All right, I decided to start typing this on up today. I apologize deeply for the delay; school is time-consuming. Oh, and I apologize if I accidentally replace Jill's name with Jen. I'm writing another story that has a character named Jen, and sometimes it might just slip off my fingers without noticing. So sorry. XD I'll try to watch that.
Thank you to all my reviewers! *hearts* This is dedicated to you!
Also, I'm setting a word goal for each chapter: 5,ooo words. I'll probably make it longer each chapter.
Anyway, onto the chapter. :)
Boring train. Boring, boring train. Jill really should have brought something along to entertain her for the long train ride. Only a half-hour, and she had already exhausted her amusing resources: She had stared out the window for x amount of time, she'd finally finished the last chapter of her book, and she'd already doodled all over the back of her hand with a black pen. She grimaced. Watching trees flash by out the window was dull. They all looked the same to her.
For the next ten minutes, Jill just sort of dozed off. With nothing to rest her head on, she settled for the window, and the only reason that she didn't just fully sleep was that whenever the train made a particularly large bump, it would jolt her halfway out of whatever fantasy dream-land she had been in.
...Most of those involved either doing evil, painful things to all the people she hated(not many), or cupcake-filled dreamlands.
Then the train pulled to a stop with a loud, ear-splitting screech. Jill blearily looked out the window, her head still in a slight fog. Damn, was this her stop?! How long had she dozed?!
She glanced at her watch, now fully awake, and sighed. Nope, she still had an hour and fifteen minutes to go, at least. Phew.
A few minutes of relative peace went by while the sounds of the train doors and the heavy clunks of footsteps registered in the back of Jill's mind. It didn't last as long as she'd hoped, however.
"This seat taken?" came a voice beside her. Jill jerked her head to the other side to find a girl with short red hair and a green backpack slung over one shoulder looking at her with a not-bored-but-not-amused look.
"Ah... no. Go ahead," Jill said, nodding at the vacant seat next to her. The other girl sat down, shoving her bag down in between her feet.
...Damn. Jill had been hoping that her relative solitude would last the entire train ride, because she wasn't that comfortable with new people, but...
No. If she was leaving, then she would just have to get used to talking to more people. Jill glanced over at the girl once more, wondering if she should say something.
The red-head leaned back in her seat with her hands behind her head, looking up at the ceiling of the train, and Jill settled back into her own seat. She would talk to her... later.
Within a few minutes the train began to move again, and Jill felt funny with the semi-awkward silence. More minutes passed.
'So, where are you headed?" Jill asked abruptly, turning slightly. The redhead glanced over at her, lokking not quite but almost surprised that the girl was speaking, one eyebrow up slightly.
"Nowhere really. You've probably never heard of it. Small place," she replied casually.
"Mmm. Flower Bud Village?" Jill asked brightly.
Now the girl looked surprised enough to say the emotion was there on her face. Barely, though. "Yeah. You headed there or something?"
"Mhmm. Moving." The brunette nodded once for emphasis. Her intuition had always been good with things like this, her mom had always told her.
"Ah." The girl paused for a moment. "It's a good place. Nice people."
"Ah." Jill said simply. Apparently the other girl had been the the village before. Was she part of the --ugh, she still hated the name of it-- Exciting Ranch Plan? Was it more popular than Jill had originally anticipated? Oh, that would be terrible for her...
She only managed to fret for a few moments, though, as the other girl spoke again.
"I'm Nami. I'm the weather girl for a small city and the surrounding area, which includes Flower Bud Village," she explained, placing her gaze again upon the painted metal of the train car's roof. Jill glanced up to see if there was something amusing or something, but all that was up there were some scratches and chipped paint that looked oddly like a rabbit.
"I'm Jill," the brunette offered cheerfully. "Nice to meet you."
"It's a pleasure," Nami breathed boredly. Almost as an afterthought, she added, "I travel a lot. That's why I've been to Flower Bud Village, if you're wondering."
"Oh. Any other places you particularly like?" Jill asked, intrigued. Nami had probably been to places the brunette had only imagined. She'd never really left her old town, except to visit the nearby city by train with her mom, and she hadn't done that since the...
