On Horseback
Chapter 16: Footprints In The Snow
Karen had convinced me never to go to a bar again, and I agreed with her. I had obtained a hangover so large, that I was actually considering to kill myself. Fortunately, Karen was at my house that night, and took care of me. She said that it happened to people many times, but the worst really was the first time that you drank alcohol.
On Winter 5th, a few days later, I went over to Jack's house and saw him outside in his fields. Snow still hadn't inhabited the ground yet, so he was planning for the Spring, as there was no vegetable that would live through the Winter in Flower Bud Village.
"Hi, Jack," I greeted him.
Jack took his cap off, and said, "Hey, Ann. How are you?"
Since we hadn't seen each other since our picnic, we socialized about what we had been doing for the past few days. Jack mentioned that he had finally added on a bathroom to his house and that he was saving up for a greenhouse. I told him about getting drunk and he laughed and laughed and laughed.
"I don't drink," Jack told me. "So I wasn't really all that interested in coming. I mean, I will have a bottle of beer from time to time, or if I'm just craving some -which I almost never do- but otherwise, I'm not really into alcohol and such."
I nodded. Jack was always so open about himself, and would never lie about anything. If he did lie, then that was a pretty rare site. People who are always true to themselves were hard to run across in Flower Bud. There was Jeff and the only other one was Jack.
Putting a hand on my shoulder, Jack asked me, "So how are Popuri and Gray doing in the big city and all that? What was that place called again? Silver Mountain?" I giggled. "Silver Sapphire, and yes, they're doing well."
I told Jack exactly what Popuri had written in their last letter. It said that they planned on getting married in the city, and that they probably weren't going to come back to Flower Bud. Popuri was currently sick, but her doctor says that she may be pregnant. Jack found that amazing! They were also considering selling the mansion, and moving into the suburbs, after they get married. If Popuri did have children, that's what was going to happen. If not, then most likely they were staying in Silver Sapphire.
"Why the sudden urge to move?" asked Jack. I shrugged. "We didn't get a letter back yet, so we'll find out in a few days. Anyways..." I was starting to get bored, and was wondering if we could go anywhere together.
All of a sudden, I jumped to my feet.
"Let's go to the mountains and make an igloo!" I shouted. Jack looked at me with a lost expression on his face, and then I quickly repeated, "Let's go to the mountains and make an igloo! I mean, why not?" Jack laughed and said, "Okay, Ann. I don't see why not. I'll pack some sleeping bags." When Jack said that, I became stumped. "Errm, whatever for?" I asked. The farmer answered, "I've never slept in an igloo before." He winked at me.
It did sound exciting. I, too, had never slept in an igloo either, as it'd probably hit below zero degrees and that would be freaking freezing. But we would go anyways, despite the temperature.
Flower Bud Village certainly didn't have much snow around it, but Moon Mountain always had snow. Once we arrived at the foot of the mountain, there was snow left, right and centre. "Oh! Cool!" I cried. There was more snow than usual this year, which put me on cloud nine. We would be building one big igloo...hopefully.
We began building the igloo next to the river, which was still running.
"Not cold enough to freeze it over?" Jack joked and I chuckled.
There was enough snow to easily make two or three igloos. Of course we wouldn't be doing that, but that just proves that there was a lot of snow on the ground. A lot of it.
When we had built a quarter of the igloo, I told Jack that I had to go somewhere. "Where?" he asked me before I could take off. "Don't worry. Only up to the vineyard for a couple of minutes. I'll be back so rapidly that you won't even see me disappear from this spot." I took off and Jack cried, "I saw you disappear! You lose!"
As I was walking, I shook my head. Silly farmer. I picked up the speed and I knocked on Karen's door after reaching the vineyard. Sasha opened the door and said, "Ah, good afternoon Ann. If you're looking for Karen, I'm afraid she's not in right now. She went to the church to help the children out with their reading. Isn't that sweet of her?"
Nodding, I said, "Thanks, Sasha. See you later."
I arrived back at the igloo a minute later and Jack said, "So, what did you need from her?" I shrugged. "Nothing really. Actually, I was going to ask her if she wanted to come and join us. It's too bad she's at the church helping the children with their reading." Jack let out a large "Awww", followed by a, "Isn't that sweet? She had a good reason not to be home."
The igloo took us a long time to built. A few times we even considered stopping the construction on our "masterpiece" but decided in the long run to continue what we had come to the mountains for.
