A Dream. A Hope. A Scar. A Mission
Chapter 2: Ride the Wind
Dad left just with that. I decided to follow the same idea and grab another old book to muddle through. I was looking at the pages, but that wasn't where my mind was. It was all a mix of things like I finally stood up to Dad! and Lets get started! Another thought filled up in me though. I knew my Dad could never make it as a farmer, but his blood ran in my veins. I prayed that I wouldn't follow the same fate as Dad.
Just then I heard something scratch up against the door, almost like a claw. Grandpa wouldn't still have any animals around would he? I know he said in his letters that he really cut back on em' as he got older. I heard almost like a whimper, but very high pitched.
"Hah!" I laughed to myself.
I walked up to the screen door to find out if what was on the other side was what I was anticipating. I looked around out the screen, but I didn't see a single thing. I bent down to see what exactly was out there. Just at that, something made such a quick leap at the screen that I fell over backwards. When I propped my head back up the screen was empty again except for the open yard that lay outside. But to my surprise once more, a dog jumped up against the screen. A cute little dog, maybe half grown. A cute, hyper, skittish, yappy, little dog. It was what I was anticipating all along.
I crawled over to the screen door to let the dog in. Just with that, I had a sloppy half-grown golden retriever lapping his tongue all over my face. This must be one of the puppies that old dog of Grandpa's had. I wasn't really sure if Grandpa had a name for him, but I just pieced though all the names that Grandpa would give a dog.
After about twenty minutes I was ready to give up with the naming game. I couldn't command the dog to do anything without its name, and Grandpa always made sure his dogs were well trained.
"Come on Sparky, back outside for the both of us" I said, jabbing a little at the dogs hyper attitude. The funny thing is, that name clicked. It was just about the last name I would figure Grandpa to name a dog. I kept on guessing names like Duke and Bud.
Figure I need some seeds to do much of anything around here I figured. I didn't have any money though. Just at that a darted back into the house.
I found what I was looking for, but I couldn't remember how to make the thing work. It was the nightstand next to the old bed, and if you wiggled it just right stuff would come up, Specifically, that's where Grandpa left his cash. I remember trying to hide a music box or something up there when I was little, but Grandpa said that spot was full. It took a good five minutes to get it right, but eventually a sack of coins dropped out, bearing 500G exactly. With the cash in tow I darted back towards town.
...
I remembered the little village better than I thought I did after I really got to slow down and look at it in the daylight. The seed shop was conveniently one of the first buildings in town. I was ready to take a break from being around lots of people anyways.
As I walked in I was greeted by one of the most cheerful people I have seen in my life. Other than that though, it seemed like a completely normal shop with advertisements for seed and flowers.
"Oh hello there! I'm Lillia," said the high pitched shop keeper." You must be the new farmer. We've got plenty of seed over here if you'd like! Turnips, cabbage, and potatoes are all in season!"
"Thanks ma'am. I'll take some of the turnips and potatoes, please" I figured that if I couldn't make one of the two to go, I could always fall back on the other.
"Well thanks! Have a great day Mr. Munich!" Lillia piqued.
"Thank you again. And Mr. Munich is my father. I, on the other hand, am Jack" I stated. I didn't want everyone here to think of me as a proper gentleman-city slicker-thing.
...
By the time I reached the farm, I noticed a girl was playing with my dog. I also noticed three other things. One: this girl didn't look all that bad. Two: She looked my age. Three: Why should I care? Get a hold of yourself Jack, it's your first day here!
I walked up and said what any other civilized person would say. "Hi."
"Oh, hello!" the orange haired girl greeted me as if I was on her property. " My name is Ann. My dad sent me down here to make you an offer. You see, we don't have room for one of our horses, so we want to literally give him to you."
" I couldn't do that!" I was utterly shocked
" You can and you will. Besides, my brother can't race anymore anyways" the carrot top informed me.
"Fine." I reluctantly agreed.
"Good! Come by tomorrow sometime!" Ann said. There was so much excitement in her breath that she was almost yelling. " You'll need these, too!" With that, Ann threw up a bag of Grandpa's tools that were leaning against Sparky's coop. I had to take a step back to brace myself. These things were pretty heavy, which was kind of embarrassing. Ann could probably beat me up, I figured.