Jill distracted herself with thoughts about the chipped-paint bunny abruptly. No matter what, she hated thinking about the earthquake... actually all strong forces of nature scared her. Thunder, lightning, hurricanes, strong winds, blizzards, earthqu--... ground-shaking... anything more than heavy rain, really.
Nami managed to snap Jill out of her thoughts. "Flower Bud Village is always nice to visit. I usually go there in summer. Other places, too, like Forget-Me-Not Valley. That's a pretty long ways off, though," said Nami. She had a different look in her eyes, but Jill decided not to question it. Nami kind of gave of an aura that said, "don't dig into my business, 'cause it won't end well for you."
"Oh, is it..." It wasn't exactly a question. "...So, how do you get then weather done every day if you travel often?"
Nami shrugged. "Either I return to the city every week and record the weather for the coming week, or if the city or town I'm in has the resources, I'll get it done using a computer and a green screen."
"Really? I didn't know that."
"Most people don't," she stated bluntly. And with that Nami shifted in her seat slightly more away from Jill and seemed to no want to talk anymore for a few minutes, at the very least. She seemed to be off somewhere in her mind. Jill started to zone out, herself.
"Why're you moving?" Nami questioned curtly.
"Mmm? That's a long story, but if you're up for it..." Jill remarked.
Nami offered a shrug. "We've got plenty of time. F-B-V isn't coming up for a while. And I have nothing entertaining with me."
"All right, I warned you. Well..." And Jill launched into a story about the events that had unfolded since the job loss. She carefully avoided getting into the topic of her mother or the earthquake, although she did mention it once, briefly, which got a murmured "I'm sorry," from Nami. Except for that she chatted happily with the red-head, who offered a simple comment every now and then. Both seemed content with this arrangement. Near the end of the ride the story ended and the conversation traveled onto a wider range of topics for a while.
Soon the train screeched up to a small empty station. To Jill it seemed small, desolate. Nothing but a raised up slab of smooth concrete with a tiny bench covered by a slightly-rusted rain shelter over it. It stuck out like a sore thumb against the lush green grass of the surrounding area. The area they were in was more like a small field, while there was a forest a ways away. Jill could also see the outline of what she thought was the village in the distance, nestled snugly between the grass and the mountain range behind it. She didn't have much time to look, however, for Nami tugged on her sleeve and nodded at her to get up when Jill turned to look at her.
After deboarding and seeing the train off, Jill took a good look around the "station" and then gazed quizzically at Nami.
"Tickets aren't sold here. This station was built out of convenience so travelers wouldn't have to walk forever to get to the village. The true station is ten miles in the direction opposite the village." She motioned left with a quick wave of her hand. "This path will takes us to the village. Let's get going."
The red-head went down the cement steps and onto the loose-packed dirt path that wound off in two directions, and Jill tapped down behind her lightly, smiling. As they started walking, she commented, "So it's harder to leave than arrive, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I'd say it's a scheme to keep people here if I didn't know any better," Nami put in, halfway smirking. "But innocence is a default thing here for almost the entire village."
"Haha. I'll fit in, then."
The conversation continued for the duration of the pair's traipse down the path. Even while she was talking, Jill could taste how pure the air here was. Everything looked more as if the edges had been razor-sharpened, and her surroundings had a diamond-y, crystal, crisper feeling to them. Jill liked it, a lot. The city, now, seemed a thousand years back, hazy at the edges, and grimy. Leaving it behind made Jill a bit down, but mostly she was just happy to be leaving that place behind. Like she should have long, long ago.
Dirt and gravel turned to cobblestone as the duo entered the village. There was a warm and kind of lethargic feeling to the village, being midday. Jill looked around the town square excitedly as she and Nami came to a stop.
"Well, this is where we part," Nami said. "I'm going to go see someone about a... bet that the better lost." She had an evil glint in her eye that screamed, "I'm kicking someone's butt." Jill mentally shivered. "The mayor's house is just out of the northern exit. It a good-sized house; you can't miss it."
The redhead spun and started to walk away.
