Lightning-Dono: I thought that was a pretty intense chapter. I mean - wow! Anyhow, now for some answers to my reviews.
Ann Fan - Thank you for the comments, once again! You have made my day. =) I don't mind reviewing 'Unwanted', it's a very good fanfic and it deserves all of them!
Gabriele (sp?) - Thanks for the information on Rick's father! I would never have guessed that his father's name was Rod, especially after the many fanfics with his father as Basil...I was beginning to have my doubts about ever finding out his name.
(Incase you all didn't know, this chapter is going back to Rick's PoV)
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I couldn't understand why Jack had suddenly fallen into a hole labeled 'Irresponsible'. I couldn't get over the fact that Fate was dead, for one thing. Being his friend and everything, I'd check on his chickens regularly. Just a week ago, his farm was blooming with a scent of growing business. Now I was having very thickheaded doubts about him being able to represent our island with his farm. But this was the next day, so I decided absent-mindedly that I wouldn't dwell on that too much.
But there was some good news. Karen got her bandages off and it was announced that her new liver tissue was operating without trouble.
"Rick, hun, would you please feed the chickens?" My mother's voice shattered the glass shield protecting my daydreams and I from the outside world.
"Sure," I replied, as though in a very strange dream. I walked outside and greeted the warm sunshine with a radiant smile, forgetting about Jack for a split second. I filled the grain sack and sprinkled some in the chicken pen.
"Bok bok booookk!" One of the chickens clucked, rushing over to the newly sprinkled food.
"There you go, buddies," I said quietly, absolutely glowing as I watched them tackle each other for a change at the food. Some would find it strange to talk to chickens - after all, there was no hint that they could actually hear me. But it made me feel all nice and fuzzy inside, just being able to communicate with the animals, even though I wasn't very sure they understood a thing I said. I still supposed that they got the idea.
"How long are you going to kneel there and gawk stupidly at the chickens?" Popuri asked me. I was beginning to notice a dramatic change in her attitude lately. But that was all part of growing up. I didn't expect her to be nice all the time, even though that sure would be nice.
"I'm just feeding them," I shot back. "Why, is there something wrong with feeding the chickens?"
Popuri looked slightly offended. "Fine." She walked off, glancing back at me with something that looked like sympathy and hate that combined to form a very unidentifiable look.
I shrugged and watched as she walked towards the Goddess Pond. I still feared that Kai had come back a couple of seasons early to sweep Popuri away like a housekeeper would dust. Then propose to the already infatuated girl and the next thing I knew, they would be married. And I'd never see my sister again. I knew I was being a completely paranoid freak about it, but I couldn't help but wonder.
Then, I heard a very self-proclaimed trotting. It sounded a lot like horse hooves clacking against a hard cement ground. That was probably because it actually was. I turned my head to see a mahogany horse trotting proudly down the road. I got up, tossed the grain bag aside, and ran up to it.
"Whoa, there!" I said. It stopped and looked back at me, it's nostrils twitching strangely. It swished it's tail irritably and continued on until I roughly tugged at it's mane. This time, it growled and huffed at me crankily.
"Stop, boy. Who do you belong to?" I whispered into it's ear. Yet again, I didn't know why I did that. As if it was actually going to open it's mouth and tell me whom it belonged to, although that would help a lot. It shook it's head boisterously at me and something jangled. A tag? I patted it under the chin and it lifted it's head tentatively. I reached for it's neck and found a metal tag hanging off a belt that was tied around it's neck. How creative. The belt struck me as familiar, but I couldn't quite place who I had seen with this belt on before. Besides, it wasn't like everyone has their own customized belt. Many people probably bought this brand.
"Hold still, okay?" I told him softly, unlatching the belt carefully. The horse held surprisingly still.
The tag read: "Joey belongs to Jack of Jazz Farm. Joey was given to Jack by Barley on the 3rd Day of Spring by Barley of Yodel Farm".
