Chapter 18: The Cow Festival
A/N: Hellooooo there. Been awhile, hasn't it? (Not that any veteran readers are reading this anyway.) Well, it's been a long time since I stated this fic (what, two or three years?) and I haven't been writing this for much of that time. I apologize. I have numerous excuses, all of which are pretty lame, but now it's summertime once more, and I've done everything except continued writing any of my fics. I figure it's time to kill this one. I figure I'll go along to twenty-three chapters or so before IML ends, and then I'll be free from this wretched fic! Not that I dislike it, of course. In fact, my writing's changed so much that I think I'll go back and edit the first sixteen chapters someday, maybe before school starts up again in September. It's just bad writing. Then again, I haven't changed THAT much. Ah, aaaanyway... On to the fic! (Thinking is between and .)
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The next two days passed briefly. Since Dawn's parents' sudden departure (they must have paid extra to get the ferry to arrive days early), Dawn's friends all relaxed and gossiped like crazy to Dawn and each other. (Well, the females did, anyway.) Fall befell the little town of FBV, and for Elli's birthday on the first, Jeff threw a small bash for her. Dawn (who was invited) bought one of Elli's own cakes for her, and also gave her a new fishing pole (which cost Dawn all of her extra pocket money, though she had barely any to begin with). The next day was spent watering a few eggplant seeds and running around town with her friends, and going to the bar in her oddly high spirits.
On the third, Hall (Ann's dad), came by and told Dawn about the Cow Festival. "If you want to enter one of your cows, tell me which one, and I'll take care of her until tomorrow and enter you in the contest, all right?"
By this time, Ann had two cows, Bessie and Sepiria, and two sheep, Moiti and Nami. Because Bessie was her older cow, Dawn chose her to enter into the contest. After a few words of encouragement, Hall took her away to the Green Ranch for the day.
Gritting her teeth, Dawn resumed watering her eggplants. Her thoughts had wandered to expanding her house. Her house expansions included a free porch from when the carpenters had welcomed her back after the hillbilly episode, a dilapidated kitchen, stairs to the roof, and a tiny outhouse; but she wanted a much more modern, efficient household (or at least a decent bath). Dawn had long since gathered the wood on her farm, and had gathered lots of wood from the forest, but the fact of the matter was that she was still distressingly short on wood – and gold. She really needed to put her back into working harder on her farm, if she wanted to make more money. And even then, it'll still be difficult.
Straightening up, Dawn cast her ever-present critical eye over her farm once again. Her fields would need to get bigger if she wanted to have more cows and sheep... maybe plant more eggplants and such; flowers didn't earn money, and the shipper had said in the past that her vegetables were excellent. The big problem was, Dawn realized, that Jack and Dawn were both marketing the same things for a small town. It made for cheaper goods, and her stuff was getting much less money than it could. Though the shipper had told her that her vegetables were much more succulent than Jack's, Jack's cows gave better milk, he had three cows, and he also had six chickens. Dawn pursed her lips. I should try and buy chickens for some different source of income. I really do want a new bathroom, though... What should I do? I need some fast way to make a lot of money, but Jack and I are trying to sell the same th--
"HIYA, DAWN!"
Dawn leapt three feet in the air, heart pounding madly. Omigodomigod... Breathing heavily and turning, Dawn glared – at empty air. Curious, she glanced down; Kent, the little brown-haired seven-year-old, was grinning up at her.
"Oh, erm, hi," Dawn stuttered lamely, her anger dissipating at his eager expression.
"I heard ya entered Bessie into the Cow Festival!" he squeaked eagerly, smiling from ear to ear. Dawn thought her looked a little creepy when he did that. "I hope you win; your cow's really cool!"
"Thanks, but aren't all cows cool to you?" Dawn smiled, recovering her wits. Remembering what she shipper had said once, she added, "But I think Jack has a better chance at winning. His cows are quite well-cared for."
Kent frowned slightly. "Well, yeah, he's probably gonna win," he admitted (Dawn flinched at his blatant, childish honesty). "He's entering his cow Muffy, and she's older than Bessie, which makes her, uh, more mature, I guess." Then he perked up again. "But all the cows are so cool! When I grow up, I wanna work with cows and be a great farmer1"
Dawn, smiling at his young ambition, knelt down and ruffled his hair. Certainly wasn't what I'd been planning on. "Tell you what. When you turn sixteen, and you need a job and my farm is really big and just crawling with cows, I'll let you work here, okay?"