"Oh, thanks." Jill said, and as an afterthought called, "Hey! If I stay here, you should come to my house sometime!"
"Will do," came the response. Nami waved lazily with one hand as she walked, and Jill raised her hand and waved back slightly. Well, then. Time to get down to business.
Nami had been right. The house was straight in Jill's face, and it was pretty, too. The red-head had probably taken the extra time to explain because she could sense how big of a spaz Jill could be. She didn't take it as an insult. It was actually pretty true; she could get lost walking around the corner of her house. Ex-house. Whatever.
And now here she was, ringing the doorbell. A muffled, "Oh!" came from inside, and moments later, the door was opened with a click revealing a young girl with an armful of books, clad in a simple gray dress. A yellow hairband was in her dark blue hair, and when she saw Jill, she smiled.
"You must be Jill," she observed, shifting the books in her arms a bit.
"Uh... yes," she responded. "How'd you know?"
"Oh, most of the village should be anticipating your arrival. It's not often we get visitors, besides the regular ones, and even rarer to get someone willing to move here. Why, this village is getting bigger every year; Alex, who runs the clinic, recently moved here, as well," Maria said lightly, still smiling. "I'm Maria, Mayor Theodore's daughter. He's inside; I can run and get him, if you like."
"Nice to meet you," said Jill, now returning Maria's smile. "And that would be great."
Maria nodded once. "Would you like to step in while I retrieve him?" She held the door open a bit more wih her side, and Jill could see that the house was nice inside, too. She felt a bit awkward walking onto the carpet with dusty shoes, so she nonchalantly wiped them off a bit on the doormat she was on.
"Sure, thank you," said the brunette. She made her way inside and stood there, wondering what to do.
"If you'll wait a moment, I'll get the mayor," Maria said, closing the door with one foot and setting the books on the ground before shuffling off into one of the back rooms.
Jill gazed at the house she was in. It was nicer than her old apartment, for sure. But, of course it would be. The mayor owned it. Everything was neatly in order and was spotless. Jill wouldn't want to live in such a house; she'd be so cautious, afraid of breaking something. She much more preferred an organized jumble of stuff...
She was jerked out of her thoughts when she heard a door open, and shut again. She turned her head towards the sound to find a rather portly man clad in a red jacket coming towards her, smiling broadly with the corners of his eyes crinkling.
"You must be Jill!" he exclaimed, taking her hand and shaking it eagerly. Jill shook back, now smiling. He eminated a good feeling, subtle pride and wise joy. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"Yes, nice to meet you, too. You must be Mayor Theodore," Jill replied happily.
"Yes, yes. Now then, I assume you are interested in the Ranch Plan?"
Jill nodded eagerly.
He continued. "Well, that's just grand! Nobody has signed up yet, and there's still three different land plots to choose from."
A wide grin split across Jill's face. "Really? That's great!"
"Ah, indeed. Now, if you'd just follow me to my study, we can get the paperwork in order..."
The next few hours were spent inside a small room in the house at a desk signing paperwork and discussing plans. Jill was to choose one of the plots of land to live on, pay for some of it on the spot(her idea--she had the money, anyway), and then just gradually pay the rest off through what she got from working the farm. No interest. Apparently someone from a certain "Blue Sky Ranch" had a cow for her to get her started, and since the house and barn were already built, she could move in immediately.
Was this salvation? Sure felt like it to Jill. Everything was going right for once. While the entire process was going on, Jill silently said a prayer for her mother. She was watching over Jill for sure. Maybe she could do this. No--she would.
"Well, here we are."
Jill gazed up at the house. It was... well, it was small, but it certainly looked bigger than her old place. It looked cozy. It looked like home now. Jill couldn't stop smiling. She had chosen the land next to the river. It was so beautiful. The barn was there, next to the house, and Jill could hear the scuffling of hooves every now and then, and even a moo echoed from inside, too.
"It's great. Thank you so much," she said approvingly. It was so perfect.
"Before you go inside, you should come into the barn and name your new cow. I had Hank bring her here when I got your letter. Hank owns the Blue Sky Ranch, if you didn't know."