Great. Now I could feel the horrid feeling of hatred towards the young boy coarse through my veins. I never really did care too much for horses because of a childhood experience, but how could he let his horse walk free like that? He probably didn't realize that his horse, as any horse was (besides wild ones), was dependant on the daily oats and sugar cube treats that he provided.
"I'll get you over to Barley, okay? He'll know what to do." I led the horse by holding it's mane to the Yodel Farm. There, I was greeted by Stu and May chasing each other around the cows. That was definitely going to disturb their grazing (not like there was any grass to graze on to begin with), but Barley had more control over them.
"Why, good morning, Rick! What brings you here this morning?" He asked as I walked in after tying Joey to the fence with a length of rope so he wouldn't escape.
"Good morning to you, too. There's something you might want to see outside," I returned, watching as he got out from behind the counter and followed me outside.
"What's he doing here?" Barley demanded, checking the horse for injuries and cracks in the hooves.
"He was just trotting up the road. Isn't he the horse you gave to Jack the first few days of farming?"
Barley turned away from the horse for a bit, taking in a deep breath. Now he was going to launch into a story? Maybe I should've kept my stupid mouth closed.
"You're darn well right this is the same horse. Yes, I remember that day. I went up to him and told him that if he didn't grow it into a full-grown horse by the end of the year I'd take it back. And look! Three seasons later and he's already gotten it full-grown. Way before schedule, but you know. He was a fairly bright fellow. Despite recent rumors..."
I let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't some long explanation about what he had observed over the last few seasons.
"Yes. Fate, one of his major egg-selling chickens, died. He got rich off of her."
Barley rubbed his bald spot thoughtfully. "I wonder what's gotten to him? Must be the pressure."
"Must be," I lied, faking an agreeable nod. It wasn't that I didn't trust Barley, but he had always been very social and there was no telling what he would say to his regular customers to make conversation. I decided that we should talk about something else for a change - talking about Jack made me feel worse about myself. "So, are you going to return Joey to him?"
"Under these circumstances, no," Barley replied sternly. "He shouldn't be letting his horse walk free like that." I smiled weakly, thinking about Jack holding me hostage in his dreaded house until I told him where his horse was. But not even Jack could be that depraved.
"Have a nice day, Barley!" I called as I walked out of the proximity of the farm, heading back home.
That's when I spotted Jack rounding the bend with a crazed look on his face.
"Holy crap," I whispered, panicking. He just couldn't find me. But I bet he already saw me, so I just continued to walk towards him, resisting the urge to jump up onto a tree and hide up there.
"There you are," he growled, using the ever-so-popular tackle and pinning me against a tree. So much for my great escape plan of bounding up a tree and hiding. Now he was using it against me. "Where's Joey!?" he shouted, grabbing a very pointy stick. Had this guy gone homicidal over night?
"I have no idea," I said, feeling slightly un-heroic. Why was I going to risk my life just to save some horse? But certainly he wouldn't kill me?
Jack breathed into my face continuously. "I know you hid him somewhere!" He held the point of the stick up to my shoulder. "I won't do much damage over some horse, but I will hurt you!"
"Why?" I asked, speaking too soon. I remembered the horse races. He must've been getting ready for those!
"You know very well what, dimwit! Now, before I injure you greatly, tell me where you put my horse."
I shifted the position of my shoulder and kicked him in the shin. He obviously didn't notice that my legs were still free. He stumbled backwards and I made a run for it.
Passerby must've found this scene very bizarre. A blonde-haired boy wearing a green long-sleeve and blue apron-like piece of clothing being chased by another boy that was holding a pointy stick above his head like an Indian at war. After running around the block, Jack's cap flew off and landed in someone's yard, revealing a mass of messy chestnut-colored hair.
"I'm going to get you!" He shrieked, turning the heads of many people. He grinned apologetically back at them.
"What's wrong with you?" I shouted back at him, crashing behind someone's pile of chopped wood to the side of their house. Jack, blinded by anger, ran past without paying attention to the pieces of chopped wood that were slowly rolling into the road. It turned out to be the ones by the Winery. Manna rushed outside and found me lying on top of the wood tiredly.