At 5:30, Karen came to the mountains. "You guys are making an igloo?" she yelped.
I laughed for a minute before replying, "Sure are. How were the children?" "Angels," Karen began. "None of them threw any crayons and they always raised their hands when wanting to ask a question. That's wonderful for kids that are about seven or eight-years-old. The only problem was that Stu, one of the kids, always left the pews every three seconds. He was annoying, but otherwise, all was good."
Karen got a pile of snow and started helping us with the igloo. Not even a minute into her helping us out, she quickly questioned, "Why do you have sleeping bags? Are you planning on having cold-" Jack threw his earmuffs at her mouth before she could say whatever she was going to say next.
"That's just wrong, Karen," Jack said, and I laughed again. I understood what he meant. Yes, Karen was being totally nosy...and disgusting.
Punching some of the snow on the igloo, I asked Karen, "When are you and Kai to wed?" Of course, Karen started acting like she was in the spotlight and did a little dance. "You see, Kai and I are so much in love that we decided to have the wedding on Winter 28. That's one day before my birthday."
I smiled a fake smile and said, "I know, Karen. I've been your best friend since kindergarten."
Karen stuck her tongue out at me and charged at me full speed, knocking me down. "You silly old goose!" I cried out loud. Jack was a little surprised, but continued working on the igloo, whistling his way through our small wrestle.
Finally, I got up and punched Karen on the shoulder. "Ouch! Anyways. Oh, Ann, do you have the time?" I quickly checked my wristwatch and said, "Yes. 5:55. I assume that you've got to get to work?" Karen nodded. "Thanks. Catch you later."
At around 9:00 p.m., Jack and I finished the igloo. It was like a classical painting inside of a...classical painting. Well, it was real pretty and I just had to take a picture of it. I did too, with Jack in front of it.
"Are we going to really sleep here tonight, Jack?" I asked my friend.
"Yes," he replied.
"I hope we'll be okay."
"We'll be fine. Have faith."
"I do." That was a lie, and Jack caught me.
"Ann, everything will be fine. You don't need to worry, okay?" I nodded a small nod and then looked at the sky. The stars were shining. I loved the stars when they were so bright. And tonight, they were the brightest that I'd seen in the longest of times. They would be the brightest on the Star Night Festival, though.
Before we turned in, I asked Jack, "Do you believe in love at first sight?" Jack pondered the thought, for which seemed like a long time, and answered, "I don't." I looked at him and asked, "Why?"
Jack took his cap off and shook his head. "Sorry, my hair was getting sweaty." He threw the cap into the snow and then answered, "Well, Ann, love is something you don't just obtain once you meet someone. It takes a bit of time before you truly realize that you've fallen in love with someone."
I continued to stare back at Jack and then I said, "Have you ever fallen in love with anybody in your life?"
The farmer looked at me and grinned. "Yes, there was Hannah, someone I knew a long time ago, when I lived back in the city. I loved her to death, but we got separated when she had to move away. It was sad. There's also another girl..."
Curiously, I asked, "Who?"
Jack looked back at me, with his mouth slightly opened, and answered, "Well...I don't remember her too well. I was at least five-years-old at the time. I came to my grandfather's farm to visit, and I met a girl who was my age. I promised her that I would come back one day, and I did. I kept my promise. But she isn't here anymore. And if she is, then I don't know where she is. I fell in love with her."
My heart skipped a beat.
I felt like falling over. Oh, god. It was like my heart was enlarging.
Stronger feelings approached. It was happening again. Every time my heart skipped a beat or felt like it was going to stop working, my feelings for Jack grew. And it was happening again. I was beginning to see him as someone that I wanted to spend my life with. For various reasons, and one of them is...
...That story. And then it hit me.
"You do believe in love at first sight," I said under my breath. Jack smirked. "Ann, I don't. But-" I quickly cut him off by putting my fingers in front of his mouth. "You do, Jack. I know for a fact that you do."
I took my fingers away from his mouth and he said, "Kiss me."
Smiling, I moved closer to him until our lips finally met. Then it hit me more than ever. I knew what was going on. All of those memories, all of those times I spent with a little boy when I was little, and that music box. That music box which that boy was supposed to return to me when we re-met.
I was falling in love. Last time I thought I was, but this time I knew I was. I knew that I was falling in love with Jack. I wasn't in love, love, love with him yet though; I only considered him a strong crush right now.
Our lips parted, but we kissed a few more times before we decided that it was time to go to sleep. Shiver.