Tuesday, 9th of Spring

The next morning, when the rooster crowed, Alma's head was pounding. She groaned as she lifted herself and looked around the old cabin. Memories from the night before started to come back to her. "How did I …?" She shuffled around the room and found her bag in the corner and her boots by the door. "Did I … sleepwalk?"

When she went out the front door, the sunlight nearly knocked her down. She moaned and squinted, using her hands to shield her eyes. When her eyes adjusted, she saw there was some mail in her mailbox. She plopped down the steps and shuffled to the mailbox:

"Alma,

Someone dropped you off at the clinic last night. You'd passed out from exhaustion! You've got to take better care of yourself and go to bed at a reasonable hour. I've billed you 100 g to cover your medical expenses.

-Dr. Harvey"

She wondered who it could have been to find her. Maybe Marnie? Shane? Or Leah? They were her closest neighbors, on the south of her farm. Maybe she could talk to Dr. Harvey and find out. But first, looking out onto her crops, she knew she needed to shake this headache and take care of the farm. She saw she had some blue jazz flowers to harvest, so she would definitely earn back that hundred gold. There were also some more parsnips that were ready to harvest. Alma figured they must have been from the random seeds she'd found while clearing out the farm; it was good to know those produced something! She hoped she'd have enough energy to finish clearing out wood throughout the land today, but she wasn't going to make herself any promises. She rubbed her eyes, went back inside, got dressed, and started her work.

Alma first harvested the blue jazz, laid down fertilizer in the open soil for the next crops, and watered all the other plants. Then she got out her ax and headed out to chop down all the remaining undergrowth she could. As she was chopping, she found something peculiar sticking out of the ground. She got out her hoe and dug at it, and the dirt began to reveal that it was a small statue of a chicken! This must have been one of the artifacts Gunther was talking about. "Did this belong to Grandpa?" she wondered, thinking it seemed a bit unusual. Still, she knew Gunther would be happy to take a look at it. She put it in her bag for now and took out her notebook: "Visit Gunther at the museum," she wrote. She put the journal back in her pocket and kept working. After a few hours, she still wasn't done but also didn't feel like she could go on much more. She just simply didn't have the energy today. She went back to the cabin to unload the wood and other resources she had gathered, then she took her surplus and headed into town.

She decided to go to Pierre's first since she had lots to unload. As she entered the store, she saw many of the women entering too. Jodi, Emily, Robin, Marnie …. Alma watched them and saw they filed one by one into the back of the store. It seemed a bit unusual. "Hi, Alma. Need any seeds or fruit tree saplings?" Pierre asked as she approached the counter.

"Yes, I've come to sell some things and buy some seeds. I think it's going to be a while before I can afford a sapling, though." Alma started to hear pumping dance music. "What is going on back there?" she asked with a chuckle.

"Oh, that's Caroline's aerobics club. A lot of the ladies in town go every Tuesday afternoon."

"Ooh, that sounds fun!"

"You should check it out sometime! I know they'd be happy to have you!"

"Maybe I will." She sold him her blue jazz flowers but kept one to give to Dr. Harvey as a thank-you gift for taking care of her last night. Looking over Pierre's stock of seeds, Alma was happy to realize she now had one of every spring crop planted at her farm. She decided to start doubling up to earn more for the buildings she needed. She bought more parsnips, tulips, and potatoes, and she bought twice as much as she originally had. She thanked Pierre, then went next door to the clinic. When she came in, she saw the nurse there again at the front desk. "Good morning!" she said. "Alma, right?"

"Hi, yes, and your name again is … Marley?"

"Close," she said with a smile, "it's Maru."

"That's right, sorry. Is Dr. Harvey in?"

"He is, he's seeing someone right now but should be out any minute. You can have a seat if you'd like."

"Okay, thanks." Alma sat in the waiting room, and she and Maru were there together in silence for a while. "So, uh," Alma started, "how long have you worked here?"

"Not too long," she said. "I'm trying to save up to go to college."

"Oh yeah? What would you want to study?"

"Engineering. Maybe robotics - no, artificial intelligence. Or physics. Or - " she laughed. "I guess I don't know for sure. But I'm interested in all that kind of stuff."

"Well, that's great. It's good to get an education. It opens your eyes up to a lot of new things. And there always need to be more women in STEM. Good for you."

"Did you go to college too?"

"Yes, I - " And just then the door from the exam rooms opened. Dr. Harvey held the door for Willy.

"See you next time, sir."

"Thank ye, Doctor." Willy nodded to Alma and Maru, doffing his cap to them before putting it back on. "Have you had much luck in the local waters?" he asked Alma.

"Oh, I, uh, haven't gotten around to it much, no."

"Well, keep at it. You look like you could be a strong angler if you set your mind to it." He winked at her and then pushed the clinic door open.

"Good to see you, uh, up and about, Ms. Alma," Dr. Harvey said. "Feeling rested?"

"Yes, I wanted to thank you for getting me back to my house safely. I had some fresh blue jazz flowers bloom this morning and thought maybe you might like one for your office."

"Oh, that's such a nice gift. Thank you. Maru, could you, uh, could you put this in a vase and maybe set it on the front desk please?"

"Yes, Doctor," she said, reaching for the flower.

"Alma, have you, uh, have you gotten to know - know Maru? You two might get along quite - quite well." His eyes darted between Maru and Alma, and Alma thought maybe he was starting to blush. He seemed to suddenly be acting strangely, tripping over his words more and fumbling with his hands more. "Maru is quite skilled with, uh, with mechanics and technology," he said, smiling at the young nurse. His glance was unusually focused on her, and it made Alma feel a bit uncomfortable.

