Chapter 2: Getting AlongSeveral days has passed since Tony has arrived in Flowerbud Village. In the days he has wandered around aimlessly trying to get used to the new village life, he has met a collection of new faces. Many of them are young men with a wide variety of personality. Others are young beautiful girls of all types. And the rest are shop owners, most of them are family members of the young men and women.
Because there are so many attractive young women, Tony thought that getting a nice girlfriend would be easy. However, all the women he has met treats him the same way Katie, Gwen, and Ellen did. In no time flat, Tony becomes frustrated with the other girls, and decides to ignore them.
Even though the women does not show any respect to Tony, he learns to like living in Flowerbud Village. In the city, he had always worried about bills, noise, the occasional crime, and work. Flowerbud village is a very laid back community, which allows him to be very lazy. As long as he completes his daily tasks of caring for the horses, he doesn't have a care in the world.
One afternoon, Laura pays Tony a visit. She opens his door, and nearly dies from shock from what she sees. In only a couple of days, the clean brand new house has turned into a complete mess. The floors are covered in empty food packaging, cans, wrappers, and even leftover food. Dirty clothing hangs from just about anything. And there is a slight foul smell of old pizza in the air.
Laura broods angrily, and marches over towards the sound of the television. In the living room, she finds her older brother lying on the couch munching on a bag of potato chips. He is so into the program on TV, he has yet to notice that Laura has already entered his home.
Laura folds her arms, and waits until he notices her. After about10 minutes, Laura loses her patience, and rushes over to the TV, and turns it off. “Hey! I was watching that!” complained Tony finally realizing that her sister is visiting him.
Laura feels upset that Tony has yet to greet him. However, she puts that to the side, and yells, “Big Brother! What is all this?! This house is a mess!”
Tony rolls his eyes, and says, “What are you, mom? I'll clean the place up later, my favorite TV show is on. Now, if you don't mind, turning the TV back on?”
Laura sighs, and says, “Big Brother, it's a beautiful day outside. Why don't you do something creative with your free time? Like getting to know the neighbors or something.”
Tony waves his hand and says, “Maybe another day. The other people in this village are not that exciting anyway. All everyone does is work, work, and work.”
Laura shakes her head in disbelief, and takes a deep breath. She then snaps her fingers, and remembers that she has something important to ask Tony. “Hey Big Brother! Tomorrow, I'm going to harvest some tomatoes and corn. But it's going to take all day, and I need some extra help. Wanna help me out? I'll pay you extra.”
Tony shakes his head, and says, “No thanks.”
“What? Why not Big Brother?” complained Laura.
Tony finally sits up, and explains, “Unlike the city, everything in this village is quite cheap. With the pay you give me caring for the horses, I make more than enough money to live comfortably. To do some extra work is just a waste of time.”
“Come on Big Brother! I really need the help!” whined Laura.
“You did pretty well without me before I arrived. And besides, I have no idea how to do the work you do. All I'll do is just get in your way, or ruin your farm.”
“Don't worry about that Big Brother. I'll train you. You'll be the best farmer Flowerbud Village ever had!”
Tony lays back down, and says, “Not interested. If you have time to train me, then you have enough time to deal with the work yourself.”
Laura frowns. Even though she was expecting this attitude from her brother from the start, she thought she could at least get him even a little bit more interested in ranching and farming. Since Tony is showing a lot of resistance, she decides to move on to plan B.
Laura turns away, and says, “Okay Big Brother. If you don't want to help, I understand. . .” She then pulls out a CD case from her rucksack, and says, “But I wonder what am I going to do with this? I have no use for it anymore.”
Tony takes a look at the CD case in her hand, and becomes very interested in it. He jumps off the couch, and runs up to Laura saying, “Oh my god! Is that Lanna's newest CD? If you don't want it, I'll take it off your hands. I'm a big fan!”
Tony tries to take it, but Laura pulls it away just out of his reach. She then looks at Tony with a sly look, and says, “You really want this? How about if you help me with the farm tomorrow, and I'll give this to you? Along with the pay I promised you of course.”
“Okay, fine! I'll do it!” yelled Tony.
Laura giggles and says, “Meet me at my house at 7:00 am sharp. It's going to be a busy day.”
