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Post by Limegreen Queen on Jun 12, 2006 17:44:05 GMT -5
Yeah! I LOVE IT BORDER!
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Post by BorderWolf on Jun 12, 2006 23:39:25 GMT -5
Thanks. Yeah it looks like Duke is going to get chewed out by someone smaller then he his. ;D
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Post by BorderWolf on Jun 18, 2006 11:16:00 GMT -5
Chapter 8
“Well?” said the girl.
“Karen, sweetie.”
“Don’t sweetie me, uncle Duke.”
Karen walked over to stand in front of Duke.
“So pay up or your dinner is going to be a bit little.”
Duke walked over to Jeff and slapped some money down. “Here.”
As Duke headed out, he glared at Jack, as if to say that they will meet again to talk about this.
After Duke slammed the door, Karen spoke, “Thanks for the help. I’m glad that there is someone who is willing to stand up against my uncle. You’re new around here, aren’t you? Oh, I’m Karen.”
Karen extended her hand, and Jack shook it.
“Yes, I’m new. I’m Jack. I found out that Joe left his farm to me.”
“Don’t you mean your father? From your looks, you are the same age as me.”
“No, Joe left his farm to me. I had befriended him twelve years ago.”
Karen widened her eyes slightly, “Wow, someone so young taking over a far. Since you helped me make Duke pay his bill, how about I help you out, by giving you a bag of seeds?”
“Well if it isn’t any trouble, I could use the help.”
“Ok, I’ll pick out the seeds.”
Karen walked over and started to rummage through the bags.
Jeff mumbled, “But we’ll lose money.”
“Dad isn’t there a saying ‘kindness to strangers’?”
“Well yes, but…”
“Dear I have to agree with our daughter,” added Sasha.
“That’s not nice of you two ganging up on me.”
Karen picked up a bag of grass seeds. “This will help you out when you have cows or sheep. From what Barley tells me, it takes one bag of these to feed one of them, since the grass grows quickly.”
Jeff whispered to Sasha, “She gave him the most expensive bag of seeds.”
Sasha whispered back, “I think she liked how he stood up to Duke, plus she might think he is cute. But don’t worry, I think that he will buy some seeds to help him make money.”
Karen gave Jack a pat on the back, “Now good luck on getting that farm back in shape. Well I’m going to meet up with Rick, so see you around town Jack.”
“Ummm, ok”
Jack watched Karen leave. Then a voice spoke up.
“So do you like my daughter?”
Jack turned around, “What?”
Sasha smiled, “Do you like my daughter Karen?”
“She does seem nice.”
“Were you by any chance the little boy that got lost in this town twelve years ago?”
“Yes,” Jack replied.
“So it was you that Joe left his farm to.”
“Yes, we had been writing letters to each other. Had I been related to him, I would have been able to be excused from being on the Grand Jury I was on.”
“Well I’m glad that Joe left his farm to someone nice.”
“Thanks. Well I’ll buy these two bags of turnip seeds, and then continue going around town to introduce myself to the people I haven’t met yet.”
After Jack paid for the seeds he left. Sasha then spoke up, “I think that Rick, might just have some competition for Karen’s heart.”
“Who do you think will win?”
“The better man dear, the better man.”
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Post by Herfefiny on Jun 18, 2006 13:34:21 GMT -5
ooooooo! Who will win? Good question, great chpater!
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Post by BorderWolf on Jun 19, 2006 18:11:27 GMT -5
Thanks.
Yeah who will win. #shifty#
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Post by BorderWolf on Jun 20, 2006 19:47:22 GMT -5
Chapter 9
Through a curtained doorway a small figure ran by and hid behind Jack.
“Stu, get back here now!!” shouted Elli, appearing a few seconds later. “Oh, hi there Jack. Are you feeling ok? You look a little tired.”
“Yes, I’m doing ok. I did about two hours of work, clearing a small patch. I desided to take your advice and take it slow.”
“That’s good. But why did you come in here?”
“Well for the break, I decided to go around town to introduce myself to the townsfolk that I didn’t meet at the festival.”
“Then you should meet my grandmother.”
“I have, she is very nice.”
“While we are talking about my relatives, do you know that a troublemaker is behind you?”
Jack stepped to the side, “This troublemaker?”
“I’m not a troublemaker!”
Elli crossed her arm, “Yes you are. You know darn well that I hate bugs.”
“But this one is nice looking.”
“I still do not like bugs. Besides this is a clinic, we can not have any bugs in here.”
Stu turned to Jack, “Jack you are a boy like me, do you like this bug?”
Jack shook his head, “Sorry Stu, I don’t like bugs.”
