Another Perfect Day

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or anything associated with the games and merchandise from Marvelous/Natsume. Otherwise this story is my original work and any similarities between it and any real people or events are coincidental. Please note that this story is based off of the Harvest Moon: Back to Nature and Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town video game titles.

Chapter 3: Jack's First Festival

"I wonder how long it takes seeds to actually grow," mumbled Jack. Talking to himself (or his dog, which was almost the same thing) was a hobby he had only recently begun to explore.

Thankfully, he chose not to answer himself this time.

He emptied a bit of water onto each tilled spot that was sowed with vegetable seeds. Upon completion of this chore, he was about to attempt yet another conversation with himself when Mayor Thomas made an unexpected entrance.

"Good morning Jack! And how is the Fajita Farm doing to- Sweet Goddess!" He said, leaping into the air. "You've… almost completely cleared the farm." He looked at the field in wonder and possibly just a hint of veneration.

"Mayor Thomas…? Oh, hi." Seeing another real person quickly brought him back to reality. "Yeah, I've been working really hard. Got most of it now except for those big boulders."

"You've… done really well Jack. I'm impressed." He shook his head as though trying to break out of a trance. "But that's not why I'm here! I wanted to tell you that the Spring Goddess Festival is tomorrow in the Rose Square at 10 a.m. You should take a break and come see everyone!"

"Uh, sure. But what exactly is the Spring Goddess Festival?" asked Jack, scratching his chin.

"Well, it's a festival to commemorate Spring and the blessings of the Harvest Goddess." Jack just stared at him blankly. "There'll be drinking and dancing. Oh, just come, won't ya?" With that, the little man went scurrying out of the front entrance.

Before Jack had time to even blink, another visitor barged in. This one was an older gentleman with a slightly-crooked back and a kind, white-bearded face that Jack vaguely remembered belonging to the owner of the Yodel Ranch. He pulled a chestnut-colored foal behind him.

"Hey Jack! It's me, Barley! We met before, remember?" said the old coot enthusiastically. He went up and gripped Jack's hand in a kindly manner that Jack had no trouble overpowering and crushing. Releasing Jack's hand, Barley turned around to face the pony.

"Pretty, isn't he? Do you like horses, Jack?"

"Uh-"

"Great! I'll let you take care of this one since I don't have any room for him at my ranch." He stuffed the horse's reins into Jack's hands. "Now you should name him."

"But I never said I wanted-"

"Name the horse, Jack." Barley's face suddenly turned so serious and… mournful that Jack couldn't help but obey. Disobedience would be the equivalent of kicking a puppy.

"How about… Lightning?" he stammered. Barley's face brightening immediately and he grinned, revealing only a few odd teeth in his mouth.

"Great name! Perfect for a race horse!"

"Race horse? Who said anything about racing?" Jack was aghast at this turn of events.

"Why, you'll be a great jockey, Jack! I know you will!" Barley gave him a great clap on the back. "I'll come take a look at ol' Lightning here when he grows up and if you took good care of 'em, you can race him! Fun, eh?" He cackled.

"But I don't know anything about racing horses-"

"You'll learn everything you need to know at this year's horse races. In fact, the first is on the 18th. It's gonna be great!" He let out another chuckle. "Well, I'll bet you've got girls to chase for the festival tomorrow, so I'll put Lightning in that stable and be on my way…" he began leading Lightning towards his new home in mid-statement.

"Wait! What do you mean, chase girls?" shouted Jack after Barley's retreating back. Thankfully, Barley wasn't hard of hearing yet.

"Didn't you know? Today you ask one of the girls your age to the festival tomorrow. You escort her." He turned back around. "You really didn't know, did ya? Tell you what, you can't find a date and I'll let you take my granddaughter. She's way too young for that romance stuff, but she'll keep you from embarrassing yourself in front of everyone." He resumed leading the horse away again with another cackle. "It wouldn't look too good if you went alone. Don't want my new racing prodigy to get belted off the farm so soon."

Jack's blood froze. Did he just say what I think he said? He ran up to the old rancher and the foal, impeding them for the second time.

