Monday, 22nd of Spring
The rooster crowed, and Alma could hardly believe it. Another night with no bad dreams! She thought about her conversation with Dr. Harvey the other day in the library and really was amazed and how often this was happening now. Life in Stardew Valley really was helping her mental health, and that made her excited to start the day.
When Alma stepped outside, Bisclavret was there waiting for her. She knelt down and gave him some cuddles, looking out to see Robin back at it, hammering away on the coop. Construction seemed to be going well, and she was excited for tomorrow when it would be finished. She looked out at her crops and saw that more potato plants were ready to be pulled. She harvested those, watered the others, filled Bisclavret's water dish, and did her walkthrough of the farm. Finally, she did a check on her money to see how much the treasure chest brought in for her. "Five thousand?!" Alma shouted. She fell to her knees and felt tears come to her eyes. "Robin! Robin!" She ran to the coop, breathless.
"Be patient. I still have a lot of work to do."
"Yes, I know, I'm so sorry to bother you, but how much does it cost to build a barn?"
Robin looked a little confused. "I, uh - It's six thousand gold."
"And ten thousand for the kitchen update, right?"
"Yes, that's right." She chuckled, looking at Alma's astounded face that she could see had wheels turning for the future. "Making plans for your next structure, eh?"
"Yes! Yes, I've come into some money suddenly, and I - Oh, I'm so close! Which one should I get?"
Robin shrugged and continued hammering. "It's up to you, Alma! You're the boss of this farm now!" She stopped and looked back to Alma for a moment. "But, uh, maybe you should wait until you get some chickens in this coop, hm?"
"Oh, yes, yes, you're right. I shouldn't count my chickens before they hatch - literally!" she chuckled. "Thank you, Robin, I'll give it some thought."
"You'll make the right choice," Robin said as she went back to work.
"I'm going into town to run some errands. I'll be back later." Robin nodded, focused again on her work. Alma took a moment to look over the structure, and a smile came over her face. She patted one of the vertical beams and headed into town to sell her potatoes at the store. When she went into town, she knew she needed to stop in to see Dr. Harvey and tell him what had happened. "Doctor! Doctor, you won't believe it!"
"What? What is it, Alma? Are you all right?" He seemed quite startled.
"Oh, yes, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to - I'm just so excited!"
He let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, good, good." He took a small breath and said, "So then, tell me! What is it?"
She put her hands on the counter dramatically. "I sold it - and got five thousand gold!" She practically squealed and jumped up and down.
Dr. Harvey laughed, amazed. "You mean the - the treasure chest? Ms. Alma, that's wonderful! Amazing! And, wow, you're so close to being able to buy your kitchen now, right?"
Alma's face changed. "Well, I'm not quite sure. I'm, uh, also thinking about getting a barn. And that is only six thousand, which I could afford now!"
"Ms. Alma, you'd rather get cows than … buy a kitchen for yourself?"
"Well, it's actually for the commun - " She didn't think before she said this, and she realized if she mentioned the community center, she would have to explain the Junimo, the bundles, the spirit of the forest, and everything like that, which he may not believe.
He raised his eyebrows, wondering what she was going to say. "For the community?"
"Yes," she slowly said.
"Ms. Alma, that's very considerate of you to, uh, to put the needs of the community before your own, but you'll get there eventually. We've all been doing just fine with Marnie's cows' milk thus far; we can wait a bit longer. Don't you think you - you need a kitchen first, so you can prepare your own meals and then take better care of yourself on the farm?"
Alma nodded. "You're right, yes, I will take that into consideration."
"I - I don't mean to step on any toes or anything."
"No no, I understand. You want what's best for me, and I know that."
"I feel responsible for the health of this whole community, i-including you now.. … It's kind of stressful. You don't make it easy," he said with a smirk. She chuckled a bit too. "It's a pretty small community, and I'm fortunate to be able to build a good relationship with my patients." She looked at him, wondering what he was getting at. "I've enjoyed getting to know you, and I - I see how you put others above yourself. But you sometimes do it to the detriment of your own health. I hope you see that taking care of yourself is taking care of the rest of us."
Alma nodded. "You're right, of course. Maybe I will add on the kitchen first. And when I do," she added with a smile, "I'll make sure to cook you one of the first meals."
Dr. Harvey smiled and nodded too. "Oh! Well, uh, that would be - I, uh, I look forward to it."
"Now," she said, standing up from her seat, "if you'll excuse me, I have some potatoes to sell. Have a good day, Doctor."
"You too, Ms. Alma," he said with a chuckle. "Take care."
When Alma went inside Pierre's shop, she was a bit startled that Leah was also making her way out the door. "Oh, Leah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get in your way."
"No no, it's fine, of course. But you know, Alma, I've been meaning to ask you a question."
"Sure, what is it?"
"So why did you become a farmer?"
"Oh! Uh …." Alma thought for a moment and shrugged her shoulders. "I … wanted to escape my old life."
Leah smiled and answered, "That's pretty much the reason I came here, too! I had a feeling that was the case. You and I should share stories from our past lives sometime."
"Aw, Leah, I'd love that." Leah nodded and excused herself to get to the door. "I've got more potatoes for you, Pierre!" Alma said as she walked up to the counter.
"Potatoes sell well! And will you buy some more to replenish your crop?"
"Yes, I think so, thank you."
"Sometimes I get new items in stock, so make sure to stop by every so often," he said, handing her the seed packets and remaining gold. "It's a lot of work to run a shop."
"I'm sure, Pierre. You do good work. Thank you." He nodded, and she turned around and made her way to the door.
