The next day, Dawn left the Inn/bar she and her father had stayed at for the night. (Well, they said it was an Inn, too, because of all those floors up above the bar…) She walked through the small, quaint town and walked over to the farm, the Lone Star farm.

It was a wreck—surprisingly. After all, her grandfather did take care of the farm, right? Rather, used to. Dawn felt the tears form in her eyes again.

"Dawn?" Dawn's father walked over to her.

"Oh—hello, dad." Dawn wiped her eyes and smiled weakly at her father.

"We're going to be leaving for the city soon, honey," her father said, looking mournful. "I need you to help me pack up."

Dawn began to go with her father, but something pulled her back. "Dad, what's going to happen to the farm?" she asked.

Her father's face looked even more mournful. "I'm afraid we'll have to sell it."

"To who?" Dawn felt more tears coming.

Her father sighed. She could tell he didn't want questioning, just peace. "Probably to the town, or to Joro Farm…I don't want to, but we have no other choice, Dawn." Here her dad sighed yet again, and she could see he was holding back the tears in a very strained way. Dawn did not want to see her father cry.

Dawn felt it again. She didn't want the farm turned into some shop! It had more purpose to it, more of a story and a life than some blacksmith. Dawn knew what she had to do.

"Dad, I want to take over the farm," she said.

Her father looked extremely surprised, then laughed, in a very hurtful way. "Dawn! You can't be serious! You're a girl, and the farm is a wreck, I doubt that anyone can get it back on its feet!"

Dawn glared at her father—he didn't believe she could do it, he didn't believe in her. "And being a girl automatically makes me unable to run a farm?" Dawn cried in disbelief. She could feel a hateful edge take over her. "Dad, I'm staying at the farm, and that's final!" Dawn stamped her foot.

Her father gave in, and sighed very heavily, yet again.

"I'll speak with the mayor," he said, after a long moment. "I'll come by to say good-bye, and then you're on your own."

He then left. Dawn stood still for a moment, then turned back to look at the farm.

It was a wreck; what had made her think she could take care of the farm? What kind of insanity was welling up inside her now? Then a light breeze blew across her face; and she thought, I'll show Dad. He doesn't believe in me? Hah! Let's see who's laughing in three years…

Dawn couldn't help smiling. She's live up to her grandfather's standards; maybe, just maybe, she'd show that other farm who was boss!

The next morning, Dawn woke up at six o'clock.

"What the heck?" she grumbled. "It's not supposed to ring until eight-thirty, then I check out that college—Oh, wait, that college was—"

Dawn's eyes widened as she looked about the room, then remembered where she was.

"Oh, yeah!" she exclaimed, jumping out of bed.

She dressed and ate quickly. She put on a pink shirt, with blue overalls. The overalls hung low, and the bottoms were baggy, and folded back so that they didn't hide her shoes, but they looked cool. When she stepped outside, she saw the Mayor.

What kind of Mayor was he? Dawn thought. He looks like a clown! Has he been staring at my house for five hours, waiting for me to wake up and come outside? What a creep! Dawn thanked the Goddess that the Mayor couldn't read minds.

"Hey!" said the Mayor.

"Good morning," Dawn said, walking over to the Mayor.

"And a good morning to you, too," he replied. "I am the Mayor of Flowerbud Village." (In case you were wondering, Dawn could already tell he was the mayor because of the big MAYOR badge on his vest.) "Please, just call me Mayor."

"Okay," Dawn said uncertainly.

"I know it'll be hard to bring the Lone Star farm back to its feet, and I don't really expect you to make much money with the Joro Farm already doing quite well. Of course, you know that lots of people admired your Grandfather in our town." Here the Mayor sighed. "Such a pity. Well, would you like a tour of the town?"

Dawn agreed to the tour. They walked through the town, the Mayor pointing out the important shops and places to go to. When Dawn got back to the farm, she found a very tall, muscular man waiting for her. (Why was he, like, 5 feet taller than anybody else in the game was??)

"Hello," the man said, "You're the grandfather's grandkid, right? I am the shipper. I ship the goods you grow or forage and then I pay you cash. Just put the goods in this bin. Name's Tom." Then he left, suddenly.

Dawn glanced uncertainly at the long stretch of farmland that needed weeding, rock-smashing, and wood chopping. She sighed.

Over the next hour, Dawn got used to the hammer, the sickle, and the axe. At first, Dawn swung the hammer down very clumsily (she almost chopped her head off with the axe) but after awhile she got used to it. She worked all day and the farming ground was almost completely clean.

But now she was extremely tired. She went inside and slumped down to sleep immediately.

The next morning, Dawn cultivated the land. Not all of it, just a lot of it. Dawn also used the lumber she had gotten and made a fence around where the field—for the many animals she'd own, she thought---would be. Then she went into the town.

She stopped at the Florist's. Having only 600G, she bought two packs of seeds. She talked with Lillia, the Florist.

"Oh, you're on that farm, are you?" she said. "I hope you do well on that farm. Your grandfather was such a nice man—nothing compared to that other farm! But the man on Joro Farm is very old, much like your grandfather was. I feel that he's going to—" Lillia stopped herself, then smiled. "You be on your way then," she said sweetly.

Dawn left the Florist's and walked down the street. She turned a corner and ran into the mailman.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" the man exclaimed, and he stood up and helped Dawn to her feet.

He introduced himself as Harris, and was obviously the mailman. He looked up and down Dawn in a way that made Dawn feel sick.

