Happy was not the word to describe Gill. Ever since that fat girl started sheltering in her own house, the island was falling apart. Crops refused to grow, income was scarce, and the only clothing store in town was on the verge of bankruptcy. Maya even brought boatloads of crop, but it was always sent to various islands. What was so bad about Castanet?

Ruth and Craig seemed to be enjoying luxuries however. Every week, a mystery customer would order all of the seeds. Hamilton usually delivered it, and no matter how much Gill begged, he refused to tell him the identity of the customer.

He leaned back on his chair. The paint was chipping off. Gill died a little every time he thought of it. He had just gotten it.

Out of habit, he traced his fingers over the side, careful not to force paint off. The more he tried, the more it fell apart. It was a lot like the island.

Not wanting to bother with it anymore, he continued his book. The pages were musty and yellow, yet there was a sort of vintage feel to it.

It had been given to him by his mom. She told him the book went through a lot, and had a second story to tell. It was called, 'The Ugly Duckling,'

"Hey, Gill." Hamilton waddled up to him. There were bags under his eyes and he had lot a lot of weight in the past seven months. His hair was thinning and he seemed tired no matter how much he slept. Gill wondered if the diet pills were working.

"Gill." He repeated, "You wanted to know who the customer was. The one that buys the seeds."

Gill looked up at that.

Hamilton trudged back to his room and came back with a wheelbarrow full of seed packs.

"Take this to Molly. I… I'm a little sore today." He smiled sadly. Gill knew better though. His now thin and lanky arms could no longer handle anything anymore. He… Wait. Molly?

"Molly's the one buying all these?"

Hamilton didn't reply. He had already went back to bed.

….

Gill had never even touched a wheelbarrow before. He rather let other people carry his stuff for him.

A near hundred pound load was not easy to haul all over town. To make it worse, everyone started pointing. Luna had pointed and laughed. Jerk.

She was pretty though, and her silky pink hair was just fabulous. Unlike a typical five year old boy, he had never hated pink. Now almost 20, he found the color sophisticated and dapper.

For some reason, people had the assumption he was gay. Every once in a while, Julius would come over and give him tomato juice, wink, and leave. Unghhh

He lugged the barrow over the path that linked Garmon Mines and Harmonica town, finally stopping at the entrance of the ranch.

He had expected a deserted, lonely place. This… He couldn't speak. The house and barn were still full of holes and half of the coop had fallen apart, but the field. The field was full of all different types of crops.

Honeydew and tomatoes were half of it, but there were crops he couldn't even name. He would have stood there for a little longer if he hadn't remembered the island. The island that was falling apart. The island that no one knew about anymore. The island that he grew up in.

While Castanet was in pieces and something other than fish was rarely eaten, this ranch was prospering. The amounts of fruits on the field could have fed a whole family for two weeks. Yet, why was all this never seen in the markets? Oh yeah. It was sold to the other markets. He had wondered where Maya had gotten the crops.

To angry to care, he knocked on the door loudly. Waiting impatiently for a response, he kicked the door as he had done last time. As expected it flung open.

Who was this girl?

…

As usual, Molly woke up at six and immediately went to take care of her crops. She proudly beamed as she finished up the third row of her tomatoes. They were doing well.

The only fear she had is if there was to be a storm. She had heard it could take out half of a field.

There was one tomato though, that was separated from the others. A green pepper separated it. It was ripe, but ugly and decent. Still, she picked it, careful not to harm it. This green pepper could have saved a starving man.

It seemed she had clutched it to hard. Green pepper juice squirted over her shirt. Her only shirt that she could have gone in public with.

Sighing, she finished up her crops and hurried back to her house.

Taking off her shirt, she dunked it in a bucket of water and rubbed it with a giant rock. It worked quiet decently actually.

Suddenly, the door flung open.

…..

All anger forgotten, Gills stood there. He simply stood there, not having the sense to turn away and mutter an apology. He just stood there.

A girl with brown, curly hair sat cross legged on the floor with a bucket of water and a giant rock. A yellow blouse was in the bucket.

She had big brown eyes with long eyelashes. Her cheeks were a light pink color and he could tell she wasn't wearing any make-up.

Even if she was sitting down, Gill could tell she had a good figure. All in all, she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

Oh, and she was shirtless.

The girl turned a bright red and turned around covering her chest. Gill suddenly was pulled back in reality. He stepped back and covered his eyes.

"Sorry! I thought… Sorry for breaking into your house…I didn't mean… Are you…." He spluttered, not knowing exactly what to say. She probably thought he was a creeper now. Normal people usually don't break into houses and stare at shirtless women. Well, maybe in Toby's case. Those were the times when he only opened his eyes.

"I… Get out!" The voice sounded strangely familiar. She threw the bucket at him.

It barely touched his hair as he jumped out of the way. The girl found whatever she could and started chucking it at him. Gill finally had the sense to run away.

He hid behind a bush, gasping for air. He probably deserved that.

Wait… Where was Molly?

Waiting a few minutes, he came up to the doorway again, which was closed. He knocked on it gently.

"I truly am sorry." He called out, "I came to deliver your seeds."

"Leave it here and get out." Was the simple reply.

"I need to ask your something first." He called out again.

"…What?"

"Do you know any Molly's that happened to live here? She's big and large."

The door flung open. The girl stood face-to-face with him, now wearing a over-sized baseball shirt. She had an angry look on her face.

"What do you mean? I am Molly!" Her eyes were narrowed. Gill was confused. How could a fat oversized girl like her be the beautiful girl that stood in front of him? He had seen an embarrassing picture of her once that was posted all over town hall. He felt disgusted as soon as he saw her stomach.

"I'm talking about Molly Pitcher."

The girl rolled her eyes, "Right in front of you."

Gill promptly fainted.