"A TROUBLING STORY that is." Tom said, shaking his head. "I never before knew that there were pirates on the seas before. Heck, I never even knew there were islands out there. Quite an interesting tale these outsiders bring."
Artry took a long, slow sip of her tea, which Tom Nook had insisted be paid for. She, Sniggar, and Mayor Tortimer were seated with Tom around a table in the back, private area of his shop. There were many boxes of merchandise laying about, and only a swinging lightbulb to light the small room, making it feel very cramped and a little eerie.
"We were hoping," Artry said slowly, trying to pick her words carefully, "you could be convinced to donate some supplies for the poor crew. Their ship will be proper furnishings if our own villagers are to join the crew to go back and save their home, and a nice supply of food wouldn't be a bad idea."
Tom gave a hearty laugh. "No, I think not. Would be bad business to just give away the furniture. I'm afraid I'll just have to get you to buy if from me. Give me a number and I'll tell you how much I can give you for the price."
The mayor frowned. "I don't think you see how serious this is, Tom. These animals have no money. They couldn't afford any of your wares if they wanted to." His frown deepened. He didn't have enough money himself to pay for much, and it was too short a time to collect money from the villagers. If they couldn't get Tom to donate at least some, they would have to either put off helping the ship's crew, or turn them down altogether.
"Mr. Nook, with all due respect, it would do good for your reputation to donate supplies to the Wet Scoundrel's crew." Sniggar kept a straight face as she spoke, but she made Artry and Mayor Tortimer smile with her sudden brilliant idea. "If the villagers see that you are willing to be kind and do this, I can guarantee they will be more willing to spend their hard-earned bells here. If I knew you were a caring animal, I know I would shop here more."
A look of deep thought came over the greedy racoon's face. It went against everything he stood for to let anything go for free, but if it meant he could make up the loss later by getting more business....
"Indeed, I do believe you have a point there, Sniggar." he said, with one of his usual laughs. "And it's a sharp one too. I do have some furniture in the supply room that I haven't been able to sell yet. Surely our pirate ruffians will be able to survive with those."
There was an unseen sigh from Artry. "If you can just bring it all out front tomorrow, I'll send the crew to pick it up." she said, drinking from her tea cup again. "I'm more worried about food than furniture, though. Is there anything that you can offer so we don't have to go out and strip every fruit tree tonight?"
"Hoo hoo," Tom chuckled, "you do seem quite eager to get those ruffians out of our town, yes? Are they really that irritating?" He laughed once more at his clever joke and, when they refused to laugh with him, continued in a slightly more serious tone. "Hmm, yes, food is a bit more of a problem. I have plenty of fruit in the supply room, I run a continual trade of it with my cousins in other towns, and I have many turnips, but.... How are food items like that going to stay fresh for a whole voyage?"
The three sat in silence. They had all somehow assumed the food would stay good through the whole trip. "Great, this is going to be a problem." Sniggar said, lowering her head onto the table. "How did the crew keep fed through their trip?"
Tom Nook cleared his throat quietly, to attrack their attention back to them. Sniggar and Artry looked at him with curiousity, wondering what he had to say. Mayor Tortimer shook his head and kept his head down; he had experience dealing with the raccoon and knew he some money scheme ready.
"Where there is a will, there is a way, as they always say." Tom continued, not even noticing the slightly skeptic look the mayor wore. "There is a technology that may be used to keep our fruit fresh, something our ocean-faring friends might be familiar with. I have recently received a shipment of fridgerators- designed to keep all kinds of foods fresher for longer periods of time."
Artry nodded, going over the idea in her mind. "Yes, I've seen one in Henrietta's house. It just might work. How many could you give us, Tom?"
"Uh..." the raccoon replied cautiously, closing his eyes as though it was a painful thought, "I do not believe I could give you these for free. It would hurt my profit, yes? I'm afraid I'll have you charge you at least a thousand bells a piece."
There was a moment of silence, then an outburst of anger from Artry and Sniggar. "What?" The elderly bear cried, "you want us to pay that much? How are we supposed to come up with a few thousand for some frigdes tonight?"
"I knew it was too good to be true that you were willing to part with the furniture." Artry said quietly, throwing a quick glare at Tom Nook. "Our greedy little friend here has to earn bells whatever way he can." The great eagle shook her head, sadly, "I'm afraid we'll have to let our stranded friends stay in the extra homes free for a few extra nights until we can gather enough bells to pay the price."
The mayor smiled at his two friends. It seemed that they, too, were learning how to deal with their local shopkeeper. There was one sure way to get Tom to do anything one wanted, and that was to mention the words "free" or "profit." He used a forefoot to push his spectacles up his wrinkled nose and looked intently at the raccoon to see how he would respond to this. Sure enough, Tom was getting a little red in the face and didn't look like he liked the idea of letting boarders stay free one bit.
