::Ok! The wild duck/penguin-loving author IS alive! The duckies have
played a trick on me; I was thinking about what to have happen next but
they gave me ideas for events far later in the story instead! (Those evil,
EVIL torturing duckies!!) But anyway, a ducky stayed to help me with this
chapter. I'm just sorry it took so long to make it! I don't want to go
day by day in this story- that would be pretty boring now, wouldn't it! So
I think I'll start skipping days. Anyway, I re-apologize for the dog.. I
feel bad 'cause I'm not sure if there's anyone who likes it, but either
way, I wrote it and that makes me an evil, EEVIL writer! Bad author! No
author treats! .....Man, being one's own master can get confusing like
that... Anyway, the ducky also gave me a few ideas for interesting
relationships later.. The sad thing is that I'm making this up as I go
along. Wait! I wasn't supposed to say that aloud! ..Is anyone reading
this...? *Slowly scootches away*::
"Come on!" The girl begged. The sun was setting over the peaks of the mountain range miles away, turning the late summer trees from golden-orange to a flaming red and the lakes to a shining yellow. "Sing with me! La la laaa la la laa laaaa... Oh, you're no fun! Sing with me! Pleaase??" She started the song again, and this time she was joined by a boy's voice.
"La la laaa la la laa laaaa, laa laa laaaa, la la llwwWWWAAAAHHH!!" Falling down a cliff! Smackity- wham! Whump! Jack woke up to a start, almost leaping out of his bed. For a few minutes, he stayed still, trying to regain his breath and berings. His sheets were damp with sweat, and it was 5:45 according to the clock on his wall. What a lovely dream. Finally he decided that it he may as well get up anyway since now he had chickens to take care of..
He briskly ran into the coop. There were five hens, happily clucking and five eggs they had laid. Jack scooped the eggs up one by one, and placed three of them into one of the magical transporting bins and the other two into his icebox for now. He then quickly made a makeshift pen for them to be in, since the weather report claimed a sunny day tomorrow. The ground was still wet from the storm the night before, but the warm sunlight would soon take care of that. Jack ran back and forth, grabbing a chicken from the coop and dropping them off in the pen. The first was confused, the second one was relunctant to go, the third was afraid of what the giant red- handkerchiefed thing would do, the fourth didn't do much about it, but the fifth recognized him.
It ran from him, darted to the side, dodged and ducked from him. Whenever Jack came close to grabbing the stubborn chicken, it would rapidly peck him like no tomorrow, forcing him to withdraw and give it the fraction of a second it needed to sprint its chicken legs to the other side of the coop. This brave, strong, and daring chicken was of course none other that Begak. Jack finally caught onto this half an hour later when he found himself pinned by the chicken once again, on the ground. This chicken wasn't so easily won over, obviously. Jack wrestled with the chicken for the fourth time and managed to catch it in his had. Begak clucked and pecked, but to no avail. Discontentidly, it preened itself and glared at Jack through the pen.
"Hello? Anyone here?" A voice asked across the field. Jack whipped around to see it was the young librarian. He ran up.
"Yeah, I'm here. Sorry, I was taking care of my chickens..." Jack took one last look at them, but Begak's hot glare told him to look elsewhere. "Is there something I can help you with?" The young lady looked to the ground.
"Well, actually I came to apologize for what happened a couple days ago.. I'm really sorry about your leg." Jack, a little taken back, started to laugh. The librarian was startled. "What's so funny?"
"Well, geez, it isn't like you didn't apologize enough when it happened, you know.. Hee hee hee, that's all you were saying, over and over again.."
"Oh, wow, you're right!" She giggled, "I'm sorry, I just wasn't sure if you were ok or not; it was a bad scrape.."
"Aw, it's nothing to worry about," Jack reasurred her, "If I'm going to run a farm I'd better get used to pain, ne?"
"Well, at least you're doing better..." She brought out a basket. "Anyway, I came to give this to you..." Her face turned slightly red. "Um, well, as yet another form of apology." She handed it to Jack, who took it in surprise.
"Woah! Thanks!" He smiled. "Now I don't have to cook lunch!" The two laughed, and Mary went along back to the library. Jack went to watering his plants. What exciting work, he thought. The job over before it was even 9:00, he decided to take a hike up Mother's Hill again. Along the way, Jack met one of his neighboors while walking by the lake; an older man with bushy, brown hair all over his face.
"Young man, where do you think you're going?" He asked in a blunt, loud tone. Jack helpfully pointed with a smile.