Ann just decided to leave at that moment, her mind was probably somewhere else already. Right before she reached the gate however, she turned back and yelled "Nice cap!"
"Thanks, you're the first to notice" I yelled back, slightly sarcastic. I then turned around and look at the fields. " Well Sparky, lets get started working, shall we?"
...
This farming job was turning out to be harder then I imagined. To start planting I had to slave away at clearing out all the old stumps and weeds. It was already 3 o'clock in the afternoon and I wanted to turn in, and I hadn't even started planting yet. But around that time the wind started to kick up, breathing a little life into me. By 6PM I had finally gotten the turnips and potatoes in, gave them a few shots of water from the nearby pond, and decided finally to head inside.
...
I noticed that Grandpa's TV was a bit. old to say the least. It was one of the first color televisions around back in the day. There were only three channels, which suited me just fine. One of the stations was a weather station, which is what I figured was what Grandpa needed when he bought the set. There was also an educational station that I didn't care for. Lastly there was a news station.
" The annual Spring Rosebud horse racing invitational shall begin of the 17th of Spring. I hope you're all ready for an excellent turnout this year!" the TV blurted at me.
So that's why Ann wants me to take the horse I figured. There's no way the horse will be big enough by then though if it's still a colt as it is.
I went to bed that night and slept well. I had to face it. I was devastated.
...
The next day I made my way over to the Green Ranch after tending to the turnips and potatoes. As I came up to the gate I noticed that the road split here and also went down to the beach. I walked up onto the farm and was greeted by one bad looking fellow.
"What're you here for?" said the capped man, a year or two older than I.
"I need to see Ann about a horse" I replied back as naturally as I could.
"Yeah." he said in reply. At that Ann came strolling out of the barn.
"Hey there Jack! How ya' been?" Ann said with the usual excitement in her voice. "C'mon this way, I'll show you the colt!"
I followed her into the pasture and the nearby barn, which looked about twice as large as the barn that was in shambles back at the farm. Ann did a strange whistling thing with her fingers, and a young tan colt galloped out of its stall to greet her.
"He doesn't have a name yet" Ann said "So you have to name him yourself. His brother's name is Cliffguard."
"Then I guess I'll name him Biffguard" I figured " Biff for short."
Ann let out a sort of a snort, apparently thinking that my horse's name was rather funny. This kind of puzzled me. Biff is a perfectly good name.
"Well, at least they rhyme" Ann said with a smile on her face. " You better get out of here now before Grey has anything to say about it."
"Who's Grey?" I questioned.
"That thing you met at the door is Grey. He's almost like a brother to me" Ann shot. Apparently Ann wasn't all that fond of her brother's attitude. With that I just left. I didn't want to meet Grey eye to eye again. He was someone to look out for.
...
The 8th day of Spring brought the Planting Festival, where the predetermined 'King' flies up in a blimp with an entourage and spreads seeds all over the land. Then everyone releases balloons in their hands. I thought it was a little silly, but hopefully it will bring good harvests.
I didn't really know anyone there except Ann, Lillia the florist, and Grey, whom I wanted to steer clear of. So I figured staying with Ann was the best option. I didn't want to spend time around someone as old as Dad. I worked for those people for two long years. I just hoped Grey wouldn't beat me up for hanging out with his sister.
I was having a generally good time with Ann. She seemed very excited and couldn't wait to let the balloon go in her hands. Just then Lillia approached me.
"Oh hey Jack. How are those seeds going?" Lillia inquisited.
"Great. They should be paying off soon if my guesses are right" I told her.
"Say, have you met my daughter Popuri?" Lillia questioned.
"Uhh.. No, I don't believe I have." I said, feeling rather awkward.
"Well then Jack, see that girl over there who with the pink hair?" Lillia pried.
You mean the girl that looks like you twenty years younger? I thought, but instead I just gave it my best. "Yeah."
"Popuri, come here!" Lillia called.