After successfully convincing Tony to work in the farm, Laura snickers on her way home, and says, “I knew it. Big Brother was always a music junkie. All I needed was some bait, and I can make Big Brother do just about anything I want.”
The next day, Laura wakes up at 6:00 am as always. She climbs out of bed, and heads to the showers to get ready for the day's work. After washing up, she starts making some breakfast. At 7:00 am on the dot, Tony knocks on her door. She lets her brother in, and gives him something to eat for breakfast. She knows that Tony has no idea how much work is waiting for him.
After breakfast, Laura pulls out a list of tasks Tony needs to do. The first thing on the list is to pull the weeds from the crop field. Tony thought it was going to be easy. but he quickly learns that the small patch of land behind her house is not the only place she grows crops. Not too far from her home, Laura owns a large plot of land where she grows fields of tomato and corn.
As Laura begins the picking, Tony begins pulling. However, pulling the weeds is not such an easy task as he thought. The weeds grow deep in the dirt, so he needs to pull with all his might to get it out of the field. He can't just throw the pulled weeds on the ground either because it upsets the other villagers, so he needs to carry them to the nearest waste basket.
The weeds have left his hands scraped up. But even though his hand hurts every time he touches anything, this is only the first task on the list. The next task is watering the crops. It seems easy to Tony at first, but Laura teaches him that each crop needs only a certain amount of water. Too much water can cause them to die. What makes things worse is that as he starts, he takes a look at the insane size of the field. He knows that watering all the crops will take hours.
Afterwards, it's back to the horses. The skies are clear, so he needs to move the horses outside to graze on the grass. However, the horses are not as cooperative as they normally are. Since Tony is in a foul mood from all the work, it makes the horses feel the same. As Tony tries his best to push the horses outside, he gets frustrated, and slaps one of the horses in the behind. He is hoping that the horse will panic, and run out of the stable on their own. But the horse gets angry, and hind kicks tony right between the lets where it hurts the most.
As Tony holds his groin in severe pain, Laura looks down at him, and shakes her head in disbelief. He is already in bad condition, but the list is hardly done yet. In fact, Tony has only just begun the list. He still needs to care for some cows, chickens, sheep, and other chores.
Late that night, Tony is finally done with all the chores. He is completely worn out, and goes off to bed before receiving his payment. He decides that he'll ask for it in the morning after he has rested a bit.
Tony remains asleep all the way until 10:00 am. He would have remained asleep for longer, but he hears the front door knocking which wakes him up. He gets out of bed feeling completely sore from all the work. As soon as he opens the door, he sees Laura outside smiling at him. He has no idea how his sister can be so full of energy, especially if she has done far more work than Tony did.
“Hey there Big Brother!” greeted Laura. Tony nods, he is far too tired for a proper greeting. “Hey, I wanted to tell you thanks so much for your help yesterday. And I also came to pay you for your help. I shipped a lot of goods, and I was paid a hefty amount.”
“Screw the pay!” yelled Tony bursting with energy. “What about the other thing you promised!?”
“Oh, that.” Laura then pulls the CD case from her rucksack, and places it in his hands along with his pay. “Here you go, you deserve it!”
Tony nearly cries with excitement. He places the money in his pocket, and runs into his house to play the CD. Laura sticks around for a little bit Longer. She already has a good idea what is going to happen next.”
“HEY!!! WHAT THE FRICK IS THIS!!!
” Tony's voice screams from inside the house. Tony then storms out of the house furiously, and finds his sister standing there smiling.
“Is there a problem Big Brother?” asked Laura pretending that she doesn't know what's making Tony so angry.
“Of course there's a problem!!” yelled Tony. He then opens the CD case, and says, “There's no CD in the case!! Where's the CD!!??”
“Oh, the CD. . .” said Laura still pretending to act innocent. “I gave it to Katie last week. But she didn't need the case, so she gave it back to me. I was about to throw it away, but you wanted it, so I gave it to you.”
Tony broods angrily, and crushes the empty CD case with his bare hand. “You tricked me!!” accused Tony.
“Actually Big Brother, I never actually said that there was a CD in there. You just assumed that there was. You should have asked first.”