"YEAH!" Kent's eyes lit up excitedly. "That would be AWESOME!" He skipped away out of the farm, calling back a "good luck" before disappearing.
Dawn grinned after his retreating figure before sobering up. She needed money and wood, else her farm would never get to be as big as she had just described to Kent. Grabbing a water bottle from the fridge and shoving it in her backpack, she headed up to the forest to chop some wood.
She chopped and gathered every single piece of fallen lumber she could find. After doing that, she foraged around for mushrooms and berries – she talked to Cliff and gave him a mushroom because he had a black eye (he and Ann had fought again) – and settled down to fish with the fisherman for a short while. (Somehow, he managed to land four large fish, while she only caught two small ones and a medium.)
Around three in the afternoon, Dawn decided she had done everything useful there, and popped over to Jack's place. He didn't seem to be home, but his cows and sheep were loose, grazing in his eggplants. Dawn quickly rounded them up and put them where they belonged, wondering where Jack had run off to without putting his cows in his fields.
So, Dawn strolled home to put her findings in the shipping box. Snatching up her fishing pole, she walked along over to the beach to do some ocean fishing.
Elli, Maria, and Popuri were all at the end of the dock, Elli the only one actually fishing. They seemed to all be chowing on cookies, and didn't notice Dawn at all until she was right behind them.
"Oh, hello, Dawn," Maria said, glancing back at her. "How are you?"
"Hihi, Dawn!" Popuri bubbled, beaming up at her, as Elli said "howdy".
"Hey, girls," Dawn smiled. "Mind if I fish with you?"
"Of course not," they said in unison, and Dawn sat down between Popuri and Maria and cast her line into the sparkling ocean water. Popuri and Elli fell back into the conversation they had been in earlier.
"So, how's work at the library?" Dawn asked conversationally.
"Oh, it's fine," Maria murmured, looking down into the water. Maria and Dawn hadn't spoken too much on occasion; they certainly knew each other, but just hadn't talked very much except at festivals.
"Ya know, I used to love reading," Dawn said, gazing at her bobber in the water. The waves were making it dance in circles within the water, which looked crystal-clear today. "Once I got out of high school, though, I never had much time to read anymore... I used to love sci-fi and fantasy."
"Oh, me too!" perked up Maria, her black eyes alight. "Those and psychological thrillers have always been my favorite genres. Have you ever read the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy? A nice blend of politics and magic, it is."
So, the afternoon passed merrily away in that manner. Once the sun showed signs of setting, the four girls started to head on home (Dawn popped by Green Ranch and asked what the fight had been about; Ann, perplexed, asked "What fight?" as Cliff came in from another room. Dawn merely left). A little disappointed that she hadn't seen Jack all day, Dawn stepped into her farm.
"What are you doing here?"
Looking up, Dawn saw Karen and Kai right next to her hammock, directly in front of her (well, and also to the right of her). Thinking fast (and yielding a bad result), Dawn ducked behind the doghouse to listen more carefully without being seen. Kirby nuzzled her, so she gave him a small fish to keep him quiet.
"I said, what are you doing here?" Karen repeated. Dawn couldn't see her face, but saw that Karen's left fist was shaking. Kai's face had an ugly look on it.
"I could ask you the same thing. Besides, it's none of your business," he retorted.
"Of course it's my business!" Karen scowled. "Not only are you trespassing, but I –"
"I'm not trespassing," Kai said hotly. "I just came by the Lone Star Farm to see—"
"And because I care about you, Kai," Karen plowed doggedly on. "Why are you making such a big deal out of this – this thing with Dawn? Why can't you just let it be?"
"Because I just can't," he snapped shortly, glaring angrily at Karen.
"Just tell me, Kai," Karen implored, uncharacteristically tender of voice. "You'd think, with the way you're acting, that you're in love with her and just overly bitter about her and Jack."
"Of course not," he said, sighing. "I'm just – angry, I guess."
"About WHAT? What could YOU possible be angry about?" she pressed.