“Whaaaa? But, but, you are a boy! Boys and bugs begin with the letter b. Boys are suppose to like bugs. There was an old guy in town that liked bugs. Do I have to hate bugs until I’m his age to like bugs again?”
Stu then ran out of the clinic crying.
Jack looked concerned.
“Don’t worry about him. He needs to learn that not all adults like bugs,” said Elli.
“Ok, I guess he is going to meet his friends and say how mean his sister and the new guy are.”
“It will only be May. She is the only other kid in town.”
“I guess that Stu tolerates her, because she is the only kid in town to play with.”
Elli giggled, “He just doesn’t tolerate her. He is in love with her.”
“Does May love him?”
“Not yet, she just likes him. Anyway, you are here to meet Tim, so let me take you to see him.”
Elli opened the curtained area, “Tim, the gentleman who inherited Joe’s farm is here to introduce himself to you.”
“Oh? I think I saw his son when I was leaving Jeff’s store,” said Tim not looking up from the medical book he was reading.
Elli turned and with a mischievous grin, “You have a son? I thought that you were single.”
Grinning back Jack replied, “I am single and I don’t have any kids.”
Tim looked up from the book, “Oh, so you are the one that Joe left his farm to. I thought that he didn’t have any kids, let alone grandkids.”
“He wasn’t my grandfather, just a friend. Twelve years ago I got lost around here. He was kind enough to find my parents. He ask if we could write to each other, and we had been doing that up until his death.”
“Well then, welcome to Mineral Town. I’m Tim, the doctor for this town. You have already met Elli, the local midwife, nurse training to be a doctor.”
“Yes, I met her at the festival yesterday.”
“Since you are here, why don’t we get a file started?”
Tim opened a drawer and looked for some paperwork. After the paperwork was filled out, Jack left the clinic.
Continuing east he saw that the next building was the church.
*Church of the Harvest Goddess? Carter didn’t say that he was a pastor for a female deity.*
A slight gust of wind had picked up, tugging at his cap.
*Not that there is anything wrong with a female deity, it’s just that they are very rare.*
The gust died down, but Jack thought that he heard a faint sound of a woman chuckling. Jack entered and saw just one person near the altar, but it wasn’t Carter.
“Hello, if you are looking for Carter, he is in the confession booth right now.”
“I wasn’t looking for Carter, I was looking to see if there was anyone I haven’t met yet. I just found out yesterday, that Joe had left his farm to me.”
“Oh, welcome I guess. I’m Cliff. You wouldn’t have any openings for work on your farm by any chance?”
“I’m Jack, and right now I don’t have any openings due to not having much money.”
Cliff gave a sigh, “It figures. This town is small, so there are hardly any openings. I never should have started to travel around the world.”
“I’ll try to keep an ear and eye open for any openings.”
From the look of things, it seemed to Jack that Cliff didn’t hear him.
As the doors closed behind Jack, he thought he heard whispered faintly Cliff saying, “Thanks Jack.”
*I hope that some type of job will open up for him.*
Jack follow the path southward, he was half to Rose Plaza when he saw the sign to Doug’s Inn. He decided to stop by and say “hello”.
As he approached the Inn. He saw that it was next door to Aja Winery, but luckily Manna was not outside.
*She must love to chat for hours on end.*
Opening the door, Jack smelled the wonderful oder of food cooking.
“Hi Jack,” shouted Ann, “What brings you here?”
“Well I thought that I would take a break from clearing the field. So I have been going around town introducing myself to those that were not at the festival yesterday.”
“That sounds like a good plan.”
“What with all the shouting Ann? Oh, hi there Jack. Did you come in for a bite to eat?” said Doug peeking from the kitchen.
“Yeah! It will be our treat. Make him your best meal dad.”
“Best meal coming up.”
Doug then went back into the kitchen.
With a grin on her face Ann said, “This way to your table sir.”
Matching her grin Jack said, “No need to be formal Ms. Ann.”
As Ann showed Jack to a table, “Ahhhhh! But guests need to be treated with respect.”
“But what about the regular customers?”
Widening her grin Ann said, “Well we ignore them for several minutes, but for some weird reason, they like the abuse.”
Matching her grin again Jack said, “Well then I guess that I will have to become a regular customer.”
“While my dad is cooking up the meal, I’ll go and fix up your drink. It will be something nice, but it will be something without alcohol.”
“That’s fine, in some ways it is a good policy.”
“My dad went with it when I was a baby. He said that he heard that in another town, a farmer somehow by himself, got four of his cows on top of his barn, after he had ten beers.”
“I heard about that, I thought that it was just a story.”
