Thursday, 18th of Spring

When Alma heard the rooster crow, she still felt tears in her eyes. She wondered how her brother was really doing – and if he was treating his family well. Then she remembered – she had passed out again last night. Who had saved her this time? She curled her blanket around her and stepped out to the mailbox. Sure enough, another letter was there from Dr. Harvey, saying that someone brought her to the clinic and that he charged her nearly four hundred gold for the treatment. She checked her money. "Dangit!" That would set her back on her chicken coop quite a bit. She saw she had another letter. It was from Willy, letting her know that he had some more fishing supplies in stock. She'd have to go check it out later.

She looked toward the crops and was amazed at the harvest! How did she not see this when she first stepped outside?! All of the mixed seeds and spring seeds were ready, plus green beans! She shouted for joy and was about to start picking them, but she remembered she hadn't even gotten dressed yet! She went back inside, pulled on her overalls and boots, and rushed back out to the farm, happily picking everything and gathering it in her bag. There were so many, she couldn't carry them all; she had to put her tools in her chest first. She remembered too, that she now had enough copper ore to smelt some copper bars with her new furnace, thanks to the mining she had done yesterday. So she decided to put some coal inside and let that go while she kept gathering the harvest and doing her normal go-around on the farm. When the heat got to temperature, she put in several pieces of copper ore and went back to her crops. She watered what was left and looked at the empty but fertilized rows. She thought it'd be a shame to let that land go to waste when she still had several days in the season left to harvest, so she decided she'd use the money from the harvest to buy seeds and replenish some crops. She kept making copper bars and went around the farm picking up seeds and things she could sell too. She was able to smelt four copper bars – one short of what she needed for her first tool upgrade.

Alma felt like she was just short of a lot of things: just short of making it to the next level of the mines, just short of the needed ten slimes to enter the Adventurer's Guild, just short of the money for the chicken coop, just short of … Yes, she thought, go ahead and acknowledge it – just short of attention from Dr. Harvey. And she groaned at herself. Why did she care anyway? As far as her work went, being just short meant being close, so she knew she just needed to keep chipping away. As far as her feelings went, though, she dismissed them. "Just be a friendly neighbor," she reminded herself. Plus, she thought, he clearly didn't have feelings; if he did, he probably wouldn't have charged her quadruple what he did from the first time he helped her when she passed out!

She went into town with a bag heavy with her harvest – some meant for Pierre and some meant for the community center. She went to the community center first and dropped off a cave carrot in the exotic foraging bundle and a green bean, completing the bundle for spring crops. When she stepped back from the scroll, a present appeared there on the ground, complete with a ribbon on top. "Is this … from the Junimo?" And in her mind, she knew the answer. She looked around and squatted down to carefully unwrap the present. She was pleased to see Speed-Gro fertilizer inside. "Next season," she said with a smile, putting it in her bag. "Th-Thank you!" she called out to the void. She felt a little silly talking to no one, but she felt the Junimo must have been there watching her. And who else could have left this for her? Didn't they say that they would help her if she delivered these things? This must have been the first way of helping.

She heard something in another part of the community center, like someone running their fingers through the distant wind chime. She went to investigate and found that the boiler room on the far opposite side of the building now also had a scroll laid out for her, where she could contribute materials from the mines. She looked at what was needed and knew she already had some of that: she had just finished smelting some copper bars, and she had some earth crystal and quartz too. Maybe she could pick those things up after going to the general store, which was where she headed next.

"Hello, Alma!" Pierre greeted when she came in. "Y'know, I don't think I mentioned to you – if you find any wild produce, I'll take it off your hands for a reasonable price."

"Funny you should say that," she said, hoisting her bag on the counter. "Because my mixed seeds just ripened today!"

"Wow! What a haul! I bet you're pretty excited about this!"

"I am!" He looked over all of her goods and gave her the money for them, and she turned around and bought several packets of seeds for plants that would give her at least one more harvest before spring was up. She spent nearly another thousand gold, which hurt her a little, but she was very confident this was an investment. "Thank you so much, Pierre!" she said on her way out.