"I'm just taking a morning stroll." The older man's expression became serious.
"You should be careful then.. The mountain is not a thing to underestimate, especially if this is your first time on it." Jack was confused if the man was concerned or annoyed.
"Oh, well no, actually, I've been here when I was a kid."
"Say what?! I've lived in this village since I was born; I don't recognize you, you couldn't have lived here! I'm sorry, you must be a little confused.."
"Say what? Oh!" Jack laughed. "I'm sorry, jeez! I forgot to say, I just moved in!" The brown-bearded man was only more confuesd. "You see, I'm the grandson of the man who used to live on that farm.." He said, pointing.
"Oh, I get it!" The older man bursted out laughing. "I see, you're that kid who came here years ago! Wow, I thought that happened a bit more recently than that.. Oh well, it's nice to see that the old man's farm isn't going to waste.. I'm Gotz; I'm the one to turn to if you plan on expanding your house or barns."
"I'm Jack! It's nice to meet you!" Gotz looked around.
"Well, I'd love to sit and chat, but right now I'm looking for my breakfast... I use the mountain for my food. Anyway, it was nice to meet you too.."
"Well, I'll leave you to your gathering then. Bye!" Jack left and continued his hike. Along the way, he picked a few flowers that caught his eye in the small meadow, remembering the girl from his memory. A little higher, and he was now at the highest point in all of Mineral town, let alone anywhere miles around. The view was spectacular, with a large expanse of forest below, abundant vallies, snow-capped mountains in the distance, and crystal blue lakes spotting the area. How could he have forgotten such a sight??
"Hello? Jack?" He heard from behind. He whipped around to see Karen.
"Oh, hello, Karen! What are you doing here?" She walked up to him near the edge.
"I come here now and then for the view.. Besides, it gets me out of the house, you know? What are you doing here?"
"Ah, not much.. I finished my work early, so I decided to take a walk up here. Quite the view!" Karen smiled.
"I know.. I've been coming up here since I was a kid." Jack looked at the beautiful scenery when his train of thought crashed. Duh! This was the place he dreamt about last night!! Carefully inching, Jack peered down the hill's sharp edge. "What are you doing..?" Karen asked in a cautious tone. Jack didn't reply; his mind was too busy reliving the fall. "Jack..? Are you alright..?" It was this hill... This exact same hill.. Right here... "Jack? Hello? Are you hearing me??" Jack noticed he had once again leaned a little too far.
"WHAYAAIIEE!!" He screamed, flailing his arms like a particular chicken, turning 180 degrees, and falling over the edge. He suddenly jerked, mind still giving a confused frenzy of thoughts, when he realized he was facing the cliff's wall. Looking up to see what stopped him from falling the other 147 feet down, he saw a worried Karen holding onto his hand while laying on the hill's surface.
"What were you thinking?!" She yelled. He couldn't respond; he couldn't even give himself an answer. She hauled him up to the top like a bundle of crops. "Are you alright??" Shakily, Jack dusted himself off.
"Thanks.." He sheepishly said, unable to find any decent way to regain dignity, "..I'm fine.."
"What were you thinking? Could you even hear me?" He glanced back at the drop, and then made a quick mental council as to whether or not to tell her about his dream last night.
"Well, I was kinda distracted.." Should I tell her, he was rapidly thinking, would she even believe me?
"By what?"
"Well..." Pause. "I had a dream last night where.. Where this girl and I were here, standing.. I think it was based off of a memory from my vacation here, I don't know.. But I dreamt I fell off and then I woke up.. I was distracted because I was freaked out about how similar this all looked." He glanced about once more. "In fact, I think it actually IS the same hill." Karen cocked her head.
"Well, that certainly IS an odd thing.. Oh well, so long as you stay awar from that edge for a while, ok?"
"Sure.. Thanks again." The two left the hill and went back into town, parting at his farm. Jack thought of activities to get his mind off of the hill incident. It was 1:40 now. Time sure seemed to go fast here..
Memories of a frantic Rick running away from a certain dog made him wonder if he should pay the poor orange-haired one a visit, but then Jack remembered that Rick had given him the chickens to take care of in the first place because his mother was sick, so a guest probably wasn't what he needed right now... Right then a particular organ we like to call the stomach told Jack it was time to eat. Now. However, having almost fallen over 150 feet nearly vertically, not even ten minutes ago, made him somewhat relunctant to cook. So, recalling the midget mayor's words that the inn also served as a restaraunt, he quickly departed that general direction for some food while the author didn't notice that he had already recieved a good lunch earlier in this chapter. (Who cares? Plot development good! He was saving it for later! Really!)
