Ever since the Harvest Festival, Ann had almost completely forgotten
all about Cliff, the person, and spent the most of her time training Cliff,
the horse. She wasn't in the least worried about Jack anymore because she
had remembered how Karen said he was hers first. After all, Ann and Jack
had a close friendship that Popuri would never have, even if she was the
belle of the village. With the Local Horse Race coming up, she was more
excited and definitely having a lot more fun training her favorite horse
and rooting for Jack at the same time, whenever she was to see him there.
So it was quite a surprise when she had finished feeding the cows in the barn and she saw her favorite horse being apparently bothered by her least-favorite person. The traveler, Cliff, somehow invited himself onto their farm. From Ann's angle she could only see him waving his arm in a strange way and looking at the horse.
"What are you doing to Cliff!!" she yelled in more of an exclamation than a question.
"Nothing!" Cliff was taken aback, then he looked up at the enormous brown horse. "The horse's name is Cliff too?"
"What's it to you?! This horse is gonna win the Local Horse Race next week, and he doesn't have time for the likes of you-"
"He's charming," he declared, zoning out. He didn't seem to hear Ann's comment.
"What do you know about horses?" she demanded, putting her hands on her hips in a rather snobbish manner.
"For your information I've been all around and I've seen different kinds of animals, horses included. Cliffgard here--the horse-- looks strong and somewhat smart, but perhaps he doesn't have enough stamina-"
"Well, we'll show you! Come to the Local Horse Race on the 28th then-- - No, let's make a bet right now!" Ann looked at him squarely in the eye, challengingly. "But you have to show up."
"Fine," Cliff shrugged it off as if it were a petty matter. "So, what? I suppose if Cliffgard wins then...?"
"Then you stop being so rude and bothersome, and stop coming up here to bother the animals." Ann struck a confident stance as if she knew ahead of time that she had nothing to lose.
"Fine. Then if Cliff loses, I get to visit the farm anytime and talk to you. And you have to be nice," Cliff proposed. "Fair deal?"
Ann sighed. She surely didn't want him over here! Not that she'd mind too much, considering that he had an interest in animals and certainly liked Cliff.... But he certainly wasn't her type of friend either, but then she remembered what Pastor Brown had told everyone at church last Sunday when she made up her mind to go, and she just swallowed her negative thoughts. How would she come about her desire to reform herself into a more likeable person if she judged him blindly?
"Well..... okay. But a deal's a deal." For that moment she forgot her focus to be more feminine and grasped Cliff's hand firmly and shook it with a very strong grip, then stuffed her hands back into the pockets of her overalls.
"What a handshake! You've become a very dainty young lady, I see," Cliff teased her sarcastically.
"We're not starting on that subject again!!" Ann snapped.
"No, no, of course not," he began to the girl's surprise. "Just give me your hand." Ann hesitantly brought her right hand out of her pocket and extended it. "No, no, hold it like this.... There, that's better. Now, grip my hand-- that's right, just like that---- and.... Good! Right, just the way you handle petting the sheep."
"You have softer hands than I thought," Cliff looked into her eyes.
"What are we doing this for?" Ann almost became scared, eyeing him strangely as she was unsure of his intentions.
"I wanted to get the right footing and start over. I told you my name is Cliff, and Jack says that yours is Ann. I am a traveler, and I think that I might stay here longer--"
"Wait, wait. You're friends with Jack too?" Ann's eyes widened, then she swallowed hard. She certainly wasn't ready for that. Suppose Jack told Cliff everything about her? She could see Jack just saying, Yeah, Ann hangs out with me. Or she tries to, anyway. She's majorly got the hots for me, I can tell, but she really needs to stop being such a tomboy. That's why I like Popuri.
"Yeah! Jack is a nice guy. He practically saved my life when I first came, so we're like best friends."
"I don't think it was a particular fondness," Ann took on a snobby disposition again. "Jack is generous to everybody. He and I were with Maria and we helped her out together, and--"
"You like him, don't you?"
"What do you mean?" Her stomach lurched. The last thing she needed was Cliff turning out to be like Gray after he was just starting to be a nice acquaintance. Strange, though, was the way he was looking at her just now. Not a trace of sarcasm was showing in his eyes, and he sort of hung his head in a way that he was looking up at her, innocently. His eyes were a deeper blue than usual, clear, but somehow dreamy. Ann now had an unconscious desire to brush his blond bangs away. They looked as if they had been dipped in honey. The look on his face was honest, and it almost made her want to tell him everything. But, no--if she couldn't tell Jack her feelings for him, then she certainly couldn't tell this whacko.