"What are you doing?" She asked angrily, her voice shrill. I feared that Jack might hear, so I shushed her, getting up painfully as though a bunch of splinters had just been stuck into my body.
"Jack was chasing me with a pointy stick," I told her, breathing heavily. She ran out and gathered all of the wood that had fallen into the road.
"Why would Jack be doing-,"
"He thinks I took his horse. His horse got free, you see, and I took it to Barley. Now he's trying to injure me-,"
"THERE YOU ARE!" Jack's voice echoed throughout the whole town. The problem was that Officer Harris was just getting outside on his rounds a bit late and saw Jack standing there, holding the stick in one hand and advancing on me. He ran up to us and grabbed Jack's stick away.
"It's no fun fighting an unarmed opponent, is it?" He said cheerily, throwing the stick into Manna's woodpile. "You, young man," he pointed an accusing finger at Jack, "have no right to be chasing Rick around like this."
"He stole my horse," Jack told the officer calmly, as though they were best friends.
Officer Harris frowned. "Why did you do that?"
"I didn't steal his horse! His horse is with Barley because it was walking around free so I delivered it to Barley..."
The officer nodded sensibly.
"Jack, did you know the mayor has everyone's phone numbers filed? He has everyone's - including the one to your parents."
Jack froze momentarily.
"You wouldn't dare," he said, taking a step back from the officer, who looked as though he were about to go berserk.
"And what makes you think that? Look, you owe Rick an apology. Plus, you're coming with me." He nudged Jack in the back.
"...sorry, Rick," he said meaninglessly. He had gone pale and looked like he was going to be sick.
"It's okay," I muttered blandly, not making eye contact with him. Besides, he didn't get that respect from me. "Besides, won't you want to call your parents after all this time?"
He looked down at the ground. I watched those clear, liquid droplets fill his once bright eyes. He looked up at us with eyes displaying angst, letting those tears fall down his face like miniature rivers. Sniffing, he wiped them away stubbornly with the sleeve of his shirt.
"My dad died last year. The phone number you have belongs to him. My stepmother already ran off."
Ann Fan - Thank you for the comments, once again! You have made my day. =) I don't mind reviewing 'Unwanted', it's a very good fanfic and it deserves all of them!
Gabriele (sp?) - Thanks for the information on Rick's father! I would never have guessed that his father's name was Rod, especially after the many fanfics with his father as Basil...I was beginning to have my doubts about ever finding out his name.
(Incase you all didn't know, this chapter is going back to Rick's PoV)
-----
I couldn't understand why Jack had suddenly fallen into a hole labeled 'Irresponsible'. I couldn't get over the fact that Fate was dead, for one thing. Being his friend and everything, I'd check on his chickens regularly. Just a week ago, his farm was blooming with a scent of growing business. Now I was having very thickheaded doubts about him being able to represent our island with his farm. But this was the next day, so I decided absent-mindedly that I wouldn't dwell on that too much.
But there was some good news. Karen got her bandages off and it was announced that her new liver tissue was operating without trouble.
"Rick, hun, would you please feed the chickens?" My mother's voice shattered the glass shield protecting my daydreams and I from the outside world.
"Sure," I replied, as though in a very strange dream. I walked outside and greeted the warm sunshine with a radiant smile, forgetting about Jack for a split second. I filled the grain sack and sprinkled some in the chicken pen.
"Bok bok booookk!" One of the chickens clucked, rushing over to the newly sprinkled food.
"There you go, buddies," I said quietly, absolutely glowing as I watched them tackle each other for a change at the food. Some would find it strange to talk to chickens - after all, there was no hint that they could actually hear me. But it made me feel all nice and fuzzy inside, just being able to communicate with the animals, even though I wasn't very sure they understood a thing I said. I still supposed that they got the idea.
"How long are you going to kneel there and gawk stupidly at the chickens?" Popuri asked me. I was beginning to notice a dramatic change in her attitude lately. But that was all part of growing up. I didn't expect her to be nice all the time, even though that sure would be nice.
