Harvest Moon - A Wonderful Life, Indeed
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####### C.R. Roush #############
###### Copyright 2004 ###########
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UPDATE ALERT: I'd just like to correct myself... in Chapter One, I incorrectly acknowledged Celia and Marlin as Vesta's children. They are in fact not her children. Marlin is her younger brother and Celia is their niece. The change has been made.

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Chapter Two: A Road Not Taken

I tried to keep the farm running but it wasn't a one person farm. That winter Dolly, Dave's most prized heifer passed away. Although we still had one other cow and an almost mature calf, income wasn't running fast enough. The sheep managed to rake in a handful of gold at least three times a month, but I couldn't take enough time to grow any prize crops. Three days before winter ended, I was forced to tear down half of Dave's house for lumber to repair a broken fence. Without the fence, the cows would have gotten loose. Two of our fields deteriorated beyond fixing, and it looked like the farm was finally at its last point. Then he returned.

The sun had just set down on the valley when Jack first step foot on the fertile ground. With help from the light-posts he made his way towards Takakura's hut.

"Jack?!" He turned around after hearing a voice familiar to him. "Is that you?" Nami, perched on a wooden fencepost nearby Vesta's farm, waved at him frantically. She jumped down to the ground and nearly tackled him, but then a strange look crossed her face. "What are you doing back here?"

"I need to talk to Takakura... everything's all right with him, right?" He asked her, hoping her answer would be a good one.

"Oh yes, he's probably doing better than the most of us. It's the farm that's going downhill..." She closed her eyes and looked away, in the direction of the farm. It was then that she realized how much the entire Valley cherished the farm and desperately wanted it to stay alive, forever a part of their life.

"What's happened to it?" He asked he quizzically. Her face looked to be sad, and Jack knew from just the few times he had last seen her that she didn't do emotion too much.

"Well... maybe you should see it for yourself." Reaching into her knapsack she withdrew a large, clunky flashlight. Flicking it on, the light illuminated a long strip of the ground for them to see. Jack had just noticed how dark it had become. Finally they found their way to the top of the hill just before the farm and the beam of light passed through the pasture.

The grass was up to your knee, the large oak tree barely keeping its branches above ground. Jack noticed that Takakura hadn't been able to build the commemorative pond yet, and then he saw the most disheartening change of all. The house he had grown up in was barely recognizable. His old room and the kitchen were tore down leaving what used to be the living room as the entire living quarters.

"It's pretty bad, isn't it?" Nami asked him. She was just a few inches away but she was making it clear that she wasn't aware of the space between them. "Takakura has barely been able to ship anything out. Mineral Town's been threatening to cut off the trade but we all know that they don't want to if they don't absolutely need to. You need to talk to him, Jack."

"That's exactly what I came here for." He nodded, then thanked her. Running off in the direction of Takakura's house, he waved as she disappeared back into the Valley.

It only took two knocks to get Takakura out of bed, and when he opened the door he was more than happy to see the young man. "Jack! It's so good to see you! Come in, come in... it's too cold out here. Spring hasn't quite found us yet."

After sipping on some warm cocoa for a few minutes, Jack finally pressed the conversation towards the farm. "Tak... will you be able to keep the farm?"

"Son, this farm will forever be ours, the Valley's. Whether or not it's as good a farm as it used to be is a different question. I just don't have the energy to do everything myself anymore..." He looked out the window at the night sky, chewing on a cookie.

"Tak... when did you and Dad open this farm?"

"Well... it was probably... we would have been around 20. We both went into the city together, found nothing we liked and returned here. Dave's grandfather was still working on it with his other son, who was your uncle..."

"Uncle Rob? He died..."

"Just a year after we returned. Those were some of the best days of my life, working out in those fields with your uncle, your father, and his grandfather. I never felt uncomfortable around your family, Jack. Every Thursday was our big dinner together. Your grandmother would cook a big stew with all the trimmings... homeade bread, butter that we had churned just the day before, anything you could think of, we ate."

"That really does sound like a great thing..." Jack finished his cookie and cocoa and now turned his attention towards Takakura. His father hadn't told him of his grandparents too much, and it was comforting to learn about them from such a good family friend.

"It was... it was... Dave met your mother... well, I bet we were here maybe four years. She was a pretty little thing, came down to the Valley with her own grandmother, she was just getting to the point where she was close to death, wanted to escape the busy life of the city. I can remember working double the amount I usually would when Dave would go off with your mother, up to the springs or down to the beach. They were in love, they really were. They were so happy when you came along."

Takakura almost lurched forwards, catching his elbows in his knees. A loud sob echoed through the room. Jack scooted closer but was unsure of how to comfort the man. It was then that his decision was made.

"Tak... if you'll have it, I want to stay on the farm and help you out."

The man shuddered, his tears dripping from his face. He finally stopped the steady stream and looked up, a smile slowly forming on his lips. "You really mean that?"

"I do... I think I'm missing too much of a good thing." He smiled and leaned forwards, his arms wrapping around the man, embracing him tightly. Jack's only thoughts at that time were filled with the happy faces of his mother and father and their true friend. It wasn't an easy decision to make but Jack knew that at some point, at some time, he would have exactly what his parents had. And that made all the difference.