Tony grows angrily, but there isn't anything he could do about it. The work is already done, and there is no way that she could just get the CD for him. Laura just pats him on the shoulder and says, “Look on the bright side Big Brother, with the money I paid you, you can just buy the CD. I know it'll take about six to eight weeks for the delivery to arrive, but you have plenty of free time.”
She then turns, and walks back to her home saying, “See you later Big Brother. I hope you'll help me out another day!”
Tony clenches a fist and says, “Laura, I ought to. . .” He then sighs, and goes back into the house. After freshening up a bit, he goes to the back where he gets started with the horses. After moving the horses out, he takes a good look at Laura's best horse Apache.
Tony smirks, and says, “Maybe Laura is right. I should do something a bit more creative.”
Since Laura is not looking, Tony “borrows” a saddle, and places it on Apache. Apache felt a bit nervous at first, but Tony never told Laura that he has had some experience dealing with horses before he arrived in Flowerbud Village. Tony then climbs on Apache's back, and gallops off. He jumps the fence, and rides Apache around the village.
Tony yells loudly as he rides around Flowerbud Village. He makes so much noise, that several villagers come out of their homes or shops to see what all the commotion was about. He passes by the clinic, and shows off a bit there before riding off. But as he was showing off, he has caught the attention of a couple of residents inside a building almost hidden behind the clinic.
A nurse looks outside the sanitarium, and finds Tony outside horsing around. She looks at another young girl in green, and says, “Miss Dia, look at that! Looks like we have another new resident in the village.”
The young girl named Dia looks up at the nurse for a moment. She then buries her face in a book and says, “Gina, please don't bother me while I am reading. I don't care for new residents of this village.”
The nurse named Gina sighs and says, “As you wish.”
Tony continues to ride around the village. Soon enough, he finds Laura's three best friends, Katie, Gwen, and Ellen. He is still upset about how they treated him when they first met, so he decides to play a prank on them. He pats apache on the mane, and says, “Hey there girl. Why don't we show them how fast you are. Lets run by them as fast as you can!”
When they least expected it, Tony signaled Apache to gallop as fast as she could, and runs straight past them. Apache ran so fast, that she left behind a strong gust of wing that blew them away kicking up a dust cloud. After Tony passed them, he turns back and yells, “Eat my dust ladies!! YAHOO!!!” He then rides off into the distance.
“ACK! My hair! He ruined my hair that I spent all morning to do!” Yelled Katie.
Gwen coughed a few times before yelling, “He's such a jerk! Just like the other men in this village!”
Tony knows that the girls are talking about him, but he doesn't care. He is having too much of a good time. But after a while, Apache stops galloping, and makes a disturbing sound. “What's up girl? Something wrong?” asked Tony. He then realizes that Apache needs to do her business, and she wants Tony off her back.
As Apache is doing her business, Tony looks around to see where he is. He finds Mayor Theodore's house, so he knows he's close to home. After looking at the Mayor's house for a minute, he takes a look at Apache's droppings, and gets an idea.
After cleaning up Apache's mess, he places the bag of droppings in front of Mayor Theodore's front door. He then pulls out a box of matches, and lights the top of the bag on fire. He then knocks on the door, and runs to hide.
Mayor Theodore opens the door, and greets whoever is outside. But all he finds is a burning bag outside his door. He panics, and steps on the bag to put out the fire. Tony feels so fulfilled after hearing the words “OH MY GOD! DOODIE!!!” scream from the mayor's house. After the coast is clear, he dies from laughter, and gets back on Apache to see what other tricks he can pull.
He gallops with Apache for a while laughing at what he did at the mayor's house. Because he is busy laughing, he doesn't pay attention to where he is going. He then looks forward, and finds a young pink haired girl crossing the road. Tony panics, if he doesn't stop the horse, he will trample her.
He pulls the leather strap back to make Apache stop. However the inertia is too strong, and Tony is sent flying off the horse straight towards the young girl.
“Watch out!!” yelled Tony as he flies towards the young girl. She looks towards the direction of Tony's voice, but they hit each other before she realizes what's going on. Luckily, neither of them were injured.
“Tony gets up heavily, and asks, “Hey, I'm sorry. Are you okay?”