"Yes mother?" Popuri said as she approached with her frilly pink hair. " Oh, is this the new farmer?"
"Yeah, my name is Jack" I announced a little louder than I should have.
"Oh hehe" Popuri managed a fake laugh. " I hope you grow lots and lots of flowers on your farm, even now. You know, I love flowers, and it would be a shame if you didn't plant any. It would make me very happy if you did, and you do want to see me happy don't you?"
"Yeah I guess," I said casually. A little too casually. That was obviously the wrong thing to say.
"Humph" Popuri managed as she turned away and headed back into her crowd of friends. Lillia chased after her, telling her to be a little more respectful.
"She'll be back, you know" Ann informed me. " She won't stay like that for long. It can be annoying, but sometimes its good thing Popuri is as shifty as they come!"
At that the blimp soared off the ground. Its bonds we're obviously cut and a man, who appeared to be the potion shop dealer, soared into the air with a little boy, probably his grandson. One after another the balloons in everyone's hands flew into the air, and so did mine.
...
The next week flew by, with the harvest of the turnips and potatoes finally lining my pockets a little. It was turning out to be tough, but I was starting to get a hang of this farming thing. I started getting a routine down, and 6AM wasn't that bad anymore. Slowly the 17th of Spring rolled around, and while in the fields I realized something. The horse races were today! I finished watering my new installment of potatoes and turnips and ran off to town, hoping not to miss one of the races. I wanted to get a hang of these things before I actually had to race one.
I figured I would just hang around with Ann again, since I rarely left the farm, and she was the only real friend I had that I could 'hang out' with. I just hoped she felt the same, and nothing more.
I got to the races just in time to sit down with Ann. I figured she could tell me all about this horse racing thing anyways.
"Hey Ann, what's going on?" I asked as I sat down next to her.
" I'm psyched! This is going to be so exciting! Dad's racing next!" Ann practically screamed.
Ann, you need to relax I thought to myself.
"Ann you need to relax" came a voice. That wasn't my voice. It was impossible. I peered around to see who was on the other side of Ann. It was a brunette with green eyes who looked around the age of twenty. Perfect I thought. What am I thinking!? I thought again.
"Yeah?" asked the brunette with a bite to her voice.
"Oh Jack, this is Karen! I almost forgot, you guys have never met!" Ann piped up.
"You could have spared me, Ann," barked Karen.
What was I thinking? I thought again. As far as I could tell, Karen was as sharp as they come, but in a bad way.
I sat for a few minutes in silence and watched the horse races. Ann sure was not silent though. She was the loudest person in the entire crowd!
With the end of the race I felt someone sit down next to me. It must have been a muscular person. The bench really felt it when he sat down.
"Sup?" asked the man sitting next to me.
"Cliff?" I asked in astonishment.
"Yeah, what's going on Farmer John?" Cliff asked with a smile on his face.
I decided I'd play along. "Not bad Hobo Bob. You?"
Cliff gave a chuckle, and for the first time I noticed how lithe and skinny he was. It was almost like he hadn't eaten in a week. Despite this, we just kept throwing jokes at each other all afternoon. He didn't seem like that bad of a guy after all.
"Cliff, why are you talking to that guy? He's even wearing that goofed up hat!" Karen badgered.
"I see you met my cousin Karen, eh Jack?" Cliff joked.
At this point I really didn't care. " Yeah, I came out alive. I figured that I was pretty lucky," I told Cliff with a nudge in the ribs. " Kind of weird she's your cousin and all, didn't think that kind of stuff ran in your family." Our sides were splitting by the end of the day. Karen just gave me a dark look.
...
The horse races were all amazing. It was as if they were like the wind. On the journey back home I recounted all the things that happened. Getting my feet back on the farm I finally realized something: this is home. Before I headed inside the house to turn in for the night, I headed out to see Biff.
"Next time buddy, we'll ride the wind," I whispered to him.
...
Authors Note: Sorry for having to take this down, but I skipped over a lot of problems accidentally on this chapter because of the god awful story creation program that is fanfiction.net. I guess I shouldn't be too harsh though. They're the reasons I'm even writing this. Thanks for your patience.