Alma saved one daffodil for Pam because she saw on the post outside the store that it was her birthday, so she next went to Pam's trailer, not sure if she'd be there or not. To her surprise, when she knocked, Pam answered. "Happy birthday, Pam!" Alma said, handing the flower to her.

Pam looked like maybe she had just woken up from a nap. "Oh, is it my birthday today? I guess it is."

"According to Pierre's calendar, yes! I hope you like this daffodil, fresh from my farm."

"Thanks," she said, accepting it. "This is nice." Though her words were friendly, her face was not so much. "Now if you don't mind, I'm nursing a headache. I had one too many at the saloon last night. I'd like some peace and quiet."

"Ah, sure. Make sure to eat and drink lots of water too!" Pam nodded as she closed the trailer door.

Alma went back across town to go back to the farm and retrieve the other items for the community center. She passed by the clinic, still a little upset at the expensive medical bill from Dr. Harvey. As she got her materials from the chests in front of the cabin, she still thought about it; didn't he know she was raising money for the coop? Why then would he charge her so much from one appointment to the next? What made this one different? She kept thinking about it as she dropped the stuff off at the boiler room of the community center. She knew his clinic was struggling, but this seemed a bit … unprofessional, right? Or maybe this was how things were – kind of a "fool me once" situation, where the more you come in, the higher your bill is? Or maybe because she was a newcomer at first, her bill was a little lighter. She decided she needed to talk to him about it.

Alma went into the clinic and saw Maru standing at the desk. "Hi Alma! Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but I want to speak to Dr. Harvey about a billing issue, please."

"I ought to be able to handle that for you, if you'd like."

Alma insisted, "No, thank you, but I'd like to talk to Dr. Harvey himself about it, please."

"All right, no problem. He's with a patient right now, though, so you'll have to wait."

"I can do that." She took a seat. "Thank you, Maru."

After a while, Dr. Harvey and Jodi emerged from the exam room door. "Take care, ma'am."

"Thank you, Doctor." She started walking to the door, and she smiled to Alma on her way. "Hello, Alma. Sorry, but do you have the time?"

"It's around four o'clock now."

"What did you say? It's four o'clock already?"

"Yes, a little after now."

"My goodness! I still have tons of work to do!" And she rushed out the door.

Dr. Harvey shook his head and made his way to the front desk. "Ms. Alma, how are you feeling today after the rough night you had? Can I do anything for you?"

"I'm doing fine, Doctor, just a little tired. I first did want to thank you – again – for helping me another time when I misjudged both the time and my energy levels. But I did also want to ask about my bill."

"Oh, I see. Maru," he said, turning to her, "why don't you go on home? We should discuss this confidentially, and your shift is nearly over anyway."

"Sure thing, Doctor." Maru walked around the desk and gathered her things. "Stop by our house when you want to upgrade your buildings. It's always nice to have visitors."

"Working on it!" Alma joked with a wave.

"Okay, your bill," he said, taking a seat at the counter after Maru left. "What questions do you have?"

She sat across from him and pulled out both of his letters. "The first time you helped me, I was billed about one hundred gold. But only about a week later, for the same care, you charge me four times that? Can you explain why?"

"Oh, yes, I can see why you'd be concerned. But it's a percentage," he explained. "We always charge about ten percent of the patient's income. That helps to keep costs fair for everyone in the community." Alma started to understand, and she began to feel silly for jumping to such conclusions. "You should be impressed with yourself; your bill is four times higher because you have earned four times more in a week. Though I guess m-maybe that's not the answer you were hoping to hear."

She folded up the papers and chuckled a bit. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't – I dunno – upping your charge because of the financial difficulties you said the clinic was having."

"Oh, I see."

"But," she quickly added, "that's why I wanted to ask! I didn't really think it was something like that, but I couldn't think of a much better explanation for why there was such a jump in price."

