Chapter 3

The past two days have been really busy ones. The old man Taro, the former owner of the ranch, had stopped by to educate me on all the tips and tricks there were to farming and fishing, while Mirabelle had payed me a visit to inform me of the great advantages of keeping chickens, sheep and cows. I had been to Chen and Charlie's to buy two bags of seeds, but ended up leaving with more than I could sow.
(Note to self: be more careful with full-fledged salesmen like them in future.)

And although it had cost me a lot of sweat, I was now the proud caretaker of two tiny turnip fields. I had never thought that the tiny sprouting leaves of a turnip would look so adorable. Not adorable enough to name each turnip, though.

I was just done watering my crops when someone called my name loudly. I looked around,only to see a flash of blonde and green storm towards me. I was relieved when the blonde didn't pounce me like a predator pounces its victim. I did get a hug, though.

"How are you?" She beamed. I raised my eyebrows.

"Uhm. I'm fine."

"Good. Because you scared all of us to death when you collapsed at the dinner." I nodded and scratched the back of my head.

"It won't happen again," I solemnly swore, like I had learned with the girl scouts back when I was a little kid. The blonde frowned.

"It'd better not!" she squeaked. It made me laugh and once I had started, she had to laugh too. It took her a while before she realised she hadn't introduced herself yet and squeezed me tightly when she did. I wouldn't forget the name Lanna any time soon.

Around noon I left the ranch to grab a bite at the diner. Not because only because I ran out of bread, but because I couldn't cook if it were to safe my life. The diner was just as quiet as it had been when I came there the first time and got swept off my feet. Quite literally. I was glad when the diner's owner, whose name turned out to be Nick, didn't bring it up. Instead he told me that if I ever wanted to learn some recipes, I shouldn't hesitate to ask. I had joked that giving me recipes would be a waste of paper, but he convinced me he had some recipes up his sleeve even I couldn't mess up. I took his word for it and went home with a filled stomach and a plain noodle recipe. I was so going to prove him wrong.

But before I went home, I stopped by at Taro's house to proudly report the progress on the ranch I had made. But the old man was no where to be found. Instead, I found a red haired woman, about my age, sitting on the floor in front of a book case. Said floor was entirely covered with books. She must have heard my footsteps, because suddenly she let out a surprised yelp and jumped up.

"Oh, it's just you," she sighed.

"Yup. Just me," I repeated, slightly offended. The red haired woman sat back down where she had been sitting when I came in and motioned for me to come closer.

"Make yourself useful and help me turn these books upside down," she commanded. I raised an eyebrow.

"That old bastard is making me rearrange all these books. Alphabetically." She pursed her lips and frowned. Apparently just thinking of it kind of pissed her off. I couldn't blame her and grinned.

"Nothing sweeter than revenge, eh?" She smirked and nodded.

"Sweet, sweet revenge. Nice meeting you, by the way. Name's Natalie," She stuck out her hand and I shook it.

"Chelsea."

We must have been at least an hour busy sorting out the books, when something suddenly occurred to me.

"Hey, Natalie?" I questioned.

"Hm?"

"Do you happen to know where Vaughn lives?" I tried to ask as casually as possible.

"Vaughn? He doesn't really live somewhere. He just stays two days a week at Mirabelle's. Why?" Her eyes shone mischievously.

"No reason," I quickly replied. "I just kind of owe him something."

"'Owe him something', eh?"

"Few days ago, he carried me home," I admitted, trying to get the awkward conversation over with. She must have noticed, because she just nodded and continued sorting books. This lasted, however, less than two minutes, because then she couldn't resist asking any longer.

"Piggy-back style?" She inquired, laughing. I couldn't help but laugh too, now she had started.

Altogether, sorting books must have kept us busy for at least two hours, and another fifteen minutes to turn every single book upside down. But it was fun. We came across some rare finds, such as the first edition of Dating for Dummies and the legendary Hundred ways to open a beer bottle. Natalie figured the first had to be her brother's, but we didn't have a clue to who the latter belonged. We probably didn't want to know, either. When we were finished, Natalie advised me to go home, because old Taro might charge me with complicity.

As soon as I got home, I realised I still hadn't called my parents like I had promised. Hesitantly, I picked up the horn and dialed my former number. At first it was a little awkward to talk to my mom again, but soon I found myself telling about my latest little adventures. From talking that random guy at the boat into holding me like that guy from the Titanic, at which she laughed, to the little prank Natalie and I pulled off. I didn't mention the incident at the diner though. It would only get her more worried than she needed to be and it gave me an excuse not to tell her about Vaughn.

"How is dad anyway?"

"Your dad is fine. He is just kind of bummed his little girl is growing up."

"He'd better get used to it," I commented and a short silence followed.

"You are taking your medicines daily, right? Like the doctor told you to? And are you getting enough sleep?"

"I'm fine, mom," I protested.

"You'd better be," she muttered. I looked out of the window. The setting sun poured a soft, calming orange light on the fields.

"If you want to, you are free to come and visit me sometime," I proposed. My mom stayed quiet for a short moment.

"I would appreciate that. Thank you, Chels." I smiled: she probably didn't realise she was the one that needed to be thanked.

Vaughn carrying Chelsea home piggy-back style would be priceless.
'Hundred ways to open a beer bottle' isn't a book, by the way. I was looking up some stupid, uh, original book titles and ended up at a Dutch forum. Needless to say the forum was dominated by men.

Did you know you can open a beer bottle with the use of a traffic sign?!