Chapter 5

Year 1, Spring 15, Tuesday

Things have been going well, very well. The cabbage and potato patches were ripe this morning, so I picked them, shipping most of them and saving a few. The field is looking great, though I have to pick the occasional weed. The buyer picked them up later, and as I'm writing this I have a little over 400G. I spent most of it on potato seeds. I've decided to grow more potato crops for two reasons, one more important than the other. I did my chores pretty quickly, and I bought a lot of potato seeds. My trip to the florist, however, was interesting, because I went with the owner.

I was eating my beloved rice balls and pulling on my even more beloved hat when I heard a "Hey!" from outside. I was, naturally, a little surprised, seeing as I hadn't made many friends and the only person to stop by my farm so far was the mayor. So I went outside and beheld an oddly dressed man. He wore a rugged green shirt and green pants; at least, they must have started out green, but now were caked with plenty of dirt. The man had a travel worn rucksack and hiking boots, and to top it all off, a brown fedora with a single feather in it. It made for adventurous appearance, very Indiana Jones. I stepped forward and closed the door behind me.

"Hey there, my name's Jack, nice to meet you."

"Hey, Jack. You're the guy restoring the farm, right?" He surveyed the field a lot, I don't know if he was impressed or not. His attitude was calm and laid back, but energetic at the same time. It was odd, and a little inspiring. He seemed like a man that had years of experience and knew it, too.

"Yeah, that's me. I'm the Old Man's grandson."

"Hard work, eh? Let me introduce myself… I'm a botanist… Well, actually, I own the flower shop, or co-own it at least…"

I grinned, because I thought I remembered his name. And I thought right. "Then you must be Basil."

The traveler looked rather impressed, which was good. "Heh, that's me. I travel around a lot, so you won't see me at all in the Fall or Winter…"

Basil was cut off by a joyful, bubbly voice emanating from a pink-clothed figure behind us.

"Daddy!"

Basil and I turned and saw Popuri standing by my mailbox. Ooh, that reminds me, I better start checking my mail. Basil rushed towards Popuri and picked her up.

"Oh, Popuri, my sweet little daughter!" He lifted her off the ground and laughed.

Will I ever have anyone love me like that?

Popuri seemed a little embarrassed, maybe because an incredibly muscular and handsome man in a blue hat was standing nearby watching. Or not.

"Come on, Dad! I'm not a kid anymore, stop it!"

Basil seemed a happy man. "You've grown prettier, Popuri." The pink-haired girly still looked a little pouty, but not exactly displeased.

"Mom's waiting to see you. Hurry on home." That was what interested me, that Basil had visited my farm… the farm before he visited his own family. Why is that? He seemed to be examining the farm a lot. Is this another man whose respect I must earn? That just adds to the list. I'm going to have to do a lot of impressing and make a lot of friends in my life if I'm going to stay. Which I am.

Basil replied, "I know, Popuri. I'm on my way right now."

Basil turned to leave and Popuri rolled her eyes and giggled at me. "My dad, the vagabond."

I laughed and walked after Basil. "Actually, I was just planning on going to your store, I need some vegetable seeds."

Basil seemed pleased. "Busy, huh? What kind of seeds?"

"I was thinking potatoes. They grow faster than cabbages and only sell for a little less." Which was my first and less important reason for wanting them. I tried to seem economic and intelligent to him. All part of my master plan to earn everyone's friendship and trust. I'm so devious.

Basil chuckled. "Well, good luck with the planting, and buy as many as you can." He winked.

Twenty minutes later, I left the florists' with 1600G worth of potato seeds. The walk was short, but pleasant. I liked the country more and more every minute I stayed here. I planned out my crop layout; three by three meter plots in two rows of four plots each. It would take a while, and I decided to forage from Moon Mountain a bit later. When I got back to the farm, I grabbed my hoe out of that box of tools and went to work. Tilling the soil is still monotonous work, but I feel as if I'm getting marginally better at it. Or maybe that's just the cheery atmosphere getting to me. I'm changing already.

I got a pleasant surprise in the middle of my work. I leaned on my hoe for a second, tired, and spotted a familiar girl walking down the path to the farm. It was Ann.