She decided today may be a good day to go to the beach and fish for a sardine. Maybe she could also get some more items lying on the beach for the crab pot bundle. So she made her way down south to the beach. Sure enough, there on the sand, in addition to some clam shells, she found a few mussels. She put them in her bag and continued to the pier to fish. She caught sardine easily, along with other fish. She stayed there until nightfall and then made her way to the community center to drop off a mussel and sardine into their bundles. It was now dark, and she thought about going to the saloon before heading home. But as she stood there by the door, she decided, no, she should go on home and just get some good sleep. So she continued south to go to her farm from the south entrance.
When Alma passed the forest lake, she noticed a lit lantern on the pier. Shane was there, drinking. She was a bit concerned about him being drunk and alone on an open body of water, but she also knew Shane wasn't so keen on her being around. She approached the lake carefully. "Up late, huh?" he said over his shoulder.
"Just on my way home," she said, sitting next to him.
"Here, have a cold one." She thought about refusing. But also, this was a way to bond with him. Maybe he would trust her more if she did. And as long as she just had one, she should be alert enough to take care of him if something happened.
"Thank you." She took the can of beer, cracked it open, and took a sip.
Shane looked back out to the water. The reflection of the moon was on the lake. Alma watched its image ripple with the small movements of the water. "Buh … Life." He belched, throwing a rock into the water and breaking up the moon's still face. "You ever feel like … no matter what you do, you're gonna fail?" Alma looked over at Shane and saw his glassy eyes looking far over the water. "Like you're stuck in some miserable abyss and you're so deep you can't even see the light of day?"
Alma nodded slowly, looking ahead too. "I have been there, yeah."
He sighed and looked down at his reflection in the water. "I just feel like no matter how hard I try … I'm not strong enough to climb out of that hole."
"And, that, yes, that I can very much relate to." Alma drank the beer, remembering all the pain she had witnessed, all the ways she had been taken advantage of, all the weight on her shoulders, and all the times she blamed herself. Before she knew it, the can was empty.
She contained a burp and looked over, just noticing that Shane had been watching her. "Heh … fast drinker, huh? Woman after my own heart." He took the final drink of his too and squeezed the can, "Just don't make it a habit…. You got a future ahead of you still."
Alma thought for a moment before speaking. "You know, they say not to look at someone else's finish line when you're just starting to train."
"Yeah? And what does that mean?"
"You say I have a future ahead of myself, but in reality, between the two of us, I'm the one at the finish line. And you're the one who's just at the beginning." He looked at her, puzzled. "I don't mean that I'm winning or something like that. I mean that I was a lot like you not long ago. I felt trapped at Joja. I was in a dark place. I felt like I didn't have anyone. I sought unhealthy ways to cope, and I hated myself." His gaze deepened, knowing the truth of her words. "But Shane, I got out of it. I found a new way to cope, and that's what led me here. I'm still healing, but I'm in a much better place than I was then. And I hope you can find a better place too. Now I know I don't know you well, but if I can help in any way, please, let me know."
He didn't respond, but after another quiet moment, he stood up and said, "Welp … my liver's beggin' me to stop. Better call it a night. See you around, Alma."
"Goodnight, Shane." She watched him walk up the pier and back onto the grass. She wanted to make sure he didn't fall in the water. Then she got herself up carefully too and headed back to her farm. Again, before she went into the cabin, she could see Robin still hard at work on the chicken coop.
CW: alcoholism, drowning
Alma woke up in the cabin to the sound of her phone ringing. She reached over the bed with her eyes still closed and brought it to her ear. "Ugh, hello?"
"Almaaa!" It was her dad's voice shouting above the loud background sound of what sounded like a lively bar. "Alma, honey, you gotta come get your daddy, hon." His speech was slurred and messy, and between that and the background noise, it was hard to understand exactly what he was saying. "I shouldn't - I shouldn't be driving - and I don't want you to tell your mother. All right? Our little secret!"
"Dad, I can't drive. I'm only fourteen. Where - Where are you?"
"Is Gray there? He's not fourteen, yeah?"
"Hold on, I'm going to go get Mom."
"Nononono, Alma, you can't tell Mom, all right? Just - Just come get your dad. Get Benji and come get me please."
"You mean Grayson?"
"Grayson, right, Grayson, the older one."
"But I don't even know where you - " But the line died. Alma put the phone on the bed and saw Bisclavret on the floor at her feet. There were bottles and cans all over the floor. It reeked of alcohol, and she could hear flies buzzing. "Come on, Biz, let's go see if we can find Dad." They shuffled through the bottles and cans and made their way outside.
Alma climbed on Bisclavret's back and rode him through the darkness. She couldn't see much, but she could see a trail of more bottles and cans leading away from the house. "Dad?" she called. They followed the trail as it led through the farm and down into the forest by Marnie's house. When they approached the lake, she could see something – a lit lantern at the end of the pier. "Dad? Are you here?" She didn't see anybody. She got off of Bisclavret and walked down the pier herself, and as she walked, she noticed something in the water. It was a body. "Dad! Dad, hold on!" She jumped into the water and grabbed his jacket, pulling his head out of the water. Amazingly, he took a breath and opened his eyes, and Alma could see it wasn't her father - but Shane. She helped get him back up onto the pier, where he coughed and vomited and coughed some more.
Alma cried as she watched him and patted his back, trying to help him get all the water out of his lungs. Eventually, he turned and hugged her tightly, still coughing. "I'm sorry," he sobbed, choking on his tears. "I'm so sorry, hon. Jas, I'm so sorry."