"Jesse are you even listening?"
Jesse quickly snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of his name. Looking up from where he had been previously staring at the ground he found Stacy and Stampy to both be looking at him strangely.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah i'm listening"
The two exchanged a glance before Stacy crossed her arms "Oh really? Then what did I just say?"
Jesse frowned as he frantically searched his mind to remember exactly what the girl had said, he had only been half listening so he only remembered a few small details of the subject.
"Umm..something about needing to build new houses?"
Stacy smirked at him "Wroong" she singsonged "So you weren't listening!"
Jesse signed slightly sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck "Heh, yeah..you got me.."
Stacy gave him a look "Wanna tell us what's go you so distracted?"
Jesse simply shrugged his shoulders, in all honesty he had drifted off slightly. His mind becoming distracted and hazy from lack of sleep and ..other things.
"I..um just didn't get a lot of sleep last night.."
Stacy gave a concerned look " Why not?" she suddenly narrowed her eyes "You haven't been pulling all nighters again have you? It not good for you and you know that!"
Jesse quickly put up his hands "No! No! It not that! I just..have been having some trouble sleeping lately that's all."
Stacy relaxed slightly "Oh, well that's not good either. You need sleep, it's bad for you to miss out on it..and now that I look at you...you look exhausted.."
To be honest he felt exhausted, he ran a hand through his hair "I'm fine guys, i'm sure its just stress"
"Have you tried drinking warm milk to help you sleep?" Stampy chimed in "That's always helps me."
Jesse gave him a small smile "I'll.. give it a try."
Stacy nodded her head "Good, now where were we..?"
She turned to look at the small clipboard that would normally be held by his assist Rader, but since he was a way Stacy had offered to help with the usual morning routine Stampy decided to tag along.
"We just finished talking with the construction builders about the damage that creeper did when it snuck into the town..now we just have to see to Max about that weird sculpture in the front of his house..we keep getting complains about it." Stacy said looking up as Jesse when she was finished.
Jesse smiled "Sounds good, why don't you guys go on ahead? I'll finish up here."
Stacy and Stampy shared a look "Are you sure?" Stacy asked.
Jesse shrugged his shoulders, "Sure" he reached over and plucked the clipboard from Stacy's hands "Its nothing I can't handle, thanks again for helping me out."
Stacy smiled at him "Of course Jesse, it's the least we can do"
Jesse smiled as he watched the two of them walk away, chuckling softly when Stampy frantically waved bye to him the whole time. When at last they turned the corner and out of sight, Jesse sighed. Rubbing at his tired eyes.
He made his way to the small house where the strange sculpture sat, it was big and clunky and blocked the view of others and they had received complaints about it...a lot of complaints.
Stepping up the stairs to the front door, he knocked and waited for few minutes..before he knocked again.
"Hello? Is anyone home?"
Nothing, he sighed he would just have to come back tomorrow.
He glanced at the clipboard, now all he had to do was head back to the town hall and do more paperwork.
Great.
He made his way back to where his dreaded desk awaited, ha waved hello to a few people who were setting up shop for the day.
He was passing a small patch of shrub that came up to about his waist, when it suddenly started to rustle. He tensed and out of instinct reached for his sword..but he didn't have one. Instead he opted for raising his arms to defend himself
Years of past fights flashed in front of his minds as every part of his screamed at him to be ready to fight some horrible monster that was about to pop out of the shrub.
With a sudden flash of movement, something quickly jumped out of the shrub. Jesse cried out in surprise at he stumbled back, landing on his backside.
He ready himself to fight with whatever monstrosity that ad just jumped out of the shrub when he got sight of what it was.
A chicken, a stray chicken that must have belonged to one of the farmers.
It glanced at him before ruffling its feathers and walking away. Leaving Jesse nearly breathless on the ground.
Jesse quickly stood up nervously chuckling at himself, he placed a hand over his quickly beating heart.
A chicken, it was just a chicken. Nothing to be afraid of.
Brushing himself off he made way to turn back to his previous path before he stopped, he really didn't want to go back to his lonely desk and finish more paperwork.
Deciding to take a complete 180 and walk in the opposite direction, he made his way instead to the entrance of the town, hopping that a nice long walk would better clear his mind.
He sure hoped so.
