Chapter Eight – 'Its nice sitting here'
"It appears that it is my turn." Comic Book Guy interrupted the others as he noticed the MyPad light up and display the roll icon. He pressed it and several loud booms were heard.
"Are we going to hear that every time someone rolls?" Luann disgustedly said.
"It may be helpful to know when others are taking their turn." Lisa said in Luann's direction, but meant her statement for the group.
"Hopefully Ned will hear that to know that we are continuing to play." Smithers added and tried to sound cheerful.
The display showed a three and Comic Book Guy realized it was time to leave the group. "I bid thee farewell for now." He jumped into the wheelbarrow and it started to glide away.
After a few seconds he turned around to see the small outlines of his competitors fade into the horizon. "All alone again. This is my life. But I get to play a life-size board game, so my life could be worse." Comic Book Guy stopped at that word not knowing how much worse Burns could make this game.
The wheelbarrow slowed down after a shorter ride than Ned had. This time in front of a dirt road. "What is this? It's just a dirt road. I have the worst luck."
The MyPad showed the three spaces he had ridden in the wheelbarrow, and the computerized voice announced: "You have arrived at Baltic Avenue." Then the display was gone.
"It appears I am at the intersection of this dirt road called Baltic Avenue. Thank you MyPad." Comic Book Guy replied sarcastically. He looked at the blank screen. "Are you going to tell me what I need to do now?" There was no response. "Answer me futuristic piece of innovative..."
"You will have to figure that out on your own. Please feel free to exit your wheelbarrow." The MyPad answered, then went blank again.
A look of shock crossed his face as he was not expecting that for an answer. He proceeded to follow the instruction and was standing beside the wheelbarrow looking down the dirt road and could not see very much.
"I wonder if I had to worry about where this thing is parked." Comic Book Guy thought and he attempted to pick up the handles to move it further off of the main road. "Can't... lift... it..." He breathed out as he tried and made no progress.
"So much for taking this thing to Taco Hut later." He sighed as he started to think what he needed to do. "Baltic Avenue. Population: one." He said out loud as he read the dark purple sign that was posted at the entrance to the dirt road. "One person. This may be like finding a needle in a haystack." He commented as he saw a haystack further ahead next to the dirt road.
As he passed the sign, the road changed to dirt and he took in the scenery. "There appears to be a farmhouse on each side of the road and a river at the end. It shouldn't be too difficult to find the one." He laughed to himself as he took a another few steps and debated which house to visit first.
The house on the right was a small wooden shack that appeared to be big enough for one room. There was a small front porch with nothing on it, and a huge field of crops behind the house that ran from the main road down to the trees next to the river. "This house looks too small." He thought as his eyes focused across to the other option.
The house on the left was a larger and much older farmhouse with a long winding dirt pathway leading from the main dirt road up to the front door. There was also a small side building and many silos behind the house. Beyond that were flat fields are far as he could see. "This house looks too big, but it looks more livable." He hesitated for a second then decided his better chance of finding someone would be at the larger farmhouse.
He turned to his left and continued up the main road until he reached the start of the dirt pathway for the larger farmhouse. It started to slope uphill slightly and he made it about a third of the way when he could start to see details of the house. "It looks abandoned and in bad shape." He admitted as he noticed the front door had a board across it. "The side house looks abandoned too." The closer he got, he could not find any signs of life. "The silos look empty and so do the fields. I think I guessed wrong. But maybe it is worth a look."
He continued up the path until he was halfway between the dirt road and his destination. He turned to look down towards the river when his progress was suddenly stopped with a loud thud...
"Ouch!" Comic Book Guy screamed out. "What is this?" He tried to walk forward again and could not. He pushed with his arms and felt a wall in front of him. "Another one. This seems like the one at the start of the game." He followed it off of the dirt path for a second when a loud beeping stopped him.
"Path is not currently accessible and is reserved for future expansion. You currently own zero of the two required properties to continue along this path." The MyPad had awakened and relayed this announcement.
"Future expansion and owning two properties? It must mean something. Maybe the other farm-house can give me some information." He was disappointed and walked back down the dirt path he traveled up and crossed the dirt avenue and came to the front of the other farm-house.