"Really? A real live cow?" Jill asked excitedly. She'd never seen one in real life. Dogs, cats, birds, turtles, and the occasional ferret. That's all her old city had ever had, and those were nothing new to her. But a cow? Never laid eyes on one before.
"Yes, of course. If you'll follow me into the barn..."
Jill set her bags down on the ground and eagerly trotted after the gleeful mayor. The door was already slid slightly open, and the two squeezed through.
Immediately the thick smell of hay and animals filled Jill's nostrils, and once her eyes adjusted to the light in the barn she looked around. A few meager lights were put in to keep the place visible, but they weren't turned on right now; the sunlight from the door and the small ventilation windows set high on either wall left and right of Jill were enough. A door was across the room, slightly ajar, and next to it there were large pegs, most of them empty. The few things there included a length of rope and a bell, among other things. There were a few small stables on either side of the room, as well... five, Jill counted. Two bigger ones to the right, and three to the left. All of them were open-top, not the sliding-door ones that Jill had seen pictures of. She could see through the spaces in the boards on the gates that each had a small water trough in it. There was a reasonable-sized space in the middle of the room, and there was a pile of fodder there on the dusty ground.
Ah, but the best part had just turned around to look at the pair quizzically before turning back to its fodder. It was a cow, obviously female by the udder, and its head came up to around Jill's shoulder.
Jill just watched it from a few feet away. It was... a cow. A cow. Now that she saw it, it was a little bit scary. Would it bite her? Kick her? Would it--
"Howdy, Mayor! This the new one?"
Jill whirled around towards the new voice to find a man shoving himself through the small space left open by the sliding barn door. He had mussed up brown hair, and when he straightened up and smiled, Jill could see that he was missing more than a few teeth. He seemed nice enough, though, to Jill. She had kind of learned not to judge appearances too much, at least where bodily features were concerned. Someone with a maniacal grin holding a knife, on the other hand, would in fact receive the judgment that running away would be in order.
"Jill, this is Hank, the owner of Blue Sky Ranch," Mayor Theodore said cheerfully, bringing Jill out of her thoughts.
"Uh-huh. If you have any questions, feel free t'drop by. I'll have m'nephew Blue drop by later to show you what t'do with the cow," offered Hank in his accent, equally as cheerful as the mayor.
"Oh, thank you," Jill said, smiling. "I appreciate it."
Hank nodded, and the mayor turned to Jill.
"Jill, I'm sorry I can't stay longer, but I have business elsewhere in the village. Hank, can you get her started?"
"Sure 'nuff. See you 'round, Mayor!"
The red-clad man pushed out the door, and Jill watched his retreating shadow. Now it was just her, Hank, and the cow, which seemed to have taken an interest in the brunette girl and was slowly but surely making her way over.
Jill took a step back, mentally panicking. Hank barked out a laugh.
"Aww, she won't hurt ya. One of the best-tempered cows I ever seen!"
"R-really?" Jill asked nervously, reaching one hand out to stroke the now-much-closer cow's muzzle nervously. The bovine seemed to like it, and came closer to lick Jill's hand contentedly. Jill grimaced at the slimy drool now coating her hand, but continued petting the cow.
"See? She's a good cow. Before I ferget: What're you gonna name her?"
"I name her?"
"Of course. She's yers, now."
Jill looked back and forth from the cow to Hank a few times, then stopped to think. What to name a cow? Bessie? Too common. ...Only other choice was Miss Moo, after a small stuffed cow that her mother had given her as a child. Why it had been a cow was beyond her, but her mother had always done sort of strange things like that.
"How old is she?" Jill questioned, resuming her petting of the cow's nose.
"Jus' about a year," Hank replied. "She's bin raised good."
Miss Moo would be perfect. Not that her age mattered much; Jill had just wanted to know. "I'll name her Miss Moo."
Hank's face was completely blank for a few moments, just before he burst out laughing. "Miss Moo? Haven't heard that-un before!"
Jill even smiled and giggled a bit. It was a silly name. "It's fitting for a cow."
"Sure 'nuff! Miss Moo it is!"
