Cheer Up!

Chapter 1

"This is never going to work," I muttered.

I kicked my toe in defeat at the barren soil. What had I gotten myself into? The enthusiasm I had felt just a couple of weeks ago had ebbed into disappointment. When I had read the brochure about free farmland on a beautiful island, I had jumped at the chance to start my adult life with a bang. I was 18 years old, with no family to speak of, and no real career ambitions. I had always liked the outdoors, and I was a pretty athletic girl, so farm life seemed like the thing for me.

I had learned quickly that it wasn't as simple as that. Sure, I was given free farm land and even a little cottage, which was wonderful. But the plot that was "suitable" for growing crops was quite small, and I use "suitable" very loosely. As a result of it being an island, and therefore close to the ocean, the dirt was very sandy. I had planted some spring crops, strawberries and turnips, but for the most part, the pathetic little sproutlings that I had just withered and died before they had even begun. Two strawberry plants had lived, but the strawberries they were producing were an off putting shade of yellow. Not exactly prize winners.

I couldn't keep going like this. The little bit of money I had brought with me was dwindling down to nothing. I had to eat, after all, and the yellow strawberries were not that filling. Most of my money was spent of buying a little food here and there. I had been lucky to receive a fishing pole from Toby, one of the islanders. But fishing was surprisingly exhausting and time consuming, and often the whole day would go by with only a five inch long fish to show for it. I had gone to bed hungry more than I would like to admit.

I wanted to just sit down in the dirt and cry. I was overwhelmed, and terrified of failing utterly. I wanted to take what little money I had left and run for the dock, and convince Pascal to take me back to the mainland. But then what would I do? What if I couldn't find a job there? At least here I had a roof over my head. If I went back to the mainland, I'd be homeless.

So, I refrained from wallowing in my misery. I straightened myself up, and thought hard. I was not going to waste time fishing today, and I was already done with my "farm chores", ie watering the two plants that I had. I decided that I was going to explore the island, hopefully finding something that I could forage. If it was edible, then I could ease my hunger pangs a little; and if it wasn't, I could sell it so that I could by some food, and perhaps some more crop seeds and give it another go.

I set out, determined. I decided to head north of my farm. Going to the south would lead me back to town, and I had already found that there wasn't much to see to the east. There was a cute little turtle that poked around there, but it was pretty much a dead end, and I had ascertained that there was nothing to be foraged in that area.

The dirt path forked, one path leading to the west. I was pretty sure that it would take me to Maple Lake, one of my fishing spots, but I didn't want to go there today. I took the fork heading north, and as I walked, I was nearly run down from behind. I staggered and stumbled, trying to keep my balance as I stared, open mouth, at a young blonde boy and an older man with blue hair and a mustache as they ran as fast as they could down the path. My curiosity peaked, I headed after them.

When I rounded the corner, I took in the scene there. The boy was frantically yelling "Stop!" at the top of his lungs over and over. The older man just had one face buried in his right hand, and he shook his head in defeat. The person they were apparently not happy with was a young man, wearing a bandanna over his longish blue hair. He was lean and muscular, and he held a huge axe that he was currently using to hack furiously at a gigantic tree root that was totally blocking the path. A loud crack could be heard as he finished the job, chopping through the last bit. A huge log, bigger than he was, fell to the ground, and he leaned against it, turning around to face everyone.

"That was awesome!" he cheered, pumping one fist. "That was the biggest thing I've ever chopped!" Gill, the mayor's son, was standing nearby, a smug look on his face.

"Luke, no!" the older man said. "I told you not to cut the root! It's connected to the Harvest Goddess tree! What were you thinking?"

Luke shrugged. "It's dead. And it was blocking the path. It wasn't doing anyone any good. Hey Pops, help me with this, will ya?" he asked of the older man, who sighed heavily, but moved forwards to help Luke roll the log out of the way.

Gill folded his arms over his chest, stepping forward. "You probably wouldn't know, but the Harvest Goddess tree is a very important legend on this island. If we want the island to truly prosper, we need to revive it. The root was part of the old, dead tree. It needed to be cleared away." He looked at the older man, who had finished helping move the log, and was shaking his head disapprovingly. "Relax, Dale. It'll be fine."

Dale shook his head once more. "But what if the tree needed that root to revive? We just don't know, and we should have been more cautious."

Luke, who was wiping his hands on his jeans, came forward. "Aw, Pops, relax. Like I said, it was dead and in the way. The Harvest Goddess wants us to be happy, right? So she wouldn't want this path blocked, would she?"

His father shook his head. "You don't know for sure what the Harvest Goddess wants."

