November 19th, 1999 - 8:52 AM

A tap came at my door, "Karen! You have a visitor!" my mother said softly.

Who could be visiting? I hadn't the slightest notion. I slipped into a pair of blue jeans, a thick white turtleneck and my bright purple denim jacket. The kitchen cupboard had been restocked with instant noodles and granola bars. I grabbed a bar and headed to the door. I opened the front door to be greeted by a red faced Rick, holding a basket full of eggs.

"Hey Karen, the egg festival is today and I was just wondering if you wanted to participate this year? We didn't quite have enough people to set-up this year and it really would mean alot tothekidssoIthoughtmaybe-" His face started to turn a shade bluer as the words come jumbling out of his mouth so quickly he seemed to have forgotten to breath.

I hadn't really participated in any of the festivals in years, "Sure, I bet that'd be really fun Ricky-boy." I said with a smile. His face suddenly brightened; obviously the festival was a big deal to him.

Down in town people were hustling about to hide baskets filled with dyed eggs around the town. Around the corner from the Flower Lillia stood the ditzy pink haired girl, Popuri, who I tried my best to actively avoid. She was always too cheery to be around for any length of time and was duller than a rock. No sooner had Rick gone to fetch festival plans from a major than little Miss Popuri was after me.

"Oh my goodness! Karen! I haven't seen you in forever!" she squeeled and raced over to tackle hug me, nearly knocking me off my feet.

"How are you? Is everything going good at the vineyard? Things have been just great here. Dad's been off looking for a new rare flower they call the blue mist flower. It's supposed to be soooo pretty. I miss him a lot though. Mom misses him a lot too. I can't wait for spring to come again. I'll be so nice when it's all warm again. I hate fall and winter!" She kept talking as though she thought I was actually interested.

Thankfully Rick had returned with the flier, he tapped the chatterbox on the shoulder and she shut-up. Like magic, "Excuse me little miss, but I hope you don't mind if I steal Karen from you now? We've got a lot of work to do setting-up for the festival."

"Oh, hehe. Sorry! Like, I mean... go ahead." She blushed, "I'll talk to you later Karen!"

Does she like him?! That dumb bitch just thinks the whole world revolves around her. But I made an effort to be polite. "Bye!" I shouted back here way.

"Thank god you got back when you did, I thought she was going to talk my ears straight off of my face!" I muttered to Rick.

"Ah, that's just Popuri for you. Always the talkative one." Just then I noticed how tall he'd gotten since we were kids. He was thin but toned; certainly all the work at a forge making his contraptions had really done something for him. His face had a creamy healthy glow to it, he certainly wasn't as red faced as he used to be. And his eyes... deep, warm brown eyes.

"So… ehem… uh… I have the map for where we're supposed to set-up the eggs now." Rick said, interrupting my trail of thought.

My face flushed with embarrassment. "Oh! Ummm… Yeah. Let's do that!"

The set-up was actually pretty fun, usually I don't participate in festivals but by the time we'd hidden all the eggs I was starting to see the merit to it.

After set-up was complete Rick and I returned to his place where he made us both warm delicious bowls of oatmeal topped with strawberries and warm earl grey tea. By the time we'd finished eating it was almost time for the actual event to take place. The two of us quickly shuffled out the door after stuffing our dishes in to Rick's nifty dish-washing machine.

"It's free for all from here on out sweetie." Rick whispered playfully in my ear.

"Oh?" I giggled back, "I think I can take you."

We convened with the rest of the festival attendees at the base of our town's square.

"Welcome to our annual fall Egg Festival! Let me explain the rules. Quickly find and bring back eggs the same color as the ones I show you to win." Bellowed the major, "Are you ready?!" He shouted to the "crowd" of us.

Several kids and even a couple adults shouted back in the proper spirit of festivities "Yes we are!"

"Alright, the first egg is red!" He shouted back as he produced a random egg from a basket by his feet.

I remembered seeing one in a basket near the tavern and dashed off to nab it, only to hear the mayor shout "Bingo! That's the one! The first point goes to Stu!"

"The next one is yellow!" He shouted.

Rick and I had placed on of those behind the church. I could see him heading there now. I made a mad dash. There was the basket, the yellow egg, and Rick nearly breathless as he too was running towards the basket.

I skidded across the brick road reaching my arm out as far as I could and snatched the eggs moments before he could land his filthy claws on it.

I stuck my tongue out, "I told you I'm gonna beat you!" and dashed off to the Mayor. My first point.

The rest of the festival was kind of a turn taking contest between the two of us it felt like. But as evening neared the winner was clear. Rick and I were beat from running back and forth across the town. But one competitor energy enough to out-run us and everyone else.

"The game is over!" Hollered the mayor once again, slowly everyone made their way back to the starting zone. "And this year's winner is… Stu!"

The mayor shuffled through the box he'd been using to stand on and then produced a small stuffed horse. "And here's your prize son, a stuffed pony!"

One of the small town boys grabbed the pony, "Thanks Thomas!" he said with a grin and then dashed back to the small group of kids he'd come with to show off the new toy.

"Well, I guess that means neither of us win this year." Rick said sheepishly.

"Yeah, I guess so…" I paused uncertain of what to say next, "So, um… thanks for inviting me out. I don't normally do these kinds of things but I was really surprised at how much fun I had."

"No problem," he said scratching his head, "Hey, you know, my grandparents are having a big thanksgiving dinner this year and I was wondering if you'd like to come along? I don't know if you have anything planned or what but…"

"That sounds really great! I'd love to come along, well. If that's okay." I offered, "We haven't really celebrated Thanksgiving at our place since my grandparents passed on."

Author's Note: Sorry about taking so long to update. Had to prep for two thanksgivings and have had a horrible case of writer's block. XD This chapter has been written a few sentences at a time so... Well, hope you guys enjoy. :) I've already started working on the next part so hopefully I'll have that up by tomorrow.