She looked back at Maru, and it was like she suddenly noticed how attractive she actually was. Her caramel-colored skin beautifully contrasted against her white uniform, and her creamy brown eyes shined behind her glasses. She folded her auburn hair behind her ear shyly. "Well, I just tinker, really," she said.

"Alma has - has a degree in … sorry, what, uh, what was it again?"

"Informatics," Alma answered.

"Yes, yes! That's right, that's right. I knew it was something similar."

"Oh, cool! What exactly is that? I'm not sure I've heard of that before."

"It's like information technology and social justice combined - using technology to help people, essentially."

"That's really great! What do you do with that?"

"I, uh …" Alma didn't want to answer. "I worked at Joja Corporation as a data analyst."

"Oh. And now you're farming? Are you … using your skills there at all?"

"Um, no, not really."

"Aw, that's a shame. Do you think you'll ever get back into it?"

"Uh, no, I don't really have plans to. Maybe, but it wasn't really working out for me." There was an awkward silence. "What about you? How do you use your skills here in Pelican Town?"

"Well, on Tuesdays and Thursdays I work at Harvey's clinic. He says he likes having me around in case his medical equipment goes haywire!" She laughed a bit, and Alma looked at Dr. Harvey who was also smiling coyly. He glanced at Alma and uncomfortably pushed up his glasses, avoiding her gaze. "Being a farmer must be pretty easy, huh?"

Alma felt strangely defensive. "It's actually quite difficult, and I'm pretty busy today. So anyway, I just wanted to drop by to say thanks. I should get back to it."

She quickly turned to go out, and as she did, she sneezed. Dr. Harvey said, "Remember to cover your mouth when you sneeze. Then make sure to wash your hands. Don't want you getting sick!"

"Thanks for the reminder," she huffed. She awkwardly used her elbow to open the door.

Alma went behind the clinic to the park to clear her head. "Oh, you idiot," she mumbled to herself, sitting on the bench in front of the fountain. She didn't realize she had already gotten attached enough to Dr. Harvey to harbor jealousy, and she was mad at herself for letting herself fall down that rabbit hole. And she felt silly for having the defensive reaction she did. "Not mature at all," she said, pinching her eyelids. It was juvenile to assume she could just come to Pelican Town and find romance; these people had been in the town for so long, there had to have been some history. She had no reason to think Dr. Harvey was interested in her, and she felt selfish for not thinking that he might have an interest in someone else. And Maru - how could she compete with Maru?! Younger, more intelligent, full of dreams, a bright future … whereas Alma was all used up, she thought with a sigh. Besides, she reminded herself that she didn't come here to look for love; she came to start a new life, find a new purpose, get closer to her grandfather … and to get away from pain, destruction, betrayal ... If she kept pursuing a man who was not and would not be interested in her, she knew she was setting herself up for these old demons again. "I'm not doing that," she said, shaking her head. "I can't do it again. I can't." She felt her headache coming back, and she put her head in her hands, groaning. She needed to get over this crush and step back into her role as a friendly neighbor.

"Uh, are you okay?" She just now noticed Haley was close by, on the other side of the fountain.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry."

"You've just been sitting there … weirdly."

"I'm all right, thanks."

Haley gave Alma a side eye for a while, then said, "Nice makeup. Or wait - " and she looked at Alma more closely, scrutinizing her. "Are you even wearing any?"

"Uh … no, I'm not."

Haley scoffed. "I'm bored." She flipped her blonde hair as she walked past Alma and headed back toward town.

Alma watched Haley leave and let her head fall back, looking up to the sky. She felt disappointed in herself, and she suddenly felt very foreign to Pelican Town. So far, she felt welcomed and like she was fitting in pretty well. But was it just her perception? Was she reading too much into this? Was it a mistake to come here? She closed her eyes and felt the wind go past her. Suddenly, she realized she could hear the faint sound of wind chimes. She looked ahead through the fountain and saw the community center past the trees. She got up from the bench and made her way over to the old building. As she pushed the old warped door open, the creaking echoed through the entire building. She walked through the halls and peeked in each dusty room, until she saw what looked like one of those creatures she saw behind Mayor Lewis yesterday. "Wait!" she called, but it had already disappeared. In the middle of the room, the sunlight from a hole in the ceiling fell right on some sort of scroll. She picked up the scroll and tried to make sense of the characters, but it was obviously some code, another language, or a mix of the two. The longer she looked at the text, the more she felt drawn into it. She seemed to focus on it and lose focus at the same time. The rest of the room felt darker and darker, like she was the only one there, but she also felt like she was in the presence of something - or many somethings? She could hear their voices, feel their energy, know that they meant no harm, that they were there to help, that -

Alma came to, drawing a breath in deeply. She was still there, in one of the rooms of the old community center, with the scroll on the ground, as if she'd dropped it. What just happened? She looked around but saw nothing. No one. The only thing she heard was the creaking of the flimsy wood and the soft tinkling of wind chimes resonating through the building. She backed away from the scroll slowly then rushed out of the community center. When she got out of the front door, she turned around to look again at the building. What was going on here?

She felt the pull to return home quickly. She rushed down into town, onto the road to the farm, past the old bus stop, and onto the farm. She felt the semblance of the sense of home and relaxed. She took out her journal and crossed that off her list; she had definitely explored the community center now. She put the journal away and remembered her seeds in the bag and thought maybe if she ate a few field snacks, she might be able to get those planted before bed. And as she did this, she still tried to make sense of what had happened in the community center. The sky grew dark around her, and by the time she was done with the new crops, it was completely dark. Alma went into the cabin, kicked off her shoes, and slid right into bed. She lay there for a while, curled in the sheets, mulling questions over in her mind. Eventually, feeling no closer to any answers, she read Tips on Farming until she fell asleep.