Brzzt. "I'm walk-" Crrk. "on sunshi-" Prkft.

The old tape deck sprung to life suddenly, startling Jeffery. He opened his eyes, but his vision was blurry and his eyes were crusty. It must've been morning. Jeffery yawned. He got up slowly, and stumbled over to the tape deck, and tried to turn it off. He pressed all the buttons, and even unplugged it, but it continued to make an annoying crackle, and in the end, Jeffery kicked it, and the tape deck split into a few pieces. Jeffery wearily dragged himself to the door, and went outside.

It was a nice morning. It was cool, the birds were singing, and Jeffery swore he could hear the sound of a river. He stretched and yawned again, and decided he would take his first look around town. He went left an acre, and found a nicely sized house sitting by the bank of the river. Curiously, he peeked around the corner of the house to see if the occupant was outside. He was just turning the corner when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Jeffery jumped and turned around, only to find Adam.

"Um..morning!" Jeffery said qucikly.

Adam just gave him his glazed look. "What are you doing peeking around my house?" He said quietly.

Jeffery shifted his eyes from left to right. "Uh..Just seeing..what's up?"

Adam said nothing for awhile. Jeffery stared at him nervously. Adam spoke slowly.

"Okay," he said. "You can like, come in, if you want.."

Jeffery sighed in relief and followed Adam inside. Jeffery looked around inside the house. Surprisinlgy, it was neat and well-kept. Almost every item in the room was black and blue or black white in a checkered pattern, even the floor. Jeffery had seen this type of furniture before, it was the Modern set.

"Welcome to mi casa," Adam said blankly. "Make yourself at home. You want a...I dunno, soda or something?"

Jeffery sat down on a small couch and nodded. Adam sighed and opened an ice chest and pulled out two small colas. He handed one to Jeffery and sat down across from him.

"Uh..nice house," Jeffery said, trying to not be awkward.

Adam simply opened his cola and downed it quickly. He rubbed his temples as if he had a headache, but then he replied.

"Thanks," he said. "Grew it myself."

Jeffery laughed.

Adam coughed. "You can stay all day, but I'm not going to serve you lunch, I'm kinda low on food."

Jeffery stopped laughing. "Wait. Lunch? What time is it?"

"Uhh...11:30?"

Jeffery was already out the door, his soda can flying into Adam's hands.

Adam looked at the soda, and drank it all at once.

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Jeffery huffed and puffed, sprinting as fast as he could. "How could I forget?" He shouted at himself as he zoomed past his house. "I'm dead when Nook sees me!"

Jeffery quickly ran an acre above his house and looked at the bulletin board in front of the train station. The map said "Nook's Cranny, Acre A-4."

Jeffery looked to his right, and saw the little store. He ran to it, and without notice, exploded into the aisles. He fell over from trying to stop so fast, and succeeded in knocking down a stand of chips. The curious Tom Nook looked over him.

"Jeffery?" he asked.

Jeffery mumbled. "Sadly," he said. He picked the chip stand off of him up and put it back into place.

Nook lowered his eyebrows. "You're late," he said. "I was wondering if you were going to show."

Jeffery looked down at the floor, shamed.

Surprsingly, Nook laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay," he said. "When I had my first job, I was late the first day too."

Jeffery forced a smile.

Nook finished laughing and handed Jeffery a few bags of flowers and some small saplings. "Now," he started. "The area around my shop is dull, not charming at all. I'd like you to plant these flowers and trees around it, hmm? Be tasteful, I won't be the one that gets laughed at when folks from other towns see your work. Ho ho, no," he finished.

Jeffery looked at the task he had to do in his hands, and frowned. Planting flowers was girl stuff!

"Scoot now, I'll have more work when you're done."

Jeffery sighed underneath his breath and stepped outside. He looked around for a place to plant. He looked over to the side of the shop, which was pretty bare. He set down his bags and began to dig holes. He opened the first bag of flowers, and planted some seeds.

"This isn't too bad," he thought. "At least I'm getting paid."

"Hey, freakshow!"

Jeffery turned around only to see the back of his eyelids again as a rotten, mushy apple hit him square in the temple. He fell over, clutching his head. He heard laughter, and looked up through dazed eyes to see three hoodlums laughing hysterically.

"Whatcha doin' there, weirdo? Plantin' flowers for your boyfriend Tom?" Jeffery looked up to see it was a wolf towering over him with a snarl on his face. Jeffery scooted backwards in fear.

"Aw, look at him run, Wolfgang! I think you hurt his feelings," another mocked. Jeffery looked around the wolf to see a devious-looking penguin laughing at him.