Jill beamed. This was her cow. Hers alone. This idea to come here wasn't good. It was great. Fantastic. The best thing she'd ever done.
"Thank you," Jill said, grinning. "I appreciate it. I'm a city girl; I don't know much about farming and stuff."
"I wouldn't imagine you would. City folk dun have a need to learn it. Y'all learn science an' French 'n' stuff. An' ye already said thanks. None more needed." Hank smiled toothily (or rather, non-toothily). "Well, I gotta run home m'self. Like I said earlier: I'll have m'nephew Blue run over here to show you how to take care of Miss Moo-- in a bit. Nice meetin' ya."
"Nice meeting you, too."
He turned and exited the barn, leaving Jill and Miss Moo there. The cow looked at Jill for a moment then waddled back to finish her hay. Jill stood there watching her for a few minutes before walking over and stroking her side a few times, the cow looking at her momentarily.
Her bags were still outside. Jill doubted anybody would steal them... but after giving the cow one last pat, she shoved out the barn door opening and picked the suitcases up. She approached the door. The mayor had given her a house key ("Although, I don't think you'll need it; nobody locks their door out here, because everybody knows one another. We're all familiar with each other," the mayor had explained in his office,) and for a few moments the brunette contemplated dropping her bags to fish through her pockets, but in the end she just leaned slightly against the door to find that it wasn't even closed all the way, as it opened with a small creak of protest. She shoved it all the way open and peered into the relatively dark room, the only source of current light being the beam that was coming from the door, dust particles dancing through it.
Jill trekked in and dropped her bags, looking around for a light switch to find it hanging above her, too high for her short stature to reach easily. With a scowl she reached upwards, even balancing on her toes, but alas, she could not reach the small silver chain. She resorted to jumping, and after a few tries her fingers finally managed to grasp it and pull down for half a second before letting go. Pulling the whole lamp down wouldn't be a good idea, not when she'd barely gotten here. Or ever.
The room was bathed in a warm, white light. Jill found the room to be a good size, bigger than her old apartment, but barely furnished. Across the room there were two doors, side-by-side. The closed one Jill presumed to be a closet, and the other, opened one, was a bathroom. In one corner there was a tiny kitchen, with three counters and a sink. A garbage can stood next to a refrigerator with the freezer on top, yet it looked to be small enough so that even Jill could reach it. She wasn't really that tall for her age. Or for any age over sixteen, really.
There was a twin bed on one side of the room with simple green covers. A wooden nightstand sat next to it with a simple drawer on the front. A few feet away was an empty bookcase and a small television set, and in the very middle of the room there was a small, two-person table with wooden chairs scooted under it. It was a cozy place, Jill decided, unlike the pure mess of her old place. It was a refreshing change.
After closing the door and taking a quick look around the room Jill put her bags on the floor at the foot of the bed and sat down. She fell back onto it and closed her eyes contentedly, resting. The day had been eventful, that was for sure. Her life had basically crashed to the floor around her and put itself back together into something she hoped would be better, and that... that was just amazing. In her mind this had been a joke fractionally, like someone was going to pop up at any point and yell, "Surprise, bitch! This has all been a sick, twisted dream!" and then she would wake up. But now that she got some time to think, it just kind of... hit her. Pretty hard, too. After a minute, however, a knock on the door snapped her out of her thoughts.
Jill hurriedly rubbed her eyes slightly and stumbled to the door, opening it and peering out. In her doorway stood a young woman, maybe around Jill's age, with very short-cut brown hair and clad in a yellow and orange dress and an apron.
"Hi!" she chirped, smiling. "I'm Ellen, from Blue Sky Ranch."
"Hi. I'm Jill," replied the twin-tailed girl, blinking a few times at the other. She seemed to radiate cheerfulness and good will, and it was actually helping Jill's mood brighten.
"I think my cousin Blue's going to come over later, but I decided to pop over to ask you something. You see, a few puppies were born on our farm a while ago, and I was wondering if you would like this little one."