"Um.. Excuse me..?" A voice mildly interrupted his hungry strut. Turning around, he saw a young man about his age, but by his face and clothes, it was obvious he was an experienced traveller. His clothes may have once been colored, but they were now calm shades of brown and worn. His dark hair was somewhat long, kept in a ponytail to avoid any extra need of caring for it. It looked as though the poor man had just stepped into civilization from the bushes for the first time... Jack was startled, but couldn't find any words to say to the stranger.
"..Is there something I can help you with..?" He finally asked. The dusty- chocolate haired on looked down and humbly scratched his head, searching for words.
"Yeah, uh.. Is there an inn nearby? Or somewhere I can stay for a while..? You see, I've been traveling for some while and wanted to rest for a few days.." Jack absentmindedly pointed to his destination without knowing it, a little shocked and confused.
"Yeah.. It's over there; I was just heading there myself." The stranger smiled to hear the news and his weary face brightened. A pause without a single word in sight. "Where are you heading, anyway?"
"Oh! Well, I.. I kinda left home to travel... Not for anything in particular, but.." He looked down again, then snapped his gaze back to Jack. "Sorry, I should introduce myself if I'm going to be around here for a while.. I'm Cliff." Jack made put on his normal friendly smile.
"Nice to meet you, Cliff. I'm Jack. I just moved in here myself." Cliff smiled back.
"Oh really? What brought you here?"
"My grandfather used to run a farm here.." Jack's stomach reminded him of his interrupted journey. "Hey, I'm not sure about you, but I'm famished... Want to get lunch? It'll be on me." Cliff was startled, smiled, but then remembered manners.
"I shouldn't, I was the one who took you out of your way. I'll pay for it." Thus the interesting battle of politness began.
"Oh, no, I insist! You just got here!" The first line of fire was sent!
"Yes, and it should be my treat to you as temporary new villager." The counter attack was unusually strong!
"I'm a new villager too! You must be tired, and besides, you're going to be paying to stay at the inn; I insist I'll pay for it." Cliff was cornered! Then, looking to the left, he found an escape route; and some ammo with it.
"You should save that money for hard times if you're a farmer. I'm just a traveler, I can manage to get money when I need it; I don't have a particular home or job to take care of." Jack thought for a few seconds for a counter attack, but then the reinforcements came!
"I'm the one who offered to go to lunch, I believe I should pay for it and you be the guest since you just arrived." Once again Cliff's defense was battered. He searched wildly for any form of offence he could take, but the situation seemed hopeless.. "Do you surrender?"
"I give up.." He sighed amusedly. Together, they strutted into the inn and equally ate a scary amount of meals.
"Come on!" The girl begged. The sun was setting over the peaks of the mountain range miles away, turning the late summer trees from golden-orange to a flaming red and the lakes to a shining yellow. "Sing with me! La la laaa la la laa laaaa... Oh, you're no fun! Sing with me! Pleaase??" She started the song again, and this time she was joined by a boy's voice.
"La la laaa la la laa laaaa, laa laa laaaa, la la llwwWWWAAAAHHH!!" Falling down a cliff! Smackity- wham! Whump! Jack woke up to a start, almost leaping out of his bed. For a few minutes, he stayed still, trying to regain his breath and berings. His sheets were damp with sweat, and it was 5:45 according to the clock on his wall. What a lovely dream. Finally he decided that it he may as well get up anyway since now he had chickens to take care of..
He briskly ran into the coop. There were five hens, happily clucking and five eggs they had laid. Jack scooped the eggs up one by one, and placed three of them into one of the magical transporting bins and the other two into his icebox for now. He then quickly made a makeshift pen for them to be in, since the weather report claimed a sunny day tomorrow. The ground was still wet from the storm the night before, but the warm sunlight would soon take care of that. Jack ran back and forth, grabbing a chicken from the coop and dropping them off in the pen. The first was confused, the second one was relunctant to go, the third was afraid of what the giant red- handkerchiefed thing would do, the fourth didn't do much about it, but the fifth recognized him.
It ran from him, darted to the side, dodged and ducked from him. Whenever Jack came close to grabbing the stubborn chicken, it would rapidly peck him like no tomorrow, forcing him to withdraw and give it the fraction of a second it needed to sprint its chicken legs to the other side of the coop. This brave, strong, and daring chicken was of course none other that Begak. Jack finally caught onto this half an hour later when he found himself pinned by the chicken once again, on the ground. This chicken wasn't so easily won over, obviously. Jack wrestled with the chicken for the fourth time and managed to catch it in his had. Begak clucked and pecked, but to no avail. Discontentidly, it preened itself and glared at Jack through the pen.