Chapter 2: Ride the Wind
Dad left just with that. I decided to follow the same idea and grab another old book to muddle through. I was looking at the pages, but that wasn't where my mind was. It was all a mix of things like I finally stood up to Dad! and Lets get started! Another thought filled up in me though. I knew my Dad could never make it as a farmer, but his blood ran in my veins. I prayed that I wouldn't follow the same fate as Dad.
Just then I heard something scratch up against the door, almost like a claw. Grandpa wouldn't still have any animals around would he? I know he said in his letters that he really cut back on em' as he got older. I heard almost like a whimper, but very high pitched.
"Hah!" I laughed to myself.
I walked up to the screen door to find out if what was on the other side was what I was anticipating. I looked around out the screen, but I didn't see a single thing. I bent down to see what exactly was out there. Just at that, something made such a quick leap at the screen that I fell over backwards. When I propped my head back up the screen was empty again except for the open yard that lay outside. But to my surprise once more, a dog jumped up against the screen. A cute little dog, maybe half grown. A cute, hyper, skittish, yappy, little dog. It was what I was anticipating all along.
I crawled over to the screen door to let the dog in. Just with that, I had a sloppy half-grown golden retriever lapping his tongue all over my face. This must be one of the puppies that old dog of Grandpa's had. I wasn't really sure if Grandpa had a name for him, but I just pieced though all the names that Grandpa would give a dog.
After about twenty minutes I was ready to give up with the naming game. I couldn't command the dog to do anything without its name, and Grandpa always made sure his dogs were well trained.
"Come on Sparky, back outside for the both of us" I said, jabbing a little at the dogs hyper attitude. The funny thing is, that name clicked. It was just about the last name I would figure Grandpa to name a dog. I kept on guessing names like Duke and Bud.
Figure I need some seeds to do much of anything around here I figured. I didn't have any money though. Just at that a darted back into the house.
I found what I was looking for, but I couldn't remember how to make the thing work. It was the nightstand next to the old bed, and if you wiggled it just right stuff would come up, Specifically, that's where Grandpa left his cash. I remember trying to hide a music box or something up there when I was little, but Grandpa said that spot was full. It took a good five minutes to get it right, but eventually a sack of coins dropped out, bearing 500G exactly. With the cash in tow I darted back towards town.
...
I remembered the little village better than I thought I did after I really got to slow down and look at it in the daylight. The seed shop was conveniently one of the first buildings in town. I was ready to take a break from being around lots of people anyways.
As I walked in I was greeted by one of the most cheerful people I have seen in my life. Other than that though, it seemed like a completely normal shop with advertisements for seed and flowers.
"Oh hello there! I'm Lillia," said the high pitched shop keeper." You must be the new farmer. We've got plenty of seed over here if you'd like! Turnips, cabbage, and potatoes are all in season!"
"Thanks ma'am. I'll take some of the turnips and potatoes, please" I figured that if I couldn't make one of the two to go, I could always fall back on the other.
"Well thanks! Have a great day Mr. Munich!" Lillia piqued.
"Thank you again. And Mr. Munich is my father. I, on the other hand, am Jack" I stated. I didn't want everyone here to think of me as a proper gentleman-city slicker-thing.
...
By the time I reached the farm, I noticed a girl was playing with my dog. I also noticed three other things. One: this girl didn't look all that bad. Two: She looked my age. Three: Why should I care? Get a hold of yourself Jack, it's your first day here!
I walked up and said what any other civilized person would say. "Hi."
"Oh, hello!" the orange haired girl greeted me as if I was on her property. " My name is Ann. My dad sent me down here to make you an offer. You see, we don't have room for one of our horses, so we want to literally give him to you."
" I couldn't do that!" I was utterly shocked
" You can and you will. Besides, my brother can't race anymore anyways" the carrot top informed me.
"Fine." I reluctantly agreed.
"Good! Come by tomorrow sometime!" Ann said. There was so much excitement in her breath that she was almost yelling. " You'll need these, too!" With that, Ann threw up a bag of Grandpa's tools that were leaning against Sparky's coop. I had to take a step back to brace myself. These things were pretty heavy, which was kind of embarrassing. Ann could probably beat me up, I figured.