"Quiet, Hopper! He's my meat." Wolfgang lowered to eye level with Jeffery. "We don't appreciate losers around here, meatbag! If you're going be planting flowers like this all the time, I'd guess I'd better rough you up now and teach you a lesson, eh?"

Jeffery looked up in fear and stuttered incoherently.

"Whassa matter? Cat got your tongue?" Hopper shot.

Wolfgang and Hopper laughed. The other one, who was standing behind them, did not. The other one watched as Wolfgang kicked dirt at Jeffery and Hopper ripped up his bags of flowers. Then they both left, howling with laughter. The other one looked over to see Jeffery curled up, sniffling. He walked over to him.

Jeffery noticed through his wet eyes another wolf trotting up to him. The wolf looked young, and wore a gray beanie. As he got closer, Jeffery said, "Go away."

The wolf said nothing, except kneel beside him by the pile of flower seeds. Jeffery looked through the corner of his eyes to see the wolf plant all the flowers evenly and gracefully. Jeffery turned in amazement, and the wolf looked at him.

"Brother is a jerk," the wolf said quietly. "He make fun of everyone."

Jeffery wiped his nose. "That guy is your brother?"

"Yes. He was Mom's favorite." the wolf patted down the dirt where he planted the flowers and helped Jeffery up.

Jeffery sniffled. "Thanks," he said. "What's your name?"

"Eddie." the wolf replied.

Jeffery nodded and smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"EDDIE!" shouted Wolfgang from afar. "Come on! Get away before you catch the loser disease!"

Eddie looked at Jeffey. "You go back to work now."

Jeffery nodded, and watched as Eddie scampered off. He stood outside for a moment and wiped the dirt off himself and went back inside. He found Tom Nook dozing behind the counter.

"Uh...sir?"

Nook snored a bubble out of his nose, and when it popped, he awoke, startled.

"Huh?" He looked around. "Oh. Jeffery. Right. Did you plant the flowers?"

Jeffery nodded. He didn't tell Nook about what went on outside, he was afraid Nook would tattle.

The raccoon stretched. "Alright," he muttered, and reached inside his counter to pull out a grayish-green shirt. "This is your uniform. Change quickly, alright?" Nook yawned.

Jeffery nodded and replaced his shirt qucikly. He looked down on his uniform, which had a neat looking insignia of a leaf on it.

"Okay. Well, your next job is going to be to deliver this carpet to fellow named Goose, okay? He lives in Acre C-3. Get to it," Nook said.

Jeffery picked up the carpet with some effort. "Yes, sir," he said on the way out.

Jeffery stumbled out of the store. The carpet was awfully heavy. All he hoped for is that he didn't see Wolfgang or Hopper on the way there. So, to play it safe, he passed by his house and went down an acre. There was another house by the river here, and as Jeffery struggled to look around the carpet, he could've swore he heard clanking. He trudged to the front door and knocked, and he heard the clanking again, only it was one BIG clank, and a painful yell followed it. He heard cursing from inside, and the front door flew open. "WHADDYA WANT?!" the owner yelled.

Jeffery's eyes were wide in shock. "Um...are you Goose?" he asked nervously.

The chicken frowned. "Yes."

"Uh...carpet delivery from Tom Nook." Jeffery gave him the carpet.

Goose looked at the carpet. "Oh wow! It's my new edition ranch flooring! Ha! This makes everything better! Thank you. What's your name? You look new."

"My name's Jeffery."

"Just move to town?" Goose asked. Jeffery nodded.

Goose chuckled. "Well thank you for delivering my carpet. Sorry for snapping at you earlier, I dropped weights on my foot...Here, take my old carpet as an apology. I've seen Nook's houses, you should use this."

Jeffery was handed yet another carpet. "Uh..thank you!" He said as he walked off.

"No problem!" Goose shouted to him.

Jeffery wasn't going to lug this around all day. He was going to go lay it out now. He stopped by his house, and threw out the carpet. It was decent, much better then his old flooring. It had a few stains on it, but it was still a carpet. Jeffery smiled in approval and hurried back to Tom Nook's shop.

When he arrived, Tom was sweeping his floor. "Jeffery! You're back."

Jeffery nodded. "Goose wasa nice guy. He gave me a carpet."

Nook laughed and swept. "All the animals are fairly generous around here. None of your work goes much unrewarded. Speaking of which, your little chores have earned you about 600 Bells off of your mortgage. But, the next thing I want you to to do is write a letter...you know, personal advertising," Nook continued. "I want you to send it to my valued customer Jade, who lives in Acre C-1, I believe? Just tell her a sale's going on, you know..." Nook rambled. "When you're done writing it, give it to the post office. Acre A-1. Here's some stationery and a pen."

