gray," he looked at her expectantly.
"And I wouldn't – hold up, I know what you are thinking."
"He's the only one that makes sense."
"Cause we hang out a lot?"
Andrew contorted his face as one would when hearing something obvious, "Well, what do you call visiting him at the blacksmith? Or him visiting you at your farm?" A scratching noise at the door disrupted the two siblings. Claire dragged herself off the couch then shuffled to the door. As she opened it, her three dogs bolted into the house, nearly giving the poor farmer a heart attack. She rolled her eyes and sat back down on the couch she had been sitting. Akira immediately hopped on the same couch and dwelt beside her mistress.
"I take it then that the two of you worked out whatever. I say whatever since none of you still won't say anything," Andrew then continued, glancing at what the other two dogs were doing. Zoey soon jumped on the same couch as Andrew and proceeded to make herself comfortable. Zeus, on the other hand, found the floor in front of the television comfortable enough for him to lie down.
Akira barked at him as if she were saying that there was another couch for him to chill. The German Shepherd looked at her then returned his head back onto the floor.
"Yes and no but that is something I'm dealing with," Claire responded to her brother as she patted Akira's head.
Her brother gave her an elaborate-please look; but when she did not say anything else, he continued with his original thought, "So, I take it that I am right...?"
Claire narrowed her eyes and bit the inside of her lower lip. She still was wrestling with the idea of admitting to herself fully that she had some sort of feelings for the blacksmith in question, even though she was sure her feelings did not match his. For the moment, she pushed those thoughts to the side and answered, "Not going to deny it nor am I going to confirm it." Akira then looked at her mistress and barked. "Don't you start with me, girl," Claire addressed the Australian Shepherd. Akira licked Claire's hand.
"Alright, sis, we'll leave it at that then," Andrew responded, as he observed the antics of the Australian Shepherd. The two other dogs were now settling in more for sleep with Akira still being alert of the surroundings. "As long as it is not Kai..." Andrew mumbled, thinking his sister would not hear.
But she did. "And why not?"
"Sis, we've been through this."
"Fine, what if I told you he kissed me at the end of summer?" The face Claire observed on her brother as well as his overall body language was as if a volcano would explode at any minute. She had expected this. Minnie decided she had enough of his lap and hopped off, sensing something off. Zoey opened her eyes somewhat watching closely the man near her. "Oh, calm down, Andrew. He really isn't what all the men in town seem to paint him as. Trust me. I would know. I don't know how many times I have to say this. At any rate, he got a rightfully deserved slap."
"That doesn't make what he did right, Claire."
"I didn't excuse his action, Andrew. I made sure his wrong act thoroughly received the consequences it deserved. Would have punched him, but I did that one time to a guy and my hand regretted it."
"Why did you mention it then?" Andrew took a deep breath. He made a mental note to watch Kai carefully next summer.
"To see your reaction more than anything else. And it reaffirms to me why I will not say right now who I may or may not like. My dear, brother, I know how you are," the blonde rested one of her hands on her chest. "Once I know for certain and am confident you will not overreact or be the very overbearing, overprotecting brother, you'll know."
"Fair enough, I think, but I don't think I will be that way with the other single men in town."
"And I'm not too sure on that. Andrew. Don't worry about it too much," she waved the matter away. "Just kind of expect questions now and then. Maybe."
"Alright, sis," he chuckled, "You win this one. For now."
"I always win," Claire smirk then laughed a bit.
The two siblings continued their conversation, and nothing was off limits. From the shows they both watched to shows that one did while the other did not – but the conversation was not strictly on flippancy. The two of them conversed on the time when they were not in each other lives. Granted, it was more Claire talking about her time in the city since most of their time apart Andrew spent in Mineral Town. But it was a much needed talk that Claire never realized she needed till now.
"Sis," Andrew scratched the back of his head knowing that what he would say next would change the topic of Claire''s time in the city, "I thought I would tell you this first."
Claire's interest perked as she sat up a bit straighter. She had a guess what her brother would say considering how long he had known a certain ginger. Akira cocked her head in response of her mistress' demeanour.
"I plan, quite soon actually," he continued, "perhaps beginning of winter – to pay our parents a visit."
Claire slouched back into the couch. Not what I was expecting...
"Before you say anything-"
"Why?"
"And here we go... if you allow me to-"
"What possible reason could you have to even consider that?"