“Nope it wasn’t,” replied Ann as she placed the drink in front of Jack.
Doug entered and placed the meal on the table, “Here is the best meal. So what do you think? Does it look good?”
“Yes.”
After a few bites Jack said, “I definitely will be a regular customer.”
Doug chuckled, “Well I’m going to go wash some dishes.”
After the meal Jack said, “That was a very good meal Doug.”
“You’re welcome Jack. But you will have to pay for your next meal.”
“I will be back.”
“I think that my daughter would like it if you did.”
“Dad!!!!” shouted Ann with her complexion matching the color of her hair. After punching her father in the arm, she grabbed some cleaning supplies and stormed upstairs to clean the guest rooms.
Grinning Doug said, “I think that I hit the mark about that she would like it if you did come back. Well nice seeing you again Jack.”
“I hope that Ann isn’t too mad with your teasing.”
Doug chuckled, “It’s a parent’s job to bother their kids from time to time.” Then Doug took Jack’s dirty dishes to the kitchen to be washed.
Upstairs Ann started to clean the women’s guest room.
“Arrg. Dad what is your problem?”
“Meow?”
“Oh hi Nora. You look like you are enjoying yourself, sunbathing in that windowsill.”
“Nya?”
“Oh, I’m a bit mad at my dad. He seems to think that I should get married. So he tries to hook me up with guys he feels are ok to be alone without him around.”
“Purrrrt?”
“I don’t know Jack is nice and so is Cliff. Maybe it would be ok to marry one of them, but I like being single. I also like working here to help my dad. If I marry one of them, they might not want me working here.”
“Nya!”
“Yeah, maybe they would be nice to let me work here.” Scratch behind Nora’s ears Ann then said, “Thanks Nora, you cats are good listeners to those that have problems.”
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Post by Herfefiny on Jun 21, 2006 0:14:40 GMT -5
That was a great chapter Border! Keep up good work!
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Post by BorderWolf on Jun 22, 2006 17:26:00 GMT -5
Chapter 10
Jack decided to take the longer route back to his farm. As he was crossing through Rose Plaza, he saw a policeman.
“Hello there, you must be Jack. I’m Harris.”
“Hello. Yes I’m Jack.”
“So how do you like it here?”
“It’s a nice little town. I could get to like living here.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“You probably hear that from everyone you ask.”
“True, but from the look on your face, you are telling the true. So have you met everyone in town?”
“Not yet, I haven’t met Basil, Anna, and Mary. I hear that they go up to Mother’s Hill every Monday.”
“Yes they do.”
“The other people I still need to meet are the ones that run the chicken ranch.”
“Well they are there and they are open right now. So you should stop by.”
“Ok, I will do that.”
“You could try to meet Basil, Anna and Mary later today. Though you might get a cold reception from Anna.”
“Why do you say that?”
“She doesn’t like people from the city, I don’t know why that is. Well I need to get home and start the stew for dinner for my father and me. It’s my turn to cook dinner, and the stew takes some time to cook.”
“Ok, nice meeting you Harris.”
“Nice meeting you as well Jack.”
After shaking hands they went their separate ways.
A few minutes later Jack was starting to pass the chicken ranch, when he heard a girl yelling.
“Pon! You get your feathery fanny back here! Rick will be mad if you run away!”
Jack saw a chicken headed to the path in front of the ranch, followed by a girl with pink hair.
She then yelled, “Stop Pon! I don’t want my brother to be mad at me.”
The girl hadn’t seen Jack yet. Feeling that it would be the neighborly thing to do, he stepped in front of the chicken. The bird came to a stop, puzzled because its escape route was blocked.
“Why did you stop Pon?” looking up she saw Jack, “Oh hello, thanks for stopping Pon. She can be troublesome. She is also our best egg layer.”
Scooping up Pon, Jack handed the chicken to the girl, “It was no trouble. I felt that I should help my new neighbors.”
“Who are your new neighbors?”
Jack almost laughed at the girl’s question, “You are, as well as your brothet and mother.”
“But we are not new, we have lived here for as long as I have lived.”
Again Jack wanted to laugh, “I’m new here. I was the one that Joe left his farm to.”
“Oooh, now I see, I’m Popuri. What is your name?”
“Jack.”
“Like the toys?”
“Huh?”
“You know, Jacks, Jack-In-The-Box, Jumping Jacks, wait that isn’t a toy.”
The sound of a door opening was heard, and a few seconds later an older woman with pink hair came around the corner.
“What is with all the shouting Popuri? Oh hello. Can I help you young man?”
“He lives next door mom!”
“Oh? So you are the one that Joe left his farm to?”