"Will you just leave me alone about it, Karen?" Kai shot angrily. He brushed by her quickly and headed for the exit.
"GOD!" Karen screamed, frustrated. She turned to face him, and Dawn saw her face, which startled her: Karen seemed near tears. "If you would just tell me what's wrong, maybe I could help you, you stupid simian asshole!"
He stopped. "And why would you bother?" he said, his back to her (Dawn had to slide around to the other side of the doghouse, quickly, to avoid being seen; she was feeling somewhere between angry and sorry).
"Because I love you, you dick!" she shrieked at him. "Isn't it obvious!?"
It was silent. Then Kai sighed. (Dawn almost whistled.)
"When did you become such an arrogant asshole, anyway!?" Karen raved on. "You used to be so different around everyone, so undemanding and pleasant and polite, until a short while because Dawn came around. Now around us two you're a self-centered prick. What the hell happened!?"
Kai was silent. After a moment, he turned around and faced Karen.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I've been feeling extremely out-of-sorts with myself – snapping at everyone, feeling short-tempered – since the news that my mother died came to me last winter. I'm just..." He shrugged, trailing off and looking away. "I feel... miserable inside, and angry at myself. And the stuff with Dawn... I mean, I started seeing her after we got into that last fight, and then when I realized I really cared about you, I mean... everything with Dawn just felt so strange. So I started treating her... I dunno..." He trailed off, and without looking at Karen again, headed out of the farm and up towards the vineyard.
Karen was very still. (Dawn, taken quite aback by all the outbursts, hoped she would move because he legs were cramping very badly.) After a few moments, Karen followed Kai out of the farm as well.
Waiting until she was sure they were gone, Dawn straightened up and stretched her legs out, pondering as she gazed at the exit. I wasn't totally surprised by that, though it sure was interesting. And yet... I still don't know exactly why he treats me so coldly, now. Getting the kinks out of her shoulders, Dawn collected her pay from where the shipper had left it, brushed her horse, dog, and cattle again, and turned in to the house for the night. She wasn't up for a nice trip to the bar just now.
Pounding on Dawn's door woke her up the next morning. Grumbling to herself, she gazed blearily at her bedside clock. 5:03. Scowling, she put the pillow over her face and attempted to sleep again.
The pounding stopped. She was about to drift off to sleep again when something very warm and heavy seated itself directly on her stomach.
Dawn squealed and sat up, knocking whatever it was next to her on the bed between herself and the wall, and scrambled to her feet. Then, belatedly, she realized that the "thing" was Jack, and he was laughing.
"AUGH! You jerk!" she squealed, pouncing on him and attacking Jack playfully.
"And a good morning to you, too," he grinned, his hair getting messed up and his hat flying askew from Dawn's wrath. Catching her wrists, he planted a kiss on her lips and smiled at her. "See, I woke up quite early today, so I figured I'd wake you up as well. The cow festival starts at ten am, and you need to get all your stuff ready before then."
"Stuff?" Dawn said groggily, before realizing that he meant to take care of her plants and animals. "But why five o'clock?" she added, pushing herself off of him and walking to her dilapidated kitchen in her nighties (mainly, a big T-shirt and undies). Pouring two cups of coffee, she turned and faced him as he followed her in.
"Told you, I couldn't sleep," he said, his grin still on his face. "Maybe I got a few hours in last night... Woke up around four because I just wasn't sleepy, so I took care of all my animals in record time, just one hour, and raced along over here." He accepted the proffered coffee and took a few sips.
A short while later, she was changed and done with her coffee, and they were out the door. Jack said he'd help her with the farm so that they'd have some time together before the festival, so Jack started taking care of her animals, while she started to water her numerous eggplants.
"Did I tell you that I think my dog's pregnant?" Jack called over to her while he was playing with Kirby.
"No," she called back, surprised.
"Yeah... I think Kirby's the father. I'm gonna have the midwife check my dog out sometime."
"Mmm," Dawn murmured, finishing up the watering and waltzing over to him.