Ann just decided to leave at that moment, her mind was probably somewhere else already. Right before she reached the gate however, she turned back and yelled "Nice cap!"
"Thanks, you're the first to notice" I yelled back, slightly sarcastic. I then turned around and look at the fields. " Well Sparky, lets get started working, shall we?"
...
This farming job was turning out to be harder then I imagined. To start planting I had to slave away at clearing out all the old stumps and weeds. It was already 3 o'clock in the afternoon and I wanted to turn in, and I hadn't even started planting yet. But around that time the wind started to kick up, breathing a little life into me. By 6PM I had finally gotten the turnips and potatoes in, gave them a few shots of water from the nearby pond, and decided finally to head inside.
...
I noticed that Grandpa's TV was a bit. old to say the least. It was one of the first color televisions around back in the day. There were only three channels, which suited me just fine. One of the stations was a weather station, which is what I figured was what Grandpa needed when he bought the set. There was also an educational station that I didn't care for. Lastly there was a news station.
" The annual Spring Rosebud horse racing invitational shall begin of the 17th of Spring. I hope you're all ready for an excellent turnout this year!" the TV blurted at me.
So that's why Ann wants me to take the horse I figured. There's no way the horse will be big enough by then though if it's still a colt as it is.
I went to bed that night and slept well. I had to face it. I was devastated.
...
The next day I made my way over to the Green Ranch after tending to the turnips and potatoes. As I came up to the gate I noticed that the road split here and also went down to the beach. I walked up onto the farm and was greeted by one bad looking fellow.
"What're you here for?" said the capped man, a year or two older than I.
"I need to see Ann about a horse" I replied back as naturally as I could.
"Yeah." he said in reply. At that Ann came strolling out of the barn.
"Hey there Jack! How ya' been?" Ann said with the usual excitement in her voice. "C'mon this way, I'll show you the colt!"
I followed her into the pasture and the nearby barn, which looked about twice as large as the barn that was in shambles back at the farm. Ann did a strange whistling thing with her fingers, and a young tan colt galloped out of its stall to greet her.
"He doesn't have a name yet" Ann said "So you have to name him yourself. His brother's name is Cliffguard."
"Then I guess I'll name him Biffguard" I figured " Biff for short."
Ann let out a sort of a snort, apparently thinking that my horse's name was rather funny. This kind of puzzled me. Biff is a perfectly good name.
"Well, at least they rhyme" Ann said with a smile on her face. " You better get out of here now before Grey has anything to say about it."
"Who's Grey?" I questioned.
"That thing you met at the door is Grey. He's almost like a brother to me" Ann shot. Apparently Ann wasn't all that fond of her brother's attitude. With that I just left. I didn't want to meet Grey eye to eye again. He was someone to look out for.
...
The 8th day of Spring brought the Planting Festival, where the predetermined 'King' flies up in a blimp with an entourage and spreads seeds all over the land. Then everyone releases balloons in their hands. I thought it was a little silly, but hopefully it will bring good harvests.
I didn't really know anyone there except Ann, Lillia the florist, and Grey, whom I wanted to steer clear of. So I figured staying with Ann was the best option. I didn't want to spend time around someone as old as Dad. I worked for those people for two long years. I just hoped Grey wouldn't beat me up for hanging out with his sister.
I was having a generally good time with Ann. She seemed very excited and couldn't wait to let the balloon go in her hands. Just then Lillia approached me.
"Oh hey Jack. How are those seeds going?" Lillia inquisited.
"Great. They should be paying off soon if my guesses are right" I told her.
"Say, have you met my daughter Popuri?" Lillia questioned.
"Uhh.. No, I don't believe I have." I said, feeling rather awkward.
"Well then Jack, see that girl over there who with the pink hair?" Lillia pried.
You mean the girl that looks like you twenty years younger? I thought, but instead I just gave it my best. "Yeah."
"Popuri, come here!" Lillia called.