"What do you mean, 'get belted off the farm so soon?'"

Barley frowned and looked up into Jack's surprised eyes. For once, he deigned not to cackle. "Well, Jack, I assumed you knew…"

"What? Knew what?" His voice was starting to take an edge of desperation.

"Sonny, this farm has been responsible for keeping the village afloat for years. Now, the villagers are willing to wait a little while for you to get it back on its feet, but if you don't make it successful soon…" He shook his head gently. "You might be asked to leave. The village can't live without your farm forever, and someone more capable will replace you."

"But, but," sputtered Jack. "The will-"

"If the village doesn't accept you, there's not a whole lot you can do. But don't worry! You keep working the farm like this and it'll be flourishing in no time. And go visit people once in a while. If you have friends in the village, no one will want to close you down." He gave Jack another enormous grin. "Why, you've got my vote already! You seem to have a good heart, just need to start raising some animals."

Jack barely heard him. I can't get kicked out of here. There's no where else for me to go… right?

"Jack…? Jack!"

He blinked and looked at Barley blankly.

"You going to be alright?" Jack nodded. "Then I'll see you around. Bye Jack."

Jack made himself busy watering the rest of his seeds as Barely finished "delivering" Lightning and left for his own ranch.

Jack wandered despondently through the village's cobbled streets. It was in the middle of the afternoon and the place seemed dead.

He passed what appeared to be the blacksmith's forge and another building with a sign reading "Aja Winery" in front. No one was out walking and Jack had little present desire to pursue anybody in their homes.

Nothing remarkable happened until he stood in front of a strange building which was partially titled "Mary's Library." He heard shouting to his right and turned just in time to see a girl with long brown hair tackle an older man wearing a purple vest.

"Pay up Duke! You know we don't keep tabs!" The girl was doing an excellent job of holding down this "Duke" guy, who appeared to be quite a bit heavier than she was.

"K-Karen!" mumbled Duke, whose mouth was partially buried in the cobble stone. "It's- mmpf not a very-" He broke off as she kneed him in the small of his back. He reared up like a bucking stallion, freeing his mouth from the road. "Argh! It's not a very big tab!"

Karen weeded one arm around his neck in an obvious effort to make his breathing more difficult. "It's 5000 gold pieces, Duke. 5000!"

Duke gasped in pain before his face started turning purple. He began making some strange guttural noises. The girl relaxed her hold on his neck a bit.

"Okay, okay! I'll pay!" He panted. "But… But you'll need to talk to Manna since I don't have-"

"Thanks!" said Karen, snatching a little bag out of Duke's black trousers. She lithely leapt off of the grunting man and opened the bag, revealing quite a few gold coins within. Large ones, all of them.

"Hey! That's stealing!"

"Is something wrong guys?" Jack finally found his voice after the shocking spectacle. It wasn't everyday that you saw a girl with a cheerleader's body take down a portly middle-aged man.

"Yeah, there's something wrong!" Duke, blushing fiercely, stood up and brushed himself off. "That girl over there jumped me!"

"Hmm… Looks like there's about 7000 gold coins in here Duke. Here's your change." The girl, Karen, tossed the small bag back to Duke, whose face was becoming more and more like a bottle of barbeque sauce every second.

"See? She took my money! You saw the whole thing, you can help me… Tell Harris…" Duke's embarrassed rage seemed to dissipate and he looked at Jack curiously. "Say, aren't you that farmer Zack brought to the bar a couple of nights ago?"

"Uh, I don't think so…" Jack's head churned in thought. Must've been the night I collapsed next to the shipping bin. And the next day I got those seeds and that Gray guy was there… Yeah, that sorta makes sense. But why would Zack bring me to the bar? "Second thought, it might've been me, but I don't remember that night too clearly."

"Well, take care of yourself I guess." Duke grinned and gave out a great, bellowing laugh which seemed to be the trend for all of the village's men. "Stop by the winery sometimes and buy a bottle or two." He then strode past Jack, having seemingly forgotten Karen's assault.

