On Horseback

Chapter 19: Winter Out

I had a lot of running around to do in the next few days. After the Spirit Festival, which I gladly skipped on the 27th, it was time to prepare for Karen's birthday. Karen was the second youngest girl in the village. Her birthday was the 29th of Winter. Well, actually, she is the youngest now because of Popuri's leave of Flower Bud. Her birthday is on Spring 22, but during the following year, not the same as the rest of us ladies were born in.

Karen always received champagne and liquor on her birthday. How unsurprising. Everyone knew that she was infatuated with alcohol, so that's what everyone always bought her for her birthday.

But I wasn't going to buy her any. I wanted to buy her something that she would never expect to receive. Something unusual. Something...different.

I was sitting in my bedroom the morning of Karen's birthday. I still hadn't bought her anything. This was not good. I couldn't just show up at her birthday party empty handed. What kind of a best friend would do that? Not me!

"Dad, what could I buy Karen for tonight?" I asked during breakfast. My father looked at me curiously for a second and then said, "You haven't gotten her anything yet? Mercy! Her birthday party starts at five this evening. How could you have not gotten her anything yet?"

I shrugged. "Been busy, I guess."

Dad looked at me in the eye while he was thinking. Not long after he started, he blurted out, "Buy her a lawn mower!"

I burst out laughing. "A lawn mower?! Dad, are you crazy? There is no way in hell that I'm going to be buying my best friend a lawn mower! Not just will she think that I've turned loony, she'll also think that she had trouble with the grass around where the grapes are grown!"

Staring at me, my father said, "Ann, they do have grass troubles. Has Karen never said that to you before?"

"Oh," I replied, a little bit dumbfounded. I hadn't known that there were grass troubles around the vineyard. Karen had never muttered a single word about overgrown grass before, or ever needing a lawn mower. But even if I did buy her one, my life's fortunes would be gone! The lawn mowers in Flower Bud cost over 40 000G! It was insane!

I looked at the clock on the wall. It was 10:00 a.m. I then looked back at my Dad. "Could you spare me, let's say, 35 000G? I mean, it was your suggestion to buy a lawn mower. So, I might as well."

My father stared at me for a minute and then mumbled, "You shall pay, young Ann. You shall pay." After getting a piece of paper from the counter (which I assumed was a check), Dad wrote down his signature on it, and then put down thirty-nine thousand bells where, again, I assumed that the money part was written.

He handed me the check and said, "Go to the craftsman. I know he'll have one in stock. He has since the beginning of Summer." I smiled at my father and snatched the check out of his hand.

I didn't stop by Jack's farm to chat. I wanted to get the lawn mower out of the way first. I ran past the bakery and came to a halt right in front of Saibara's Blacksmith Shop. I prayed that the lawn mower was still there. Taking in a deep breath, I opened the door.

Inside sat Saibara, the owner. He was working on some kind of vase, from what I saw. It was moldy red, but he was painting it blue. It looked like the sky from where I was standing. It was real pretty.

"Saibara, do you still have that lawn mower that you got in stock a little while back?" I asked him. The blacksmith turned his head towards me and grumbled.

Saibara walked into the back room, and came back out with a big, shiny brown lawn mower. It was beautiful and the paint hadn't scraped from it yet. That was good, as Karen hated anything that was rusty.

"Y'know that this is ganna cost ya a fochune!" he exclaimed, putting the lawn mower down in front of me. I nodded, handing him the check. Saibara looked at it for a minute and then said, "39 000...par on. I congratulate you on purchasin' an expanseeve beauty."

What surprised me even more was that I was able to get the mower wrapped up. It did cost me an extra 500G, but at least it saved me the trouble of having to do it on my own.

I raced home and placed the wrapped-mower in front of my bedroom door. I wanted to make sure that I'd put it somewhere where I wasn't going to forget about it.

It was only noon, so I decided that it would be okay to stop at Jack's place before I headed on over to the party. I walked up to the farmer's door and gave it a big, hard knock.

Jack answered the door. "Hello!" he exclaimed when he saw the warm welcoming smile that was on my face. "How have you been? Don't just stand out there in the snow! Come in, come in!"

The house was real beautiful. Jack told me that he had all of the house extensions that there were, except for the greenhouse, which was hideously expensive, but even cost less than a lawn mower! That just goes to show that Flower Bud truly was a strange village! Well, in certain ways, that is.

"I don't want to take much of your time, so we'll make our chat quick. What did you buy Karen for her birthday?" Jack asked me, closing the door.

Grinning, I replied, "I bought her a lawn mower. You don't know how badly that Karen and her family need one. The vineyard has problems with handling grass, so I asked my father for 39 000G, and he gave me the money! So, I went out and got her one!"

Jack was speechless.

