Jason looked up into the sky as he read the letter placed in
his mailbox. 'What the….? That's what Grandpa left to me? Besides his old bandana and ten packets of
seeds?' He looked at the letter
again and again- it had been postmarked someplace called "Mineral Town", and
had obviously been forwarded at great speed.
He read it over again, the words still sinking in.
To Mr. Jason Icasea:
Your grandfather's will has been opened and read, and you
are required to be in presence here at the Icasea ranch spread by 10 A.M. the
31 of Winter. If you do not appear by
that such of a time, the inheritance will be split and go to the highest
bidders.
Pack your articles of clothing and such, as I think you
will need them when the terms are discussed.
You are allowed to bring nothing more than a pet dog, five hundred gold
pieces, and the items that you pack.
I await your arrival.
Sincerely,
Mayor Thomas, Mineral Town
Jason shook his head, thinking of what the news meant. Sure, his grandfather had died a short time
ago. He missed him- all those years of
going to the farm, looking at the quiet nature of the town- but why were they
calling him back there? There couldn't
be anything there by now- in his last years, Grandpa had let the fields lie
fallow, as farm work was too much for his body.
'Must be the matter of the taxes from his passing. They must want the estate taxes…. Sheesh."
Jason walked back up the driveway to his home, where he
lived with his mother and sister, Sarah.
Both were sitting on the couch watching the "New Year's Special"
television programming.
"Any mail?" his
mother asked, looking up at him from the couch.
"Well… there's a few bills…. That book club's threatening to send collectors after me if I
don't send them the 230 G they want for my membership, and I got a letter from
the mayor of that little town I used to go to for summer vacation."
"You got a letter all the way from Mineral Town? At this time of year?"
I passed Mom the letter so she could read it. Her eyes scanned it and then looked up at
me.
"They want you to come and take care of things, maybe close
up the farm so they can have a tax auction.
Real shame."
"Well, it says I need to take about ten changes of clothes,
pocket change, whatever's in my room that I want to take, and Blazer."
Hearing his name, my pet puppy jogged out into the living
room, trailing another shredded sock- one of my good ones, AGAIN…..
"They want you to leave the 31st? That's tomorrow, Jason! Are you going to go?"
I shrugged. "I think
I have to. Grandpa let me stay with him
all those years, I can't turn my back on that place. I'll get packed right away."
I was starting off to my room to gather my various outfits-
until I considered the fact I might be doing a lot of dirty work- farms were
almost always dirty, it seemed- from the dirt of the fields to the mouse poop
in the silo to scooping up cow flops out of the pasture so nobody slipped and
fell…
As I was reaching for my pair of coveralls that I had bought
to help out at the county fair last year when I needed a few extra G, I folded
them up and placed them in a suitcase that had been under my bed for maybe
three years. Then I gathered various
shirts, especially those that made me look kind of cool.
'If my memory is as good as I think it is, I think I
remember there were several young ladies in that town. Not to mention they must have grown up by
now. Which means somebody might be
looking for a boyfriend.'
In the middle of my daydream, the phone rang.
"I got it!" said a
voice- Sarah, as usual, could hear the phone ring through three brick walls- at
least if she thought it was one of her friends calling….
She picked it up and talked for a few seconds, then called
my name.
"Jason! Phone! It's from Mineral Village!"
I raced back out, almost falling over Blazer in the process,
and grabbed the phone from her.
"Hello?"
"I assume I am speaking to Jason, then?"
"Yes, this is him.
Can I help you?"
"Yes! This is Mayor
Thomas, calling from Mineral Village. I
just wanted to know if you had gotten my letter."
"Yes, Mr. Mayor. It
just came today. So, what do you need
me there for?"
"Well, it's about the farm.
We've been thinking, as a village, that maybe we ought to sell the farm
to pay for the estate taxes. But the
fact of the matter is, it seemed like a good plot of land going to waste. So, we read your grandfather's will, and we
were surprised."
"You mean Grandpa left something for me? I thought…"
"Well, the big question I called today is to see if you are
in fact coming down to our town tomorrow to claim your inheritance. I understand if you don't, but I was hoping
that you would come down…"
"I'm packing right now.
I'll hopefully be there by the early morning ferryboat crossing. It depends on the weather, though. I might be a little late if it turns foggy
again."
"I think we can manage a few minutes either way. So, I'll be expecting you at the docks
tomorrow, then."
A whispered voice could be heard on the phone, and the mayor
spoke in soft whispers with somebody else, who then went ahead and called out
to somebody else to "get the old Icasea place in a state of good repair, he's
on his way". The mayor then came back
on the phone.
"Well, then. You'll
be there, tomorrow, 10 A.M.?"
"Yes. I'll see you
then. Goodbye, Mr. Mayor."
"Yes, goodbye, lad. I'll see you tomorrow."
The line was closed with a click, and I walked over and sat
down in a chair in the kitchen.
"What was that about?"
I turned.
Mom was standing there, clothes in hand, as she had been for
the last few minutes.
"I think they want to give me something."
"What do you mean?
The lawyers said the only thing he had left you was an old bandana and a
few packets of seeds. What could they
be planning on giving you?"
I thought long and hard, contemplating my conversation.
'Let's see. They
want to give me something, but they ask that I bring my dog, five hundred G,
and about ten pairs of clothes. What
could they want with me?'
"I think…."
"What?" my mom wondered, having gone back to folding clean pairs
of socks into balls.
"No, never mind.
They wouldn't be trying to do what I think they're doing."
"Come on, tell me!
I'm your mother, Jason. You can
tell me anything."
"Well…." I started, not sure what to make of my idea, "You remember Grandpa left me a few bags of
seeds and his old bandana? The only
tools he said he ever needed- besides the ones in his toolbox- to farm?"
