Chapter 9

The next day, when my chicken coop would be finished, I was brutally woken up someone banging loudly on the door. I reluctantly slipped out of my bed and opened the door, still rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"G'morning!" A gruff voice greeted. I rubbed my eyes once more and realized that the giant on my doorstep was Gannon. I nodded politely.

"Good morning," I replied.

"I just stopped by to tell you the chicken coop you requested is finished. You should check it out soon." I smiled.

"I will, thank you."

"Oh, by the way, Taro's just itching to explain the principles of holding chickens to you. Be prepared," he grinned. I nodded slowly and closed the door when Gannon turned around to leave.

When I left my house a little later, after taking a short but cold shower and having breakfast, I was surprised to find the little old man already waiting for me outside. He frowned impatiently.

"So, lil' miss! What took you so long?" he exclaimed. "The early worm gets the bird, y'know…" he mumbled.

"Isn't it the bird that gets the worm?" I inquired, almost giggling by just the mere thought of enormous mutated worms chasing birds. Taro thought this over for a bit.

"No. That'd be ridiculous. Now, come on, let's teach you the fine art of taking care of poultry." With those words, he left me utterly confused on my doorstep, while he crossed my field at a his own slow pace, approvingly poking my crops with his cane as he did so. As soon as I recovered, I quickly chased after him.

"Ya see that thing over there, missy?" he pointed at the 'thing' with his cane, "That'd be the feed dispenser. You take the feed from there…"

"…And put it in the feeder bins. One piece of feed for each chicken," I proudly added. He nodded approvingly.

"Did Mirabelle's cousin teach ya that?" I nodded. "A quiet, but nonetheless good fella. A fine man, indeed…" he seemed to mumble it to himself rather than me, so I didn't comment on it. Suddenly he snapped out of it.

"Oh, yes. Right. I was teaching you the fine art of taking care of chickens. Whenever the weather is good, you can let your chickens outside, but only…" He didn't finish his sentence on purpose and gave me a look of anticipation.

"…In fenced areas?" The old man laughed loudly and gave me a friendly, but hard smack on my shoulder. I rubbed my shoulder in pain, while he left the coop 'to fetch something'. The first thing I heard when he came back was a soft chirping. Taro smiled broadly when he handed me the little yellow ball of fuzz.

"A lil' gift to get you started," he explained. "You should name it." I nodded slowly while petting the chick softly.

"Elpis*," I eventually said. He raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever floats your boat, I guess." He slapped me on my shoulder once more and I cringed. "At least you're original!"

After Taro left, I cuddled Elpis a little more and watered my crops, which had just sprouted. Each time I saw my crops' first leaves sprout, I couldn't help but feel delighted. Perhaps it was some sort of misplaced motherly feeling, because I would never have kids. Or it was just the natural joy of new life. As soon as I finished tending my crops, I headed to the town.

With a strange feeling in my stomach, I entered the shop, accompanied by the jingling of the bell above the door. Mirabelle smiled kindly from behind the counter and I nodded politely.

"Good morning, dear!" She greeted me.

"'Morning."

"Are you here for some chicken feed?" I nodded dumbly and she waved nonchalantly with her hand, as if fanning my dumbness away. "Vaughn told me you'd be stopping by one of these days," she explained and I smiled. "How much did you want?"

"Just enough to get through the week for now," I answered, intending to get more feed when Vaughn was around. She nodded and scribbled it down on a slip of of paper.

"Julia and I will bring it over to your ranch when we close the shop." I was about to object when she whispered a 'just because it's you' and crossed her arms stubbornly. I sighed and thanked her cordially before I left the shop, smiling brighter than I did when I entered it.

I was about to cross the bridge to Ranch Island when saw a flash of red hair behind the window's of Taro's house. I checked the time on my watch and raised my eyebrows in surprise. It was only two o'clock in the afternoon, so I had plenty of time left before dinner to pay Natalie a visit. I knocked politely on the door and got a little startled when Elliot pulled open the door instead of the red head I expected to.

"Um, hi," I greeted him awkwardly.

"Hi," he replied, just as awkward.

"Is Natalie home?" I asked.

"She's out on the beach with a friend of hers," he answered plainly, before shutting the door in my face. Perhaps he expected someone else, just like I rumors went that he had a thing for Julia, but I quietly doubted that he'd ever have the guts to ask her out.

As soon as I reached the beach, I saw them sitting on the pier, my friend, the red haired girl with the green blouse and yellow apron and another girl with long black hair and a lavender coloured bow that held the strands of hair out of her face. She wore a lilac dress, a subtle dark purple bow and a pink cardigan. I waved wildly to catch their attention and as soon as I did, Natalie waved back just as enthusiastically. The girl next to her waved her hand a little insecure, while Natalie gestured me to get over there. I watched Natalie get up and help the black haired girl to her feet while I jogged at a rather slow pace to the pier. Natalie shook her head exaggerative in disappointment when I arrived.

"I'd thought you would be faster."

"There'd better be someone dead before I run on full speed," I commented.

"You're that lazy?"

"It's called saving energy. Isn't that what all those commercials of the government tell you to do?"

"They tell you to save electric energy!" I shrugged and the black haired girl giggled softly, distracting both of us from our discussion.

"Oh, right!" I exclaimed, "I haven't introduced myself yet. Hi, I'm Chelsea." I smiled and she did too.

"Sabrina." We shook hands formally.

"I haven't seen you around here before, actually. Are you from out of town?"

"I live in the mansion next to the inn. I've been living there for quite some time now, actually." I must have been looking pretty dumb right then. I really didn't remember seeing her before.

"She is inside most of the time," Natalie interrupted, wrapping her arm loosely around Sabrina's shoulders and grinning playfully. "But I'm changing that."

"Whenever I'm inside, I'm painting. And as soon as I start, I lose track of time rather quickly," Sabrina explained, a light blush on her cheeks. I raised an eyebrow.

"If you're inside, then what do you paint?"

"Still life's," she told me proudly.

"Isn't an alive life much more interesting to paint?" I questioned. She bit her lower lip thoughtfully.

"I've actually never tried that. But it's probably fun." She smiled.

"Taro gave me a chick today, actually. If you want, you can come over some time to paint it," I offered. Natalie gasped loudly.

"For real? I thought you were too busy cuddling your vegetables to even think about getting a chicken," she snickered. I hit the back of her head playfully.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly as I said."

"Says the one who can't even grow a daisy."

"I can! It just dies… rather quickly."

"It's not supposed to die rather quickly!"

"Says who?"

"Says I."

"Says who, except for you."

"The Daisy Society."

"Says who, except for you and The Daisy Society."

"Taro probably thinks so too. Can't you just exclude the entire planet while you're at it?"

"Except for the entire planet and anything living on it."

"No comment."

Although we didn't know eachother very well yet, I was sure of it that Sabrina and I could be good friends. And I was convinced that Natalie would never get her hands on the idea to exclude ET**. Although I wasn't too sure if he knew that daisies weren't supposed to die quickly.

* Elpis means 'Hope' in ancient Greek. Unlike the ranch name, this name is of importance to the story. Don't ask me why Chelsea knows ancient Greek. Let's just say she is very clever. Or owns a little book with baby names or such.

** ET, the alien dude with the flying bicycle. Everyone should know him. If you don't, google it! It's your duty as a resident of planet earth!

I'm not sure when I will update again. After lots of tests and exams, I still managed to squeeze this chapter out of my brain. (Sorry it's short!) I'll try to have another chapter up by Thursday next week! If you can't bear to wait that long, be sure to leave a review. It works miracles. It really does. Keeps a writer motivated and inspired!

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