"Well, I know I've only been here for two minutes, but I really gotta get going to the party now! I'll see you later, Jack. Oh, and I know that what I bought her is shocking to you. Perhaps that's why you're not moving your lips, eh, love?"

I kissed Jack on the cheek, and headed out for Karen's house.

Just like on the starry evening, when Karen answered the door, the first thing that she screamed in my face was, "COME ON IN! IT'S TIME TO PARTY!"

I gave Karen another one of my don't-ever-do-that-again-or-else-I'm-going-to-kill-you-looks and then promptly entered her house, which had reverted back to its original look, which was before the Star Night Festival. There was a banner that was hanging from the ceiling, though, that read: HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN.

Cliff was waiting for me in front of the fireplace. I gave the handle of the lawn mower to Sasha, and walked over to him, on my way flashing another one of my bright smiles, saying, "I know what you're about to ask me, Cliff!"

The man who proposed to me chuckled and he took my hands once I walked up to him. "I know you're under a lot of pressure because I'm not the only one you're in love with" -Cliff raised an eyebrow- "so I'm not going to rush you. I'm sure you still don't know whether to say yes or no, so I have another proposal. I'll give you until the day that Karen and Kai are married to award me a yes or no answer. Does that sound good to you?"

I began laughing. Cliff had read me like an open book. I figured that he was psychic or something, because I certainly was not ready to give him an answer. Karen's wedding still might not give enough time, but if I still held off on the decision by then, he would probably think that I didn't want to marry him. That date would have to do.

"ATTENTION!" I heard Karen scream from the foot of the stairs. "It's time to start the treasure hunt!"

The people at the party all started to rapidly socialize. One thing that I hadn't noticed when I came in was the people who had come to the birthday party. I saw Lillia, whom I knew would come. There was May and Stu, the two kids who had attended my birthday party. There was Jeff, and the only reason he had been invited was to crater the tables and bake the cake. Poor Jeff. Oh well. Everyone else was a part of Karen's family.

"The rules of the hunt are very easy. There is no pairing up, unless you want to be with someone. The front door has the first clue. You will read it and then o off in search of the other clues. Once you find the eighth clue, which is the very last one, you will come rushing back to me and will hand me all eight clues. Whoever comes back to me first, with all eight clues in their possession will win the treasure hunt! The prize will be revealed once the winner has been announced! The treasure hunt is now starting!"

The clue on the front door read: It's in the place where you would least expect it to be!

 Well, that was pretty easy. Karen's closet! Karen hates it when people go rummaging through her belongings, so that was an easy clue. I dashed upstairs to Karen's room and pulled open the closet. Inside was a clue that was labeled #2.

Since it's too cold to be outside, we can't go swimming at this time of year! Darn it all! Not fair!

The swimwear. Well, that's where I was hoping the next clue would be. If not, then I didn't know where else in the house to look for it. I ran to the bathroom on the first floor.

As I suspected, there was a clue on the mirror. I snatched in off, and read what was written on it: You use this to enter the house.

The front door? But a clue was already on it! I pondered what the clue said for a few minutes, and then bit my lip. What about the outside of the front door? That's probably what it's talking about. I ran to the front of the house.

Outside, hanging on the front door was the fourth clue. I quickly read Time to warm up after a hard day's work, and then rushed inside to the fireplace.

I looked inside the fireplace first. Nothing. That slightly confused me because there was nothing on the outer part of it. Confused, I walked around for a few moments and then looked on the carpet in front of the fireplace. There was the fifth clue.

The vineyard's mail carrier.

A little stumped, I decided to look in the mailbox, which was outside, as I figured there wasn't going to be anywhere else in the house to look for mail. All except for the penning desk, but it wasn't going to be anywhere around it, because Sasha hated it when people touched the penning desk. She purchased it from Silver Sapphire approximately twelve years ago, and she adored that thing.

I opened the mailbox outside to find another clue inside. This was clue number six, and upon it, it read: Eggs are a hard breakfast to make if you don't have this sort of a pan. Can be bought at Rick's for 6000G!

I ran into the kitchen. I could smell pastry every time I breathed in. It was like heaven. Then remembering that I was in a race, basically, I opened the pantry and found a frying pan lying inside of it. There was a clue attached to the side of it.

The seventh clue read: Look under my covers. I don't want you to, but just do it, would you?

May came running down the stairs just as I stormed up them. I needed to win the prize. Actually, I didn't need it, but I did want it. I wanted to show Karen that I knew her house like the back of my hand. I was going to win.

I ran into Karen's room, where Kai was, and he said, "Hey, Ann! Are you on the last clue?" I nodded and threw Karen's covers off of her bed. While Kai chuckled, I grabbed it and it read: Find me!

Nodding, I ran back down the stairs and saw Karen at the front door, talking to Lillia. Did Lillia already win? No! No! She barely came into this house! How could she win? I thought I was going to faint, until Karen said, "I see you've collected all eight clues, Ann. I guess that means you win!!"

