Make Me Smile

Animal

The next day was the cow festival. Even though I didn’t have a cow to enter, I was raring up to go, because Vaughn had said he’d see me there. As I crossed the bridge to the meadow, I saw him standing next to one of the cows. I tried to act casual as I sauntered up to the cow, patting her on the rump. She gave a low moo, and Vaughn tipped his hat at me to say hello. I just smiled at him.

I tried to think of something clever to say. “You like cows, huh?” Oh, so clever!

He gave a little nod. “Well, I do work with animals all day, so it helps to like them.” He gave a half smile. “Also, I have to admit I have a soft spot for milk.”

“Really?” I asked, intrigued. I suddenly started planning out building a barn and raising a cow. I imagined myself presenting him with some fresh milk, and him giving me a big smile in return. I scolded myself for going so far overboard when it came to him. Stalking him around town, making major renovation plans just to curry favor with him…but, I realized, I’d do whatever it takes to make him smile.

Natalie walked up with Pierre. I rolled my eyes. Man, they looked so ridiculous. She looked like she was his babysitter or something. But if she was happy…I smiled at them. Pierre was still holding that stupid spoon, and he licked his lips at me. “Did you bring what I asked for?”

I nodded, and reached into my bag. I handed him several carrots, freshly harvested. Pierre accepted them and then beamed at Natalie. “Tonight, I’ll show you how to make carrot au gratin!” Natalie squealed happily and clapped her hands.

I saw Vaughn making a face out of the corner of my eye. “What?” I asked. “You don’t like carrots?”

He grimaced. “I hate carrots. More than anything in the world.”

“Right, I’ll remember that. Milk: good. Carrots: bad.” I gestured like I was checking off a list. Natalie laughed, and Vaughn just gave a smirk and turned away from us.

The next week passed slowly. I found myself thinking more and more about Vaughn. Every little half smile and friendly exchange I could get out of him just fueled my desire even more. I knew he wasn’t the nicest guy in the world, but I could tell that he was softening up, and that encouraged me to keep trying.

On Wednesday morning, I woke up and headed towards the chicken coop to tend to Chee. I went inside, but to my great surprise, she wasn’t there. Suddenly it hit me - I had let her out to graze yesterday. But I had never put her back in the coop. Waves of horror rushed over me as I hurried back outside and frantically searched for her. My worst fears were realized when I found several bloody feathers behind the coop. I began crying as I realized what happened. A wild dog must have attacked her. There was a chance she was alive somewhere, but there was a much greater chance that the dog had eaten her. I had to sit down on the dirt and just cry for several minutes, my heart aching with sadness.

I finally recovered enough to do my other farm chores, then I headed out into town. I passed Vaughn on the path, and must have seen my tear stained face and pained expression, because he gave me a strange look. “What’s wrong with you?”

I sighed deeply. “I left my chicken out overnight, and I think a wild dog killed her.” I sniffled a little, hoping poor Chee didn’t suffer too badly. Vaughn just stared at me, and just then Taro walked up. He also asked me what was wrong, and I explained to him. Vaughn walked off during this, but I was too busy crying and talking to Taro that I barely noticed him go. I didn’t see him for the rest of the day.

That night, I tossed and turned, feeling guilty about Chee. I vowed to be more careful with my next chicken. My next chicken…I would go to Mirabelle’s tomorrow and get another chicken. It couldn’t replace Chee in my heart as my first chicken, but I promised myself that nothing like this would ever happen again.

The next day was Thursday, and I headed for the animal shop. I approached the counter. “How can I help you, dearie?” Mirabelle asked, but she was acting strangely.

I sighed. “I want to buy a chicken.”

Mirabelle fidgeted nervously. “Oh dear…I don’t know how to say this…but Vaughn told me not to sell any animals to you.”

I gaped at her. “What?!”

She gave me a sad, apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry. But he threatened to no longer do business with us if we disobeyed.”

I just backed away from the counter, then spun on my heels and stormed out the door. I was fuming. How dare he? My fingers tingled with outrage. I quickly looked at the position of the sun in the sky and headed for the beach, knowing from weeks of stalking him where he would be right now.

My feet crunched angrily into the sand as I strode onto the beach to confront him. He heard me approaching and turned around slowly. We scowled at each other. “You told Mirabelle not to sell me any animals? Why?” I spat the question out at him.

He folded his arms across his chest. “I think you’re unfit to take care of animals.”

My face clouded over. “Because…because of Chee?” I cried. “That’s not fair, Vaughn. She was killed by a wild dog!”

His voice rose in anger. “That’s right, she was killed by a wild dog! Because you left her out overnight!” I felt my face burning, and tears sprung to my eyes. He continued, his voice rising more. “So, no, I don’t want to let you have another animal. You’ll just neglect it, and let it die too! If you had spent as much time caring for her as you do following me around, she‘d still be alive!”

The indignation boiled up inside of me, and I couldn’t control myself. I raised my hand and slapped him across the face. His eyes widened, and he stared at me. My hand stung from the contact with his face, and his cheek became red. Tears rolled down my face. “You are such a hateful person. I don’t know why I ever thought I liked you.” The words came out in a broken sob.

Suddenly, he lunged at me. Terror filled my heart as I braced myself for his attack. But instead, he gathered me up in his arms. His lips caught mine in a rough kiss. My eyes were wide open in shock, but his were closed tightly, some overwhelming emotion all over his face. I relaxed my body into his arms, letting my eyes close as well. His lips pressed into mine hungrily, insistently, and I found myself returning the kiss.

He pulled away quickly, releasing me. He fidgeted with the brim of his hat, looking away. My fingers flew to my lips, unbelieving of what had just happened. I stared at him in a daze, and suddenly he turned and walked away. I watched him go, as a light breeze wafted through my hair.