Chapter 4: Can I trust you with a secret?
It had been three weeks since I found the book that revealed the dark secret of Sundrop. I hadn't made any progress on breaking the curse though. Better yet, it's amazing that I have made any progress on making my house a home. My mom had sent me 10,000 Bells as a housewarming gift to by new furniture. Mr. Nook let me look through the store catalog after work one day and I ordered some nice style chairs and couch. I also ordered a ranch style bed, complete with sheets and blanket, but that was about all. My wallpaper and carpet were still mismatch and I had a lot of furniture that looked out of place.
I was going to paint the outside of my house and roof, but on account of the rain that we got the day before and the hot temperatures we were getting, it was too humid to paint anything. So, I found myself stuck inside reading yet another page of Lila's diary and still not any closer to achieving any of my goals.
I was spread out across my couch when a loud bang came at my door. Closing the diary and plopping it on my non-matching cabana coffee table, I ran to the door. My good friends Deena, Nan, and pate were standing on the porch.
"Since you have the day off...," Nan began.
"We wanted to know if you would like to go to The Roost with us for some girl time," Deena finished as happy as ever.
"The place has air conditioning," Pate said in a you-know-you-want-to tone.
I turned and looked at my poor fan that had been running non-stop lately. "Sure! I'll go with you. Just let me grab my shoes and Bells." I ran with great speed to get a pair of socks and my wallet of Bells. My shoes always sat by my door so they weren't hard to find. I was done and walking with my friends in less than five minutes. To get to The Roost, which was located in the basement of the Museum, we had to take the footpath all the way down passed Sundrop Town Hall and just before hitting the sea side orchard. The fruit trees were the only thing that separated the Museum from the beach.
Luckily, being able to use the footpath cut our time in the smothering, humid air in half. Upon arriving my girlfriends and I were greeted by a green pigeon with glasses and partial handle-bar mustache. He was wearing a dressy black shirt with a white undershirt and black bow.
"Good morning," he said with a deep voice. "How can I help you?"
"Four cups of the house blend, please," Deena said.
"Coming right up," the pigeon said. He looked at me and turned to his shelf of coffee mugs.
"We took a seat at a table by the wall which luckily had four chairs.
"What's his name?" I gestured toward the counter.
"Oh, that's Brewster. He's shy," Pate said.
After a while, Brewster brought over the coffee. I expected it to be bitter like my father's black coffee, but it wasn't. It was warm and smooth. The beans he used had a yummy sweet, but slightly bitter taste. My taste buds jumped for joy at the new treat.
"So, have you heard about Tiffany's new boyfriend?" Pate sat her cup down.
"She told me he was from out of town," I said remembering the first time we met.
"Yeah. Apparently, he is some rich guy. He has like four vacation hoses all across Animal Crossia," Nan said.
"I heard," Pate began, "that he even has servants who do whatever he asks whenever he asks."
"Well , you know," Deena said taking a sip, "that is the kind of guy she is attracted to. She dreams of living in a mansion with 24-hour maid and butler service."
"Really?" I was kind of surprised at the gossip they were dishing out. Not by the information, but the fact that they, the sweet good girls I had became friends with, were actually gossiping.
"Yep," Deena and Pate said in unison.
"She thinks she should be treated like a queen at all times by everyone in the world," Deena said rolling her eyes.
"Well , I guess it's good she has a dream," I said. "Even if it is unrealistic and less than desirable by others."
"True," Nan sighed. "And, at least she found love. Even if they have to travel to see each other."
"Do you have any dreams, Nan?" I took a sip of my coffee and waited for my neighbor's response.
"Oh, yes. Ever since I was little I dreamed of opening my own bakery and selling cakes, pies, donuts, cookies, and other pastries."
"Why haven't you?" I could just imagine it now. Nan's Baked Goods. The yummiest in on the land.
"Honestly, I don't know. I guess I just never pursued it. My cooking skills aren't that great either." The goat sighed again.
"Well, all it takes is practice and a few burnt dishes. My mom sent me a bunch of cook books the other day. You could start by using the pastry recipes from them."
"Really?"
"Sure. I will even try your cooking."
"Us too," Deena and Pate cheered. Brewster looked our way to see what all the fuss was about but then went back to polishing the cup in his hand when we got quiet.
"Thanks girls," Said Nan with teary eyes.
"What about you, Pate?" My curiosity was starting to run a little wild.
"Oh, that's easy. I have always wanted to be a fashion designer. I love clothes the Able Sisters come up with. Gracie has amazing clothing, too. I have all these ideas for styles, but I've never had the confidence to do it. Gracie told me I had no fashion sense," tears of sadness began to fill Pate's eyes.
Deena reached over to comfort Pate. "Don't list to her. She is just stuck up and has let popularity go to her head."
"Her big head," Nan giggled.
We all laughed. "I think you should go for it. Who cares what other people think. As long as your happy," I smiled.
"Okay. I'll try," Pate put on a hopeful smile.
"Your turn, Deena." I couldn't wait to hear what my energetic friend had to say.
"Well, um, I don't know," Deena squirmed in her seat.
"Think really hard. What is your passion?"
"Well, you see. When I was little my dad owned a flower arranging shop. I used to love watching him work . When I moved out I wanted to start my own flower arranging business, but when I got here things got busy and I lost sight of it," Deena looked down at her cup, "Maybe someday."