“The girl stands up quickly, and yells, “Eww! Stay away from me you. . . JERK!!!” Before Tony sees it coming, the girl slaps him across the face as hard as she possibly could. The force of the slap was so hard, it can be heard for miles around the village.
Tony holds his cheek and yells, “OWWW! What the hell was that for?! It was only an accident!”
The girl looks away, and walks off leaving him behind. Not even a word was said to him. Tony watches her leave as he says, “What's her problem anyway?”
He then mounts on Apache again, and rides home. But as soon as he arrives, he finds Laura there waiting for him. She is not very happy about the complaints he has gotten from the other villagers.
“So, had a nice joy ride Big Brother?” asked Laura.
Tony dismounts Apache, and says, “Yeah, sure. I had the time of my life.”
“Are you trying to get kicked out of this village Big Brother!?!” scolded Laura. “I brought you here to help you out, and this is how you repay me? What's wrong with you?”
“Jeez, fine. I'm sorry. I'll do some volunteer work, then me and the crabby villagers will call it even.”
Laura feels disappointed at how careless he is taking the situation. She wants to scold him some more, but she notices his left cheek swollen a bit. She pokes it and says, “What happened to you there?”
Tony pulls away, and holds his cheek saying, “Some pink haired girl slapped me today.”
“Pink haired girl?” asked Laura. “You mean Lyla?”
Tony shakes his head no, and says, “No, it wasn't Lyla. This girl I never met until today. She had a white dress, green eyes, and she was carrying a basket full of seeds.”
“Oh! You must have met Nina.” said Laura. “You best stay away from her, she has a great big chip on her shoulder.”
“I can tell.”
Laura then nods twice, and says, “By the way Big Brother, where did you learn how to ride a horse. I thought you had no experience with animals?”
“In my old job, they needed volunteers to learn horseback riding. For parades and other things we may need it for. I was one of the volunteers.”
Laura nods again, and says, “Well, you should have told me. How about if I give you a horse of your own?”
“You really mean that?” asked Tony.
Laura nods, and says, “But under one condition. You cannot go around causing trouble anymore. Promise me that, and the horse is yours.”
Tony agrees to her conditions. She then walks to the barn and says, “Wait right here, I'll get him for you.”
Tony nearly jumps for joy as Laura goes into the barn, and looks for a horse to give him. He wonders what type of horse will he get. A fast race horse, or a strong work horse. But his great mental image becomes shattered as soon as Laura brings out the horse she is giving him.
“Here you go Big Brother! His name is Koni, take good care of him.”
Tony points at Koni, and yells, “Laura, that is NOT a horse! That is a foal! I cannot ride that thing!”
“Well of course you can't. Koni needs a lot of growing up to do. Did you actually think I was going to give you a full grown horse? But since Koni is so young, you and him can get to know each other, and you can train him as you please.”
Tony sighs, and says, “Fine, I'll take the pony.”
Laura then leaves Koni with Tony, and says, “Well, I'll leave you two to get to know each other. I'll have to talk to the mayor, and try to fix the little mess you made.”
She then walks out of Toni's home, and heads towards the Mayor's house. Tony takes another look at Koni, and brings him back to the stable.
Laura arrives at the Mayor's house, and she knocks on his door. Mayor Theodore opens the door, and lets Laura in. He then serves her some tea, and they sit together in the living room to discuss something important.
“So, how is he getting along?” asked Mayor Theodore.
Laura takes a sip of her tea, and answers, “Not very good at all. He's been here for only a few days, and he is not inspired to be a part of the village. And worst of all, the other girls hate him.”
Theodore laughs and says, “We already knew that this was going to happen. But still, we need to keep trying. Your brother is our last hope if we want to restore peace to the village.”
“Have you come up with a plan?” asked Laura.
“Indeed I have.” answered Theodore.
He then passes her a poster that says, “Flowerbud Village Summer Dance Festival.” In the poster, a group of young people are square dancing inside a barn happily.
“This is your plan?” asked Laura. “A dance festival?”
“I was hoping that this will get Tony to see a more charming side of the girls. I will be using one of your unused barns for this festival. Naturally, I will be paying you for the rental.”
“I see.” She then takes a second look at the poster, and says, “I hope this works. After all, my brother is not an easy person to motivate. But I'll try my best to make this work in the end.”
To be continued.