Thank you all for reading my story! I don't have time to respond to each and every comment today, but you are all so sweet. Thank you! I just love reading all of the reviews from you readers. This chapter is another cliffie. Sorry. You won't get another chapter for quite a while, but don't worry! It'll come and I expect to wrap this baby up in about another two or three chapters. Thank you again and I hope you enjoy this next installment!

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: On the Proverbial Edge of Something

Nami laughed for five minutes straight. She then took a few deep breaths and laughed for a further seventeen and a half minutes. Finally when she couldn't breathe anymore, she slowly quieted down and wiped her eyes. "Oh…my…Harvest Goddess…" She looked up at Jack's stunned face and then down at Gustafa's clueless one and cracked up again. "I-I'm s-so-orry! But d-did you seriously j-just say what I th-thought you said? What a j-joke! I can't believe you! Hah! Like I would look twice at a weird, tree-hugging, bad-music-playing hippie like you! Hah! Oh…I think I'm going to start laughing again…" Her face contorted into grotesque shapes as she tried desperately to hold the mirth inside. Unable to do so, she dissolved into helpless giggles and clutched onto Jack for support.

Unsure of what to say, Jack looked down at Nami and began sweating with relief. Thank the Harvest Goddess. She didn't say yes. He patted her back nervously and heaved a huge sigh. "Er…maybe you ought to kind of explain to Gustafa why you said no." He was interested in her reasoning.

"Yeah! I want some explanations! You sure seemed to like me before!" Gustafa was indignant.

Nami gasped for breath and bent over double, attempting to clear her thoughts. "I can't date you because I'm already dating someone else."

"Whaaa?" Both Jack and Gustafa gaped at the redhead. "Who?" Gustafa asked disbelievingly.

Nami began giggling. She bit the laughter back and choked out, "YOUR MOM!"

Finally convinced that someone had been sneaking the Stone Oil, Jack picked up the cackling Nami and began carrying her away towards the farm. "I'll see you around, Gustafa. Sorry about her." He carried her through the field and into the farmhouse. There he laid her down on the bed and shook his head when he realized that she had fallen asleep. He bent down and sniffed her. Yeah. She must have made a trip to the Blue Bar when I was chasing Murrey out of my store house earlier this morning. So that's why she was laughing when I said the word 'pudding'. How strange.

She woke up later that day and put her hand to her head. "Ow. Jack, where do you keep the aspirin?"

"In the kitchen. Er…why were you drinking Stone Oil this morning?" Jack was watching My Fair Princess and felt embarrassed about it.

"Why are you watching girly anime?" Nami helped herself to the medicine and sat down on the floor next to him in front of the TV. "I…was feeling nostalgic. It reminded me of Lumina and the time that Muffy dared her to drink it. Then she ran to your house…oh that was priceless, my friend. Priceless."

Jack scowled at the memory. "Meh. Don't remind me. So…do you still miss her?"

"Yeah. But maybe she's enjoying herself in Mineral Town."

"Maybe. So…um…would you like to explain why you turned down Gustafa?"

"No."

"Er…okay."

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Kate and Hugh knocked innocently on Daryl's door that fine afternoon. The scientist opened it and looked apprehensively at the scheming looks on the teen's faces. "Morning, Daryl. Hugh and I were feeling kind of hungry. Can we have some of that great brown sugar candy you have?"

His fears confirmed, Daryl tried to slam the door, but Hugh had slipped inside and had grabbed a picture where Flora was looking up at the sky and Carter was covered with a fake mustache, a tail, a pitchfork and horns. "I think that Flora would like this picture, don't you, Kate?"

"Yeah! Better yet, get the one where she's sunbathing in a bikini! That's a classic!" Kate cast a sly look at Daryl, who was a pasty white.

He made a grab for the picture, but Hugh held it away from him. "Give that back, brats!"

"I think he just called us brats, Kate!"

"I think you're right, Hugh. How should we punish such audacity?"

"We could start by taking this photo to Carter…didn't he threaten to lynch Daryl the last time he found a picture of Flora in Daryl's yard?" Hugh opened his eyes wide, effectively feigning innocence over evilness in his smile.

Kate wrapped an arm around Hugh's waist, causing the boy to heat up and push her away quickly. "You're a good partner with such good ideas. But you know…we could be persuaded to conveniently forget that Daryl even possesses such a picture…with a little incentive…like brown sugar candy…"

Hugh leered at Daryl. "I love brown sugar candy!"

"Gee…so do I. What a coincidence." She turned to look at Daryl, but he had already scuttled back into his house. When he returned outside, he presented each of the teens with a stick of chewy brown candy. Kate smiled. "Thank you, Daryl darling. You have such a sweet heart."

