Harvest Moon: How to Handle Life

Chapter One: The Farm He Didn't Want

"…so yeah, this here farm is your. I don't want it, your father didn't want it, and now that he's dead you can do whatever you want with it." Takakura said, slapping his huge dark hand against the back of a pleasant looking city boy with brown hair and eyes.

The boy shoved Takakura's hand away. "Look, I don't want ANYTHING to do with farming. I barely kept my fish alive for a day! I have this knack, you see…for killing innocent things…now you want me to run a farm!"

"Look, Sky, I don't frankly care! Now your father entrusted this farm to you. Are you going to let him down?"

Sky shrugged and nodded his head up and down.

Suddenly Takakura shoved Sky with his hands, causing Sky to topple over the small fence and into the tall grass, narrowly missing cow manure. Sky managed to get a good whiff of the strange substance before standing on his feet. "Cow dung! What the heck is cow dung doing here? I thought there weren't any animals on this farm!"

Takakura smiled deviously and motioned for Sky to follow him. He opened the doors to a small barn and found that a large black-and-white spotted cow tied up to a post, eating hay.

"HOLY COW!" Sky cried.

"Well, I don't know about 'holy' but…this here is your cow! Thought I'd give you a nice 'welcome to the farm life' present. C'mon, you should give her a name." Takakura said, petting the cow.

Sky thought for a moment. "Hmm…how about…Dung! Yeah! Dung is an awesome name!"

Takakura rolled his eyes. "I don't reckon she'll appreciate a name like that. So I'll name her Betsy. Betsy the cow!"

"Betsy! BETSY! What type of name is that? You hare a very bad name-giver." Sky said teasingly.

Takakura sighed and led Sky outside. He began to show Sky each part of the farm. "This here is your Chicken coop. I like to call it the Instant Egg-o-maker! Just stick a chicken in and out comes the egg!"

"Well, at least I'll have plenty of chicken. I didn't see a Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant out here, I thought I was going to die." Sky said.

Takakura then led him to a metal building. "This here has a refrigerator for your food. You can store eggs and milk in here. See the little clipboard there? Just write what you want to buy and sell and I'll get it to you. You had better be grateful too, because I have to get my behind out of bed in the morning every day just for you!"

"Well, thank you." Sky muttered.

Finally done, Takakura led Sky to a small, quaint house at the edge of the farm. It seemed large enough, and was made out of oak wood. "Cool, is that my house!" Sky exclaimed.

"No! That is my house." Takakura said, then turned Sky's head around. "That is your house."

Before Sky was the sorriest looking shack he had ever. It looked ready to fall apart, and had a metal plate for a roof. Inside was only one room, and it had a simple kitchen, simple television, and a simple bed with a simple pillow on top.

"This is simply ridiculous!" Sky said.

"Oh, don't worry! Give it a few years, you can add on stuff once you get enough money."

"Any how much money do I have now?" Sky asked eagerly.

"None."

Sky kicked the ground angrily.

Suddenly, as they were walking outside the shack, too dogs mauled Sky over.

"Wonder were they came from. Must be strays." Takakura muttered.

"They attacked me! OUCH!" Sky cried as one of the dogs bit his shoe.

"Ah, there just playin'! You should keep one!"

"No!"

"YES!"

"No!"

"YES!"

"No!"

"Yes, or I shall kill you." Takakura said.

Sky kicked the dirt again. "Fine. But which one?"

"Pick."

One dog was lovable and adorable, with long floppy ears and a small tail. The other was a massive dog, with pointed ears and sharp teeth. Both were orange and white.

"I want the adorable floppy-eared one!" Sky said.

"Really?"

"Heck no! I'll take the pointy-eared one. He is way cooler than the floppy one."

Takakura sighed and picked up the adorable dog. "Fine, then I'll find this one a nice home. What are you going to name the one you have?"

"Hmm…I know! Ripper!" Sky cried, and the dog barked in approval.

"No, no, no! That won't do. Let's name it Bob!"

"You seriously need to work on your names." Sky said again.

"Fine, name it Ripper. C'mon, let's go show you around to the rest of the people in Forget-Me-Not Valley."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about the others."

Sky felt like a show dog as Takakura showed him to all of his new neighbors. One of them, a huge vegetable farmer with curly red hair named Vesta. She nearly broke Sky's back as she embraced him into a hug. In the background, a young girl with long brown hair named Celia waved at Sky shyly. "Hi, Sky! Hey, that rhymes!" Celia giggled.

Sky thought she was a bit weird. Celia kept muttering to herself during their visit and Sky was glad to leave.

Next they went to the Blue Bar, where they met a guy named Griffon and a girl named Muffy. Muffy had blonde hair and blue eyes, and she wore a red dress. As soon as Sky approached, Muffy went and nearly knocked Sky over as she punched him in the arm. "Ha! You got that dopey old farm on the hill!" She laughed.

"Muffy, be nice!" Griffon said.

"Yeah, okay. Hello, Sky." Muffy said and extended her hand to Sky. Sky hesitated a bit and then shook her hand. Suddenly a wave of electricity was sent through Sky, nearly turning him into a piece of bacon.

Muffy laughed and went into the other room.

Then they proceeded to go to the inn, where they met Tim and Ruby, the owners of the inn, and their son Rock. They didn't get much of a greeting, though, for there was a huge crisis at the inn when they arrived.

"Put it out! Put it out!" Someone cried from inside. Sky noticed some smoke rising out of the window. Takakura led him inside and Sky saw that a wooden table was on fire, and Ruby was trying to get it out. Hidden in the shadows, a girl with bright red hair and traveling clothes was laughing silently.

Finally they doused the fire and introduced themselves. "And this is Nami." Ruby said, pointing to the red-haired girl. "She…uhh…likes to make fires, you see. Fires happen all the time around here."

Nami laughed.

Girls, Sky declared to himself, are weird.

They proceeded to meet everyone else in the town including: a mad scientist, a huge man who liked to make strange art, a woman who had too many cats and a man with a strange pointed green hat who wouldn't stop singing.

"Well, good luck." Takakura said finally, stopping in front of his home.

"Hey, wait! What do you mean, good luck?"

"I mean that you're on your own now. I might help you occasionally, but this farm is now yours. And like I said, good luck. You'll need it." Takakura began to walk inside his house, and then stopped. "By the way, what exactly is the name of this farm?"

"Do I have to name everything?" Sky complained.

"Would you like me to do it?"

"NO!" Sky said immediately, then thought for a moment. "Hey, I know! I'll name it, Sky Farm!"

Takakura snorted. "And you thought I was bad at naming." He slammed the door behind him.

Life on this farm would be interesting.