"I'm just feeding them," I shot back. "Why, is there something wrong with feeding the chickens?"
Popuri looked slightly offended. "Fine." She walked off, glancing back at me with something that looked like sympathy and hate that combined to form a very unidentifiable look.
I shrugged and watched as she walked towards the Goddess Pond. I still feared that Kai had come back a couple of seasons early to sweep Popuri away like a housekeeper would dust. Then propose to the already infatuated girl and the next thing I knew, they would be married. And I'd never see my sister again. I knew I was being a completely paranoid freak about it, but I couldn't help but wonder.
Then, I heard a very self-proclaimed trotting. It sounded a lot like horse hooves clacking against a hard cement ground. That was probably because it actually was. I turned my head to see a mahogany horse trotting proudly down the road. I got up, tossed the grain bag aside, and ran up to it.
"Whoa, there!" I said. It stopped and looked back at me, it's nostrils twitching strangely. It swished it's tail irritably and continued on until I roughly tugged at it's mane. This time, it growled and huffed at me crankily.
"Stop, boy. Who do you belong to?" I whispered into it's ear. Yet again, I didn't know why I did that. As if it was actually going to open it's mouth and tell me whom it belonged to, although that would help a lot. It shook it's head boisterously at me and something jangled. A tag? I patted it under the chin and it lifted it's head tentatively. I reached for it's neck and found a metal tag hanging off a belt that was tied around it's neck. How creative. The belt struck me as familiar, but I couldn't quite place who I had seen with this belt on before. Besides, it wasn't like everyone has their own customized belt. Many people probably bought this brand.
"Hold still, okay?" I told him softly, unlatching the belt carefully. The horse held surprisingly still.
The tag read: "Joey belongs to Jack of Jazz Farm. Joey was given to Jack by Barley on the 3rd Day of Spring by Barley of Yodel Farm".
Great. Now I could feel the horrid feeling of hatred towards the young boy coarse through my veins. I never really did care too much for horses because of a childhood experience, but how could he let his horse walk free like that? He probably didn't realize that his horse, as any horse was (besides wild ones), was dependant on the daily oats and sugar cube treats that he provided.
"I'll get you over to Barley, okay? He'll know what to do." I led the horse by holding it's mane to the Yodel Farm. There, I was greeted by Stu and May chasing each other around the cows. That was definitely going to disturb their grazing (not like there was any grass to graze on to begin with), but Barley had more control over them.
"Why, good morning, Rick! What brings you here this morning?" He asked as I walked in after tying Joey to the fence with a length of rope so he wouldn't escape.
"Good morning to you, too. There's something you might want to see outside," I returned, watching as he got out from behind the counter and followed me outside.
"What's he doing here?" Barley demanded, checking the horse for injuries and cracks in the hooves.
"He was just trotting up the road. Isn't he the horse you gave to Jack the first few days of farming?"
Barley turned away from the horse for a bit, taking in a deep breath. Now he was going to launch into a story? Maybe I should've kept my stupid mouth closed.
"You're darn well right this is the same horse. Yes, I remember that day. I went up to him and told him that if he didn't grow it into a full-grown horse by the end of the year I'd take it back. And look! Three seasons later and he's already gotten it full-grown. Way before schedule, but you know. He was a fairly bright fellow. Despite recent rumors..."
I let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't some long explanation about what he had observed over the last few seasons.
"Yes. Fate, one of his major egg-selling chickens, died. He got rich off of her."
Barley rubbed his bald spot thoughtfully. "I wonder what's gotten to him? Must be the pressure."
"Must be," I lied, faking an agreeable nod. It wasn't that I didn't trust Barley, but he had always been very social and there was no telling what he would say to his regular customers to make conversation. I decided that we should talk about something else for a change - talking about Jack made me feel worse about myself. "So, are you going to return Joey to him?"
"Under these circumstances, no," Barley replied sternly. "He shouldn't be letting his horse walk free like that." I smiled weakly, thinking about Jack holding me hostage in his dreaded house until I told him where his horse was. But not even Jack could be that depraved.