Luke splayed his hands out. "Well, maybe I'm wrong. If I did the wrong thing, then the Harvest Goddess can come and spank me." He suddenly turned to me as he said that, and I felt my face get hot. Now that he was close enough to get a good look at, I realized he was absolutely gorgeous. His golden colored eyes twinkled with mischief, and I just stared at him.

"Are you the new farmer? The name's Luke," he said as he stretched one hand out to shake. I took it, shaking slightly, and squeezed it with my own.

"I'm Angela," I said. As I tried to bring my hand away again, I could feel the pull of something sticky.

"Ah, sorry about that," he apologized. "Tree sap."

"There was tree sap in the root? But, that means it was still alive!" Dale said.

Luke laughed. "Chill out, Pops. The tree sap was from the handle of my axe from earlier. That root was as dry as a bone."

Dale sighed heavily, then turned to the young boy. "Come on, Bo, let's get back to work." They made their way through the new clearing, and Gill said goodbye and headed back to town. We watched him go, and then I turned back to Luke. I felt my face flush again as our eyes met. He hoisted up his axe and rested it on his shoulder. "Well, see ya, Angela." My heart fluttered slightly when I heard him say my name. He turned to go, and I awkwardly stepped after him.

"Oh, uh...I'm going this way, too," I said.

He stopped, turning to watch me as I caught up to him. "Got business at the carpenter's?"

I gave a short, low laugh. Yeah, right, I thought. I don't have enough money to feed myself, how could I afford to have something built? "No, I'm just exploring today, and I've never been this way before."

"Okay. Well, my dad's carpentry shop is right around this corner. I'm an apprentice there. Used to be, you had to go the long way through Maple Lake and past the mines to get to us. This shortcut might just increase business for us. Maybe. I don't know. Pops shoulda been glad for that, instead of acting all mopey like he was doing." He began to whistle.

We came to a fork in the road, and Luke went to the left, heading towards a large building surrounded by planks of wood. I looked off to the right, and I could see a dense grove of trees that looked perfect for foraging. I reluctantly bid Luke farewell, and headed that way.

As I walked alone, I thought deeply. I couldn't believe how smitten I was by Luke. He was devastatingly attractive, but his cheerful, friendly demeanor made him approachable. This was in sharp contrast to Gill, who although was admittedly quite handsome, his snooty attitude squelched any attraction I could have ever felt towards him.

As I got closer to the grove, my heart leapt when I saw an assortment of herbs and berries growing there. I rushed around, gathering them up. I could sell the herbs; I knew that Doctor Jin could use them. The berries looked edible, and my hunger overrode my fear of poisoning and I ate some. I put away everything I collected in my rucksack, and ventured further in.

I heard a skittering noise somewhere nearby, and I froze. Was there a wild animal in here? As much as I liked the outdoors, I was terrified of creepy creatures. I just prayed that it wasn't a snake. Anything but a snake. The noise eventually ceased, and I refocused on gathering berries and herbs. I leaned down into a thick patch of grass to pull up some blue herbs there, and I was met with two beady eyes.

I screamed, flailing out my arms and tumbling backwards. The snake just hissed threateningly at me, and I crawled backwards on my hands and knees trying to get away. I finally managed to stand up, and I fled out of the grove, my heart pounding out of my chest. I turned to look behind me, as if the snake would have even chased me, and as I did so, I barreled straight into somebody.

My body recoiled from the impact, and I was momentarily stunned. Strong hands gripped me by my shoulders, and I panted heavily, still very frightened. I heard a newly familiar voice saying my name, and I looked up. I had run into Luke. His mischevious golden eyes twinkled at me. "You okay, Angela?"

I gasped for breath, and I pointed back at the grove. "I saw a big snake! Huge!"

Luke just chuckled. "Oh, that's probably just Charlie. He's cool. He's not poisonous."

"Oh." I felt a little embarrassed for reacting like I did.

Luke shook me slightly by the shoulders. "But yeah, he is kind of scary looking if you don't know any better. And now you know!" I nodded dumbly, starting to blush at the fact that we were still so close together, and his hands were still holding my shoulders. I could smell him; a lovely combination of the earthy smell of pine and the clean smell of soap. My face was completely red when he finally let go of me.

"You sure you're all right, Angela? Your face is all red," he asked me, and I nodded my head. Obviously, he was unaware that he was gorgeous and what effect it had on the opposite sex. I mumbled some excuse and hurried off home to ship what I had found.

When I awoke the next morning, I was happy to find some money in the shipping bin. It would be enough to feed me for a couple of days, plus enough for a bag of seeds. Things were already starting to get better...