Thursday, 11th of Spring

When the rooster crowed from Marnie's farm, Alma wiped the tears from her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. She lay in bed for a bit, just staring at the wall in front of her. The anger and pain were still fresh, but she tried to calm them down and remind herself that it was over. After a while, she took another deep breath – not shaky this time – and got her game plan ready. First, crops. Then, finish the dang undergrowth! Go to the store, go to the smithy, go to the museum, and go check out the mines. If there was time, go see Willy too. Got it? Got it.

But when she stepped outside, she saw her sweet new friend sitting on the porch wanting pets. "Aw, Biz!" She squatted down, hugged him, rubbed his belly, scratched behind his ears, and cooed all the while. "You know I love you, but you're a distraction!" She went to fill his water dish and then get to work – after patting his head one more time.

When she got to her crops, she saw the kale was ready! She was thankful for another harvest, and she remembered she had the new seeds to plant too. She took care of those and watered everything else. When she stood up from watering the last crop, she happened to look up and saw she had some mail. There was one letter from Robin, offering a reward for finding her favorite ax. "250 gold, huh?" But no, she couldn't lose more time from the plan. She took note in her journal, folded the letter up, got her own ax, and walked to the far side of the farm to get to work.

She started at the far corner of the farm next to Grandpa's shrine and worked her way down and over. And after several hours, using nearly all of her energy, she had done it. She finally cleared out all of the clutter from the farm. She leaned on her ax and wiped her brow, looking over the land. All that remained now were trees that she was saving, plus some logs and boulders that would require stronger tools to break down. After she put the remaining wood in her chests, she took a stroll around the farm to survey the land again. She was feeling quite proud of herself; after all this hard work, she had cleaned up the farm quite nicely. It was now much easier to navigate, and she could imagine where she could more sustainably work. This could be for crops, here, in rows of six-or maybe blocks of nine, to maximize the reach of her watering can. And this could be where to keep fishing supplies, since it was close to the lake. And over here could be like an orchard, where she could keep track of fruit trees and other resources from the indigenous trees already on the farm. And here could be where she could keep animals, with maybe a barn, a coop, a stable …. Alma enjoyed walking around and dreaming about the space. She hoped her grandfather was proud too.

Alma looked at the time and hurried to town. It was already two o'clock, and she wasn't sure if she would make it to Clint's even if she went there first. But she had to try! Though she was currently rushing through town, she actually felt like she was becoming more and more comfortable with her new normal as a farmer in Stardew Valley. Then, as she entered the square and saw the clinic, she couldn't help but feel a little pang in her stomach. She knew Dr. Harvey was there, and she knew Maru was working too. But she passed right by and kept hurrying to the blacksmith's shop, trying to push her feelings down. At ten until three, Alma nearly pushed down the door.

"Hey," Clint said, more flatly than Alma expected. "What do you need?"

"I have so many geodes for you! I've been meaning to get here for days, and I would either forget or get here too late."

He perked up a bit. "Oh, okay. Just place them on my anvil here, and I'll give them a whack. Watch your fingers." As he pounded away at the stones, Alma was excited to see what she was getting. A lot of it she didn't even know what it was! She was anxious to show these to Gunther. She knew they would make him happy.

"Thank you, Clint," she said as she handed him the gold and gathered up the colorful stones, putting them one by one into her bag. She used her backside to push the door open and went south to the museum.

Alma carefully opened the door and saw Gunther standing in the midst of the empty shelves of the museum. "Abysmal," he sighed. "Not a single piece in the entire collection."

"Good afternoon, Gunther!" Alma greeted happily.

His face lit up to see her, and he took off his hat to acknowledge her. "Well, if it isn't the etymological mystery herself!" He bowed and put his hat back on, and she smiled at him as she began to take off her backpack. "What's this? You found something?"

"Several somethings!"

He gasped and came closer, adjusting his glasses. "Let me see it!" She first pulled out the chicken statue and presented it to him, dusting off a bit more dirt. "Remarkable!" he laughed. He took out a magnifying glass and looked it over. "It's very old. Probably from some of the first settlers in the area. It looks to be from about that time." He lowered the magnifying glass and suddenly seemed a little sad. "I'd love to study this in greater detail … But it is yours." He handed it back to her.

"Oh, well, I … okay." Alma was a little surprised. She half expected Gunther to keep it.

"I've got a favor to ask you," he said with a sigh after a moment.

"Yes, sir. What is it?"

"Would you … consider donating new artifacts or minerals that you find? We could … Well, we could make a groundbreaking discovery together! And who knows," he added, "if you keep donating, I might come across some interesting items to send your way." Alma thought he actually looked a bit shy asking her this. "Think about it, will you?"

"Well, yes! I don't need to think about it!" she laughed. "Sir, that's why I came here to you! I don't need these things!" She gave him back the chicken statue. "You can appreciate it much more than I can, and it can be used to enrich the town and bring in some of that tourism, boost the economy – like what Mayor Lewis was saying! Of course!"