"Yes… I'm washing it right now. The seeds are on top of your dresser, I think."
"Something tells me I'm going to need them."
Mom thought for a minute, then her eyes went wide.
"You don't think…. They're giving you the farm?"
"Maybe. I mean, why
else would I take my own things, a small amount of money, and my pet dog?"
"You might be right…. Which means this is your first chance
at independent living."
Mom let a little tear fall out of her eye.
"I knew this day was going to come, sooner or later, but I
didn't expect it to be so sudden.
You're moving out."
"Well, I have to.
I'm not ruining this chance of a lifetime."
Mom let a smile cross her face and then returned to her task
of folding socks and undershorts. Even
if I am 19, I can't pack a suitcase for anything.
The 31st dawned clear and sunny, the last of
winter's chill fading away as the spring breezes waited to blow in warmer
air. I waited for the ferry to appear
at the pier downtown, Sarah and Mom beside me.
We had awoken early, after a long session of laser tag with
our respective groups of friends, who were kind of depressed that I was
leaving.
Then, this morning, we had gone out to my favorite
restaurant and ordered breakfast. I got
my usual- scrambled eggs, sausage, and pancakes with plenty of orange cup
juice. After that, it had been time for
gift-giving- Mom having surprised me with a laptop computer she had her friends
at work put together for me. It came
loaded with all sorts of cool programs- even that latest version of AOL that
could work through a satellite hookup so I could keep in touch. Then Sarah had come forward with a wrapped
package- letting me open it and find the videos she had personally selected for
me- including "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", which I had been looking for
since I saw a snip of it on PBS.
Out of nowhere, a foghorn blew its loud, mournful sound out
over the water. The old ferryboat
slowly floated in from the ocean, several people on board, I saw. The only one who caught my attention was an
older man with blondish-red hair. Kind
of a light orange, it looked like. He stepped off quickly as the people who
sailed the boat did also.
"Going to Mineral Village, are you?" I looked over to see a man with dark skin
and white hair.
"Yeah. I got a
letter and I'm supposed to be there today in about four hours. Think we can get there by ten?"
"Sure. It wouldn't
be a problem. Let's get that luggage of
yours loaded up and we'll get set to go."
It took the two of us about half an hour to get my luggage
stored down below, after which it was announced that the ferry was leaving for
Mineral Village in five minutes.
"Well… looks like this is it. You be careful, Jason."
"I will, Mom. Take
care of the cats, and-"
"Wait. I figured you
might need a few mousers, and since I hate cooping them up in the
basement…. I'm sending Snip, Licky, and
Male Cat with you, where they can run around out on the farm." She reached over and pulled a pet carrier
loaded with three cats- an economy size one, at that- and deposited it on the
deck next to Blazer's carrier. They
immediately started meowing, and I sat down and let them smell my fingers
through the bars in the front. They
quieted somewhat; relaxed that someone they knew was with them.
The foghorn sounded again, and the engine started taking the
boat away from the pier. I waved back
at Sarah and Mom as they waved at me, wishing me the best and that I be back
sometime, no matter what.
The guy with the white hair looked back at me. "Quite a lot of stuff to be taking, isn't
it?"
"No, but I usually don't get to go somewhere in the blink of
an eye." I shook my head. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about
Mineral Village, would you? I haven't
been there for maybe eight, nine years."
"Well, not much has changed." He started, then looked at me.
"You must be Jason.
The boy the Mayor was in such a state about."
"I am. I take it you
must know the town pretty well."
"I do. I live on
this boat. It's my business and my
home. My name's Greg, nice to meet
you."
I reached out and took his offered hand in a handshake. "It's nice to meet you, too. So, what's been going on in the town
lately?"
"Well, the big announcement that you're coming to town is
kind of the big news… other than that, the vineyard's part-time helper quit,
but it won't matter to them until this next fall…."
Greg kept talking and I kept listening, thinking back about
all the people I had known when I had last visited. Especially those five girls who would be undoubtedly turning into
cute potential girlfriends. (Note:
Don't flame the author. The
farmer's a guy, what guy doesn't want a cute girl on his arm for the rest of
their lives?)
'Let's see…. There
was that pink-haired girl next door at the poultry farm…. Then there was that
one who lived with her grandmother, the best midwife in three counties
around… then that shy one, always with
a book in her hands….. and that one at the Inn, where we went to eat sometimes,
and the Inn's owner would always have a few cookies for me. She was a feisty
one, I think. Wanted to learn how to
play football, I think. And finally….
That one at the market, with the long brownish hair and the great singing
voice. I wonder how everyone is….'
Eventually, a strip of
land could be seen on the horizon, and it slowly turned into an island with
towering mountains in the background.
"Mineral Village, ahoy!"
the call came from the boat's front, and we prepared for docking by bringing up
all my luggage to the deck .
The cats meowed somewhat,
Blazer barked a bit, and I steadied myself as the boat slipped into port. It eventually came to a stop at a short pier
next to a house, with a truck next to it, and a man in a red suit with a red
top-hat walked forward as I stepped onto the pier.
"Welcome to Mineral
Village, Jason. It's good to see you
again."
I reached out and shook
his hand. "Same here. And it's nice to see the town hasn't changed
one bit."
"Well, we've got plenty to
catch up on. But you've got to be kind
of tired."
He pointed to the
truck. "Zack will take your things up
to the house. Why don't we go to the
Inn and eat there? Everyone's out
working, so I think we'll be the only ones there, except for Doug."
The
truck rolled away as I told the driver- a big, muscular guy- to be careful with
the animals, and we proceeded to walk up the steps.
Well, that's all for the
first chapter. Chapter 2 will have
Jason's first meeting with many of the villagers for the first time in 10
years.
Please Read and Review!