They ate a quick breakfast of rice balls (another thing Dawn appreciated about Jack was that he was used to the same style of living the Dawn was – shabbiness) and then they both set off to the ocean for some early-morning ocean fishing. Dawn caught some kind of berry-nut thing, and Jack told her that it was some kind of "power nut", and that it was good for her. Dawn shrugged and ate it anyway. They caught a few fish, and when ten o'clock came around, they walked along over to Green Ranch, wondering who the judges would be and who would win the cow contest.
Most of everyone who wanted to go was there – the only people who seemed to ne missing were the judge, the mayor, and a few people who had expressed interest. Strange of the Mayor to be later, Dawn thought, glancing through the crowds. Dawn and Jack found their friends and mingled with the crowd before going to their own prospective cows to calm them down and to milk them. Bessie seemed a bit nervous from all the people, though otherwise fine. Dawn gave her one last brush-down before milking her and turning in her sample for the judgings. The other contestants – there seemed to be about six total – did the same, and all the other people mingled and chatted and tasted the milk. Dawn got a few nice comments about her cow and the quality of Bessie's milk. Some people had their own opinions on cows and the cow festival (Stu and Kent loved all the cows, while people like Karen seemed indifferent.)
"This whole festival is ridiculous," Cliff muttered to Dawn, Cain on his shoulder, as Dawn walked over to talk to him. "I can't tell Ann that; she'd sock me for it. I just think this whole thing is stupid." Dawn giggled, and Cliff, looking surlier, continued. "I mean, come on! Sure, the cows are nice and all, but a festival to compare the taste of their milk? Gimme a break." Cliff sulked off to talk to Rick.
Dawn went on to talk to pretty much everyone, mingling in the crowds, when the judges came to their decision. Everyone crowded up to the front, where the Mayor and the Gourmet Judge who looked like neither man nor woman waited with the ribbons to mark the awards – blue for first, red second, green third, and purple fourth.
People were talking, while Dawn went to stand next to Bessie and the other contestants went to stand with their cows. The Mayor and the Gourmet-person talked among themselves, before the Mayor said to the crowd: "We have come to a decision! First of all, welcome to this year's Cow Festival, where we shall decide on whose cows have done the best thus far this year." People clapped half-heartedly. "On with the awards! Fourth place goes to Flower Farm, with the cow named Daisy!" People clapped and cheered, also half-heartedly, as the Mayor awarded the man next to Daisy with the green ribbon and a handshake. Dawn smiled to herself, realizing that she4 probably came in fifth or sixth place. "Third place goes to the Lone Star Farm, with the cow Bessie!" Dawn blinked, surprised, as the Mayor awarded her with the green ribbon and a muttered "Good show" after shaking her hand. The crowd cheered and clapped loudly.
"Second place goes to Joro Farm, with the cow Muffy!" The crowd cheered loudly, though not as loudly as they had for Dawn. The Mayor walked up to Jack and handed him the red ribbon, and then sailed on without shaking his hand. Jack blinked, but contented himself with petting Muffy and throwing a grin over to Dawn. She smiled back and mouthed "Good job" to him.
"And first place," the Mayor announced at large, "is, of course, last-year's winner and goes to Green Ranch, with the cow Molly!" Everyone cheered again the Mayor shook Hall's hand, who was looking quite smug, with Ann and Gray on either side of him. The Mayor handed him the blue ribbon and told the crowd, "Thank you for attending this year's Cow Festival! Have a good day!"
Dawn murmured to Bessie, "Good girl... you didn't do too badly." Bessie merely mooed softly. Then Jack walked over to her, leading his Muffy on a rope, beaming at her. "Second place!" he said triumphantly. "I'm really surprised!"
"Me too!" Dawn joked, swatting him. He laughed. "Actually, I'm surprised I place at all, Jack." Bessie snorted, gazing reproachfully at Dawn. "No fault of yours, of course," she added, nuzzling Bessie's nose.
"Guess neither of us have a chance of beating our benefactor, though, huh?" Jack said, thrusting his thumb in Hall's general direction, who was still looking smug. The crowd was dispersing, the other contestants were leading their cows away, and Gray was leading the cow Muffy into the barn on the other side of the field.
"You're probably right," Dawn replied, sighing (not unhappily), and the two started to lead their cows out of the ranch. Cliff, Ann, Popuri, and (somewhat surprisingly) Maria tagged along with them. Cliff was absentmindedly patting Bessie and crooning strange things into his ear, being a diehard animal lover (except when it came time for Cain to eat).