Jeffery nodded and took the items. He went to the far corner of the store, sat down, and began to write. He wrote:

Hello, Jade

My name is Jeffery, and I just moved to town. I work

for Tom Nook, and he would like to announce that

he is having a special sale going on in a few days and

he would like you to come!

We hope to see you soon,

Jeffery

Jeffery smiled and sealed his envelope. He was confident about this letter. It felt like he was saying all the right things. He got up out of the corner and went to deliver the letter.

He was walking past the train station when he heard a cry. He looked around nervously, wondering if it was Wolfgang and Hopper out to get him again. He waited a moment, then continued walking, looking behind his back ever few seconds, feeling like a crackhead. He was an acre away from the post office, when something rustled in a tree next to him. He yelled in surprise and backed up slowly. He looked at the tree closely, and it rustled again. Jeffery didn't want to be a wimp. So, he put a mean look on his face and marched up to the tree.

"Is anyone there?" he whispered.

"Get down!" said the tree.

Jeffery looked up, mouth agape. He did what he was told. From where he was hiding, he could hear voices...and it sounded like Wolfgang and Hopper! He listened closely.

"You're little brother is so gullible," said Hopper, snickering.

"I know," Wolfgang told him. I can't believe he actually believed us when we said there were Bells growing in that bee hive."

Jeffery listened more intently. What had they done to Eddie?

"Oh well," Wolfgang said. "Let's go to your house. I'm hungry."

Jeffery listened to Wolfgang and Hopper walk away. He stood up when the coast was clear, and, completely forgetting about the talking tree, he turned around and saw Adam hanging form it's branches.

"Adam? What are you doing up there?"

Adam pointed to a branch next to him, where Eddie was sitting and crying, holding his badly stung hands together.

Jeffery looked up at him, saddened. "What did they do to you, Eddie?"

Eddie sniffled a bit. "Brother told me Bells grew in bee-hives, and I wanted to get Brother his favorite snack, because he said he was hungry. But bees were in bee-hive, not Bells, and now Brother won't like me anymore because I didn't get him his favorite snack!" Eddie began to sob.

Jeffery frowned sadly. "Here, buddy." He held his arms up to help Eddie down.

"He's going to stay with me tonight," Adam said. "Wolfgang is too mean to him."

Jeffery nodded.

"Can Jeffery come too?" Eddie asked, his eyes gleaming with tears.

Adam looked around. "Sure.." he said quietly.

Jeffery nodded again. "I'll have to finish work first, then I'll be over," he said. "Thanks for taking care of him, Adam."

Adam nodded. "I usually do."

"I'll catch up with you guys later," Jeffery said as he ran off to mail the letter. Adam and Eddie waved and walked towards Adam's house.

Jeffery walked into the post office, and gave the nice pelican lady at the desk his letter. Then he trotted off to Nook's as quickly as he could.

When he walked back into the store, Nook was tapping his foot. "Took you long enough," he snapped. "I'll have to dock you a bit, but not much." Nook rang up a few numbers on his cash register. "You get that letter mailed safe?"

Jeffery nodded.

"'Kay. Well, your next task is to deliver this fine cabana bed, hm? Deliver it to Hopper, who lives in Acre D-2."

Jeffery froze.

"...Jeffery?" Nook waved at him.

Jeffery looked at him, his eyes wide. "Y-Y-Yes, sir..." he said quietly.

Nook looked at him strangely. "Here's the bed." Nook handed him a leaf.

"Uh, sir, this is a leaf," Jeffery stated.

Nook laughed. "Whoa ho ho! No, that is indeed the bed. Watch, drop the leaf on the ground."

Jeffery gave him a strange look, and let the leaf fall. Slowly, slowly, slowly it fell, and when it hit the ground, POOF! Instant cabana bed.

Jeffery gazed at it in amazement. "What?! How?!" he stammered.

Nook was about dying from laughter. "It's a raccoon trade secret, boy! Now pick it up and deliver it!" Nook couldn't stop laughing.

The bed looked heavy. But when Jeffery pulled it, it turned back into a leaf, and fit snug in his pocket. Jeffery just shook his head as he left the store and Nook, who was still laughing hysterically.

Jeffery gulped. He was afraid. Both Wolfgang and Hopper were at Hopper's house now, probably devising some twisted trick to play on Jeffery! Goose waved to Jeffery as Jeffery went down the hill into the lower acres, but Jeffery kept his head low, as if he was next in the gallows. Jeffery prayed to every god he could as he approached the doorstep. It seemed like it took years for him to knock. When he did, he felt like each little tap was like a thousand bombs going off at once. He winced, thinking of the punishment that would surely be dealt to him.