Karen put a blue vase in my hand and I screamed. I did win; I just didn't know what Lillia was doing next to Karen. I shrugged it off and said, "Let's eat cake, Karen!"

And eat cake we did. It was scrumptious.

It was eleven-thirty. Karen said that she would open the presents the next day, as the party was so intense, that she didn't get a chance to. That was okay with me, as I didn't want anyone else knowing that I'd bought Karen a lawn mower. Otherwise, I'd be begged to buy houses for everyone! That would be a nuisance!

I ran into Jack on the way home, which was sort of confusing, since it was eleven at night. I walked up to him and said, "Hello", just to startle him. He put his left hand on his heart and said, "Lord, Ann. What are you doin' out so late?"

"Karen's party just ended, Jack."

"Now? Wow, that must've been quite the party for it to be ending now. What did Karen say about the lawn mower?"

"She didn't open the presents yet. It was an intense party, and we did a lot. We just never got around to opening the gifts. She'll be doin' that later, or something like that...so, yeah."

"I see. Well, it's late and all, and I'll be going home now. I'll see you tomorrow, Ann."

"Wait! Jack! I want to give you something that I won at the birthday party! I'm not too up about keeping it, so I want you to have it! What do you say about that?"

"I suppose. Let's see what it is."

Jack seemed quite happy that it was a vase. He has a table in his house with nothing on it, so I thought that this would make a great ornament for the table. He did seem to enjoy it, so I handed it over to him, with my usual, silly expression on my face, saying, "Take good care, of it Jack."

I gave him an intimate hug, and hurried on my way. Not just did I not want to worry my father, but also, I had to be able to stay up until midnight for the following evening. New Year's Eve only comes around once a year!

"Ten minutes to go!" Duke, the bartender shouted out to the crowded bar. Karen, Kai, Cliff, Sasha, Karen's father, Jack and myself were all trying to socialize in the noisy bar, but it was difficult.

Karen and Kai decided that they were going to go up to the top of Moon Mountain to watch the New Year's Day sunrise. They had never done that before, and really wanted to try it. "An adventurous experience" Karen would tell me. I just laughed whenever she said that.

Jack came over to me when Duke shouted out, "7 minutes until the new year!"

"Ann, we've done a lot this year. Tomorrow will be the New Year's Day festival, almost one year since I arrived here. I have to ask you to come with me to Moon Mountain at midnight. I want to ask you a few questions that may...um, can you just come?"

Suddenly, Cliff rammed into Jack. "Ann! I wanna go with you up to the mountain! We must! I just want to talk to you about Karen's wedding, and such! You'll be the flower girl, as you're the bride's best friend!"

"HEY! I asked Ann first!" Jack shot back.

"SO? Her and I must plan something really important, Jack!"

I was stumped. Jack was in love with me. He was. But...was I in love with him? Or did I just consider him a strong crush still? The world was such a mess. I also had to think about Karen's baby and her wedding. Life really was a mess right now.

"May I make a suggestion?" Kai asked, stepping between the two men. "If you can't choose one of the two guys, then you can come with Karen and I and leave the two of them to argue over you, Ann, as they both seem to be infatuated with you."

When Jack heard that, he clobbered Kai in the face. Karen shrieked and ran down to her fianc' side. "What the hell was that for, Jack?!" Karen shouted at the farmer. Jack breathed in, quite heavily, and replied, "I don't need any of his stupid sarcasm! If I love her, then I should just tell her!"

I felt like a shiver went up and down my spine. That was that. Jack was going with me up to the mountain. There was a lot that I wanted to talk with him about. I wasn't still wasn't going to tell him about the music box, though. That was for him to figure out.

When Duke said that there was only 4 minutes left in the year, I grabbed Jack's shirt, and said, "Let's go! I need to spend New Year's Eve with a friend! Later Cliff!"

I left Karen's cousin standing with his jaw open, while Jack and I ran to the mountain. Karen and Kai were no where to be seen once we got to the highest point of Moon Mountain that we were able to reach.

"Why did you choose me, Ann? What special qualities do I have that Cliff doesn't? I thought that you liked the spice of life? We're both country folks. Cliff isn't. Tell me, why me?" Jack questioned me when we sat down.

I looked in his eyes for a moment, and then said, "You are...absolutely fabulous. I'd rather spend such a great evening with you, rather than Cliff. He's a romantic bird, but you're for real, Jack. You're for real!"

Deciding that it was the appropriate time, I pulled him in for a kiss the second that the fireworks went off above our heads.

That was a wonderful feeling. The feeling that we would be able to live day-by-day, our relationship through another yearly cycle, once again. That was a superb feeling!

I couldn't wait for the new sun to rise!

And to think that the upcoming Spring would be the season that would change my life forever and for always...