"You two did well," Maria said shyly. "Your cows' milk tasted great."
"Thanks," both Dawn and Jack replied. "Though," Jack added, "we might have done okay, but Hall's gonna beat us each year."
"Bah, you don't know that!" Ann said cheerfully (which was understandable, as her cow had just won first place). Her blue eyes were unusually bright. "You guys don't have many cows, which means all your extra love and care is concentrated into a few. Meanwhile, we have seven cows, four horses, and five sheep, and we have to love and care for them all. We get pretty tired of it. See what I'm saying?"
"Yeah, I getcha," Dawn said, running her fingers through her messy blonde hair. "Not too much love to go around, hmm?"
"Hey Jack, how're you getting your cow home?" Popuri inquired, a strand of loose pink hair getting in her face from the wind. The wind seemed to pick up, and Popuri and Maria had to hold their skirts down with their hands. "I mean, with all those rough mountain paths, and your farm on the other side of Moon Mountain... and now with the wind picking up." Popuri reddened as the wind made another tug at her swirling red skirt. "Won't it be really difficult?"
"Yes, Popuri dear, it shall be very difficult," Jack said grimly. "Cliff said he'd help me out, especially when Muffy here gets terribly stubborn, but it could take the rest of the day..." He sighed.
By this time they had reached Dawn's farm, and it was about three in the afternoon. "Well, this is my stop. Why don't we all meet at the bar later tonight?" There was a general murmur of agreement. Dawn turned to the black-haired girl. "Are you going to come too, Maria?"
"Ah, I don't think so..." she murmured in reply. "I don't really drink, and..."
Cliff frowned at her, but not unkindly. "I don't see you there much. C'mon, it could be fun."
"Yeah, Maria," Popuri gushed. "I'm gonna go, too. We might have a lot of fun!"
Maria managed a weak little smile. "Well... okay, then," she said hesitantly.
"Cool!" Dawn smiled. "See you all later, then." She turned into her farm, leading Bessie along by the rope, and put the cows and sheep in the barn (she'd heard that it might rain tomorrow, the fifth). Double-checking her plants, she went for a nice ride on Dia to give her a chance for some real exercise, and brushed her again. Then she curled up with a book, Kirby in her lap, in her hammock for a completely undeserved break. She knew perfectly well that she should be working a lot more, or at least eating more than one meal a day. She just didn't care at the moment.
Dawn's thoughts wandered to her parents. Truthfully, she'd been thinking about them a lot since the incident, but she still wasn't sure what to make of it. Should I try to call them? Or wait for them to contact me again? It's probably too soon to try and re-establish a connection. Dawn felt considerably lighter of spirit but heavier of heart since that episode. She'd finally stood up to her mother... but her father hadn't seemed too pleased about everything – especially the part with Jack. Dawn reddened at the memory of her father walking in on them undressing each other. Michael used to be on her side in everything as a child, but now... Had things been ruined between them?
He's the one being stubborn. I can be with who I want. With that satisfyingly unhappy thought, Dawn glanced at the sky. The sun was about setting, so the bar should've been open then. Dawn fed Kirby one of the fish she had caught today, putting the rest in the shipping box for what measly sum she could come up with, and set off for the bar.
All the people she'd talked to earlier were there, along with Gray, the shipper, Karen's father, and Karen waitressing. She has a good idea for a job. Dawn sat between Jack and Cliff, across from Ann and Maria, and talked with everyone, watching it all. (She really couldn't afford a drink tonight, so kept stealing gulps from Jack's beer.) Popuri sidled over to Gray and was chatting animatedly to him, though she kept bouncing back and forth between the two tables to talk to Maria, Ann, and Dawn. Ann was mostly talking to Cliff, Maria, and Karen when she stopped to talk. On the whole, it was pretty fun, and Dawn was blissfully happy when Jack walked her home at eleven and bid her adieu. (Though, it may have been the beer affecting her.)
She tucked herself into bed, awaiting tomorrow with both eagerness and dread.
A/N: So, yes. Chapter Eighteen is done and over with. I hope I'll have the next few chapters out soon... I hope to end around chapter twenty-three. See ya, folks.