Chapter 1 - A FArm at Hand

When I dreamt of a small place all to my own, I never once realized it would turn out like this. Six months ago my grandfather died, leaving me, his only grandchild, all his belongings. Me, still being young of age, thought this meant money and objects. But I was wrong. My grandfather had left me his farm. This place was no stranger to me, I had just about grown up in the fields of Kanter Ranch, but the idea still came as a shock to me. But my grandfather did not stop there. Not only did he leave me his land, but also he left me a dog, one horse, five cows, three goats, four sheep, and ten chickens along with it.

My parent thought of it as a good opportunity for me, not to mention get me out of their house. But me, I disagreed. Let me explain why I did not agree. I was a seventeen year old girl, who had lived in the city her whole life, and had no idea how to run a farm, other than the quick lessons that my grandfather gave me when I came to visit him. But my parents had made up their minds; I was going.

Three weeks later, I was there. I dropped all my bags in the dark room of my grandpa’s cabin. I looked around at my new home. There was a bed, a dresser, and small chest, a refrigerator, a table, and a fireplace.

“Welcome home,” I said to myself, trying to smile. But no matter how hard I tried, I could not imagine this shack as home. I put all my clothes in the small dresser and lay down on the bed. “What am I going to do?” I asked myself. Just then I heard someone calling my name from outside. I got up and opened the door. It was an older man, short in height, and plump in size.

“May I help you?” I asked him.

“Why yes! Do you know a young lad named Jay? He should have arrived today.” He asked me, looking around for someone.

“Yes… I am Jay,” I replied hesitantly.

“YOU?! I’m sorry, that was rude, I just imagined Jay being a young man, not a well… young woman,” He replied.

“It’s okay, the name does kind of throw you off. My name is Genevieve, Jay for short. And who are you?” I asked the plump man.

“I am the mayor of this fine town of Mineral. And I already know who you are so let’s get down to business,” He said and bulled out a stack of papers.

“Business?” I asked, “what business?”

“Well if you are going to take over this farm, you are going to have to know the basics about the town, the places, the tools, and even the animals,” He replied.

“Okay, I’m ready… I guess,” and the mayor told me everything I needed to know… for two hours! After he left I went back inside the house.

“This is so unfair…” I cried to myself. “Now that I have to stay here, I have so much work to do! Oh, that reminds me. I have to take care of all of grandpa’s animals.” I stood up and looked around the room. “Now let’s see. I need a brush,” I said to myself.

I walked over to the chest in the corner of the room and opened it up. Inside there were many tools including a sickle, a hammer, a hoe, an axe, a small watering can, a brush, clippers, and a milker.

“Perfect!” I said as I grabbed the brush, clippers, and milker and stuffed them in the rucksack that was lying on the bed. “How rustic can you get?” I mumbled to myself and walked outside.

It was already mid-morning and the sun was brightly shining over grandpa’s fields. His fields weren’t much to look at though. All the crops had withered up and died, and there were weeds and rocks and stumps all over the place.

“I have a lot of work to do,” I said to myself, and continued on toward the barn.

When I got there I slid open the barn door and peered inside. It was pitch black, but I could still make out the whites of the eyes of the frightened animals. I set my rucksack down inside, and stumbled my way around until I found a light switch.

“Let there be light” I said and flicked on the switch. The whole barn lit up revealing the twelve animals that were inside. I walked around the stalls and looked at all the names of my grandpa’s beloved animals.

“Okay let’s see… first thing is too feed them” I said to myself, “But WHAT do I feed them?” I walked around until I found a fodder feeder. I grabbed a pile of fodder and started to even it out among the animals. I continued in that manner including brushing them, clipping the sheep, and milking the goats and cows. The milk that I had collected was placed in the shipping bins just as the mayor had told me.

“Well that wasn’t so hard,” I said with content and walked out of the barn. Next were the chickens. I walked to the chicken coop and carefully squeezed my way inside. All the chickens were peacefully sitting in their nests, so I slowly went around and gathered the eggs. Five of them I placed in the shipping bin, and the other five I keep for food. When I finished there, and squeezed myself back outside and headed toward the stable.

I looked inside and saw the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. Grandpa’s horse was a rich chestnut color with an off-white mane and tale. Her eyes were bright blue, and she had a curious expression on her face. I looked at the nametag.

“Epona” I said, ”What a beautiful name.” I picked up some fodder and laid it in her stall. I knew it was dangerous to approach an unknown horse, but I couldn’t help it. I slowly opened the gate latch and led Epona out of the stall. All of a sudden her eyes grew wide and she ripped the halter from my hands.

She started to buck, but I was so scared that I couldn’t move. The wild horse reared back and let out a load shrill, and just when the horse was about to come down on my small body, I heard a voice.

“Watch out!” it called and I felt something push me out of the way. Then I blacked out.

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