"You like him. I can see it in your eyes. Just like a cow, when its eyes tell you that it's been hurt or upset, or when something's gone wrong." Cliff moved in to move her strawberry-blond bangs out of the way, to see her eyes better, and Ann shivered. Now he was scaring her with his knowledge of animals and moving her hair like that when she was just thinking about his. His fingertips felt unexplainably clay-like on her forehead. It was almost as if she could feel in her skin that he was skilled with his hands and had done many things other than hunting innocent forest animals.
"You're crazy!!" she recollected herself and jumped back, looking appalled. "I thought you were weird from the very beginning, but--but--" she was slowing down as Cliff crossed his arms and looked at her in the tell-me-the-truth way that Gray usually did, "now I think you're even...weirder....."
"Okay, but don't tell anyone!!" Ann gave up exasperatedly. "Oh, no, I can't believe I told you. Of all the stupid things for me to do, I let you know about it!" She turned her back toward him and slapped her forehead. Soon Jack would know everything, and he would either laugh at her or never face her again.
"Your secret's safe with me," Cliff offered sweetly.
"What??" Ann turned around again. "You're--you're serious?!"
Cliff frowned bitterly. "I have been places where people have backstabbed me and I lost things that were very important to me. After the way that I've been treated, and now that I've finally found respect in this village, I'm not going to ever do that to anyone. I have no doubt that you'll come after me like a bull if I do, but even so, I wouldn't do that to such a pretty girl."
Wow. Jack wouldn't be able to say something like that openly without blushing.
"Well," he said, changing swiftly back to his good humor, "see you at the Horse Race then, Ann."
"S-See you," was all Ann could think to say as she stood there, dumbfounded.
"You know, you treated him rather harshly there a minute ago," Gray came up behind her and startled her as she was watching Cliff leave. His sister jumped back and then swiveled around to face him.
"What do you mean?" her brow furrowed and she tilted her head to glance at him in an unusual way.
"He was just trying to make friends with you," he pointed out, wiping the beads of sweat off his face. "And he likes animals, too. I'm sure he's probably a really good guy."
"What's come over you all of a sudden? You used to say that you thought he was weird!!"
"And? I did. But after I saw you two talking today, I guess he seems- "
"You were eavesdropping!! After all the times you told me not to be like that!!"
"Hey, what else can I do? It's not like I was going to come up to you two and say anything." Gray removed his cap and made his way across the dull-brown pasture in the direction of his father's shop for his usual mid- day break.
What's happened to the world all of a sudden?
So it was quite a surprise when she had finished feeding the cows in the barn and she saw her favorite horse being apparently bothered by her least-favorite person. The traveler, Cliff, somehow invited himself onto their farm. From Ann's angle she could only see him waving his arm in a strange way and looking at the horse.
"What are you doing to Cliff!!" she yelled in more of an exclamation than a question.
"Nothing!" Cliff was taken aback, then he looked up at the enormous brown horse. "The horse's name is Cliff too?"
"What's it to you?! This horse is gonna win the Local Horse Race next week, and he doesn't have time for the likes of you-"
"He's charming," he declared, zoning out. He didn't seem to hear Ann's comment.
"What do you know about horses?" she demanded, putting her hands on her hips in a rather snobbish manner.
"For your information I've been all around and I've seen different kinds of animals, horses included. Cliffgard here--the horse-- looks strong and somewhat smart, but perhaps he doesn't have enough stamina-"
"Well, we'll show you! Come to the Local Horse Race on the 28th then-- - No, let's make a bet right now!" Ann looked at him squarely in the eye, challengingly. "But you have to show up."
"Fine," Cliff shrugged it off as if it were a petty matter. "So, what? I suppose if Cliffgard wins then...?"
"Then you stop being so rude and bothersome, and stop coming up here to bother the animals." Ann struck a confident stance as if she knew ahead of time that she had nothing to lose.
"Fine. Then if Cliff loses, I get to visit the farm anytime and talk to you. And you have to be nice," Cliff proposed. "Fair deal?"
Ann sighed. She surely didn't want him over here! Not that she'd mind too much, considering that he had an interest in animals and certainly liked Cliff.... But he certainly wasn't her type of friend either, but then she remembered what Pastor Brown had told everyone at church last Sunday when she made up her mind to go, and she just swallowed her negative thoughts. How would she come about her desire to reform herself into a more likeable person if she judged him blindly?
"Well..... okay. But a deal's a deal." For that moment she forgot her focus to be more feminine and grasped Cliff's hand firmly and shook it with a very strong grip, then stuffed her hands back into the pockets of her overalls.