"Oh, thank you! If you decide to donate, just bring the objects to the front desk."

"Well, like I said, I've got more for you!" She reached into her bag and pulled out some of the minerals Clint pulled from the geodes.

As she took them out, he started naming them off, getting more excited with each one. "Sandstone … slate … earth crystal … malachite! … calcite! Alma, this is a great start!"

"I thought you might think so!"

"Here, come with me." She followed him back to the front desk, and he pulled out something for her. "Here's your first reward for your generous donations." It was a packet of cauliflower seeds. "It's not much, but it's a token of my genuine, heartfelt gratitude."

"Aw, thank you very much! I'll plant these as soon as I can."

He tipped his hat to her again on her way out. "See you soon, Ms. Alma."

Alma circled back to Pierre's and sold him the kale and foraged plants she had. She decided not to buy anything today, since she had just gotten these cauliflower seeds. "Thanks, Pierre!" she called on her way out.

It was now nearly five o'clock, and she didn't think she could get to Willy before he closed. She thought about going to the mines, but her energy was still low from the work on the farm; she thought maybe that would need all of her energy. She had a passing thought, and it immediately made her upset at herself: Dr. Harvey was probably still working. She looked over at the clinic. Did she dare go? She knew she wanted to see him – she didn't want to lie to herself. So … why not? He said he liked having company. But would he feel like she was coming around too much? Would she be too obvious? He probably wasn't even thinking about it. He had eyes for Maru, remember? Speaking of – Maru just came out of the clinic. "Oh," she said, seeing Alma standing in front of the store, looking a bit puzzled. "Hey, Alma."

"H-Hi Maru! Finishing up your shift?"

"Yes," she groaned, rubbing her neck. "I'm going to enjoy my walk home after a day like this one. My brain is fuzzy. Does that happen to you?"

"Yeah, practically all the time."

"Well, whenever I'm struggling with a technical problem, I always take a walk. It's surprising how much a change of scenery can help."

"Yeah, I guess so. Well … enjoy!"

"Thanks! See you around," she said with a little wave.

Alma watched her turn the corner up to the mountain pass, then she looked back at the clinic. She shouldn't go. But … she knew he got lonely. And he said he enjoys talking to her. She was just being a nice neighbor. Right? Even as she was at the door, she didn't know if she should go in or not. Was she setting herself up for pain? But she enjoyed the attention – if there was any. But maybe she -

"Just go," she muttered to herself. And she pulled the door handle – but it was locked. It closed at three o'clock, nearly two hours ago.

She stepped back and was a bit mad at herself, and she rushed back to the farm. She felt her body tense up more and more the closer she got home, and when she arrived at the cabin, the anger and hurt had grown to the point where she threw her bag down on the ground and yelled. "You stupid – adolescent!" Bisclavret started coming to her but stopped and cocked his head when he saw her actions. "Get over yourself! Stop - Stop - whatever this is!" She started to feel tears come to her eyes, and she was mad at herself for crying too. She held her head in her hands and sobbed. Bisclavret came closer to her and sat at her feet. She kneeled next to him and hugged him, crying into his fur.

Alma came into the call center and heard the overwhelming cacophony of typing. First thing in the morning, before everyone started making their calls, they answered emails and prepared records for the day. She made her way to her cubicle, eyeing the supervisors watching from the windows on the sides of the large hall. One had his eye on her too, and she lowered her gaze and walked a little faster.

She put her bag on the floor by her feet and sat down, waking up her computer. As it came on, she took a look through the mail that had come to her desk. Nothing important; just memos about sticking to the scripts, deflecting hate messages, redirecting to Customer Service only if necessary – the same things they always seemed to remind them. She opened up her email: fifty-seven unread emails just since yesterday afternoon. She sighed and scanned through the subjects, seeing if there was anything pressing. She stopped on one: "New Management." Was Joja being bought out? She opened it up to see.

"IT Specialists,

We regret to inform you that Cathy Harrison has been relieved of her time at Joja Corporation as of yesterday. A new IT manager will arrive on Thursday. Please do not ask about this issue further.

Guy, Managerial Team"

Alma looked up at the windows to see if anyone was watching her, and she snuck her phone onto her lap. She sent a message to Cathy:

You got fired?!

She answered monotonous emails while waiting for a response, and after a few moments, her lap buzzed.

Yeah, are you surprised? But PLEASE always know that I am here for you! I'm sorry to leave you there alone. :'(

Her computer beeped, and she saw an alert on her screen:

"WARNING 1: NO PHONES. THREE WARNINGS WILL RESULT IN DISCIPLINARY ACTION."

She put her phone in her drawer, on top of the letter from her grandfather. She took a long look at the sealed envelope before closing the drawer and getting back to answering emails.