"Hello? Anyone here?" A voice asked across the field. Jack whipped around to see it was the young librarian. He ran up.
"Yeah, I'm here. Sorry, I was taking care of my chickens..." Jack took one last look at them, but Begak's hot glare told him to look elsewhere. "Is there something I can help you with?" The young lady looked to the ground.
"Well, actually I came to apologize for what happened a couple days ago.. I'm really sorry about your leg." Jack, a little taken back, started to laugh. The librarian was startled. "What's so funny?"
"Well, geez, it isn't like you didn't apologize enough when it happened, you know.. Hee hee hee, that's all you were saying, over and over again.."
"Oh, wow, you're right!" She giggled, "I'm sorry, I just wasn't sure if you were ok or not; it was a bad scrape.."
"Aw, it's nothing to worry about," Jack reasurred her, "If I'm going to run a farm I'd better get used to pain, ne?"
"Well, at least you're doing better..." She brought out a basket. "Anyway, I came to give this to you..." Her face turned slightly red. "Um, well, as yet another form of apology." She handed it to Jack, who took it in surprise.
"Woah! Thanks!" He smiled. "Now I don't have to cook lunch!" The two laughed, and Mary went along back to the library. Jack went to watering his plants. What exciting work, he thought. The job over before it was even 9:00, he decided to take a hike up Mother's Hill again. Along the way, Jack met one of his neighboors while walking by the lake; an older man with bushy, brown hair all over his face.
"Young man, where do you think you're going?" He asked in a blunt, loud tone. Jack helpfully pointed with a smile.
"I'm just taking a morning stroll." The older man's expression became serious.
"You should be careful then.. The mountain is not a thing to underestimate, especially if this is your first time on it." Jack was confused if the man was concerned or annoyed.
"Oh, well no, actually, I've been here when I was a kid."
"Say what?! I've lived in this village since I was born; I don't recognize you, you couldn't have lived here! I'm sorry, you must be a little confused.."
"Say what? Oh!" Jack laughed. "I'm sorry, jeez! I forgot to say, I just moved in!" The brown-bearded man was only more confuesd. "You see, I'm the grandson of the man who used to live on that farm.." He said, pointing.
"Oh, I get it!" The older man bursted out laughing. "I see, you're that kid who came here years ago! Wow, I thought that happened a bit more recently than that.. Oh well, it's nice to see that the old man's farm isn't going to waste.. I'm Gotz; I'm the one to turn to if you plan on expanding your house or barns."
"I'm Jack! It's nice to meet you!" Gotz looked around.
"Well, I'd love to sit and chat, but right now I'm looking for my breakfast... I use the mountain for my food. Anyway, it was nice to meet you too.."
"Well, I'll leave you to your gathering then. Bye!" Jack left and continued his hike. Along the way, he picked a few flowers that caught his eye in the small meadow, remembering the girl from his memory. A little higher, and he was now at the highest point in all of Mineral town, let alone anywhere miles around. The view was spectacular, with a large expanse of forest below, abundant vallies, snow-capped mountains in the distance, and crystal blue lakes spotting the area. How could he have forgotten such a sight??
"Hello? Jack?" He heard from behind. He whipped around to see Karen.
"Oh, hello, Karen! What are you doing here?" She walked up to him near the edge.
"I come here now and then for the view.. Besides, it gets me out of the house, you know? What are you doing here?"
"Ah, not much.. I finished my work early, so I decided to take a walk up here. Quite the view!" Karen smiled.
"I know.. I've been coming up here since I was a kid." Jack looked at the beautiful scenery when his train of thought crashed. Duh! This was the place he dreamt about last night!! Carefully inching, Jack peered down the hill's sharp edge. "What are you doing..?" Karen asked in a cautious tone. Jack didn't reply; his mind was too busy reliving the fall. "Jack..? Are you alright..?" It was this hill... This exact same hill.. Right here... "Jack? Hello? Are you hearing me??" Jack noticed he had once again leaned a little too far.
"WHAYAAIIEE!!" He screamed, flailing his arms like a particular chicken, turning 180 degrees, and falling over the edge. He suddenly jerked, mind still giving a confused frenzy of thoughts, when he realized he was facing the cliff's wall. Looking up to see what stopped him from falling the other 147 feet down, he saw a worried Karen holding onto his hand while laying on the hill's surface.