I guess I was smiling, because she smiled back. I had definitely developed a crush by that point, because I was instantly cheered up whenever I saw her. The feeling's odd for me; All my life I've been close to pretty much no one, much less had a girlfriend (Which is pretty pathetic for someone twenty-one years old) and I'm pretty much totally inexperienced in these matters. I'm sure she still just thinks of me as an acquaintance, and that might never change. No, no, I can't think that. As these thoughts ran through my head at light-speed, she spoke up.

"Workin' hard?"

I grinned. "Sure as hell isn't easy, but someone's gotta do it. The first crops I grew turned out pretty well."

Ann seemed rather impressed. "Really? What did you grow?"

"Well, I started off with a cabbage patch, then I worked up some money shipping random berries, herbs and the like, and I bought some cabbage seeds around the time of the sowing festival. I planted those, and I shipped most of them. Here, I have a potato, freshly picked, right here."

I went inside and came out with a lumpy, brown vegetable. She cocked her head and her red hair swished. The beautiful girl standing before me laughed. Heck, she laughed a lot. Was she just doing it to be polite? Was she just another one of those people? Or was Ann for real? I pushed the thought from my mind.

"I love potatoes! They're my favorite vegetable, next to corn, at least. Thanks!" She laughed. I loved the sound.

Okay, remember that. Corn. Potatoes. Corn. Potatoes. Corn. Potatoes.

"I'll probably cook this up later, though I'm not exactly an amazing chef." She smiled sheepishly.

I laughed. "You can learn from me. I eat all kinds of amazing meals, like, rice balls, and… I guess that's pretty much it. Rice balls. Every morning."

"I'll cook you something sometime, as long as a doctor's nearby."

"That'd be great, rice balls are getting old." I turned back to my work, and she turned to leave, took a few steps, and turned back around. "Hey, good luck on the farm!"

I looked back up. "Thanks. Hey, stop by more often!"

That got a chuckle out of her. "I will."

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, though it took a damn long time to get all the seeds planted and watered. That's going to be one heck of a chore, and I'll need to get pretty good with that watering can; maybe I should ask Popuri.

I did, however, get to talk to and meet some new people today. I chatted with Harris, who was delivering mail, and I went up to Moon Mountain and talked with the carpenters. They look pretty good at what they do, and it looks like they'd be able to do some work on my house, if… when I have the money and the lumber. I got a chance to talk with Rick a little bit, and even spent about 12 seconds worth of talking to Karen, which was a first. I found her all by herself at the beach (Which I hadn't even known existed), and she basically told me to piss off. Ow. I met her father too, who I've confirmed is Gotz, and his reaction was basically the same. I head on home, a little dejected after those two rude rejections. I guess my plan is to befriend the both of them, but I should probably work on financial matters on the moment. Speaking of befriending people…

Before the day ended, I remembered what the mayor had said two days earlier, about the bar. It had completely passed from my mind, but now, I was intrigued. A little tired from the day's work, but interested, nonetheless. So at around 7:00, I headed into the town for the bar.

My first impression of the atmosphere was: tired. Everyone seemed a little worn out from the day's work, and I didn't see a lot of the cheerfulness I usually did. I saw plenty of people; Kai from the vineyard, Ann's father, Ann's brother, Ann's friend, hell, Ann's grandmother was probably loafing around here. I also saw Jeff from the bakery, Harris the mailman, and Gotz.

Everyone looked at least semi-happy, except Harris and Gray, really, though I expect Gotz was just drunk. Gray's demeanor didn't surprise me, as I'd seen him before, but Harris… It was odd. He'd been happy today, and he just seemed downright moody. I tried to talk to him a bit, but he was a little unresponsive. It looked like he definitely had something on his mind, but I barely knew the guy, so I didn't pry.

I tried talking to Gray first, and it went something like this.

"Hey."

"Go away."

Yeah, it's gonna take some effort to befriend him. But somehow, this one was most important of all. Gray was close to Ann, extremely protective of her, and he didn't seem to like me at all. I wanted to change that. So I vow, now, that every day, I'm going to talk to Gray, no matter how many times he blows me off.

I had a single beer and talked with the bartender a bit, making a little idle chatter with Ann's dad, who I now know as Doug, before I left.

It looks like the greatest challenge won't be wealth and riches, but rather influence. I'm going to have to befriend a lot of people if I want to live here. And I sure do.