Tuesday, 23rd of Spring

Alma opened her eyes and half expected to still see cans and bottles all over the cabin. She rubbed her eyes and rolled over, looking out the window at the morning sunlight. She wondered if Shane was okay. She remembered that night her father called her drunk from the bar, and it was soon after that when he was in the hospital for alcohol poisoning and then soon in AA. She remembered how scary it was for her when she was a teenager; she did fear for Jas to handle something like that at such a young age. She wondered if she should mention something to Marnie or to Shane himself.

As she lay there in bed, she remembered something else: her coop would be finished today, and she could go see Marnie to get her next animal on the farm! She quickly got dressed and came out the front door with a burst of energy. She deeply inhaled the spring valley air and could see the small structure from where she was. Bisclavret came bounding to her, his tongue happily hanging out, and she scrubbed his head with a loving pat. "Good morning, sweet boy. You ready to have a little friend on the farm today?" She went to fill up his water dish, and he drank happily.

She looked back over to the mailbox and pulled out a few letters. One was actually from her father:

"Dear Alma,

How is the country life going for you? It's been lonely here without you, but I'm proud of what you're doing.

Love, Dad

P.S. Found an envelope with some money Grandpa left for you."

Enclosed was five hundred gold. "Thanks, Dad. I'm proud of you too." She thought back to her dream and remembered how much he had overcome in his struggle. He was a different man than he was when she was a teenager. He struggled on and off with alcoholism, but he always found his way back to who he was. He never let it get the better of him. She liked to think resilience ran in the family.

There was one more letter in her mailbox, from Mayor Lewis, letting her know about the Flower Dance tomorrow. "If you can find a partner, you might even want to participate in the dance yourself!" She put down the letter and looked out over the farm. A wave of anxiety and anticipation filled her. Should she try asking Dr. Harvey? Should she even care? She was a new person to town, so maybe she should just watch the townspeople enjoy the celebration themselves. But what if he said yes? That would be lovely, wouldn't it? But … would he?

"Damn you, Lewis," she muttered, folding up her mail and putting it in her pocket. "I've got things to do. I don't have time to worry about some dance like a schoolgirl." She looked at the crops and saw she had more parsnips ready to harvest. She pulled them up and noticed that she now had enough high-quality parsnips to put in the community center bundle. The rest she could sell to Pierre. She watered the rest of her crops and made her way to the coop to check it out.

She ducked her head in and went inside. She didn't really know what she expected, but she was happy all the same. Her main thought was that right now would probably be the cleanest this coop would ever be. "That's all right," she told herself. "I will take good care of those little girlies." She looked at the time and saw it was after nine o'clock, so she could go to Marnie's to get a chicken. She was so excited, she rushed as fast as she could to her shop south of the farm. But when she went inside, no one was there. "What day is it?" she thought. "Ah shoot, it's Tuesday! Aerobics day."

She went back outside the shop, pretty disappointed. She thought through what else she could do today. She needed to sell parsnips to Pierre and drop some off at the community center. Maybe she could gauge Dr. Harvey's interest in the Flower Dance too. She looked out across the river and saw the old house where the hat mouse lived. She hadn't visited him yet, so maybe she could start there.

Alma walked around the river and picked up a few things on her way – including another lost book! – before coming to the old worn-down house. It was fixed up a bit, and it now had a banner across the front that just said "HATS." Sure enough, standing at the window was a large mouse with a hat. "Hewwo, poke. Bwinged coinies?" He twitched his whiskers and smiled.

"Uh, yes, but I'd like to see what you have first before I decide if I want anything."

"Yes yes yes, me sell hats. You buy hats if you wike hats." He rubbed his hands together quickly and rubbed them over his face – just like a little field mouse. Alma wasn't sure what she was expecting. It was adorable and disturbing at the same time. He stepped out of the way to reveal his collection. She looked over what he had, but she knew she wasn't really going to buy any hats anyway. "You wikey hats, poke?"

"Yes, you have a very nice collection. But I'm afraid I don't need a hat today. Thank you, though!"

"Okay, poke, no pwobwemmies. You come back, okay, poke?"

"Yes, I will. Thank you!" He waved after her, and she went into town, a little bewildered.

