As Penelope Jakobsen stepped off the stuffy bus from Zuzu City, she met with a red-haired middle-aged woman at the bus stop.
"Hey, you must be Penelope!" she beamed, her blue eyes twinkling in the spring sunshine.
"Indeed, I am," she replied in a sing-song tone and smiled shyly.
"I'm Robin, the local carpenter. Mayor Lewis sent me here to fetch you and show you the way to your new home. He's there right now tidying things up..." she smiled. "I assume you remember the way there?" Robin paused a minute, looking thoughtfully at Penelope. "I will warn you, though, it's probably not like you remember..." She nervously eyed Robin but gave her a friendly smile, and they headed down the cobbled street that led to the farm, which was just a short walk from the bus stop.
She had spent many weekends on her grandfather's farm as a child and remembered it fondly, but what sat before her was almost unrecognizable. In just a few years, the land had been reclaimed by nature and there were bushes, rocks, and fallen logs everywhere. Penelope's face must have shown her shock because she caught Robin glancing back at her with… pity, it was definitely pity.
"I told you!" Robin said abruptly, corners of her mouth upturned.
Penelope scanned her eyes over the farm, frowning. "I can't believe how quickly it degraded. It hasn't been that long… since…"
"Listen, it's a bit overgrown, but there's some good soil underneath!" Robin said giving her a sympathetic smile. Suddenly the peeling red door to her grandfather's cabin opened and Mayor Lewis popped out.
"Oh, Penelope! I just finished tidying up inside," he sang, blue eyes crinkling at the corners. "My, how you've grown! I think you were, what, 15 the last time I saw you?" Penelope's face and ears burned red as she eyed Lewis, who was also much older than she had remembered him.
"Uh, yeah I suppose so," she mumbled. "It's been almost fifteen years since then too." She fixed her eyes on the dirt path, feeling older than she wanted. What would people think about a twenty-nine-year-old woman starting over in such a dramatic way? Surely there would be gossip…
"I can't believe it! Where has all the time gone?" Lewis cried. He sat quietly for a moment, surveying the farm. "Well, these are yours," he said, approaching her and giving her a pat on the shoulder. "We'll leave you to it, it looks like you've got a lot of work to do." He paused, but Penelope could see that there was still something he wanted to say. 'Oh, and make sure you introduce yourself to the folks in town, everyone gathers at the Stardrop on Fridays after five. They're all eager to meet you and are willing to help you with anything you need. Make sure to stop by Pierre's general store as well to get any seeds or anything else you might need; he has a great selection for such a small town."
"Thanks, Mayor Lewis. Thanks, Robin!" Penelope said, smiling, and gently grabbed the keys Lewis was now dangling in front of her, careful to avoid touching his hand even at the expense of being awkward.
As soon as Mayor Lewis and Robin were out of sight Penelope plodded up the janky wooden steps to the front door of the cabin. She turned the key, and the lock made a familiar heavy click before the door loudly creaked open and revealed the dark interior of her grandfather's modest one-room house. She felt the walls on either side of the door for a light switch and finally found one. She flicked the switch only for the bulb to immediately burn out and cast the room into darkness once again. She sighed heavily.
"Goddamn it!" Penelope muttered to herself. I guess I'm going to Pierre's sooner than I had planned!
She blindly shoved her suitcase and bags inside the dark cabin and hastily locked the door behind her before she headed back down towards the cobblestone path she had come in on. It was a warm and sunny spring day, and she took her time walking to town so as to not awkwardly run into Robin and Lewis again. She grew excited as she noticed several spring forageables as she dawdled, like leeks, onions, and even wild horseradish. Penelope made a mental note to herself to grab a basket at the store too– free food was free food.
Still lost in thought, she ambled into the cobbled town square, passing a doctor's office and a bulletin board with what looked to be a calendar, and then found the little wooden sign that ready Pierre's in neat script. She pushed through the glass doors to the store, causing a bell to ring above her and a man, who she assumed to be Pierre, to look up. He was probably in his late forties, early fifties and had reddish brown hair and wore his readers halfway down his nose, making him look older than he was.
"Hey, welcome! You must be the new farmer that Mayor Lewis mentioned! I wasn't expecting you in my shop so soon!" He spoke loudly and in a brash tone that hurt Penelope's ears.
"Hello!" she beamed back. "I am! Unfortunately, my cabin is in a state of disrepair, so I need a few things!" She smiled at him but was a little taken aback. I really hope the whole town isn't this enthusiastic, I don't know if I have the energy for this, she thought to herself.