A small puppy, previously unnoticed by Jill, started wagging his tail excitedly, thumping it on the ground. Jill looked from the floppy-eared animal to Ellen a few times and thought about it. She'd never had a dog before; her apartments had never allowed them. So a dog would be fun to have.
"Sure!" replied Jill happily. "I'll take him in."
Ellen's smile turned into a grin. "Great! I'm sure that he'll have a better time over here than at our farm; we have many other animals to take care of, and I don't know if he would receive enough attention there. What will you name him?"
Jill stopped to wonder. "I don't know. What would you call him?"
Now it was Ellen's turn to stop and think. "Hmm. Something cute, like Maxie, or Benji."
"Benji's cute," agreed Jill. "I like that one."
"That's great! Benji's his name, then," concluded Ellen joyfully. "Well, I have to get back to the farm and make sure that my father hasn't fallen asleep at the register again!" She gestured with a flick of her hand behind her towards the farm across the street, which Jill assumed to be Blue Sky Ranch. "I do hope you'll come over once in a while; I think we could be friends." Smiling, Ellen began walking back, leaving Jill and the puppy, who seemed to know that he was supposed to stay with Jill.
"Bye," Jill called after her, waving.
Well, now she had a dog, too. This was the best day Jill had experienced in a while. She kneeled down and patted her lap. "Come here, Benji," she said, and to her surprise the puppy gave a squeaky bark and leaped into her lap, trying to lick her face. Jill laughed and picked him up, carrying him with a bit of effort into the house.
Inside, Jill played with Benji for a bit, allowing him to gnaw on her hands with his little puppy teeth. It didn't hurt, really, as the puppy didn't have much force to his bites. She tied an old mismatched sock from her suitcase into a knot and let him chew on that, too, until yet another knock on the door came. Jill, keeping one eye on Benji, went to answer it.
At the front door was a man, quite a bit taller than Jill, wearing a blue and red cap, red shirt, and jeans, with a sour expression on his face. Jill stared up for a few seconds, mesmerized, before sputtering out a "Hi."
"Hey," he replied dryly. He didn't look too pleased to be there, and Jill might have barked out a nervous giggle or two. This was Blue, apparently. He was tall, compared to Jill-- well, everyone was tall compared to Jill, but that was besides the point. If the man didn't have such a bad expression on his face, he would most likely look kind and approachable, but the one on his face currently seemed like it stayed there, for the most part. Not to say he looked completely unfriendly, no; just a hard shell to crack, Jill guessed. "I'm here to teach you how to run the farm," he continued, gazing off into the distance boredly. "I'm Blue."
"Oh... okay," said Jill, not sure of how to speak to him. Jill had thought she'd known people that were hard to talk to, but Blue topped them all. "Thanks. I'm Jill."
"Let's go to the barn," he said, turning towards it as if he'd lived there for his whole life. Jill could tell that, along with the difficult personality, Blue had natural talent with farms and animals. It sort of radiated off of him. He slipped into the barn with practiced ease, Jill trotting after him. She squeezed in, and found him getting a brush off the far wall. Jill would have to remember to ask him to put it back on a lower hook; the one it was previously on was much too high for her. As were most of the rest of the tools that happened to be there. Jill sighed as she realized this; she'd probably have to drag a chair or box in here and lower everything, and she really did have no upper body strength...
"Oi! Jill, was it? Come on. I need to get back to Blue Sky Ranch soon, so I don't have much time here," he said flatly. Jill sighed again. That was the most he'd said to her since they met. This was going to be a long day.
Well, that took way longer than expected. XD Sorry 'bout that. Probably wasn't even that good, but whatever. I'll only get better by writing more. It took so long because I already don't get a lot of computer time, and that coupled with the fact that I have to get my GaoaOnline art orders done and my schoolwork caught up, along with studying for finals, means that I don't have much time for writing. I'll try to get the next one (Goal: 5,5oo Words) within a month. No guarantees, though.
Anyway, I'm much more motivated knowing that people wait for the chapters, so reviewers=more motivation=faster writing. I know it's a common excuse for reviews, but hey: it's completely true. So click the pretty button and leave me something, please? Alert the story? I'll love you forever!