"Claire, please, let me finish." The blonde nodded skeptically, her eyes getting narrower with each passing second. "I take it that when you left you took just essentials." Claire nodded not sure where he was going with his point but waited to hear more. "I want to go back and get everything else that we left behind. Anything from photos to memorabilia we acquired back then."
"I see."
"I shouldn't be gone too long. Just in and out as they say."
"Then," the blonde took a deep breath, "I'm coming."
"No you are not. You have a farm and whatever miscellaneous project you started. I need you here."
"But you shouldn't have to face them by yourself!"
"But I'm going to and to be frank need to. Claire, you aren't winning this one, so don't. I'm only telling you this so you don't hear about this from a second hand source."
"So I take it you haven't told Ann yet?"
"Something like that. She will soon be told though."
From this, the two reflected more on their childhoods – form the good to the bad. With the deeper conversation though came the rapid approach of morning. Neither one of the siblings seemed to realize the change of light coming through the windows nor the chirping of the birds outside. Both Zoey and Zeus started to wake up from their sleep while Akira remained just as vigilant as when she made herself comfortable beside Claire.
A familiar buzzing sound slapped Claire into the realization that it was indeed the next day. The farmer cursed underneath her breath. "It's morning already? This will be an interesting day for farm work."
"Morning? Seriously? Oh Ann is going to kill me alright..." her brother released a heavy sigh.
"I would expect not since you were spending quality time with your sister here."
"Yes one would think so, but it is my turn today in setting the dining area of the Inn."
"I'm sure she'll understand. If not, send her my way. You know I can lay on the guilt if needs be."
"That's very true," Andrew chuckled as he peeled himself off the couch. That was Claire's cue to stand up as well.
"Wait, what about breakfast?"
"Don't worry, sis, I'll be fine until I get to the Inn."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
The two of them headed for the door with the three dogs right behind them. Zeus and Zoey eagerly looked up anticipating the door opening.
"Oh, before I forget Claire. The Pumpkin Festival."
"The what?"
"It's this town's version of Halloween. But, but, don't mention that it is Halloween or even similar to it. Apparently to them it is not. Made that mistake first year here."
"Right..." Claire slowly nodded, somewhat confused, "What about it?"
"Ann, like usual, is throwing a party-"
"And let me guess: people need to be in some sort of costume. Can only imagine what other goodies she has in store," the blonde crossed her arms.
"Yeah, well, there's not much I can do about that. She's going to do what she is going to do," he cleared his throat before continuing. "But that's not why I wanted to mention it. We should coordinate. Been dying to coordinate with someone who is well cultured in the moving pictures." Claire cringed at that moment of her brother trying to sound sophisticated. Her brother, however, thought he was doing a great job. "Tried to one year with Ann and ended up doing what she wanted to do."
"Ahh, I see. You think if we settle on some sort of costume, you think you would then be able to avoid whatever Ann has in store for you."
"If I am telling the whole truth? Yes. Sis, please say yes," the brown haired man begged, "Now that Ann and I are dating, I'm not sure what she would want us to wear. And I don't want to know for awhile."
"Alright, Andrew. You don't have to convince me. You had me at 'we should coordinate,'" the blonde laughed at her brother. "An easy one would be the SGC uniforms, just throwing that out there. Nonchalantly."
"I'm not exactly going to say no to that, but at the same time we shall see."
"Or," Claire excitedly continued, "Romana and Narvin!"
Andrew winced somewhat, "I really don't want to wear something that would make me look like a penguin."
"Come to think of it, I suppose we don't have enough time to put those two together..."
"That's never stopped you before. We'll figure something out," the brown haired man ruffled the blonde's hair. "Stay out of trouble, sis." As soon as he opened the door, both Zeus and Zoey dashed out. He paused to add more to the end of the conversation, "For the record, Gray would be a good choice."
"You're trying too hard."
Smiling, Andrew shrugged his shoulders and left. The door remained open allowing the farmer to stare over her fields. Akira soon arrived within Claire's peripheral vision. The dog looked upon her mistress in a half tired way. "You know, you could have slept like the other two."
Akira barked in response.
The blonde laughed at her dog's antics. "Of course not." She slowly walked towards her kitchen, yawning and stretching as she did. The door remained opened for her two dogs.
As she prepared each of her dogs' food, her thoughts drifted to the person who was the last minute subject of her and her brother's conversation. Whatever she thought her feelings were was completely irrelevant. She knew she needed to acquire answers to at least give back to herself some sort of control of her life. How exactly? That was something for winter Claire to worry about.