Part 2 – Spring, Yr1: New Prospects in the Horizon
The next morning Jenn slept in a little late. She woke up at 8:30 and began to tend to her crops. After sprinkling them with water from her watering can, Jenn promptly went to her chicken coop and fed her heads. Inside the coop was warm and cozy. No wonder the chickens laid such good eggs. Jenn checked her watch. It read 9:30. A quick nap right now would do her some good and later on she would go to the forest and rummage around for things she could ship. Instead of leaving the hen house and going into her own house to sleep, Jenn plopped right down where she was in the coop. Why the heck not? There was hay every so it was nice and soft. The worse that could happen is one of chicken would poop on her or peck her while she was sleeping, and somehow Jenn thought that they had better common sense than that.
Jenn found herself conscious in her own dreams. It was one of those times where you know your dreaming, and keep dreaming without waking up. She had done this a few times before, but hasn't done it enough to actually master and control her dreams.
"Jenn, dear, please put on that nice dress your father and I bought for you."
"I told you mom I don't want to go to that stupid dance with you two! I'm an adult already, I can make choices for myself! Now I'm going to that hockey game with my friends!"
"Jennifer Anastasia Russell, don't you dare take that tone of voice with me!"
"But mom!"
"Don't you but me! Think of all the things we have down for you, and this is how you repay us!"
"Calm down you two. Darling, let's not yell so loudly, ok? And Jenn, dearest, please do as your mother asks you to do? We aren't asking you to do that much are we?"
"Why won't you just let me do something I want to do for once? I'm sick of always trying to please you two! Nothing I ever do is good enough and you're always asking me to do more and more each day!"
Jenn snapped her head up and glanced at her surroundings. She was back inside her hen house. That dream must have been part of her past. She checked her watched to see how long she had slept.
"5:10?!?!" she cried.
Jenn had slept away most of the day. It was now evening and the shipper had already come. Rats. She exited the hen house and made her way to her own house when she noticed something stuffed in her mailbox. It was a bag of cookies, with a note attached.
"I didn't see you outside so I just put these in your mailbox. Hope you're feeling better Jenn.
Happy Thanksgiving.
-Your secret admirer."
"What?" Jenn asked herself slightly confused. "Cookies? On Thanksgiving? IN SPRING?"
Thanksgiving was supposed to be in Fall and you didn't give cookies to people, you ate turkey! She was utterly confused with the concept, so much so, she completely ignored the 'secret admirer' part. Perhaps this was just another local festival? Jenn put her cookies inside her fridge then set off for the Inn. Surely someone there could explain what this cookie business was about. As she left her farm two small sprite-like shadows ran out from a nearby bush. One was in bright red, and the other was in green. The green one was holding a felt-tip marker.
"Heh, now Jenn won't have to be alone so much, budum. If she thinks someone likes her, budum then maybe she can find a friend and they can like-like each other," Timid chirped.
"Whoever she picks will be a lucky guy, budum!" said Chef, "I used a super secret special recipe on those cookies that no one can refuse, budum. She will probably give that guy a big hug, budum."
-Scene Change-
"Oh, you got cookies!" Ann exclaimed. "You see, this is another tradition we have here at Mineral Village. In the Spring, Guys give cookies to girls that they like. And in the winter, girls give cake to guys that they like."
"So why do you call it "Thanksgiving then" Jenn asked.
"I dunno, I guess we always just did," Ann replied, "But this is exciting! You already got the attention of one of the bachelors here! I wonder who it is?"
Jenn gave Ann a puzzled look, then excused herself. She really didn't want to sit and gossip or speculate about men in the village, especially since it was getting so late. On her way back to her house Jenn didn't notice the two small sprites rush pass her, muffling giggles under their breath.
Back at her house, Jenn took out the cookies and some relaxation tea. She sipped at the tea and began to munch on the cookies. They were delicious. Her mind drifted as she began to make a meal out of the cookies. It was drifting back to that song she was singing to Cliff before she collapsed. She began to say the lyrics over and over in her head.
"What a crappy song," she said to herself.
'I agree.'
It was almost as if her own mind summoned those words to her. That voice was familiar. Not just a random voice pulled out from her memory, but a voice she heard in the village before. Or was her mind playing tricks on her? Maybe she just wanted the voice to sound familiar. Jenn was deep in thought for quite some time. She began to remember more lyrics from the song, and a few other small scenes, like her parents talking with someone and this gross guy they were trying to set her up with. She couldn't remember much more after that. Jenn sighed, and went to bed. She would just have to be patient and wait for her memory to come back to her slowly.
