Sunday, 21st of Spring

"Robin!" Alma sat up in bed and saw Bisclavret lift his head too. "Bizzy! Are you okay?!" She fell down to the floor and hugged him, and tears started coming to her eyes. He whined and gently licked her as she started to catch her breath. "Oh, you're a good boy." She wiped her eyes and looked out the window at the rain hitting the glass. She heard something outside too: hammering. She stood up to look out the window and saw Robin already hard at work building the chicken coop. She smiled, for one, knowing that Robin was okay, but also thinking about animals roaming around the farm. First chickens, but maybe later cows, goats, sheep, pigs, horses … What all could she have? Her fear and sadness from the nightmare were behind her now, and she put on her farming overalls and straw hat and went outside. "Morning, Robin!" she called from on the porch under the protection of the saggy awning. Robin must not have heard her; there was no answer. So Alma stepped out and went closer to the construction site. "Good morning, Robin!" she tried again.

"Oh, sorry, good morning!"

"How's it going?"

"Be patient. I still have a lot of work to do."

"Oh, okay, sorry. Just asking. Let me know if you need anything," she called as she walked away. She checked out the crops and was happy to see her first round of strawberries ready to pick! There were also some more green beans and a few crops from her mixed seeds too. It was finally a good harvest day!

After she picked what she could, she loaded things into her chests and thought about what else needed to be done today. She could try again to catch a catfish today for the community center, so she brought her fishing rod along. "I'm going into town, Robin! I'll be back later!" But there was no response; Robin was focused on her work. Alma gathered her things and got on the road.

When she passed by the clinic, Alma remembered that she promised Dr. Harvey she'd give him one of her strawberries, so she went inside, where he was working at the front desk. "Good morning, Ms. Alma! Can I do anything for you?"

"No, in fact, I can do something for you!" she said as she took off her hat and wiped her boots. "I have a surprise!"

"Oh?" She dug in her bag and gave him the best quality strawberry she had. "Look at that. The first strawberries of the, uh, season, huh? That's such a nice gift. Thank you!" He bit into it and looked at her in amazement. "Alma, this is delicious!"

"Right?! They looked so big and juicy, I knew you had to have one!"

"I m-might buy Pierre out of all his strawberries if they're as good as this one!"

"And there will be more coming because they produce multiple times!"

"All the better," he said, taking the last bite. "How's the, uh, coop coming?"

"Robin's working on it right now!"

"In the rain?" He looked at his medicine behind the counter. "Maybe I should take her some zinc to make sure she doesn't catch a cold."

"I'm sure she would appreciate that. If you decide to come by, make sure you say hi!" She said, putting her bag back on her shoulders. "I'd better get to Pierre. Have a great morning!"

"Take care, Ms. Alma." She smoothed her hair back and put her straw hat back on, giving a little wave before heading out the door.

When Alma came to Pierre's door, she noticed a "Help Wanted" ad from Sam: "Need cauliflower for a project I'm working on, 525 g." Luckily, she had cauliflower in her bag from the mixed seeds, so she ripped off the paper and made a note in her journal before going inside. She sold her strawberries, green beans, and other plants and made quite a bit of money. Those strawberries were profitable! She thanked Pierre and went to find Sam. It was Sunday, so he wouldn't be working at JojaMart – which was good because Alma did not want to step foot in there. She went to his house and knocked on the door.

"No one's home!" she heard Vincent call.

"Sam's not there, Vincent?"

"No!"

"Okay, thanks!" She went back toward town and happened to see him standing on the bridge past Mayor Lewis's house. "Sam!"

He turned to her and waved. "Oh hey! What's up, farm girl?"

She pulled out a cauliflower and handed it to him. "I saw you were looking for one of these?"

"Hey, thanks a million, Alma! I should've known you'd be the one to take this job. Here's what I owe ya." He handed her the gold, and she thanked him. "So what are you up to today?"

"Well," she said, prepping her fishing rod and casting it out into the river, "I actually need to do some fishing right here." He nodded and looked out to the water. "What about you? What have you been up to today? Besides standing in the rain, that is …."

"I'm pretty tired. Last night I practiced guitar for four hours straight. My fingers hurt like crazy."

"Ah, yeah, I bet they do. That's part of the price of learning guitar, huh? I've heard it can tear up your fingertips."

"Yeah, but it's worth it. No pain, no gain, right?" He stretched and let out a sigh. "Well, now that I've got that cauliflower, I've got something to do. Thanks again. Bye."

"Bye, Sam. Go get warm somewhere!" Alma stayed at the river a while, catching fish she didn't necessarily need. She was pretty sure she had catfish on the line a time or two but lost them each time. Still, it was strangely relaxing to stand there on the bridge and watch the rain droplets ripple in the river. At one point, her line was really heavy – definitely more than just a fish. She did feel pulling, so she knew there was a fish biting, but when she reeled in that smallmouth bass, she also saw a small chest caught on the line. "Whoa, what is this?!" After she got the fish off, she pulled the chest onto the bridge, carefully released it from the line, and opened it up. To her surprise, it was a treasure chest! Inside was a diamond, two pieces of jade, copper ore, rice shoots – and an even smaller treasure chest full of gold! Alma couldn't believe her eyes. She started cheering and laughing right there in the middle of the bridge. How much gold was in there?! How would she get this from the chest into her own account? She decided to go to Gunther to find out. She gathered up everything in her bag and headed to the museum. "Gunther! Gunther, you won't believe it!"

"What?! Did you find something?!" He stood from his seat behind the desk and anxiously waited for her as she wiped her boots and rushed to the desk.

"I was fishing, and I – I got some buried treasure! Look!" She opened up her bag and gave him the diamond and jade, and she showed him the chest with the gold.

