"Yes, of course. You deserve it. I want to stand by you the entire time and never let you out of my sight. You don't know what this means for me, too. If we do this, your fate is sealed, and let me tell you I'm honored to have this position."
"Oh, Jack...."
Ann's eyes, wider than dinner plates, strained for a better view until she had to turn the corner around the Mountain Carpenters' house. Abandoning her field guide on the crisp snow-covered earth, she moved forward on her hands and knees and saw, in complete horror, Popuri in Jack's arms. Popuri moved her arms under and around his shoulders, her curly pink hair fanned across his chest. Jack looked surprised for a moment but put both arms around her little ribcage and followed her out of the exit in Moon Mountain.
Suddenly the air got caught in her throat and she suffocated for a moment, then when she came to her senses she kicked up a tall wave of silvery snow in fury and her body shook, red from what she'd just witnessed. So he wanted to be like that, did he? Ann could have very well lived with just being Jack's friend, but when he went and lied about his relations with Popuri she felt soiled inside. For the months she had known him she always basked in an aura of integrity and innocence that lingered around Jack, but now.... This was definitely it, and although it should have been more heartbreaking than provoking, she grew angered at how much she'd been trying to earn a spot in Jack's heart and it was all futile. She didn't have the faintest clue what kept her from screaming her head off, but she picked up her field guide with a vengeance and flung it at the side of the Mountain Carpenters' small log cabin. A loud thump sounded throughout Moon Mountain and the wood door creaked open. Wincing in apprehension for an inquiry from the Head Carpenter, Ann sucked in her breath and rolled her eyes at her mistake. But instead of seeing the short, pale old man with the wrinkled face she saw Cliff come out with a satchel and a crude, unfinished tool in his hands.
"What's going on?" he turned to her, rubbing the beginnings of a flint scalpel with a purple cloth. He had a red headband tied around his head like the Mountain Carpenters, his blond bangs sticking up like spikes. By the look on his face it seemed that he had just woken up not long ago.
Ann cleared her throat. "Um... nothing, I was just, uh, well... What I came here to do was..." She had no idea what was coming but Cliff listened just as attentively. Then, remembering the field guide, she picked up the book and opened the page to the picture of what she intended on seeing Jack for. "See this here, in the field guide? This is a special white pika bunny that comes only in winter. I've heard it's been spotted around here somewhere, and I thought I might get some help finding it. I wanted someone special, someone honest, and someone who would NEVER BACKSTAB OTHERS to come and see it with me. So unless you're going to be busy for a long time, I thought maybe you'd be interested in coming."
"Yeah. That sounds cool. But, um, I'm only taking a break now. The Mountain Carpenters are finishing up the hot spring that the earthquake opened up a few weeks ago, and I'm filling in for Jack 'cause he got hurt some way or another. Did you hear about that?" Cliff tucked the scalpel into his pocket and rapped his fingers rhythmically on the wooden banister of the stairs.
"Yeah, I was there when it happened," Ann said crossly, "but let's not talk about stupid little things like that. I--"
"Tell you what, come inside and I'll make you some tea. No one's visited me here before except for Jack sometimes, and the Mountain Carpenters don't mind if I have company." The magnanimity of Ann's heart made it unpardonable to recognize Cliff's loneliness and stepped into the cabin.
Inside, the smell was musty but not bad with the incense. It was a smell of nature that you didn't find on a farm. Cliff pounded two large white cushions on the floor and at first Ann thought the base of the cabin was going to collapse, but when he pointed her to sit down she did as told and looked around observantly.
"Sometimes I cook for the carpenters," Cliff said just to start conversation, with his back turned. He peeled off one of his suede jackets, this one lined with fur, and revealed a white tee shirt the carpenters must have given him in uniform. "They don't eat much except for the vegetation and they don't cook anything special with the fish they catch. So when I make this hunter's tea, they really like it." Cliff turned back around and set two cups of tea on the table. "Try it. You'll like it. My father taught me how to make it."
"Say, thanks! This really is good!" Ann said moments later after she had blown into it and taken a sip.
"Y'know, I didn't think you'd come and visit though I asked." Cliff sat down opposite her and looked at her square in the eye. Ann hated it when he did that.
"What do you mean?" The lightbulb hanging from the ceiling was growing dim and she had to squint to see him now.
"...It's nothing," he lied hurriedly. "Just... thanks for coming. Now, what about this pika bunny?"
Ann shrugged off his strangeness and went into a more detailed explanation about the pika bunny, the classification, diet, and life expectancy, and the records of where such an animal had been spotted before. "And that's why I wanted to look for it, and very soon too. Spring is coming in just a few days."
"I realized that. I don't know why you didn't try to search any sooner, but then yet I've nothing to do for awhile. I guess it would do some good if I---" Cliff stopped short as the light bulb finally burned out. "Oh, crap. I think that might have been the last one, unless there's one in the drawer near you." He said this in the pitch-blackness and Ann couldn't detect so much as a silhouette.
"I'll look," Ann said, feeling around for a drawer handle.
"No, no, don't get up; I'll do it. Besides, there's a candle just over there." The next thing she could hear was footsteps, then a loud clanging sound.
"OW!!!!! SON OF A BISCUIT!!!!!!!!" his voice rang out. Cliff fell forth on his hands and knees.
"See what you get when you don't let me handle things? I'll find your stupid light bulb." Ann felt around again on the floor and stopped when she felt something rough and cold. Cliff's hand latched onto hers just as she curled her fingers around his palm, but none of them said anything. Cliff moved his hand up onto her forearm and they stood up together until they were holding onto the biceps of each other's arms.
"Did you find the light bulb?" he said stupidly.
"N-no."
"Don't move. I think the drawer is just right there." Cliff moved his foot and with one step, had trodden on Ann's shoe.
"CLIFF, YOU IDIOT!!!!!!!! THAT'S MY FOOT!!!!!"
"Sorry, sorry.... Hey, I think I got it now!!"
"Wait a minute, that's a little too close!!" Ann yelled impulsively as soon as she felt him next to her again, then a bright light flickered and she found her head on his shoulder as he reached up to screw the new lightbulb in.
Both of them backed away immediately, Ann blushing a deeper red than blood, and Cliff's electric-blue eyes widening in horror and fascination at the same time. Cliff blinked, and ran his fingers through his hair casually.
"You got it," she said, looking at his boots.
"Yeah. So, um... tonight at what time?"
"Seven, and, uh... yeah. See you then?"
"Yes. Um, have a good evening, Ann."
"You too. Bye."
Ann left without looking into his face for the rest of the day.