Chapter 8: Ready, Set…. COOK!

Since saving her from the cave, Popuri had become someone who was part of Jack's every day life. The day after Jack left the shivering Popuri in her warm bed, she came by the farm to give him a gift, to show her appreciation for getting her out of the cave.

It was a small egg, so small that Jack wasn't sure that it would actually produce a chicken. Popuri told him that if left in an incubator it would hatch into a beautiful little chick. She made him promise her that he would name it Popuri.

As days past Jack thought less and less about who the little girl he used to play with was. He was starting to like the girl with the pink hair. He found himself taking breaks early in the morning so he could visit her by the Goddess pond. Popuri found herself frequently visiting Jack's farm and always wanting his attention. He always gave it to her too.

When the Horse Race Festival came, Popuri stopped by Jack's farm in the morning and asked him to escort her to the town square. She held his hand the entire time, dragging him around the square. She couldn't hide her excitement. Jack also couldn't hide his happiness. It was nice to have a beautiful girl holding his hand again. It was obvious to all the villagers just by seeing the permanent grin on his face. At the end of the festival Jack walked her home and Popuri gently kissed his cheek and thanked him for such a fun day.

It was the day before the cooking festival and Jack had just had one of the best weeks of his life. He attributed this to the fact that he had spent every day with the lovely Popuri. Rumor going around the town was that they were dating, and while it felt like it, Jack and Popuri had never made it official between themselves. Jack didn't mind, he was happy with the way things were going.

It felt late, sometime after 6 and Jack decided it was too late to go and visit Popuri. He wasn't tired enough to go to bed, so he figured he would stop off at the Inn to see how Ann was doing. Even though he spent all of his time lately with Popuri, he still wondered how Ann's cooking was coming along. The cooking festival was the next day and he was interested to see if she had figured out a delicious dish that would be able to beat her fathers'.

Jack opened the large doors to the Inn and found it mostly empty. It was probably too early for the night crowd still. Karen stood at the counter sipping her beer slowly. She didn't even look up when Jack entered. Ann was bouncing around cleaning off all the tables to get them ready for the night crew. When she saw Jack a huge grin spread across her face and she walked over to him.

"Hey Jack! You're here." She said cheerfully.

"Hey Ann, how are you doing?"

"Actually I'm really good Jack. I'm excited about the cooking festival." She was still grinning.

"That's great, you figured out what you are going to cook for tomorrow then?" Jack sat down at a table and Ann sat down next to him, leaving her cleaning rag on the table.

Ann wiped her hands on her pants, still smiling. "Yes, I think I figured out something that is just going to blow the judge away!"

"Uh oh, sounds really great. Tell me about it?" Jack looked over at Karen who was still standing at the bar. She was slouching down now, which seemed unusual for her.

"It's top secret!"

Ann's reply made Jack quickly turn his attention back to her. "Oh okay, guess I'll have to just wait until tomorrow to see what it is."

"Yup you do!" There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Ann spoke again. "Um Jack…"

"What is it Ann?" Jack looked at her curiously.

"I guess I don't want you to think I'm being nosey or anything, cause it really isn't any of my business but um…" she paused and looked around before finally blurting out, "There is a rumor going around that you are dating Popuri! Are you?" She blushed deep red, realizing she was so loud she got the attention of the few people who were in the Inn.

Jack laughed nervously. Doug and Karen were both looking at them, but when they noticed Jack looking around they turned back to what they were doing. "It's nothing really official, we've just been spending a lot of time together."

"Sorry to blurt that question out at you. It's just that… well Manna is going around saying that you two got really serious and it just seems so fast…" Ann shifted in her seat and looked away.

"Fast? I just like to spend time with her. She's a nice girl." Ann nodded in agreement and Jack chuckled. "Next time you see that Manna, you go ahead and tell her she is wrong."

Ann stood up and smiled at Jack. "I'm glad you're happy. I need to get back to work before it gets too crowded in here. Will I see you tomorrow?" Jack nodded. "Okay, see you!"

As soon as Ann walked away, Karen looked over at Jack's table and slowly approached him. "Mind if I sit down?" She looked a bit tipsy and she set her drink down on the table. She sat down and began to speak before he could even reply.

"So you're dating Popuri huh?"

Jack looked at her, almost confused. Why was everyone so interested in his love life? "Um well it's not official, but I spend a lot of time with her…"

Karen's nose twitched a bit and she put her hand through her hair. "She doesn't annoy you?" Jack shook his head. "Oh okay. She's always been a bit immature but if you like that kind of thing…"

Before she could even finish Jack interrupted her. "What Karen? I didn't exactly ask for your opinion."

She sighed, realizing that she was coming across as kind of rude. "Sorry Jack, I just wanted to warn you to be careful around her." Before Jack could say anything, Rick entered the bar and Karen got up. "See you around." She joined Rick at the counter and Jack got up to leave.

The next day, the morning of the Cooking Festival, Jack was outside early to finish up his chores before the festival was to begin. He watered his crops and took care of his horse. Inside his chicken coop his baby chick that he named Popuri was bouncing around happily. It was still too young to get eggs from.

He walked out of the chicken coop and started to walk to his house so he could get cleaned up before he went to the festival. There standing at the gate to his farm was Popuri, a smile on her face. She approached him and held out her hand. In it was an egg.

"What's this for Popuri?" Jack asked.

"Today is the cooking festival, and I know you don't have a kitchen yet. I want to give you this egg so I can show you the easiest thing to cook. Then you can enter the contest and have fun too!"

Jack smiled at Popuri's generosity. She took his hand and led him out the back way of his farm. "Where are you taking me?" he asked.

"To our place." She was blushing a little.