"Alma! What a lucky day for you! Are you - Would you - That is, the diamond and jade could be part of the collection here. Would you be willing to donate those? You can keep the gold, though! That's all yours!"

"Oh, of course, yes! Take the diamond, and there are two pieces of jade, so I'll take one too."

"That's so generous of you, thank you. Here, let me give you something in return." He went back to a back room and came out with a large standing geode. "You can use this as a decoration in your house, and here." He handed her a packet of melon seeds. "These are summer seeds, so you'll have to wait until next season, but I believe melons are quite profitable."

"Wow, thank you very much! And, uh, can I ask - Do you know what I do with this treasure chest? Like, how do I – ?"

"You sell it, of course!" he laughed. "What, you think that's a decoration too?"

"Well, I didn't know if maybe I needed to cash it in somewhere or what!"

Gunther looked at the chest and stroked his beard. "You know, maybe I should get into fishing …!"

"That would make Willy happy, I know!" She scooped up the chest and put it back in her bag. "Thank you, as always, Gunther. Have a great day."

"You too, Alma, my fortunate friend!" She took the standing geode and made her way back outside into the rain.

As she was walking with the geode, she got to thinking that it would seem out of place in her little cabin. She wondered if she could give it to somebody. But who would be most interested in having something like this? She looked up and saw Clint's smithy just ahead, behind the museum. "Perfect," she said. She went into Clint's shop, hoisting the standing geode. "Clint! Good afternoon!"

"Hey, Alma. Don't you have work to do?"

"I'm doing it!" she chuckled as she wiped her boots. "How'd you like to have this nice giant geode in your shop? It'd look really good right here next to your furnace!" She placed it there against the wall and looked to Clint for his response.

He still looked pretty underwhelmed. "Looks fine, I guess. Thanks."

She was a bit disappointed but still thought he would appreciate it more than she would. "Yeah, sure. No problem. Have a good one," she waved as she headed for the door. Then suddenly, she realized that with the copper ore in the treasure chest too, she had enough to upgrade some tools. She stopped in her tracks and turned to him. "How much did you say it is to upgrade tools?"

"Two thousand gold."

She looked around the room in thought, wondering if she should set herself back that much for an upgraded ax or pickaxe. "Yeah, I'll be right back." She rushed back to the farm, smelted one more copper bar, and then came back with the five bars he required. "One copper ax, please," she said, wiping rainwater from her face.

"Thanks," he said, taking the materials from her. "I'll get started on this as soon as I can. It should be ready in a couple of days."

"Sounds good. Thank you, sir," she said as she went out the door.

As Alma walked through town, she looked along the river and thought she still had some energy to fish before the day was done. So she stopped at the riverbank, cast out her line, and hoped for an easy catfish. She waited patiently and caught many a smallmouth bass and bream but, again, never any catfish. As it was getting late and she was getting tired, she decided to go back home and get ready for bed.

Just as Alma was coming up the cabin, she heard footsteps in the dark and saw Dr. Harvey walking from the coop, holding his coat over his head to shield himself from the rain. It was nearly eleven o'clock! He looked just as shocked to see her as she did to see him! "Dr. Harvey! Hello!"

"Oh, Ms. Alma, yes, hello!"

"Is Robin still –?"

"Y-Yes, she notoriously works long hours until a project is finished. I was going home from the saloon and wondered if she was still here, so I stopped by the clinic to get some of that zinc for her." He looked toward her cabin and said, "I, uh … I tried knocking on your door to say hello, but there was no answer. I just assumed you were perhaps already asleep."

"No, I've just been around town running errands all day. And, oh, I don't mean to keep you this late, but I just have to show you – you'll never believe what I got today while I was fishing!"

"Oh, I – I couldn't even begin to guess!"

"Come onto the porch, and I'll show you!" They both went up the steps, and when he was under the awning, Harvey shook out his coat and folded it over his arm while Alma took off her bag and reached in to get the chest. "I caught – a treasure chest!"

"What?!"

"Yes! An actual treasure chest!" She opened it up and showed him all of the gold. Dr. Harvey gasped and looked more closely inside, picking up a piece to see if it was real. "I already went to Gunther at the museum and gave him a diamond and some jade that was inside, and I used some copper ore to upgrade my ax too! But even after all that, there was still all this gold!"

"Ms. Alma, that's incredible! C-Congratulations! What luck!"

"I know! I'm still so shocked!" She was so excited and giddy that she just now realized he seemed a bit awkward. She remembered how late it was, how he was probably anxious to get home. "Well, anyway," she said, closing the lid and sliding the chest back into her bag, "it was so nice of you to come check on Robin and to some say hi. Sorry I didn't see you earlier."

"No, no, it's fine. I'm glad you had such a – a lucrative fishing trip! But, yes, you need your rest now too. Maybe you might start a fire to dry your things off so you don't catch a cold."

Alma nodded, eyeing the woodpile at the side of the cabin. "Not a bad idea."

"Well, I'll be heading back now," he said, lifting his coat over his head again as he began toward the steps. "Goodnight, Ms. Alma."

"Goodnight, Doctor." She watched him leave hurriedly through the rain then went down to unload her things into her chests at the front of the cabin. When she came back up onto the porch, she gathered some wood and took another look toward the coop before she went inside. Robin was still there working hard on the coop. She wondered how long she would be out there. All night? In the dark and in the rain? But at least Dr. Harvey had stopped by to make sure she was all right. Alma went inside, started a fire, and laid her clothes, hat, boots, and bag by the fireplace to dry overnight. Bisclavret lay on his rug and watched her. Then just before she crawled into bed, she took her copy of On Animal Care and read herself to sleep.