"What a handshake! You've become a very dainty young lady, I see," Cliff teased her sarcastically.
"We're not starting on that subject again!!" Ann snapped.
"No, no, of course not," he began to the girl's surprise. "Just give me your hand." Ann hesitantly brought her right hand out of her pocket and extended it. "No, no, hold it like this.... There, that's better. Now, grip my hand-- that's right, just like that---- and.... Good! Right, just the way you handle petting the sheep."
"You have softer hands than I thought," Cliff looked into her eyes.
"What are we doing this for?" Ann almost became scared, eyeing him strangely as she was unsure of his intentions.
"I wanted to get the right footing and start over. I told you my name is Cliff, and Jack says that yours is Ann. I am a traveler, and I think that I might stay here longer--"
"Wait, wait. You're friends with Jack too?" Ann's eyes widened, then she swallowed hard. She certainly wasn't ready for that. Suppose Jack told Cliff everything about her? She could see Jack just saying, Yeah, Ann hangs out with me. Or she tries to, anyway. She's majorly got the hots for me, I can tell, but she really needs to stop being such a tomboy. That's why I like Popuri.
"Yeah! Jack is a nice guy. He practically saved my life when I first came, so we're like best friends."
"I don't think it was a particular fondness," Ann took on a snobby disposition again. "Jack is generous to everybody. He and I were with Maria and we helped her out together, and--"
"You like him, don't you?"
"What do you mean?" Her stomach lurched. The last thing she needed was Cliff turning out to be like Gray after he was just starting to be a nice acquaintance. Strange, though, was the way he was looking at her just now. Not a trace of sarcasm was showing in his eyes, and he sort of hung his head in a way that he was looking up at her, innocently. His eyes were a deeper blue than usual, clear, but somehow dreamy. Ann now had an unconscious desire to brush his blond bangs away. They looked as if they had been dipped in honey. The look on his face was honest, and it almost made her want to tell him everything. But, no--if she couldn't tell Jack her feelings for him, then she certainly couldn't tell this whacko.
"You like him. I can see it in your eyes. Just like a cow, when its eyes tell you that it's been hurt or upset, or when something's gone wrong." Cliff moved in to move her strawberry-blond bangs out of the way, to see her eyes better, and Ann shivered. Now he was scaring her with his knowledge of animals and moving her hair like that when she was just thinking about his. His fingertips felt unexplainably clay-like on her forehead. It was almost as if she could feel in her skin that he was skilled with his hands and had done many things other than hunting innocent forest animals.
"You're crazy!!" she recollected herself and jumped back, looking appalled. "I thought you were weird from the very beginning, but--but--" she was slowing down as Cliff crossed his arms and looked at her in the tell-me-the-truth way that Gray usually did, "now I think you're even...weirder....."
"Okay, but don't tell anyone!!" Ann gave up exasperatedly. "Oh, no, I can't believe I told you. Of all the stupid things for me to do, I let you know about it!" She turned her back toward him and slapped her forehead. Soon Jack would know everything, and he would either laugh at her or never face her again.
"Your secret's safe with me," Cliff offered sweetly.
"What??" Ann turned around again. "You're--you're serious?!"
Cliff frowned bitterly. "I have been places where people have backstabbed me and I lost things that were very important to me. After the way that I've been treated, and now that I've finally found respect in this village, I'm not going to ever do that to anyone. I have no doubt that you'll come after me like a bull if I do, but even so, I wouldn't do that to such a pretty girl."
Wow. Jack wouldn't be able to say something like that openly without blushing.
"Well," he said, changing swiftly back to his good humor, "see you at the Horse Race then, Ann."
"S-See you," was all Ann could think to say as she stood there, dumbfounded.
"You know, you treated him rather harshly there a minute ago," Gray came up behind her and startled her as she was watching Cliff leave. His sister jumped back and then swiveled around to face him.
"What do you mean?" her brow furrowed and she tilted her head to glance at him in an unusual way.
"He was just trying to make friends with you," he pointed out, wiping the beads of sweat off his face. "And he likes animals, too. I'm sure he's probably a really good guy."
"What's come over you all of a sudden? You used to say that you thought he was weird!!"
"And? I did. But after I saw you two talking today, I guess he seems- "
"You were eavesdropping!! After all the times you told me not to be like that!!"
"Hey, what else can I do? It's not like I was going to come up to you two and say anything." Gray removed his cap and made his way across the dull-brown pasture in the direction of his father's shop for his usual mid- day break.
What's happened to the world all of a sudden?