"Umm, nice meeting you," she said, and went into the Bakery.

It was a Tuesday. Dawn walked up to the counter and looked at the delicious treats she couldn't eat…

"Oh, hello," said a voice, "May I help you?"

Dawn looked up and noticed the man behind the counter.

"Are you the girl that's running the farm now?" he asked. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Jeff."

Dawn smiled (slightly) and noticed how old he was. She introduced herself and left quickly.

Outside, Dawn met an old woman who said that her name was Ellen, and was some girl named Elli's grandmother. She said she knew Dawn, but Dawn felt uncomfortable around old people, so she left very quickly.

Dawn went to the lower part of town. She peeked her head inside the library.

"Hello," said the girl behind the desk. "This is our public library…Feel free to read here. I'm Maria."

"Hi, Maria," said Dawn, "I'm Dawn, and yes, I'm taking over the farm." Dawn left and met everyone else in the lower part of the town. (I can tell you're getting bored now, aintcha?)

Then she went to Green Ranch. She walked onto the field (nobody said she couldn't) and patted one of the horses.

"Hey! Whatcha doin' here?" a voice called.

Dawn turned around and met Ann. "Oh, I'm just…patting a horse," she said.

Ann grinned. "Do you like horses?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah. I'm gonna have a lot on the farm."

"Oh, you're that girl from the farm…Hey, Gray!" Ann shouted, and a boy wearing a hat that said Uma, or Horse, (hee hee) walked over from who-knows-where.

"Do you think she should take the horse?" Ann asked him. "Reflexes seem good, what do you think?"

"Uhh…" Gray was blushing like a maniac. Dawn frowned at him. "Um, yeah. She's…a good choice." He walked away.

Ann grinned. "Gray's normally rude to strangers. Maybe he likes you! Oh, and by the way…" Ann frowned. "What's your name?"

"I'm Dawn," Dawn replied, and then Hall (Irish dude, Meghan! Or should I say Ann's dad) walked up with a white pony.

"Can you take care of her properly?" he asked her.

"Yes," replied Dawn. She took the horse home, brushed her, then named her Lyra. Then she changed it to Dia.

Dawn then left and walked up the hill to the vineyard. Just as she entered, another girl her age ran into her.

"Watch it, b*tch!" the girl yelled at her, then stormed down the hill past her.

"KAREN! Get back here!" shouted a male voice, then the heavy man sighed and went back inside the house.

Dawn walked up to the house, wondering what had caused the two to fight.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," said another male voice, but this was a calmer voice.

Dawn jumped. It was evening, so Dawn couldn't see much. But the boy stepped out into the setting sun's light, and Dawn could see he was dark skinned and wore a bandanna on his head.

"The girl who just stormed off was Miss Karen," she boy said, "and she's the Master's daughter. The Master was the man you just saw. Those two argue a lot…"

"And who are you?" Dawn asked. She liked the guy so far; even if he turned out to be a bad guy, she liked the smell of his cologne.

"Me? My name's Kai," and he grinned winningly at her. "I…work here. I came from the north."

Dawn smiled, and relaxed a lot. "My name's Dawn," she said, "and I'm working at the farm now…"

"Would you like to go get a drink at the bar?" asked Kai.

"Umm…sure," Dawn replied. She didn't like wine or liquor, but beer was good. But she hated seeing and smelling boys when they were drunk.

They walked down to the bar. Dawn saw Karen, the girl who had been rude to her (not to mention called her a b*tch) and her father, and a couple of other people like the shipper and Gray. Kai and Dawn sat at Kai's table and they ordered drinks from Karen.

"So, how do you like it here?" he asked after a couple of minutes of silence. (Dawn had had just enough money for a drink.)

"It's…a nice town," Dawn said. She didn't mention that the Mayor was a mentally challenged clown and that so far the only friendly reactions she had had were from a mailman, a Florist, and a vineyard worker. "I'm going to have some rivalry, I guess," she added, smiling as she took a swig of beer.

Dawn finished her beer. "I guess I'd better go," she said hastily.

She walked quickly to the door, and left. Kai followed her.

"I'll walk you home," he offered.

Dawn looked up at Kai, in the moonlight. He seemed like a nice guy, and seemed like the only guy she had met—so far—that was attractive. (If she were attracted to the Mayor, then she'd be the mentally challenged one.)

Kai walked her back to the farm. Before she went inside, Kai smiled at her. "I hope you like it here at Flowerbud Village." Then he leaned forward to kiss her.

Dawn pretended she hadn't noticed him leaning in to kiss her, and opened her front door, making Kai kiss solid wood.

"Oh…sorry, did I hit you?"

"Umm, yeah," Kai said, rubbing his nose. "Well, see you tomorrow!" He walked back to the vineyard.

Dawn liked Kai, but she was shy and didn't kiss guys after meeting them for the first time. Dawn then remembered to sow the seeds she had bought, potatoes and turnips, and planted them. She watered them and went back to her front door.

Gazing around at her farm, Dawn thought she could see her life's plans spread out before her, but she was missing an ingredient: love.

"I'll go and check out that other farm in the morning," Dawn said, smirking. "Then I'll show Dad."

Author's notes – Hey, did that suck or what? Yeah, it was too long, but I plan to make the story long too. If you want to e-mail me, e-mail me at [email protected] and tell me what you think! Of course I'm gonna have to write chapter 2, I can't leave her hanging!