Saturday, 27th of Winter
As Alma was sipping on her coffee, she was surprised to hear a knock at the door. When she opened it up, Leah stood there with a large wooden statue next to her. "Well, good morning, Leah!"
"Hi, Alma. Beautiful day, isn't it?"
"It is, though it's still rather cold. Would you like to come in?" she asked, moving aside. Bisclavret made his way past them, and Leah gave him a quick rub before he ran off.
"No, that's okay, I'm just dropping by. I brought you a gift."
Leah gestured to the statue, and Alma gasped and put a hand on her chest as she stepped closer to the statue. "Leah! No! This is for me?!"
Leah smiled with a nod. "It's a sculpture I've been working on, just for you. It's called … 'How I Feel About Alma.'"
Alma looked at Leah with genuine surprise. "Leah, you didn't!"
"I was hoping to have it done by Winter Star, but the varnish still needed to dry."
"Leah, it's beautiful! Where did you get this wood?"
"Well, a while back, a tree was hit by lightning in the woods close to my house, and it broke in half, leaving this large piece of wood. I knew I had to do something with it, but it sat in my studio for a long time. I remember you said you try not to cut down trees unless you have to and you harvest fallen limbs first. I looked at this big chunk of wood and thought about you. So I started chipping away at it to see what kind of shape it could reveal that I thought represented you. You've brought so much energy to this tired little town, so I wanted it to have lots of movement. It breathed new life into this piece of wood that storms destroyed, and I thought that really represented your journey here too." Leah could see tears forming in Alma's eyes. "Anyway. I hope you like it."
"Like it?! Leah, this is amazing! No one has ever done anything like this for me! I love it so much!" Alma squeezed her tightly and wiped her eyes before lifting the sculpture to bring it inside. "I'm going to put it right here in the middle of the house so I can see it everywhere." She scooted it next to the wall between the kitchen and the dining room and gave Leah another hug. "Thank you so much. You're such a good friend."
"No, you are, Alma," Leah said, patting Alma on the back. "That's why I wanted to give this to you. You've inspired me, and I know you've done the same for everyone else in town too. This is just a little way to say thanks."
"Well … I really appreciate it, more than you know."
Leah nodded and made her way back to the porch. "I know you've got work to do, so I'll head back home. See you around, Alma!"
"Bye, Leah. Thank you again!" As she watched Leah leave, Alma looked at the snow-covered mailbox and saw a letter poking out. It was from Clint: a recipe for Bean Hotpot! That sounded delicious to her in this cold weather. She went back in to finish her coffee and admired the statue as she did. Then she suited up and got to work on the farm. As she went about her business on her normal rounds, she noticed the preserves jar was finished creating the crystal fruit jelly, so she packaged that up and put it in her bag before heading into town.
After dropping things off to Pierre, Alma stood outside the store, a little lost on what she might do today. Winter was almost over, but there wasn't much she could do to prepare for the spring just yet. Harvey was in the library, but besides visiting him, there wasn't really any need for her to go there; she didn't have any lost books or artifacts. But the mines … she decided today would be a good day for that. It was early afternoon by the time she headed up into the mountains, so she thought she could get a lot done by the time she needed to head home to bed. Maybe she would even still have time to say hi to Harvey in the library.
Boy, was she wrong! As soon as she dropped onto the 101st floor, she knew today was not going to go smoothly. There were lots of monsters and creepy-crawlies to fight, and the path was often blocked with boulders, rocks, and weeds. She fought her way through, though, and hoped to get to Level 105. By the time she reached Level 104, she was quite exhausted, but she could feel the thickness in the air that meant lots of eyes were watching. The greenish fog blocked her view, but she knew there were many slimes and monsters out there. She ventured out into the cavern, but after fighting off a few, she decided, no, it was time to turn back. She would try another time. Alma barely made it back up the ladder before a slime engulfed her, and she breathed a sigh of relief as the elevator lifted her back up to the surface.
What's worse, when she emerged from the cave, she could see it was already dark out! She checked the time. It was nearly ten o'clock at night! "What a waste of a day," she mumbled. But as she walked on the path back toward town, she reminded herself, no, she got more fighting experience and a few more supplies. It wasn't for nothing.
Alma looked up at Harvey's window as she passed the clinic and saw the faint glow of a lamp. She shot up a rock, and he soon came to the window. "Hi, Alma. Everything all right, darling?" he asked.
"Yeah, just a rough day in the mines. I'm on my way home now."
"You need anything? Do you … have any medical questions?"
"No, I'm okay. Just wanted to check in."
"I'm g-glad you did," he said with a smile.
"Goodnight then," she answered with a tired wave.
"Goodnight!" She went back to the farm, and he watched after her until she was out of sight.