"Why not now? I mean the present is as good as ever. We should take a stand and chase our dreams." My mind was going crazy at the thought of my friends excelling at their dreams. "We could back each other up, support each other, and help when someone is having problems with their dream."
"Yeah," Nan said smiling from ear to ear. "Cheers to friends who chase their dreams."
"Cheers," we all said and downed the rest of our coffee.
"There's just one thing," Deena said folding her wings. We looked at her inquisitively. "What is your dream, Yukihana?" Everyone turned and looked at me.
"I don't have time for mine right now. Just seeing you three chase after yours is a great thing." I've got work, fixing my house up, and breaking a curse. No time at all.
"Well, I think you can make time for it. I mean you talked all of in to doing it. You should at least try." Pate said. The other two girls nodded in agreement.
"Okay," I sighed. "I'll try." Great, another thing to add to my list. I do need to start soon anyway.
"So, what is it?" Pate grinned with victory.
"I have two."
"Really?" Nan was shocked.
"Yeah. To be a writer, like fiction adventure stories, and a photographer." I sighed. Oh, the ideas I have.
"You should totally go after both," Deena said excitedly. " I have an old camera that has been sitting in my attic for years. I'm sure it still works!"
"And I would love to read any stories that you write," Nan smiled.
"Me, too," Pate said.
It was set. All four of us were going to work really hard at chasing our dreams. We were going to support each other. Another hour past and we covered the topics of my house progress, how it was working for Tome Nook, and what the actives that were taking place around town in the next month.
"Does Sundrop have a library?"
"Not an official library," Pate answered my question. " But you can borrow books from a couple places around town."
"Celeste has a bunch of books. She is quite the book worm when she isn't looking at stars. You might check out her collection. Then there is Town Hall. Pelly can show you the back room where Tortimer keeps a collection four times the size of Celeste's," Deena grinned.
"I'll have to go to Town Hall later then." I felt so positive. Things might actually be starting to head in the right direction.
"When's your next day off, Yukihana?" Deena was staring at me.
"Next Saturday. Mr. Nook said I could have weekends off as long as I start working full days. I like it a lot better than my old schedule. Plus, most afternoons he has me working in the store where there is air conditioning."
"Awesome," Deena clapped. "We should all go to the beach for the day then. We could even invite Cooro, Tank, and Jay."
"We should invite Bob, too. He seemed lonely when I delivered his package yesterday." The poor cat seemed bummed.
"Sounds good," Deena said in an overly satisfied tone. "So, do you want to go to the Able Sisters' with us?"
"It will be really fun," Nan said.
"Not today. I need to write a letter to my mom and I would like to go check out the book collection at Town Hall."
After paying for our coffee, I told my friends good-bye and headed up the walking path to my home. Even though it was hot because of the summer heat, the tree shade was nice and cool. I picked a few cherries and pears from the lower branches for a snack later that evening. I had just passed the path to Town Hall when I heard an odd noise.
"Oooooh," something or someone moaned.
I looked around but couldn't find the source. "Umm, hello?"
"Yuuu-oooh," the moan came again. It sounded so near but I couldn't see it.
"Where are you?"
"Tre-ooooh."
"Which tree?"
"Hh—oooh." Just then I saw an arm move. Not one of the villagers' furry or feathery arms but a human arm. That's when it hit me who it was.
"Omigosh, Cooro! What happened?" I rushed over and saw the swollen eye and knew instantly... Bees! "Come on. Let's get you to my house." I wrapped his arm around my shoulder and hoisted him up. Man, he's heavy! Slowly, almost snail like, we walked up the path to my house.
When we got there, I sat him down on my couch and went to get some medicine and a cold rag. I hurried and treated his eye with medicine and put the rag on it.
"Thanks," Cooro whispered and then dozed off, or so I thought.
I had left the room for about ten minutes to put away the fruit I had gathered and to get some stationary and a pen. When I returned, Cooro was sitting there with the book about curses in one hand and the rag pressed against his face in the other. The book was opened to the marked page about Animal Crossia.
"Umm... Wha-what are you doing/" I could feel panic building up in me and shock spread across my face.
"I sasw this book and thought it looked neat. So, I thought I'd take a peek. Is this why everyone is... you know?"
"I-I guess. Promise not to tell, it will only cause problems. I-I just want to help them," I felt like I could cry. At that point in time everything depended on what kind of person Cooro was.
"I promise on one condition." A smile spread across his face.
"What's that?"
"You have to let me help."
It would be nice to have some help. "Okay. But you have to tell me what happened to you out there before I found you."
He laughed. "Oh, well, you see... Jay and I were competing to see who could catch a bee first but the bees outsmarted me this time."
"I'd say."
We discussed how to lift the curse and he said he would get Tank and jay to spill the beans about their most treasured secret. After Cooro started feeling better, he left to go back to Stardrop. By the time I wrote the letter to my mom and got down to Town Hall, It was dark outside.
Pelly was still working and gladly let me into the mayor's book collection. He had books about everything. I ended up with two books on photography and two on writing. Even though I hadn't gotten any closer to breaking the curse, today I felt like I gained a step towards a larger goal.
A/N: Okay I felt like this chapter was a bit cheesy in several places. Please let me know what you think. I am sorry for taking sooooo long to update. Let me know if you think I should continue this story or just scrap it and start over in a different on.
The fate of The Curse of Sundrop, rests at your finger tips.