“Yes, I’m Jack.”
“Welcome Jack, I’m Lillia. So what was all the shouting for?”
Popuri answered hesitantly, “Pon almost ran away. Jack was nice to stop her.”
Lillia smiled, “That’s nice. Did you thank him?”
“Yes mom.”
Just then a blonde haired boy came into view. There was a noticeable mark on his face as if he was slapped.
“Rick what happened?” asked Lillia.
“I was talking to Karen. We were talking about the games we played as kids. I said how we wrestled as kids, and that she won every time. She got mad and said she didn’t remember doing that. I asked how could she not remember, since she always gloated about winning. Then she got really mad, slapped me, then stormed off.”
Lillia sighed, “Rick, there are some things that girls just don’t want to remember.”
“Why? I don’t mind if a girl beats me in wrestling.”
“We’ll talk about this later. Now why don’t you introduce yourself to our new neighbor Jack?”
“Oh is this him? Hello. Karen did mention that you made Duke pay his tab. Weren’t you scared? Duke is a big guy. I don’t think that I would have stood up to make Duke pay.”
“Well Sasha was yelling at Jeff for making Tim walk out without paying for his things, and to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
“Oh, ok.” Rick then saw Popuri holding Pon. “Popuri, why are you holding Pon?”
“I went to feed the chickens and she ran out the door.”
“You know that she likes to run outside. How could you be so careless? She could get killed by the wild dogs around this are!”
“They only come out at night!”
Lillia shook her head and gave a sigh, “Could you two not fight?”
“Yes mom,” chorused Rick and Popuri.
“Now Popuri, take Pon to the coop, then wash your hands, and then get dinner started Rick get some ice on that bruise, I hope Karen didn’t hit too hard. Jack, you most likely don’t have a lot of money right now, but I hope that you will buy a chicken from us. I know that Joe had a chicken coop.”
“Yes Joe did. It is badly damaged right now, so I’m going to need to fix it up first. Then I will think about getting a chicken or two.”
“Don’t forget you will need to buy feed from us, so you can feed them on rainy days.”
“Ok, I’ll do that.”
“It was nice meeting you Jack, take care.”
“It was nice meeting you as well.”
Lillia then headed back inside. Jack then returned back to his farm.
He then remembered to place some honey in a container and placed it in the shipping bin just in the nick of time.
“Cutting it a bit close, aren’t you Jack?”
“Sorry after doing a few hours work in the field, I went around town to introduce myself to the town. I didn’t get any of the forging that you suggested.”
“Don’t be sorry, I would have done the same thing. So have you met everyone?”
“Not yet, I still have Basil, Anna and Mary. I know that Anna might give me the cold shoulder. So I think I’ll meet them tomorrow.”
“Ok Jack. Here is the money for the honey. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Alright Zack.”
Zack then headed back to his house.
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Post by Herfefiny on Jun 22, 2006 17:58:41 GMT -5
Great job Border! I really liked that chapter! ;D
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Post by BorderWolf on Jun 22, 2006 20:55:31 GMT -5
Thanks. Popuri sure show that is is a 'lady'. ;D
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Post by Destiny on Jun 24, 2006 16:12:04 GMT -5
 This is good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by BorderWolf on Jun 25, 2006 11:48:51 GMT -5
Chapter 11
Jack was awakened by some knocks on the front door. Hero awoke and started barking.
*Who could it be at this hour?*
Jack opened the door and saw someone new. Was this maybe Basil?
“Hello there! Won is my name, selling is my game. I just got into town today. I heard about this nice little town from an innkeeper over in Forget-Me-Not Valley.”
“Sorry but I don’t want to buy anything.”
“Not to worry about that, from the look of things, you must need your money to get your farm back into shape since winter has now departed.”
“Actually I inherited this farm, and just got into town two days ago. So I really don’t have that much money.”
“Of course sir, but you might want to buy stuff from me sooner or later. I might have things that the shop here doesn’t sell.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, now if you don’t mind, I’d like to have my breakfast in peace.”
With that comment Jack shut the door.
“Even out here, there are annoying door to door salesmen.”
While eating breakfast, Jack looked over the bags of seeds.
*Hmmmm, each bag has 9 seeds. The grass seeds can be planted in any season save winter. So I guess that I’ll hold off on planting those soon. I’ll plant the turnips seeds today, as well as water them.*
Collecting the hoe and watering can, Jack headed outside. Before going to the field, he stopped and filled the watering can at a small pond near the house. After an hour, Jack had the seeds planted and watered. Jack felt tired.
*I guess I haven’t gotten used to hard work yet.*
Looking down at Hero, Jack said, “Now Hero, let’s go see how Zephyr is doing.”
