CHAPTER 2:

A week later, I gathered up my courage, and, after patting Bessie for good luck, ventured out of my farm again. I looked eagerly over at the Poultry Farm, hoping perhaps to see Rick again, but to my dismay, (and somewhat relief), he wasn't in sight. I had been flattered to see that he always peered shyly down my road when he passed. I continued on my way, but suddenly decided to stop at Saibara's blacksmith shop. I liked the peppery old man, and he liked it when I praised his latest work. I opened the door and walked over to his workbench.

"Hello, Claire. See what I'm working on today?" It was a beautiful necklace, studded thickly with gemstones, in red, blue and green.

"It's so pretty. I love it. How do you get the sapphires to shine like that?" I asked, looking for conversation. He proceeded to explain the process of preparing and cutting the jewels, then shaping the gold.

He stopped and said "Would you like to see it done?"

I replied "Wow, yes, I would!"

He turned and called to the back, "GRAY! He'll come out and show you. At least he better…" A sulky looking redhead came out of the back room. He muttered something to Saibara, who explained his mission. Gray scowled and said,

"I don't want to show anything to anyone! I refuse!"

Saibara instantly swelled and bellowed at Gray, "OH YES YOU WILL!" to which Gray replied with a smart alecky answer. I took this as my sign to go, and tapped Saibara, making a motion as if to leave. He nodded and I left, but could still hear their heated argument outside. "That certainly wasn't the best way to meet Gray. I hope he's not in too much trouble." I stopped and thought to myself. If I had met Rick, Gray and Cliff, that left the Doctor and Kai. I shook my head, as if to rid myself of the thought. I didn't need to meet them! I was simply going to talk to Ann.

Perturbed at my own desires, I turned, walked past Aja Winery, and stood on the doorstep to the Inn. Unconsciously I straightened my rumpled blue tank top, thinking of Cliff. Then I pushed open the heavy oak door, shaking my hair to throw it slightly over my shoulders. The only person in the dining area was Doug, and I waved to him as I headed toward the stairs. Peering up the stairway, to make sure that Cliff wasn't there, I carefully ascended the worn wooden stairs.

I heard a light, happy humming, which was Ann. She must be cleaning, because she always hums when she cleans. Sure enough, when I went into the left hand room, she was dusting a low table. Flowers, from all seasons, were strewn all over the floor. I walked up and greeted her, asking, "What are all the flowers for? You can't tell me that they're all from admirers!"

She laughed, making her red braid swing, and replied "No, I was going to try my hand at flower arranging. I found all of these plants up at the Hot Springs. Do you know anything about flower arrangements?"

I picked up a smoked glass vase and a few pink cat flowers, and we arranged those flowers for nearly three hours, laughing, and singing songs that Ann had taught me. When we were done, we flopped down on the creaky floor, and she looked at me.

"Claire, have you come across any cute guys lately?" I sighed, smoothing out my pants, and proceeded to relate all of my escapades with the various boys. Ann was a very sympathetic listener, laughing, frowning, and saying "Awww..." in all the right places of my story.

"So then I left, and now he probably hates me." I finished the long rant. Ann closed her eyes and said tranquilly,

"I doubt that. He just probably didn't know what to do with a pretty girl, that's all." which made me giggle. We talked a little bit further, but her father called her downstairs, so we both rose to leave. She wished me good luck, and thumped down the stairs.

For some crazy reason, I wanted to see if Cliff was in the next room, and so knocked on the door. Cliff did answer, and invited me in.

"Hi, Cliff. I was in the neighborhood, and wanted to see how you were doing." He looked very relaxed and replied that his day was pretty uninteresting; owing to the fact that he hadn't found a job yet. As he was talking, I noticed something in the corner and, to my discomfort, found that Gray was staying in the same room. Cliff asked me about the farm. I told him about Bessie, the new chick that hatched, and all about how fast my horse was adjusting to his new saddle. He laughed, and said,

"I had a horse, once…" He stopped, and looked very distant suddenly. I understood and turned to go. I was almost to the door, when my hand was caught. It wasn't Cliff, though, it was Gray.

He blushed a deep crimson, and stammered "A flower dropped off of your shirt." He hurriedly stuffed a toy flower in my hand and went back to his seat, still blushing. This slowly swept through me, and I forgave his lack of manners with a smile that seemed to send the recipient deeper into his corner, flushing even further, if that was possible. I left, but heard Cliff say to Gray, after I had turned the corner,

"That was real smooth. She didn't drop a flower……and are you blushing?" I had heard enough to cause me to retreat to my farm to think this whole matter over, and dream about for the next few nights.