Next to the Goddess pond was a small hot spring that people would go into to relax. Popuri lead Jack up to it and knelt down next to it. "Here, you take the egg and you hold it in the water for a few minutes. The spring will cook the egg and make it really delicious."

"But this spring isn't hot enough to boil an egg…"

"You'll see what I mean." Popuri took Jack's hand, which held the egg, and put it into the water of the hot spring. She held it there for a few minutes, and then pulled it out. "Look Jack!"

He opened his hand, and he was holding a slightly browned egg. "It's a spa-boiled egg!" Popuri exclaimed and Jack smiled. "Come on, we don't want to be late for the cooking festival!" She took his hand again and walked quickly towards the town square.

The town square was decorated for the festival. In the middle of the square there was a long table where everyone who was entering the contest had put their dishes. With a quick glance of the table, Jack could see that people had made a variety of different things for the contest. There was a cake, a huge salad, different types of juices, something really burnt…burnt! Who entered that?

Jack and Popuri walked together to the table to set down their entry. Next to the egg was a small piece of paper and Popuri wrote Jack's name on it. "Why didn't you put your name too on there Popuri?"

She just smiled at him without answering. She turned and wandered over to where her mom and the doctor were standing. Jack took this as the perfect opportunity to find Ann and see how her dish turned out.

Ann was standing at the table fussing over what she cooked, trying to make it look perfect. "Isn't the point to make sure it tastes really delicious and not how good it looks?" Jack said as he approached her with a little smirk on his face.

Ann looked up. "Don't tease me now Jack! This is so stressful! It has to look good and taste delicious."

"Oh I'm sorry for making fun of you Ann." Jack looked down at the table to see what exactly she was fussing over. On a plate there was a blob of something yellow, it looked like it had vegetables mixed in with it. "What exactly is that?"

"What is it! What is it! Jack you need to get out more. It's an omelet! I jazzed it up a bit by adding fresh vegetables and different types of spices. I hope the judge likes it."

Jack looked around, and then scratched his head. "Umm, by they way, who is the judge?" Just as he was asking Ann, a very large man came into the square from the beach entrance. He was wearing a puple suit and a purple top hat. "Never mind, I think I figured it out on my own."

This temporarily distracted Ann from her dish and she looked up and laughed. "How did you figure it out?"

"Well he is quite…"

Before Jack could finish Ann slapped his arm. "I didn't mean for you to actually answer that. Now stop distracting me! I think Popuri is waiting for you." Ann motioned over towards where Popuri was standing by her mother.

Jack walked over to her and took her hand while smiling. She smiled back at him and looked towards her mother. "Even though she isn't feeling herself lately, she still comes out every year and competes in this festival. Doctor is so sweet too, he always comes out with mom to make sure she doesn't hurt herself." Jack waved towards them and they waved back.

The arrival of the Gourmet signaled the start of the judging part of the festival, and everyone who had made a dish was required to stand next to it while the judge tasted it. Popuri pushed Jack towards the table. He stood next to his 'dish', almost embarrassed because other than Doug he was the only man there. Anna, Manna, Lilia, Ann, Doug, and Karen had all entered a dish this year. Anna stood next to a fairly large fruit cake, Manna had made some type of vegetable juice, Lilia had cooked cookies, Ann was still fussing over her omelet, and Doug stood next to a large, very interesting looking salad. Karen stood off to the side; on her plate was a large burnt thing. It didn't even look like it was once something that was edible.

The Gourmet went down the table trying a little of each dish. Ann breathed a sigh of relief as he lit up when he tasted her omelet. The fat man continued down the line trying a small bit of everyone's dish; he seemed delighted that there was so many good things submitted this year. Then he got to Karen's burnt whatever it was. He tasted a bit of it, then his face turned bright red and he spit it back out onto the table. Karen jumped back, obviously grossed out, and everyone in the square was shocked.

"This is horrible! How could you even submit something so horrible as this! I hope I don't see you next year…" Karen looked offended and the man waddled to the next dish, which was the last, Jack's. "What is this young man? This is just a boiled egg!"

Popuri ran up to Jack's defense, shaking her fist at the man. "It's not just any hard boiled egg! You better crack that open and take a bite of it before you judge!"

The Gourmet did just as she said, and he stood for a few moments, allowing himself to fully absorb the flavor of the egg. "This is delicious. I have never had a hard-boiled egg that tasted so good. How did you do it son?"

Before Jack could say anything, Popuri spoke up. "It's a secret!"

The judge smiled and walked over to the mayor. "I have made my decision."

"Good, good!" The mayor clapped his hands together. "The Gourmet has made his decision! Everyone gather around."

Everyone at the festival gathered around the fat man in the purple suit and top hat. He laughed a bit and his big stomach jiggled when he did so. "The person who I believe cooked the best dish today was… um…" He looked around, sweating a bit. "The girl who cooked the omelet…"

"Congratulations Ann!" The mayor came over to shake her hand.

Ann looked shocked. She beat her dad! She started to jump up and down. "I finally beat you dad!"

Doug smiled at his daughter. Every year she looked more and more like her mother. "Yes you beat me fair and square."

After the end of the festival Ann invited everyone to celebrate at the inn. Popuri looked at Jack with her big eyes and it was obvious to him that she didn't want to go. This time Jack took Popuri's hand and lead her for a walk around the town.

It was a peaceful night. The sky was clear so you could see the stars, and everybody was either at home or at the Inn so it felt like they had the entire town to themselves. At the end Jack took Popuri back home. There she kissed his cheek and started to head inside. She suddenly stopped and turned around.

"Jack?"

"Yes Popuri?"

"When are you going to take me on a real date?"

The question sort of shocked him. A real date? He hadn't exactly thought about anything like that yet. "Soon."

"Okay…" She turned back around and went inside.

What do people around here do on a "real" date?

HHHH