"What were you thinking?!" She yelled. He couldn't respond; he couldn't even give himself an answer. She hauled him up to the top like a bundle of crops. "Are you alright??" Shakily, Jack dusted himself off.
"Thanks.." He sheepishly said, unable to find any decent way to regain dignity, "..I'm fine.."
"What were you thinking? Could you even hear me?" He glanced back at the drop, and then made a quick mental council as to whether or not to tell her about his dream last night.
"Well, I was kinda distracted.." Should I tell her, he was rapidly thinking, would she even believe me?
"By what?"
"Well..." Pause. "I had a dream last night where.. Where this girl and I were here, standing.. I think it was based off of a memory from my vacation here, I don't know.. But I dreamt I fell off and then I woke up.. I was distracted because I was freaked out about how similar this all looked." He glanced about once more. "In fact, I think it actually IS the same hill." Karen cocked her head.
"Well, that certainly IS an odd thing.. Oh well, so long as you stay awar from that edge for a while, ok?"
"Sure.. Thanks again." The two left the hill and went back into town, parting at his farm. Jack thought of activities to get his mind off of the hill incident. It was 1:40 now. Time sure seemed to go fast here..
Memories of a frantic Rick running away from a certain dog made him wonder if he should pay the poor orange-haired one a visit, but then Jack remembered that Rick had given him the chickens to take care of in the first place because his mother was sick, so a guest probably wasn't what he needed right now... Right then a particular organ we like to call the stomach told Jack it was time to eat. Now. However, having almost fallen over 150 feet nearly vertically, not even ten minutes ago, made him somewhat relunctant to cook. So, recalling the midget mayor's words that the inn also served as a restaraunt, he quickly departed that general direction for some food while the author didn't notice that he had already recieved a good lunch earlier in this chapter. (Who cares? Plot development good! He was saving it for later! Really!)
"Um.. Excuse me..?" A voice mildly interrupted his hungry strut. Turning around, he saw a young man about his age, but by his face and clothes, it was obvious he was an experienced traveller. His clothes may have once been colored, but they were now calm shades of brown and worn. His dark hair was somewhat long, kept in a ponytail to avoid any extra need of caring for it. It looked as though the poor man had just stepped into civilization from the bushes for the first time... Jack was startled, but couldn't find any words to say to the stranger.
"..Is there something I can help you with..?" He finally asked. The dusty- chocolate haired on looked down and humbly scratched his head, searching for words.
"Yeah, uh.. Is there an inn nearby? Or somewhere I can stay for a while..? You see, I've been traveling for some while and wanted to rest for a few days.." Jack absentmindedly pointed to his destination without knowing it, a little shocked and confused.
"Yeah.. It's over there; I was just heading there myself." The stranger smiled to hear the news and his weary face brightened. A pause without a single word in sight. "Where are you heading, anyway?"
"Oh! Well, I.. I kinda left home to travel... Not for anything in particular, but.." He looked down again, then snapped his gaze back to Jack. "Sorry, I should introduce myself if I'm going to be around here for a while.. I'm Cliff." Jack made put on his normal friendly smile.
"Nice to meet you, Cliff. I'm Jack. I just moved in here myself." Cliff smiled back.
"Oh really? What brought you here?"
"My grandfather used to run a farm here.." Jack's stomach reminded him of his interrupted journey. "Hey, I'm not sure about you, but I'm famished... Want to get lunch? It'll be on me." Cliff was startled, smiled, but then remembered manners.
"I shouldn't, I was the one who took you out of your way. I'll pay for it." Thus the interesting battle of politness began.
"Oh, no, I insist! You just got here!" The first line of fire was sent!
"Yes, and it should be my treat to you as temporary new villager." The counter attack was unusually strong!
"I'm a new villager too! You must be tired, and besides, you're going to be paying to stay at the inn; I insist I'll pay for it." Cliff was cornered! Then, looking to the left, he found an escape route; and some ammo with it.
"You should save that money for hard times if you're a farmer. I'm just a traveler, I can manage to get money when I need it; I don't have a particular home or job to take care of." Jack thought for a few seconds for a counter attack, but then the reinforcements came!
"I'm the one who offered to go to lunch, I believe I should pay for it and you be the guest since you just arrived." Once again Cliff's defense was battered. He searched wildly for any form of offence he could take, but the situation seemed hopeless.. "Do you surrender?"
"I give up.." He sighed amusedly. Together, they strutted into the inn and equally ate a scary amount of meals.