"Have a nice day, Barley!" I called as I walked out of the proximity of the farm, heading back home.
That's when I spotted Jack rounding the bend with a crazed look on his face.
"Holy crap," I whispered, panicking. He just couldn't find me. But I bet he already saw me, so I just continued to walk towards him, resisting the urge to jump up onto a tree and hide up there.
"There you are," he growled, using the ever-so-popular tackle and pinning me against a tree. So much for my great escape plan of bounding up a tree and hiding. Now he was using it against me. "Where's Joey!?" he shouted, grabbing a very pointy stick. Had this guy gone homicidal over night?
"I have no idea," I said, feeling slightly un-heroic. Why was I going to risk my life just to save some horse? But certainly he wouldn't kill me?
Jack breathed into my face continuously. "I know you hid him somewhere!" He held the point of the stick up to my shoulder. "I won't do much damage over some horse, but I will hurt you!"
"Why?" I asked, speaking too soon. I remembered the horse races. He must've been getting ready for those!
"You know very well what, dimwit! Now, before I injure you greatly, tell me where you put my horse."
I shifted the position of my shoulder and kicked him in the shin. He obviously didn't notice that my legs were still free. He stumbled backwards and I made a run for it.
Passerby must've found this scene very bizarre. A blonde-haired boy wearing a green long-sleeve and blue apron-like piece of clothing being chased by another boy that was holding a pointy stick above his head like an Indian at war. After running around the block, Jack's cap flew off and landed in someone's yard, revealing a mass of messy chestnut-colored hair.
"I'm going to get you!" He shrieked, turning the heads of many people. He grinned apologetically back at them.
"What's wrong with you?" I shouted back at him, crashing behind someone's pile of chopped wood to the side of their house. Jack, blinded by anger, ran past without paying attention to the pieces of chopped wood that were slowly rolling into the road. It turned out to be the ones by the Winery. Manna rushed outside and found me lying on top of the wood tiredly.
"What are you doing?" She asked angrily, her voice shrill. I feared that Jack might hear, so I shushed her, getting up painfully as though a bunch of splinters had just been stuck into my body.
"Jack was chasing me with a pointy stick," I told her, breathing heavily. She ran out and gathered all of the wood that had fallen into the road.
"Why would Jack be doing-,"
"He thinks I took his horse. His horse got free, you see, and I took it to Barley. Now he's trying to injure me-,"
"THERE YOU ARE!" Jack's voice echoed throughout the whole town. The problem was that Officer Harris was just getting outside on his rounds a bit late and saw Jack standing there, holding the stick in one hand and advancing on me. He ran up to us and grabbed Jack's stick away.
"It's no fun fighting an unarmed opponent, is it?" He said cheerily, throwing the stick into Manna's woodpile. "You, young man," he pointed an accusing finger at Jack, "have no right to be chasing Rick around like this."
"He stole my horse," Jack told the officer calmly, as though they were best friends.
Officer Harris frowned. "Why did you do that?"
"I didn't steal his horse! His horse is with Barley because it was walking around free so I delivered it to Barley..."
The officer nodded sensibly.
"Jack, did you know the mayor has everyone's phone numbers filed? He has everyone's - including the one to your parents."
Jack froze momentarily.
"You wouldn't dare," he said, taking a step back from the officer, who looked as though he were about to go berserk.
"And what makes you think that? Look, you owe Rick an apology. Plus, you're coming with me." He nudged Jack in the back.
"...sorry, Rick," he said meaninglessly. He had gone pale and looked like he was going to be sick.
"It's okay," I muttered blandly, not making eye contact with him. Besides, he didn't get that respect from me. "Besides, won't you want to call your parents after all this time?"
He looked down at the ground. I watched those clear, liquid droplets fill his once bright eyes. He looked up at us with eyes displaying angst, letting those tears fall down his face like miniature rivers. Sniffing, he wiped them away stubbornly with the sleeve of his shirt.
"My dad died last year. The phone number you have belongs to him. My stepmother already ran off."