Disclaimer: Natsume and Harvest Moon still aren't mine. Tom still is.
I woke up to a wonderful morning with a blazing sun and a crystal clear blue sky. There isn't anything more that I could possibly ask for. Except for perhaps a house. The shed is nice, but a house would be lovely. But on with the story...
We arrived safely at the edge of Mineral Town, and were greeted by all manner of people. The mayor even came out to say hello. Once Takakura had finished his business in Mineral Town (something to do with Barley, the local cattle retailer) we set off across Mother's Hill for Forget Me Not Valley. Coming down, we saw what looked like a tiny little village you might find inside a snow globe. Without the snow, of course. But as we neared the bottom of the hill, it became apparent to me that this really was a tiny little valley village. Takakura proceeded to lead us towards a path that lead straight through the heart of the village, towards the Inn, but he turned at the last second onto a dirt road that gave an open view of the farm. It was beautiful. Tak went over all the basics of farming, showing us where our tools are, telling us where to plant seeds and where our cattle will go, and where his house is if we need assistance. I was taking a look around the place while he was pointing out to Jack where the farm house was, and I decided in my mind that I liked the looks of things here. I focused in on the conversation again long enough to realize that Tak was pointing out the shed where I would be staying.
"I will build a house for you later when I get around to it, but considering there is a lack of funds and of labor you will have to deal with the shed for the time being." He said.
"The shed will be fine for now. Just don't worry about it unless you absolutely have to." I said. I didn't want the poor man worrying himself to death. He already had enough gray hairs.
"Well, that's about it I guess. Oh, I forgot. I need to show you around and introduce you to the residents of Forget Valley."
Takakura really was trying his best to make us fit in and be comfortable. It was a nice effort. I respect him for that. So off we went, an odd little threesome, our first destination being the Inn...
Right after he introduced Tim, the owner of the Inn, and Ruby, his wife, Tak looked at us and asked us what we would prefer to be called.
"Jack is fine with me, considering that is my name." My cousin sure can be a little dense sometimes. Things were starting off great, I could just see it.
I spent a little more time deciding, since my real name is Thomas, like the mayor of Mineral Town, but I really didn't want to be called Thomas. Too long. I finally decided on a shortened version of my full first name.
"Tom will do nicely, if that doesn't bother you too much. If you want to be formal and make my skin crawl, you could always call me Thomas..." I really like my shortened name, but I always try to give people a choice. After all, some people do like different things, as I had no doubt learned over the years. That's probably why a few of my books didn't sell like I'd hoped...
"Tom it is then. I'm too lazy to call you Thomas." Good old Tak. As lazy as I remembered. Tim wasn't much better, though. He and Ruby said they would call me Tom if only because yelling Thomas might take too long if there was an emergency. I was starting to like the laziness in this area...
So off we went, meeting Nina and Galen (the residential elders of the community), Chris, Wally and Hugh (the athletes of the community), Romana (the town rich lady), Lumina (Romana's grand-daughter), Sebastian (Romana's butler), Griffin (owner of the Blue Bar, a fine drinking establishment on the main and only street, or so he says), Muffy (the part-time worker at the Blue Bar and helpless romantic of the community. Eligible bachelorette), Vesta (the owner of the large farm full of lively vegetables that we passed on our way in, also the only place to buy seeds), Marvin (Vesta's brother, a pain in the butt depressed kind of guy. He's just a worker) and Celia ( resident helper at Vesta's farm that waters crops and sells seed. Eligible bachelorette). Takakura also told us about the rest of the community that we hadn't seen; he told us about a traveling poet by the name of Gustafa that lives in the bright colorful yurt in the middle of the Valley (you couldn't miss it, that much color screams at you), an artist by the name of Cody (metallurgist really) who lives in the metal trailer near Turtle Swamp (I'm assuming that patch of filthy water is the swamp), and the twins, Patrick and Kassey, that make fireworks in their water tower. He told us also about an archaeological ruin up near the waterfall (I forgot to mention that there is a lovely river, ocean view, and waterfall in this valley) that was run by a man named Carter and his assistant named Flora, both of which living in the same tent beside the ruins.
Our tour complete, Jack, Tak and I headed back to the farm to take another look around and go to bed. The sun was already setting in Forget Valley, as we had spent so much time traveling and meeting the new people in town.
I was heading towards the shack when I noticed what looked like three little lawn gnomes (one red, one blue, and one yellow) running through the pasture. I stopped to take a look, but they vanished so quickly that I didn't have the chance to see where they had gone. It was at that point that Takakura caught up with me to tell me he needed help moving the bed into the shed for me. Naturally, I complied, seeing as how sleeping on the ground isn't the least bit appealing to me ( I always hated camping because of that). Once we were done, I explained what I had seen to Tak, relating the story of the lawn ornaments.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Tak asked, feeling my forehead and looking at me with concern in his eyes. "Lawn gnomes aren't plentiful around here, especially ones that move. Maybe you just strained yourself somehow. You need to get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day." With that, he retired to his cabin, leaving me to retire to my shed. I looked one last time at the pasture before I turned in. After all, I swear that I saw the gnomes laughing at me. Oh well... I thought, heading towards my bed, Takakura's right. I need to be getting some sleep. Tomorrow I begin my new life as a hired hand that writes novels and poetry for fun. With that being the last thought of the day, my consciousness slipped from me, leaving me with the last mental image of gnomes running through the pasture...
Well, that was the yesterday. I know, I made it sound like a long time ago, but as least I can say I remembered it like it was yesterday. So tomorrow, I will tell you about today. That way, I can always be a day ahead. Good night!