Chapter 2: Jack Chapter 2: Jack
Today was the day. Jack scrutinised his reflection in the mirror and readjusted his baseball cap. No matter what he did that silly lock of hair stuck out and refused to lie flat. One day he'd take the sheep shears to the damn thing. He was nervous, more nervous about this than anything he had ever done before. He'd put so much time and effort into this but for love he'd have done ten times as much and more. He leaned down and stroked the silky hair of Truffles, his scruffy little dog and felt a rough tongue lick his palm.
"O.K. Truffles," Jack looked down smiling. "I'll get you some biscuits." He set off across his small house to the new kitchen and opened up a bag of dog food. He'd been equipping his house steadily over the last few months whenever he could afford it. The kitchen now had gleaming new dishes, there was a large modern fridge and a new oven. Jack turned from feeding Truffles and looked with pride around his little home. Not so little now he'd enlarged the place twice since he'd moved in. There were places to store his belongings now and the place shone. He found his eyes glancing towards the new large bed he'd recently bought. He didn't need it just for him but ,if today was everything he hoped it would be, it would have been worth it
Looking back on the last couple of years Jack couldn't quite believe just how much his life had changed. He'd come here to Mineral town when his letters to his grandfather kept being retuned to him. He hadn't been to the farm since the year he had turned seven but he had tried to keep in touch with the old man. Albert wasn't actually his grandfather just a friend of his real grandparents, who were deceased, but he and the old man had gotten on well together. They had corresponded for years and Jack had met him whenever he came into the city. As the years went by the visits grew less frequent and the letters more sporadic. The Albert stopped writing altogether and Jack was a while before he decided to investigate. When a third letter was returned to him he decided to go to the farm to find out what was wrong. When Mayor Thomas told him of Albert's death and showed him the state of the farm he was devastated. The farm he'd remembered was completely gone and Jack felt that somehow he had let Albert down when he needed him. He decided there and then that he was going to take on the farm and make it live again. Thomas had been sceptical but he had agreed to let Jack try. Much to Jack's surprise he found that he loved the life. He'd never worked so hard before, clearing fields and sowing crops but there was a huge satisfaction to be had from making things grow. At first he'd had to depend on food he found growing wild but he soon turned things around. It wasn't just the farm either but the town itself that had become home to Jack. Mineral town wasn't much bigger than a large village but there was a vibrancy and energy to the place that fascinated him. On top of that the people had turned out to be so welcoming and friendly. The people at Yodel ranch and at the Poultry farm couldn't have done more to help as well as Saibara, the blacksmith and Gotz, the gruff woodcutter. It wasn't long before Jack had established firm friendships with several of the town's people. It was great to be able to go to the inn after work and spend an easy evening in good company. Then there was the women. They congregated in each others houses, at the supermarket and, in good weather, in Rose Square. Jack was a wonderful source of new gossip and everything he did was watched and commented on. To their consternation, and his amusement, he kept very quiet about his background, no matter how much they questioned him. There were so many speculations and downright fantasies about his love life that Jack was hard put to keep up with it. Manna, Sasha ,Anna and Lillia all mothered him somewhat, giving him recipes and advice but Jack knew that at least three of the ladies had single daughters in town. Manna also had a daughter, Aja but she had left for the big city. Still, that didn't stop Manna from believing that one day she'd come home. He kept them all guessing. Not that the single ladies of Mineral town hadn't been on his mind since he got there.
He hadn't been long in town before there had been a festival, a dance in Rose Square to honour the Goddess. The girls had all dressed in beautiful costumes and performed an intricate country dance as part of the entertainment. They were like five pretty flowers moving gracefully around he square, Ann, Elli, Mary, Popuri and Karen. As they twirled and smiled in front of him Jack mused on how interesting it was going to be to get to know each one. Each girl had interesting possibilities and who knew where things might lead. He set out to get to know them better. All the girls were wonderously friendly and Jack was very happy to be friendly back. He spent time with each girl exploring their different personalities on some really interesting dates, However, he soon realised Popuri was just not for him. She was a spectacular looking beauty with her bright pink hair, like soft candy floss, and a figure that could make a monk sweat but it wasn't enough. Jack found her company light and undemanding but rather lacking and repetitive. Though really it was that high pitched giggle he couldn't stand. He knew that if he had to live with that combined with her fluffy attitude he'd most likely strangle her.
Elli and Mary were both nice girls, pretty rather than beautiful but Jack found them both rather too earnest for his liking. Ann with her thin, tomboyish figure and thick ginger hair was a good laugh, a good mate and that was the trouble. She treated Jack like a younger brother and he was happy to leave it that way. He'd heard there were some good looking girls in Forget-me-not-Valley and, if they were anything like that toothsome blonde in the spray on red dress that sometimes stopped in town, then he might have taken a look. That is if it hadn't been for Karen.
At the beginning she'd just been one of the girls but soon she'd begun to mean much more to Jack.. Karen was beautiful, not just pretty but breathtakingly beautiful. Her hair like dark honey, her skin like rich cream. Jack found himself gazing into her huge sea-green eyes and melting inside. She'd seemed aloof and superior but one night, at the end of spring, Jack had found her walking on the beach, just gazing out over the moon washed sea. Karen had seemed so lost, a deep unhappiness filling her heart that Jack just longed to hold her close. Later on she'd come across him when he was feeling low and she'd asked him what was wrong. Actually, he'd been thinking about her, how every time he thought he was getting close she'd pull away from him and he didn't know why. He tried telling her in a roundabout sort of way and she'd listened without recognising that it was she he was troubled by. Ann would have told him not to be so wet. Elli would have taken his temperature. Mary would have suggested some self help book. Popuri would have just asked so many questions he wouldn't have got chance to answer but Karen had simply listened and let him talk out his frustration. Jack did everything he could think of to please her but it was difficult. In the summer he'd asked her to watch the fireworks with him and in the winter he'd even gone to the Starry Night dinner at her home. He couldn't help wondering if it was as much at Sasha's urging that Karen had invited him but he took it as a sign that things were changing between them. That spring he'd asked her to the Goddess festival and she had not onlu agreed she'd come round to the farm beforehand to teach him the dance steps. As he held her in his arms, her warm body pressed close to his, her warm breath against his neck, he jsu knew she had to be his. He drew her close and kissed her, feeling her relaxing against him, kissing him back and then she'd pulled away. It was almost as though she were afraid, not of him but afraid of herself. He'd tried to tell her ,at the festival, how much she meant to him but she wouldn't listen. It was then she'd made her mistake and issued her challenge. She'd walked away not giving it another thought but not Jack. Well, he'd thought, If that's what you want, then that's what you'll get my sweetheart. Only fourteen days to change his life forever. It would take some planning, but as they say, faint heart ne'r won fair lady.