"C-Can I … show you something?" She scanned his face and nodded, not sure what he was getting at. He came back around the desk and came to the door that entered the waiting room. "Follow me," he said, holding the door for her. She got up and went through the door, which he closed behind her. She saw the exam rooms to her left and surgical areas to her right. He led her through the double doors in the back, which went upstairs. She knew his apartment was upstairs, and she felt a strange sense of anxiety as they climbed the stairs. He unlocked the door and opened it for her. "Forgive the mess," he said as they entered. "I wasn't, uh, thinking I'd have visitors today." There was a little seating area just to the right of the door, with a couch, chair, and a TV. To the left was a table that was covered in parts to what appeared to be a model plane in progress. A desk was in the back of the room with lots of radio equipment on top, and a bookshelf stood next to that. The walls had many posters of airplanes and maps, and everything seemed in a state of organized mess. He led her into the kitchen area and said, "I mentioned I've been making some more personal sacrifices because of the, uh, financial state of the clinic. Part of that has been this apartment. I choose not to live in a house, one, because I spend a lot of late nights in the clinic, but also because I – I currently cannot afford a larger home. Plus, the idea of a house all to myself seems a bit – a bit silly to me. But also," he went and opened up the freezer, waving for Alma to come see. It was filled with frozen dinners and fast meals. "I have had to resort to buying convenience food from JojaMart most of the time. It's often cheaper than fresh produce from Pierre's."

"Oh." Alma suddenly felt partly responsible. She thought about Morris coming to the store the other day and how Pierre said he couldn't compete with those prices. Maybe she had been pushing her produce on Dr. Harvey, and she hoped he didn't feel pressured to buy it. "I'm sorry, if I – "

"No no, this is not at all your fault! That's – That's why I want to show you. This is the sacrifice I've been making, but I know it's not good for my health. But your farm – your produce – has recently been increasing the stock a-and lowering the price of fresh goods from Pierre's." He closed the freezer and opened up the fridge. There was more cheap, easy-to-cook food, but it also had a head of cauliflower, two potatoes, a parsnip, a leek, and even a few salmonberries right at the front – all the produce she had sold to Pierre in the past week. "I am beginning to transition to a healthier and more affordable diet, thanks to, uh … thanks to you."

"You've been buying … everything I've sold?"

"I consider it an investment. It's good for everyone involved! Good for Pierre, good for you, good for the economy of the town – and good for me. I wanted to th-thank you."

Alma was very flattered, and she didn't quite know how to answer. "Well, you know, it's not me personally doing it. I'm just … trying to make a living, you know. Trying to build a chicken coop and add on a kitchen and all that."

"I know," he said. "You're working very hard. But I wanted you to see that it – it's having more impact than you might have noticed."

Alma smiled. "Thank you, Doctor." He closed the fridge, and she started to walk through the apartment. "Your apartment is actually quite comfortable, I think. It's a nice little bachelor pad. And, hey, it does have a kitchen, so compared to the cabin, it's a mansion!"

"No stove, though. My microwave works, uh, overtime," Dr. Harvey chuckled. "You're welcome to come any time. The door is unlocked for my friends."

It was nice to know he considered her a friend now. "Thank you, that's very kind. You're welcome to the cabin, too, though there's not much to see."

"You forget that I – I have been there a couple of times, after caring for you here at the clinic."

Alma closed her eyes, a bit embarrassed. "Right. I'll try to be more careful about that. Speaking of, I guess I should be heading back. I bought a bunch of new seeds from Pierre today, and I should try to get them planted before it gets too late. Wouldn't want another trip to the clinic."

"Right, yes, try to get to bed at a reasonable hour and don't overwork yourself," he said, seeing her to the door.

"Yes, Doctor," she answered with a chuckle. He opened the door for her and led her down to the clinic door. "Thank you. Have a good evening."

"You too, Ms. Alma. Take care." Dr. Harvey closed the door behind her with a wave.

Alma returned home with a new sense of pride. She was happy to know that she was forming friendships – just friendships, she reminded herself – and that her work was benefiting people in the community. When she got home, she fertilized the hoed soil and planted the seeds she had, but as she was watering, she began to feel very tired. She made her way to the chests to see if there were any field snacks, but there were none. She started to put her tools away, knowing she couldn't finish the work, but maybe she could still make it to bed without passing out. But there, on the steps to the cabin, she felt so weak ….