Looking in on the young horse, he saw that the fellow was still unhappy.
“Hey Zephyr, why are you still down?”
Patting the horse, Jack wondered how he could make his new charge happy.
“If it is because you feel that you are new here, well I’m also new here. I think that even Hero is new.”
Zephyr gave a snort, as if to say a sarcastic “Yeah right.”
“Well I’m going to go around town again. I’ll be back later.”
Looking at his watch, he saw that it was 8AM.
*I hope it isn’t too early to say hello to Basil, Anna, and Mary.*
Taking his time, he arrived 30 minutes later. Knocking on the door, he wondered if he should have waited until 9AM.
A raven haired girl with glasses opened the door.
“Yes, can I help you?”
“Hello, my name is Jack. I was willed the farm that Joe owned. I came by yesterday to introduce myself, but there wasn’t anybody home.”
“Hello, I’m Mary. My father took my mother and me up to Mother’s Hill. We go up there every Monday. Please come in, I know that my father will want to meet you.”
Mary stepped aside to let Jack in.
“Thank you.”
“Mary, who is this?”
“This is Jack, mama. He is the one that Joe left his farm to.”
“I know that Joe never had any kids, so he would not leave his farm to someone who is old enough to be his grandson.”
“Ma’am, twelve years ago I befriended Joe. He asked if we could write to each other, and we had been doing that, up until his death.”
“So what took you so long to get here? Joe passed away in the fall.”
“I was on a Grand Jury during the later part of fall. The service didn’t end until the later part of winter.”
“I see. So why are you here in my house?”
“I wanted to meet everyone in town, so I could get to know people. I heard that your husband is a botanist.”
“Yes he is.”
“I think that papa wrote a few books on crops,” Mary added to the conversation.
“I would like to see them if I my.”
“I’ll be opening the library in an hour and a half.”
“Then while I wait, could I speak to your father?”
“I’ll go upstairs and get him.”
After Mary had left, Anna said, “You must be from the city.”
“Yes ma’am, I hope that isn’t a problem.”
“From what I know, you city boys think you can flirt with country girls. Then after breaking their hearts, you just go back to the city. So let me tell you, that if you break my daughter’s heart. I will see to it that you are run out of this town and that farm be torched to the ground.”
“Ma’am, I would not intentionally break your daughter’s heart.”
“You…….”
Just then footsteps were heard.
“Hello there, my darling daughter tells me that you are the new owner of Joe’s farm.”
Mary blushed slightly from her father’s comment about her.
“Yes sir.”
Basil gave a laugh, “Please call me Basil. So have you read my book on farm crops?”
“Not yet, I got into town two days ago. I was checking the farm out, then went to the festival at Rose Plaza. Then after doing some work yesterday, I went around town introducing myself to those that I didn’t meet at the festival.”
“You must have come by while we were out.”
“Yes, so I will take a look at your book today. If it is alright, I would to take notes on the spring crops.”
“I see no trouble with that. I’m sure that Mary can help supply some paper and a pencil.”
“Yes, I’ll go over right now and get things set up. I do need to get the place dusted.”
Mary then left.
Basil then said, “So what do you think of this town? How did you meet Joe?”
“This town is nice. I met Joe twelve years ago, when my parents brought me here to see the countryside. I got lost around here, and Joe was kind to reunite me with my parents. He asked if we could write to each other, and we did until his death. Had I been related, I would have come sooner, and gotten out of the Grand Jury service I was on.”
“Well I wish you luck. If you like the book on crops, I’ll see if a copy can be sent here.”
“That’s nice of you, thank you.”
“You’re welcome Jack. Well I need to get back on the research I was doing.”
Basil then left.
Anna spoke up, “I’ll be keeping an eye on you. I think that you are trouble.”
“I hope that there is some way that I can prove to you that I’m not trouble. As long as it does not mean my having to leave.”
“Just remember, if you hurt my daughter, I will hurt you.”
“I will not hurt Mary. So if it is alright, I will now leave. Good day ma’am.”
Jack then left, feeling the hateful glare from Anna.
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Post by melody on Jun 25, 2006 13:25:14 GMT -5
Anna.... >_< Haha.  Great job so far, Border! It's really good. Hope you can have more soon! |
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Post by BorderWolf on Jun 25, 2006 13:28:51 GMT -5
Yeah Anna is being a snob. I should have chapter 12 typed up tonight or tomorrow. Then I'll have to start writting more rough drafts of the next chapters.
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Post by melody on Jun 25, 2006 13:29:21 GMT -5
Ok! |
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This is good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!