The week passed by quickly, and bits and pieces of Jenn's memory returned to her. She almost completely remembered all of time she spent on the ship, except for when she got washed off, naturally. Jenn never bothered telling any one else of her discoveries though. She didn't want to bother anyone in this town. Life was good, and everything was peaceful. Sometimes things did get a bit boring, but at least they had festivals at regular intervals to keep things alive. Jenn even went to a local horse race. Of course, her horse, Knight, wasn't nearly old enough to enter the race. Oh well, there was always next year. Mary informed Jenn that a few days after the horse race would be a Cooking Festival, just incase she was interested in entering. Mary had to be kidding. The only thing Jenn could cook up since she built her kitchen was Curry, and Relaxation Tea. Hopefully the Shopping Channel would have some product she could buy that would help her.
"I suppose it couldn't hurt to try…" she said to herself.
Jenn still wasn't very confident in her own Curry recipe, so she decided to enter Chef's Relaxation Tea recipe. Jenn carted the Tea to the Town Square and gave it to the Mayor to be entered in the contest. He set her entree down on a nearby table and the contest began. The Gourmet Judge went from table to table, testing each dish and making a comment on it. He came up to Ann's then Doug's, and was utterly delighted.
'Damnit! I forget I was against them! Now what? I'm going to end up losing…' she thought to herself.
Jenn was now nervous and began to fidget. The Judge was now approaching her table. He sampled her tea and his expression was blank for one moment.
'Here it comes…' she thought.
"This is magnificent! I've never tasted anything like this before! The blend of flavors is perfect. I announce the winner of this year's cooking contest to be JENN!"
Jenn was shocked. She didn't expect to do so well, but all of a sudden she won. And against Ann and Doug. Apparently, everyone else was shocked as well, because there was a deafening silence around them.
"Congratulations Jenn," Mary said, breaking the silence.
Everyone else congratulated her as well. Gray even came up and tasted the tea, confirming that it was indeed, excellent. Soon after, several of the other villagers tasted it as well.
"Hmm…I can't charge you for meals anymore at the Inn," said Doug. "Just kidding."
"Wow, I can't believe I won," Jenn murmured to herself.
"You shouldn't be," Doctor said to her.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"You just look like a person that always wins, that's all."
Jenn looked at the Doctor intently for a while. Could he be the guy that saved her? She remembered telling that guy that she always won. Maybe it's just a coincidence? After all, she said that same thing to Gray in mines, and Gray could have just told him or something…right? Jenn snapped out of her daze and offered Doctor some of her tea, so she didn't look like some kind of fool. It wasn't long before the festival was over and everyone went to their homes. But still something nagged Jenn about what the Doctor had said. She shrugged it off and went in her house. Spring was coming to an end and she had to work hard to finish up all her spring crops.
It was the beginning of the last day of Spring. Jenn now had an enlarged Hen house and was planning on buying a cow soon. She shipped the last bit of produce and chopped down the remaining plants that had started to whither. It was almost one o'clock and she really needed a break. The last past few days Jenn was working really hard, and by the end of each day, she was completely wiped out. She would go to the beach and swim for a little bit, just to relax. Beads of sweat were pouring down her face. Jenn wiped her forehead and decided now was a good time to stop working and a good time to go for a swim. As she exited the farm, she saw Popuri and May talking with that guy she met in the church when she first got here. What was his name? Kai?
"It's never really summer until you're here Kai," Popuri said in a ditzy voice with a day dreamy look on her face.
"Heh, I know Popuri," Kai said with a wry smile on his face.
Kai walked passed the girls and made his way to a very dirty Jenn.
"Hey gorgeous, remember me?" Kai asked in a sly tone.
"Unfortunately," Jenn said with sarcasm apparent in her voice. Kai was amused and played right along with it.
"Aw, you mean you haven't been dreaming of me night and day the same way I do with you?"
"I think that would be considered a nightmare, not a dream," Jenn replied with the same hint of sarcasm. A small grin grew on her face and she started walking towards the beach.
"Playing hard to get? That's alright, you don't need to deny the way you feel about me."
"I think the only one here in denial is you," she said from her far away position.
Defeat, yet amused, Kai ran up beside Jenn and asked where she was going.
"Ever since the days have been getting hotter, I've been swimming at the beach to relax."
"Oh, so you like to swim? I do too. In fact, I love swimming. I'm the best swimmer in my town, and in this one too," he said with a hint of mischief in his voice, "Oh course, I'm not all talk. I can prove to you that I'm the best in tomorrow's swimming festival. I take it I'll see you there?"
Jenn's grin grew. Slightly. "Alright then."
Once again, Kai flash off his million-dollar smile. "Great, I'll see you tomorrow then. Right now I have to go make reservations for my room at the Inn."
Kai left and Jenn was along on beach, still smiling.
"Maybe I'll enter that contest myself," she whispered to herself as she stripped down to her swimsuit and began to paddle out into the water.
~~~~~~~
Ok, It's been what? 3 chapters or so since I had an author's note, but like I said at the beginning of Spring, this was originally one huge chapter I decided to chop up into pieces just so it's easier on the reader. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Look forward to Summer, I have many surprises installed for it. :D Questions? Comments? Go ahead an say 'em ;D