The girl was still standing there, and Jack got his first good look at her. She was beautiful: slender legs, a pretty oval face framed by two odd strands of golden hair, a cascade of brown hair which went down to her waist, and two mesmerizing jade eyes. She wore a purple vest over a white shirt and blue jean shorts which did little to hide her alluring figure.

"It's been a while since a guy looked at me like that," she said, frowning. Her voice was excellent too, the kind of voice you could picture singing on Broadway: bold and perfectly-toned.

"Uh, sorry. I haven't seen too many girl debt-collectors, though." Jack could feel his cheeks blushing a bit, which was odd since he had never been one to act strangely in front of the opposite sex.

"Oh, that. Duke is always trying to charge." She sighed and began toying with one of her golden locks. "My dad runs the Supermarket down the street, but he's such a pushover when it comes to Duke. Someone has to collect the money or we'll go out of business," she said, shrugging.

"But you…" she said, peering at him. "You're the one Ann was talking about."

Not that Ann again. This time it was Jack's turn to frown. "Ann? Is she the one who bought me those seeds?"

"Yeah, she and Zack bought them. Pretty nice of them, if you ask me." She looked at Jack in an odd, evaluating sort of way. "You don't know that much about seeds, do you?"

Jack smiled. "You can tell?"

"Well, yeah. You don't look anything like a farmer." Returning his smile briefly, she whirled around and starting walking off in the opposite direction. "I'd be happy to help you with seed selection, if you need it. Just drop by the Supermarket; I'm almost always there!"

A nagging thought emerged from Jack's slightly-muddled memory. "Wait!" She turned around, surprised. Gaining a bit of confidence, he continued. "You wouldn't happen to be… free for this Spring Fling festival tomorrow, would you?"

She blushed, but not in a good way; more like an "I'm-embarassed-to-say-no-to-someone-as-sorry-as-you" way. "It's called the Spring Goddess Festival, and I would say yes to you, but, well… I already told someone I'd go with him. Maybe you know him; it's Rick, the guy who lives at the Poultry Farm next to your place."

And I had such a good feeling about her, too. "No, I don't know him. And it's not a really big deal or anything. I mean, we just met and all."

She smiled apologetically. "You know what? I was just about to go to the inn to see Ann. Maybe you'd like to ask her if she'd go with you." She giggled. "I hear you and already have a history together."

"It's not my fault Zack brought me to the bar," mumbled Jack. "Alright, I'm coming. I really do need to meet this girl. You know, to thank her," he added when Karen gave him a rather lewd look.

"This way then." Karen took off down the tree-lined cobble boulevard with Jack close at her heels.

Jack's Diary, Spring 7 of his first year on the farm

What an insane day! First I get myself a horse (a HORSE), find out I could be kicked off the farm in a heartbeat like in one of those reality shows, met the local enforcer, Karen, and then I finally got to meet that girl who broke into my house the other day. Okay, so she was carrying me home (well, the blacksmith was, but she was sorta helping), but it's kinda weird when you don't remember things like that.

Well, I guess it's not that important. Time to stop stressing over it.

But I'm glad I got the chance to meet her; she is cute. But nothing like that Karen chick! Wow, I was not expecting someone like her around here.

I took up Barley's offer to take May to that festival thing. I did ask Ann to go with me (Karen, too), but she said she was already going with some guy named Cliff. Haven't met that one yet, but I'll have to make a point to. It's really annoying when you know a name, but don't know the face.

Oh, and Karen tells me that the turnips should finish growing in a couple more days, probably around the 10th. Looking forward to my first harvest.

And, before I forget, a permanent memo: potatoes take about eight days to grow, turnips take around five. I think I'll try my hand at cucumbers after this batch grows. That, and buy a new rucksack; this old one I found in the stable is a little, uh, small (I can barely fit my fist into it!).

So tomorrow I'll get to see my first Mineral Town festival. It shouldn't be too bad, if I am stuck playing the 'big brother' role with a little girl I haven't even met.

God, I hope I don't look like a pedophile.