"Can I help you, chump?" Hopper asked him.

Jeffery gasped, he didn't notice Hopper had opened the door.

"Uh, uh, uh, I uh, have a um...cabana bed for you from um...Tom Nook?" Jeffery held out the leaf quickly. Hopper looked down at it.

"I didn't order a bed," he said. "Nook's smoking something."

Jeffery was going to die from the suspense. "But-but-but it says here.." Jeffery weakly pointed to the delivery address.

"Just keep it, I don't want it."

After saying that, Hopper closed the door. Jeffery stood there, his eyes about rolled to the back of his head in astonishment. He wasn't dead! Or even seriously injured! AND he had gotten a free bed! He jumped in joy and ran back to his house to drop off his bed. Things were DEFINITELY looking better.

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Jeffery about skipped the rest of the way to Nook's store. He was cheery as he walked in, and even greeted Nook with a "Hello, good sir!" Nook just gave him a look and handed him what appeared to be a wrapped axe.

"Now BE CAREFUL with this," Nook told him. "I need you to deliver that to Jade, and you already know where she lives, hm? This is going to be your last job, so make it worth it."

Jeffery held the axe in his hands, and nodded. He left the store and headed for Acre C-1.

The walk to Jade's was different. The trees began losing color, and the ground seemed darker. The wildlife even seemed darker, as a crow flew overhead. As Jeffery stood in front of Jade's house, he had a strange sense of...bad. The dead trees around Jade's house seemed to reach for Jeffery as he rang the skull-shaped doorbell. There was silence for awhile, and then the door slowly opened.

A black cat with huge, dark yellow eyes in a nightgown answered. "May I help you?" she said lowly as Jeffery was overcome with the smell of incense.

"Uh, delivery from Tom Nook," he said as he handed her the wrapped axe. She unwrapped it, and smiled. "I've been waiting for this for awhile," she said. "Please, come in. It's always good meeting new faces."

Jade led Jeffery through the door. Her house was very dark, and most everything in the room was either black or red. There were chains and fake skulls and drawings laying about, and most oddly, a circle of doorknobs in the middle of the room. Jade slipped ahead of him and turned around, a smile on her face as she looked at him. Jeffery just looked down, strangely. "Did you..." she started, as she pulled a note out of her pocket, "Send me this letter, by chance?" She held it up in front of Jeffery's face. Yep, it was his.

Jeffery nodded. "Yeah, why?"

Jade shook her head. "Just sweet of you. Normally Nook harasses me with stupid deals like this because I shop there alot, but his letters were nothing but numbers and fake excitement." She smiled. "So it was nice to have some actual emotion in a letter for once."

Jeffery showed a weak smile. "If you don't mind me asking, um...what's with the doorknobs?"

Jade looked behind. "Oh. Those. Come here, watch."

She skipped over to the circle of doorknobs and sat in the middle. Jeffery sat down outside of the circle, and watched her as she picked up a doorknob, and opened it.

"I carve out doorknobs and put things in them, see?" She held out the doorknob she had just opened, which was full of little charms.

"Whoa...That's neat!" Jeffery said quietly.

Jade smiled. "Just a hobby."

Jeffery smiled and got up. "I have to get back to work," he said, "But hey, I'll see you around."

"Okay!" Jade got up and hugged him. "Nice meeting you."

Jeffery shut the door on his way out and ran all the way back to Nook's.

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Jeffery was out of breath as he walked back in the store. Nook greeted him with a hearty handshake.

"Congratulations, dear employee! You have now finished all the work I hadn't gotten around to lately!" Nook smiled and danced. Jeffery watched him and asked, "What about my mortgage?"

Nook stopped dancing. "Well, you still have to pay ALL of it off, that's how it works, my boy. But the chores you did today brought you down to about...17,800 Bells left to pay. Finding money will be your problem now. But 1,000 bells a week is good with me. Otherwise, I'll send for the raccoon goons!" Nook laughed. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

Jeffery took off his uniform and put his regular shirt back on. Nook told him to keep he uniform as a "memoir."

It had gotten late quick. It was about dusk when Jeffery reached Adam's house.

He walked in to see Adam deep into gameplay on a SNES system, and Eddie watching him gleefully as he held his hands in a bag of ice.

"Hey fellas, I'm done with work."

"Get the hammer, come on, come on...DOH! Stupid barrell!" Adam cursed at his game.

Jeffery grabbed a soda from the ice chest and sat down next to them.

"Hi Jeffery," Eddie said without looking at him.

"Hey Eddie, hey Adam."

Adam grunted as he continued to play. Jeffery sat back on the couch comfortably and popped open his soda. As he drank, he felt...at home.