Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harvest Moon
When I had first come to Flower Bud Village, I wasn't sure how to feel about the place. I liked the city that I had come from, but it was sort of sad that at 22 years old I was still living with my dad. I just simply couldn't afford to move out since I was trying to work through my college courses.
But then Grandpa died. He left his will, saying that the farm was to be given to me, on the condition that I could work on it and make it prosperous over the course of three years. Dad had sent me out to Flower Bud Village--as soon as he heard about Grandpa's condition—with all of my belongings. Since he was the lawyer that worked on Grandpa's will, he had already known what was going to happen. Right after Grandpa's funeral, Dad let me know that he would be back in three years. If the farm was making money, it was mine. If not, he was going to sell it. That's how it was. And then he went back home, to the city.
I found myself wide awake and staring at the ceiling of my new home early in the morning following Grandpa's funeral. The events of the preceding day kept playing through my mind. I had come to the conclusion that I would probably like it in this little town, with its friendly people.
Most of the men that were there offered to lend me a hand if I needed it. Hal from Green Ranch said that either he or his son could help me out. Kai, a worker at the vineyard, offered to help me. All of the carpenters offered to fix up my buildings for me, and Greg the fisherman said he'd keep me supplied with fresh fish.
All of the girls did pretty much the same thing, and acted as though they had never met me before. At least, I reflected, I remembered most of the people from when I had visited as a kid. Popuri, with the pink hair, offered to come over and plant some flowers to make the farm look nice; her mother told me to stop by the flower shop, and she would give me some seeds to start my crops with. Ann, the tomboy, said that her family had an extra colt that they wanted to give away and that she would bring it over if I wanted it. Elli, the baker, said that she and the bakery owner would be willing to do some baking for me. Maria silently stood by her parents, the Mayor and his wife, and watched everyone. The only girl that I really wanted to see was the only one that wasn't there.
Before he escorted me to the farm, the mayor told me that my grandfather had had a last bit of wisdom that he wanted to pass on: we were meant to have a place and a family to call our own, and be able to fill our time doing work that fulfills us. That, the mayor said, is what Grandpa called the "Meaning of Life." I was a little confused and somewhat amused by that. The very concept of a job that we enjoy was something completely unbelievable to me; that, and I didn't feel ready to even think about raising a family yet.
I knew I should get up pretty soon. Although I was new to the place, that didn't mean I could slack off. When I had seen the condition of my fields, I almost fainted. There were so many rocks and trees scattered through the area, it would take me forever to get it ready for planting.
After shoveling down my breakfast, I stood in the yard for a few moments eying the path to the beach. If I kept my eye on it, I knew, she would end up going by; if my memory was serving me correctly, she went to the beach every chance she got. I grabbed my grandfather's sledge off of the porch, and got to work.
By the end of day one, I had repaired the fence around the pasture/planting fields. The carpenters had been quick about their work, and had patched up the house, the barn, the horse stall, and the chicken coop. After the carpenters had left, Ann came by with a black colored colt. I could tell that she had someone with her, but because the other person was standing on the opposite side of the colt from me I couldn't tell who it was.
The colt's shoulder was as tall as my head, and I am by no means short. "I thought you said this thing was young," I remarked to Ann, causing her to giggle.
"He is," she protested with a smile. "His older brother is Cliffguard, a champion horse."
I smiled back. "Well, it looks like the gene pool he was swimming in is a good one."
Ann gave me a weird/confused look and I blushed. It would take a while, I decided, to get used to the fact that the only education people out here got was a basic one. I made my way around the colt, looking it over, and came to a stunned halt when I saw the person standing on the other side.
Karen had a disinterested look on her face, and her brilliant green eyes looked almost lifeless. Her brunette hair seemed to be duller than I remembered from when I last saw her, and it looked like she didn't recognize me. She looked like she weighed about half as much as she had been two years prior, but I thought she was still just as beautiful.
When I had visited my grandfather during the summers as a child, I had been really shy: I had left the farm only a couple of times. Karen was actually the only person my age I had met, and that was because the path to the beach was on the edge of the farm. I had been playing out in the yard one day and saw her as she was heading to the beach. We had started to play together every summer that I visited until I stopped visiting when I was about 16 years old. Even then, I didn't leave the farm. I was too quiet, and I still prefer my privacy.
When I was eighteen and she was seventeen, Karen ran away from home. I had found this out when she turned up at my dad's house with nothing more than a duffel bag and nowhere else to go. Thinking I was smarter than my father, I had tried to sneak her into the basement. It was my room, but it was the only place in the house she could stay. Dad, of course, noticed her even though he didn't say anything. Karen stayed with me for several weeks, seeing the sights and enjoying the city, until my grandfather and her mother showed up at my house to take her home. After that, we hadn't seen each other again.
I was crestfallen when Karen didn't show signs of recognizing me, but I quickly put a smile on my face. "Hi, I'm Jack," I said, holding out my hand.
Karen looked at me like I was an idiot. "Leave me alone." She turned sharply on her heel and took a couple of steps away.
Ann stepped up, her face alternating between nervous and what seemed to be her natural exuberance. "This is Karen," she said, introducing Karen since Karen obviously wasn't willing. "She works at the vineyard for her father."
"Nice to meet you, Karen," I called out, putting the smallest edge into my voice. I turned back to Ann. "So, what's the colt's name?"
Her happy face took over again. "We've been calling him Adonis, since he's huge and strong," she answered, "but I guess if you want to call him something else, that's okay."
"Adonis is a good name," I answered. Even with how down I was feeling Ann's smile was infectious.
In a move that took me by surprise, Ann threw her arms around me. "Take good care of him," she ordered as she hugged me. I thought I saw Karen stiffen out of the corner of my eye, but couldn't be sure. "I'll come by to see him often."
As she and Karen left, the sun was just setting behind the mountains. I stood in front of my new house for a few minutes, looking it over. Grandpa had definitely not left me with a tiny cabin. The house had two bedrooms--one with a large bed and a small one with a small bed—that were situated off to the side of the living room. The living room itself was huge, and had a stairway leading up to the roof of the cabin. I could remember going up there to watch fireworks with Grandpa when I was little. The kitchen and bathroom were off to the other side of the living room, and between them totaled at least the same amount of space as the living room did. I had been pretty happy to see that the stove ran off of propane, and that the bathroom included a full shower.
That was where I went when I headed into the house: the shower. After a day's work, I was dirty and ready to get clean. I let the water run for a moment to get it nice and hot, and then stepped in. Just as I was shampooing my hair, and had some shampoo covering my eyes, I smelled something that was both familiar and strange; I smelled something that I hadn't smelled for years. In fact, the last time I remember that scent was...
"Karen?" I called out, still blinded by the shampoo. A sudden breeze hit me as I heard the shower curtain get yanked away, and all of a sudden a woman's arms were wrapped around my neck. "What-How—"
"Quiet," she whispered in my ear, pulling me so that the shower head blasted the shampoo from my face. Her mouth quickly captured mine, and she pulled me tight against her. "Quiet now. Talk later."