"Don't be hasty to wait so long." Tom said predictably, giving a nervous chuckle, "I do believe I could let them slide for a little less. How about five items for only three thousand bells? That's a much better bargain, yes?"
Artry was ready to stand up and do a little shouting until the price was something they could pay in the next day when Mayor Tortimer spoke up. "That is a good bargain, Tom, and we will take it tonight. I'll give you the bells now and you put the refridgerators in with the other furniture when we come to pick it up tomorrow. Now we come to our next order of business." he held up a foot to Artry, stopping her from protesting his paying out of his own shell. "Those who we send out are going to be in need of a map if they want to reach the home island of our guests in a timely manner. If you could, perhaps find us a map, it would be helpful."
A thoughtful look came over the face of the raccoon. He got up, muttering quietly to himself, and went into the next room. Artry, Sniggar, and Mayor Tortimer stared at the door where he'd disappeared. They could hear him shuffling papers and throwing open drawers, all the time keeping up his low mutters. Sure that he wouldn't return for a few moments, Artry turned her powerful stare at the mayor.
"You shouldn't have paid for it out of your own pocket." she hissed angrily, "He is just using it as a way to con us out of our bells. If he really does have a map of the ocean back there, the crew could surely use it to find safe islands to gather fruit on!"
The mayor shook his head. "I had to give Tom something. Since he mentioned it, I knew he wasn't going to let us drop it without making us pay for some of the furniture as well. There would be no point in helping us if he didn't earn at least a few bells off us."
Before he could say anymore or Artry could continue the argrument, the door to the supply room burst open and Tom stuttered into the room, blinded by a pile of old parchments that was bmurralancing dangeroyously in his paws. He dropped them on the table and gave a relieved breath. "Well, here you have it. These are all the maps I have. If you can find anything worthwhile, I'll be willing to sell it to you for the low price of two hundred bells."
Not wanting to argue about bells anymore, Artry and Sniggar started to go through the pile. They sent the messy stack flying to the floor, searching eagerly for a map that would help their friends and neighbors on the journey. As they pooyieworked through the pile at top speed, Mayor Tortimer picked up a couple maps they tossed aside and watched the ones they continued to shovel away. After they got near the bottom and nothing had been found, he began to grow impatient.
"This is no good!" he sighed. "There aren't but maps of other cities and towns here. Don't you have a sea map anywhere in this store? And I mean one showing more than one arbitrary island on it."
Tom shrugged. "Those are all that I have. They come from my brothers and uncles and cousins and nephews from all over the world. Most of us set up shop in towns, and I guess we haven't been really able to carry the business far across the ocean. We are all raccoons, you know, and none too good at swimming." He beganblub to go through some of the tossed aside maps, chuckling a little to himself. "Nope, I don't recall anyone in the family trying to work on even one of the close to shore islands before."
When the two had gotten to the bottom of the pile and found nothing of use, they decided it was time to go. "We shall return in the morning for the supplies you promised," the mayor told Tom Nook as they left, "and if they're not ready to go, the crew of the Wet Scoundrel will just have to stay here for another night. Be warned now that there is no way I'm going to let you charge the poor animals rent in the homes."
As soon as they were past the automatic doors of the Nook-Way and in the dark outside, Sniggar turned on Mayor Tortimer. The ancient turtle expected her to go off about his paying for the furniture himself rather than let the two of them help, but she had let Artry take care of that. What she said caught him off guard, and the cold, bold voice she said it in scared him.
"I have great respect for you, mayor, and I do not believe it is my place to speak against one of your desicions," she began, pausing slightly as though she herself were afraid to speak like this, "I do not believe it is right for my son to go. It is true what you said earlier, that they are going to need every available set of paws, but there is no need for my poor boy, young as he is to go. What use is a small bear going to do them? He'll be more of a hindrance than a help."
The mayor nodded knowingly. "It's quite fine, Sniggar, if you don't wish for your son to accompany our friends. It will be a dangerous quest for even our older members and I never intended him to go. He won't know that until tomorrow, though."
"Thank you, Mayor." the elderly bear said. She understood why he'd said it. Her son would be angry in the morning when he found that the ship would take sail without him, but she knew it was for the better. What good would he do the sailors at his young, vulnerable age, especially if he got caught by pirates upon reaching the island.
The three of them parted by the train station and said their good nights. Each of them feeling as though the world have changed massively tonight, they strode to their homes. Artry walked into her dark house and found herself unable to sleep, worried that somehow things had come together wrong. It felt to her that by sending out the members of her community to help their visitors in need, they were getting themselves into something much bigger. Something that would either end their lives or change them forever.