Penelope meandered through the aisles of the small store, grabbing gardening supplies, lightbulbs, and all manner of things she imagined she would need–including some easy meals considering she had nothing but a kitchenette in her tiny cabin, she didn't even have a formal stove– just a microwave, a toaster, and a kettle. After grabbing everything she could think she might need, she finally started sorting through the selection of seeds and saplings, muttering to herself. The truth was she had no idea what to plant, but she did know from past experience that just about anything would grow well on the farm, as long as she didn't muck it up too badly. She was so engrossed in reading the back of the seed packets and hardiness zones that she ran face-first into someone in one of the aisles.
"Jesus! Watch where you're going!" he huffed, gripping the shelf, and backing away from her.
"Oh! I'm so sorry," Penelope gasped. "I just got distracted looking at all of these stupid seeds…" She shook the seed packets at him playfully. Becoming self-conscious, she tried to remedy the situation, "Uh, I'm the new farmer, if you haven't guessed! My name is Penelope… I, um. Hello…" She awkwardly waved at the man and forced a toothy smile.
The man, who was maybe in his late twenties to early thirties and just a bit taller than her five-foot-four-inch frame, stared back at her with his sad forest green eyes like she had two heads. He had a grown-out undercut and his naturally dark brown hair was dyed a deep purple that almost looked black. A well-worn blue Joja-Mart hoodie hung on his medium frame which was accompanied by a bright green Tunnelers jersey, shorts, and green sneakers. She looked up at the disheveled-looking man helplessly and shot him another apologetic smile, but he just rolled his eyes at her, beginning to walk away.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to run into you," she whined after him. She was really not trying to make an enemy already.
"I don't know you. Why are you talking to me?" he huffed, pushing his way past her, and hurrying to the checkout.
Penelope stared at him in disbelief and, without missing a beat, muttered, "Well, fuck you too buddy!" She cringed as the words flew from her mouth. You could take the girl out of Zuzu City, but you couldn't take Zuzu City out of the girl. The man hurried to the counter to buy what looked like frozen meals and checked out, but not before cutting her another hostile glance.
I guess everyone's not as nice as I had thought. 'I don't know you…' No shit, Sherlock. UGH.
Penelope hastily grabbed some seeds and proceeded to check out at the counter with Pierre. She didn't mean to, but her small talk was short and curt, as she was still pissed off about the man being rude to her. She looked up and caught Pierre smirking at her.
"What?" She said, frowning, daring him to say something rude to her too. She handed him her card.
"The guy you ran into, that's Shane. He's a bit of an asshole at times, but I think he's had a rough life. I wouldn't take great offense to anything he says," Pierre said, putting her card and receipt in her outstretched hand and pushing her bags towards her.
"I'll try not to," she sighed and rolled her eyes. Penelope lugged her bags off the counter and quickly made her way to the exit, still feeling a bit perturbed.
Outside, all the negativity melted away as the sun hit her face and the cool spring breeze filled her lungs with fresh air. She breathed deeply and turned to check out the bulletin board and calendar she had seen on the way in. There wasn't anything posted on the job board at the moment, but the May calendar did show everyone's birthdays along with a list of festivals and holidays. She scanned through them and scoffed when she got to Shane's birthday on the 20th. That's one birthday I don't care to remember. Penelope turned around to leave, only to run face first into another, much taller man.
"Oh no! I'm so sorry!" the man exclaimed and started laughing, pushing his glasses back up his long nose and fixing his wavy chestnut hair before smoothing his mustache.
"It seems I'm literally running into everyone today!" Penelope mumbled at him and let out an embarrassed laugh.
The man, who was much taller than her, smiled down at her with kind eyes and offered his hand. "I'm Harvey, the town doctor. I work next door here at the clinic," he said, motioning behind him. "You're the new farmer, right?"
"Yes! How'd you ever guess?" She joked, holding up her bags of seeds and other gardening equipment. "I'm Penelope. It's nice to meet you." she beamed at him.
"It was nice meeting you too, Penelope. Stay safe now, no running into anyone else, we don't need any emergency visits today!" he chuckled. "See you around!" he said, giving her a nod as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his green jacket and headed into Pierre's.
Penelope turned to go, smiling to herself. She could feel her face growing red and her pulse quickening. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing more of him, she thought.