As she entered the town square, Alma thought more about the Flower Dance. Why not try her best to dance with Dr. Harvey? The worst he could do is say no, and she felt like they were good enough friends that she could handle that. So maybe she could give him a gift today to help butter him up. She thought about what might be a good gift, and she saw the saloon ahead. A cup of coffee! He said that was his favorite. The saloon had just opened for lunch, so she stepped inside and was happy to see Gus at the bar. "Hey there, Alma! You're here early. What can I get for you?"

"I just wanted to grab a coffee to go, if that's okay, Gus."

"Of course. If you're ever thirsty, the saloon is the place to be!" He poured some coffee for her and handed it over the counter. She thanked him, paid the gold, and headed out with the cup in hand.

When she came into the clinic, she saw Maru at the front desk and Dr. Harvey standing at the door to the waiting room. "Good morning, Ms. Alma! It's a beautiful day, isn't it? I wish I had less work to do."

"Well, I brought you something to help you get through your day!"

She handed him the coffee and watched his face light up. "It's for me? This is my favorite stuff! It's like you read my mind." He took a sip and let out a contented sigh. "You're right; this will help me get through the day. Thank you."

"Anytime."

"So what's the, uh … status of your chicken coop? Has Robin finished it yet?"

"Yes! But I can't get a chicken because Marnie is at Caroline's aerobics class today."

He looked startled, as if just reminded of something. "Oh, the class! I, uh, yes! The class is today, isn't it?" He sipped his coffee a bit nervously.

"Yeah," Alma slowly answered, "so it will have to wait until Thursday because of the Flower Dance tomorrow."

"Oh, yes, that too!" He was startled all over again, and his glance shifted between Maru and Alma.

"Are you excited about the Flower Dance?" Maru asked her.

"Excited? I guess so. These things are always a bit awkward, aren't they? Especially for me as a newcomer, since I don't really know what to expect." Alma tried to read their expressions, but as usual, Maru seemed pleasant and oblivious and Dr. Harvey seemed anxious and shy. Not a whole lot of new information to go off of.

"Well, there will be some snacks, and everyone will be dressed up, and then all the eligible singles who can find partners will do the dance. And that's about it. Pretty simple."

"So it's only a singles' dance?"

"Yes, it has to do with the standard symbolism of fertility, youth, vibrancy, and all that comes with spring, you know," Maru said. "Mom and Dad get a bit sad about it, though. They love to dance together. Do you know my dad, Demetrius? He's a scientist. I have a lot of fun helping him out in the laboratory."

"Uh, yes, I know your father."

"Yeah. Well, anyway, I find the whole dance thing a bit awkward."

"It's that 'eligible singles who can find dance partners' part that's the w-worst of it," Dr. Harvey sputtered.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll find someone who will dance with you, Doctor," Alma said. She could promise that made him blush. He hid behind his coffee cup as he took another sip. "If I don't get a partner, that's perfectly fine with me; I'm happy to just watch this time around and take it all in."

"That's how I feel too," Maru said. "The most important thing is to have fun, right, Harvey?" Dr. Harvey just smiled and looked down into his coffee cup.

"Well, I should be going," Alma said, heading to the door. "I've got to see Pierre and run a few errands. I'll see you all bright and early tomorrow morning!" They all waved goodbye, and Alma went next door to the store to sell her parsnips. She went up to the community center and dropped off her high quality parsnips into the bundle too, and when she came out of the building, she felt like there was still so much day with no real plans. She decided to go to the mines to see if she could make it to level ten.

She entered the fifth level and saw that though there didn't seem to be any monsters, there were many, many rocks today. She just started chipping away, gathering rocks and materials as she went. She went level after level with hardly any problems until finally, she made it to the tenth level.

There, she was surprised to find a treasure chest sitting unattended in the middle of the cavern. Alma sheathed her sword and slowly approached the chest, wondering if there was a trap waiting. Carefully, she opened it up – surprised it was unlocked – and found a pair of sturdy leather boots inside. She pulled them out and saw they were her size. It was almost as if someone was expecting her to come. She looked around, looking for any sign of anyone nearby. All she heard were the normal sounds of the caves. She shrugged and changed out her dirty boots for the new leather ones. Sure enough, they fit her perfectly. She put her old boots in her bag, barely having room to squeeze them in. She decided maybe she had done enough for today, and she rode the elevator back to the surface. She dropped off her sword, a few cherry bombs, and a couple of snacks into the chest and then made her way home for the night.