"If I can't travel to that farmhouse, does that mean the same for this one?" He thought to himself as he approached the front door. He knocked twice hoping someone would answer but he was out of luck there too. The next option was to look through the windows but the interior curtains were closed. "Two houses and no one to be found. Maybe the river?" He questioned as he started to walk back to the dirt road, he noticed a sign this time looking around.
"This sign matches the color of the population sign." The comparison was correct as it was the same shade of dark purple as the grim population one was.
"For sale. Inquiry within." It read and this intrigued him. "Why is the farm owned by one person on a dirt road for sale?" He tried to use logic but nothing made sense. "It is a dirt road with a river, a farm that is not reachable, and a farmhouse too small for..."
A noise in the field behind the smaller house caught his attention. "That must be the one. I have found them." He stared at the tall crops and waited because any second someone would emerge from them. "I should be cautious as I don't know who it is. It could be friend or foe. I don't know."
Many more seconds passed of crops rustling before a woman stepped out from between the plants.
"A woman. She couldn't be harmful. Maybe she can tell me what I seek." Comic Book Guy seemed delighted that he found the one, but more so that the one was a woman.
He walked back toward the house as the woman disappeared behind it. He turned the corner just as she sat on a rocking chair and sighed. A glass of water was sitting on a side table and she took a drink of it before starting the conversation. "One out of eighteen." She said.
"So there are seventeen more people here?" Comic Book Guy questioned. "The sign said population: one."
"No, one out of eighteen." She replied.
"I don't get it." He countered looking very confused.
The woman laughed as she repeated. "One out of eighteen. That was the chance that anyone had of stopping here to start the game."
"You know of the game. Oh, thank you. Then maybe you can tell me more information. Because I thought this was a game, but now I am on your dirt road with no game in sight." He explained as politely as he could.
"I know plenty about the game. Pull up a chair and I'll answer any questions you have." She seemed to be helpful and Comic Book Guy seemed more relaxed. "You want something to drink? You will need it. It is going to be a long game."
He thought for a second about what he was going ask about the game and didn't hear the question about the drink. He was too excited to worry about anything not related to the game. "There are so many questions I want to ask, where do I start?"
"You could start by asking my name to be polite, and if we run into each other again." She mentioned to start the question and answer session with an easy question.
"I can do that. What is your name? Mine is Jeff Albertson, but everyone calls me Comic Book Guy." He admitted to her. Not many people knew his real name.
"I am Brandine Del Roy, and it is a pleasure to meet someone new on my property. You are the first person I have seen come around here." She said in a sweet voice.
"No one came here last game?" Comic Book Guy started with more questions. "Did you know there was a last time, and how do you know about this time? Is your farm really for sale, and can I buy it, and how much is..."
"Slow down. There is plenty of time to answer your questions." She interrupted him and tried to calm him down. "The game does not progress until your turn is over. No matter how long that takes."
Comic Book Guy stared intently while comprehending what she was saying. "Since there is no time limit, we can sit here and talk."
"We could. Let me answer your questions by a small story." She paused and then stood up. "It may take a while. You want some iced tea? Just brewed it before I left."
"I will have a glass." He smiled as he said it and a minute later Brandine returned with two tall glasses of iced tea which she set on the table beside her chair.
"I guess I could start from the beginning, or at least as far back when everything changed." She took a sip from her glass and began her story. "I have always lived here in this farmhouse and everything was fine until recently. I'd say a couple of weeks ago. The sign out front used to say Rural Route Nine on it until one day it changed to a dark purple color and said Baltic Avenue. It stayed like that for about a day or two, then changed back to Rural Route Nine."
She took another sip and Comic Book Guy started to open his mouth to ask a question when Brandine held up one finger signaling him not to sidetrack her story.
"Even during that time everything seemed normal, then the sign changed back and I didn't think anything of it. One day I got this letter in the mail saying that I could be a mayor of my street if I attended this meeting. I knew nobody lived across the street in the other house, so it could only be me."
She paused again as she thought of what to say next when there seemed to be enough time that Comic Book Guy jumped in. "I tried to walk up to the farmhouse across the way, but I couldn't. It was like..."
"A glass wall stopped you. Same thing happened to me." She concluded as he pulled out the MyPad to show her.