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Of all the strange things to happen that day, Muffy suddenly roared back into town, driven by the extremely handsome Huter Carr himself. She was dressed in a sparkly babydoll top with tight jeans beneath. In her arms she carried a tiny shivering Chihuahua because as you know, Chihuahuas are all the fashion in modeling these days. Her hair was cut in layers and her skin was covered in a light dusting of makeup. Marlin, Rock, Kassey, Patrick and Cody were all standing outside near the Inn when the blonde bombshell got out of the car and strutted into the Blue Bar.

Every single male's mouth dropped open and promptly began to drool. "Gee…whiz…she…wow…" They all began babbling disconnected words and phrases. Rock promptly began stumbling like a zombie towards the Blue Bar. Rock--like Gustafa--had been attempting to rethink his life and had hit upon an interesting conclusion. You see…the blonde boy was quite used to having Muffy in town 24/7 to comment on his hair, clothes and etc. Now that she was gone nobody would take his fashion queries seriously. Living in Jack's barn had begun to take a toll on him. No mirrors…no Muffy…he was slowly going insane. This wouldn't work in the long run. No way.

So now the only thing to do was to go beg Muffy to take him with her to Bevel Modeling. Heck…Rock was young and hott! He could make it in the business, right! And…while modeling…maybe he could win over the heart of his best friend. Just maybe.

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When Marlin found his way back to Vesta's Farm, he still looked star-struck. A curious Celia pulled him aside and asked him why his mouth was hanging open sideways. He pulled himself together and patted Celia's head softly. "Nothing. Muffy just came back…that's all."

"Muffy? She's back?" Celia was excited to hear that piece of news.

Marlin nodded. "Oh…yeah….she's back all right. She said she'd visit every two to three weeks, remember? She's…changed a bit. You should go see her."

Celia nodded. "I'll go see her when I've finished with the dishes." Marlin described her new look and then left the house, still ogling the image in his mind. Celia washed and dried the dishes quickly and left the farm. Before going to the Bar, she turned into Jack's place and knocked on his door. "Jack? Did you know that Muffy came back to town?"

"Nope. How's she doing?" Jack was unconcerned.

"Marlin told me that she cut her hair and looks super snazzy now. He also told me that her jeans are way too tight."

"Reeeally?" Now Jack was interested.

Nami raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "That…sounds like Muffy all over."

Celia sighed. "Marlin's pretty google-eyed about it. He worries me sometimes. I bet you're not nervous over Jack drooling at Muffy, are you, Nami?"

"Why would I care? We're not together. And besides…Jack isn't the type of guy that cares what a girl's butt looks like. I could trust him…if we were together…that is." Nami crossed her arms and looked away from the group. "Because if he cared about looks so much, he wouldn't hang around with me. Right, Jack?"

This put Jack in a bad situation. If he agreed with her he'd be saying that she wasn't attractive, but that he liked her personality. That wasn't right. He certainly liked her personality…but…dang, she was awfully easy on the eyes too. And if he disagreed with her he'd be saying that he liked her looks and not her personality which was totally not the case. "Er…"

"See? He hesitated. That means that what I said the other day was correct!" Celia jumped up in the air and Nami looked miffed. "I was right and he doesn't understand a thing we are saying. So…yeah. I'm going to see Muff now. Bye!" She waved and left the farmhouse, heading towards the Blue Bar.

Nami shook her head and sniffed. "I don't understand what she's saying." Jack watched her walk away more quickly than normal and narrowed his eyes. What could she mean?

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"Nyah, nyah, Daryl, you can't get the picture back!" Kate taunted the scientist, who was becoming more and more frazzled-looking and unstable. The kids had become monumentally angry when the sticks of brown candy had turned out to be the less desirable molasses chews instead of brown sugar like hoped. To vent their displeasure, they took to alternately threatening to show the picture of Flora in a bikini to Carter and also to inject him with a deadly disease that was easily accessible to the kids through…what else…the internet.

Daryl tripped over a rock in his yard. "Give…that…back!" He screamed, seeing spots of anger before his eyes. "What if she's walking around and sees it? Give it!"

"We don't like people who don't comply easily with blackmail. Brown sugar candy or no picture for you!" Hugh caught Kate's arm and pulled her beside of him. She smiled smugly at Daryl from the side of the boy.

Daryl suddenly snapped and tackled the two. Arms, legs, hair and various other accessories went flying in a whirlwind of scratching and yelps. A solitary noise interrupted them. Flora stood at the entrance of the Lab Yard, looking at the fight with confusion. From the sky, the beat-up photograph of her in a bikini that had been thrown in the fight came drifting gently down and landed at her feet.

"What's this?" Flora asked, bending down to pick it up.

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Heh heh heh! Another cliffie!