"Yes mother?" Popuri said as she approached with her frilly pink hair. " Oh, is this the new farmer?"
"Yeah, my name is Jack" I announced a little louder than I should have.
"Oh hehe" Popuri managed a fake laugh. " I hope you grow lots and lots of flowers on your farm, even now. You know, I love flowers, and it would be a shame if you didn't plant any. It would make me very happy if you did, and you do want to see me happy don't you?"
"Yeah I guess," I said casually. A little too casually. That was obviously the wrong thing to say.
"Humph" Popuri managed as she turned away and headed back into her crowd of friends. Lillia chased after her, telling her to be a little more respectful.
"She'll be back, you know" Ann informed me. " She won't stay like that for long. It can be annoying, but sometimes its good thing Popuri is as shifty as they come!"
At that the blimp soared off the ground. Its bonds we're obviously cut and a man, who appeared to be the potion shop dealer, soared into the air with a little boy, probably his grandson. One after another the balloons in everyone's hands flew into the air, and so did mine.
...
The next week flew by, with the harvest of the turnips and potatoes finally lining my pockets a little. It was turning out to be tough, but I was starting to get a hang of this farming thing. I started getting a routine down, and 6AM wasn't that bad anymore. Slowly the 17th of Spring rolled around, and while in the fields I realized something. The horse races were today! I finished watering my new installment of potatoes and turnips and ran off to town, hoping not to miss one of the races. I wanted to get a hang of these things before I actually had to race one.
I figured I would just hang around with Ann again, since I rarely left the farm, and she was the only real friend I had that I could 'hang out' with. I just hoped she felt the same, and nothing more.
I got to the races just in time to sit down with Ann. I figured she could tell me all about this horse racing thing anyways.
"Hey Ann, what's going on?" I asked as I sat down next to her.
" I'm psyched! This is going to be so exciting! Dad's racing next!" Ann practically screamed.
Ann, you need to relax I thought to myself.
"Ann you need to relax" came a voice. That wasn't my voice. It was impossible. I peered around to see who was on the other side of Ann. It was a brunette with green eyes who looked around the age of twenty. Perfect I thought. What am I thinking!? I thought again.
"Yeah?" asked the brunette with a bite to her voice.
"Oh Jack, this is Karen! I almost forgot, you guys have never met!" Ann piped up.
"You could have spared me, Ann," barked Karen.
What was I thinking? I thought again. As far as I could tell, Karen was as sharp as they come, but in a bad way.
I sat for a few minutes in silence and watched the horse races. Ann sure was not silent though. She was the loudest person in the entire crowd!
With the end of the race I felt someone sit down next to me. It must have been a muscular person. The bench really felt it when he sat down.
"Sup?" asked the man sitting next to me.
"Cliff?" I asked in astonishment.
"Yeah, what's going on Farmer John?" Cliff asked with a smile on his face.
I decided I'd play along. "Not bad Hobo Bob. You?"
Cliff gave a chuckle, and for the first time I noticed how lithe and skinny he was. It was almost like he hadn't eaten in a week. Despite this, we just kept throwing jokes at each other all afternoon. He didn't seem like that bad of a guy after all.
"Cliff, why are you talking to that guy? He's even wearing that goofed up hat!" Karen badgered.
"I see you met my cousin Karen, eh Jack?" Cliff joked.
At this point I really didn't care. " Yeah, I came out alive. I figured that I was pretty lucky," I told Cliff with a nudge in the ribs. " Kind of weird she's your cousin and all, didn't think that kind of stuff ran in your family." Our sides were splitting by the end of the day. Karen just gave me a dark look.
...
The horse races were all amazing. It was as if they were like the wind. On the journey back home I recounted all the things that happened. Getting my feet back on the farm I finally realized something: this is home. Before I headed inside the house to turn in for the night, I headed out to see Biff.
"Next time buddy, we'll ride the wind," I whispered to him.
...
Authors Note: Sorry for having to take this down, but I skipped over a lot of problems accidentally on this chapter because of the god awful story creation program that is fanfiction.net. I guess I shouldn't be too harsh though. They're the reasons I'm even writing this. Thanks for your patience.