"When I hit the glass wall this said it was reserved for future expansion." He waited for it to light up and it never did. "Well at least that what it said earlier."
"Future expansion? What else are they going to build here?" She worried as the dirt road was quiet with no neighbors and no other accessible houses.
"I'm not exactly sure but you said earlier you knew this was a game." He guided the conversation back to the main point.
"Oh yeah, where was I? The city meeting. So one day I got a letter in the mail saying I could be the mayor of Rural Route Nine. I attended the meeting. People from all parts of the city were there, and we all sat in the big conference room while the head of the city talked. I don't remember his name. I think it was Moneybags." She paused again as she tried to remember more details.
"Was anyone named Burns there? Or any other names you can remember?" He was trying hard to gain any information he could use.
"No one named Burns. I don't remember many of the names. Apparently they split us up by color. I was in the dark purple group along with a guy called The Sea Captain. He lives up the road on the lake. He owns a houseboat, but he can't move it away from the dock."
Comic Book Guy absorbed all this information. "I'll have to remember about the sea-captain and try to find him."
"There is one more weird thing I have found. Just saw it a bit ago. Want to come see it?" Brandine offered. "It is right back here in the tomacco field."
"It may be important if you just found it and have lived here all of your life." Comic Book Guy felt that he had a little more information than when he first arrived at the lonely dirt road. He took a sip of his iced tea and stood up and followed Brandine toward the tomacco plants.
She led the way in between the tall plants and wondered around for a second. "You still back there Comic Man?"
"It is Comic Book Guy, but you can call me Jeff. I'm here and I'll just follow your sweet voice." He plowed his way through the tall plants when he caught up to Brandine inside of a small crop circle that was cleared of plants.
"Something caused this. My plants have been cut off right to the ground and this statue placed here. It doesn't do anything. Just keeps the crows away." She didn't know what else to tell him.
"Burns. This statue is what Burns looks like. You sure you didn't see anyone at that meeting that looked like this." He turned and watched her as she thought, and to see if the light bulb turned on.
She hesitated a second then replied. "I don't think so. There were too many people there. I talked to the sea-captain most of the time. You should try to find him. Maybe we could walk down by the river and look."
"Definitely, right after this." He said as he searched the Burns statue. "I found it."
"Found what?" Brandine questioned.
"What this statue does. It appears to have a connection in his hands that connects to the MyPad." Comic Book Guy explained as he placed the MyPad into Burns' hands.
A holographic Burns instantly appeared beside Brandine and startled her as she jumped behind Comic Book Guy. "Scared me. Is that supposed to happen?"
"I'm not quite sure. Let's assume so." He reassured her.
"Greetings and welcome to Baltic Avenue. This dirt road is for sale and it can be yours for only sixty dollars." The hologram spoke as Brandine listened more intently.
"You gonna buy it? That seems cheap." She asked.
"It did tell me earlier that I owned zero out of two properties to be able to explore the other farm. I should buy it and see what happens." He said as she finished a thought they both had.
"The Sea Captain must have the other of the dark purple." Brandine added.
Comic Book Guy faced the statue again and listened. "The rent fee for any visitors will be four dollars. What is your decision?"
"You should buy it before anyone else does." She encouraged.
"I'll take it." He pressed the Buy button and the hologram disappeared.
They stood there waiting for something extraordinary to happen, but looked at each other in slight disbelief when only two pieces of paper printed. She grabbed one and he grabbed the other.
"Mine says Receipt of Sale and you have fourteen hundred forty dollars left. Wow, you're rich." Brandine was surprised not knowing it wasn't real money.
"Title-deed to Baltic Avenue." He read. "And it's not real money. Burns gave us all the same amount to start."
"Don't spend it all too quickly." She said as they both shared a laugh. They looked at each other for a second when loud booms echoed across the sky.
"Fireworks?" Brandine asked.
"Dice." Comic Book Guy replied. "You want to walk down to the river?"
"I'd be delighted." She answered and they left the tomacco field and turned toward the river. "Hey, that For Sale sign is gone. Wonder who took it?"
"I don't know. This whole place seems weird. But I have time now to spend with you down by the river since my turn is over."
