Harvest Moon 1. Chapter 1

A lot of people say this serie is only for children. I say they're wrong, anyone can have fun playing it. That's why I'm here! And I bring this new short serie about Connie, looking forward to a future serie. I will also explore a new way of telling the story, so bear with me. Hope you enjoy it!

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Firstly let's introduce our heroine. Not that she had done anything worth the term 'heroine', but our story revolves around her. Connie was a ten years old, short haired brunette. Her weight was a little under the average and all her friends used to call her little charm, though she didn't mind it. People liked to pinch her cheeks and she hated it but she never had the courage to tell them, though she did pout when someone did it to her. Her favorite color was yellow, she loved any kind of pasta, her favorite hobby was to jump rope and read fairy tales. She always wanted to have a dog but she lived in an apartment complex and animals weren't allowed. Her parents said she was allergic but whenever she saw a stray cat or dog on her way she'd stop to pet it. And she never had any kind of allergic reaction.

The girl was coming back home from school one day and had taken a bit longer to arrive due her friends deciding to stop in a brand new candy shop that had opened close to their school. The girl wasn't crazy about sweets but she ended filling her pockets with candies and lollipops from the shop before parting ways with her friends and heading home.  
"Sorry for the late," she announced when she entered the apartment's main room. The dim light of lampshade over the corner table picket her attention to an envelope under it. "Mom? Dad?" She called, leaving her backpack over the sofa and sitting on it, stretching her arm to grab the envelope. Inside there were two notes and a train ticket that she didn't bother to see.

**"Connie,**  
**Your Mom and I are leaving on a trip for work. **  
**Some old ruins have been found, and we're going to lead the excavation. **  
**Since we won't be coming home for a bit, we're sending you to stay with your grandparents. **  
**Sorry that this is so sudden, but be good and help your grandparents with whatever they need.**  
**-Dad"**

Now, my readers, try to imagine yourself in her toes. How would you feel, knowing you were left behind once again when you finally had expectations that the next time your parents went on a trip they'd bring you along? That, my dearest, was Connie's reaction. She tossed the envelope over her backpack, not bothering to read the other note. Instinctively she picked up the telephone and called one of her friends from school, just to vent out.  
"It is okay, Connie. Summer vacation is just around the corner anyway. And you're going to be with your grandparents. That's a good thing, right?"  
Connie was lost for words. She did remember when she was younger and visited her grandparents' farm. It had been fun riding the cows, chasing the chickens, cuddling with the sheeps and, above all, having fun in the small shop they had. Grandma Sharon was the one in charge of painting the decorative eggs while Grandpa Graham was a pro in making the neater ice cream she had ever seen. There was also a juice machine but even Connie learned how to use it, since it was pretty simple. Those precious memories were her treasures.  
"Well, I do like my grandparents and I do like the farm but I was looking forward to go with my parents instead," Connie complained. "I think I am big enough to take care of myself if they had brought me along."  
"Don't lie to yourself," the girl on the other side scolded. "You barely know how to cook an egg. It will be better to stay with your beloved grandparents."  
Connie pondered a bit before answering while her friend blabbered about the candy shop and about her plans for her own vacation. She didn't have any idea of when her parents would go get her but it surely had to be before her vacation period was over, so she cheered up a bit.  
"Well, thanks for the advice. I will start packing now," Connine thanked, hanging up.

Her luggage was small but she didn't mind it. She tried to picture what her grandparents' reaction would be once she arrived and if they even knew she was on her way there. She was walking absentmindedly when a strong hand grabbed her shoulder, halting her.  
""Where are your parents?"  
Connie looked up to see that the person holding her was one of the guards from the station. It wasn't hard to recognize him because of his uniform.  
"Are you lost?" He asked, since Connie didn't answer his question.  
Connie just got the envelope with the notes and the ticket from her pockets and handed it to the man. As the man finished reading both notes he had tears in his eyes.  
"Aren't you too young to be traveling all by yourself?" He asked her, wiping a tear from his eye with his thumb.  
"They're working," she explained, uneasy about the man's reaction to the notes. "It is not like I have a choice," she finished, looking up to the man that was way too tall.  
"Okay, I get it," he said proudly. "I will make sure you embark on the right train!"  
"Sure," she said. And when she smiled the man smiled too and offered his hand.  
She wavered. Wouldn't it look like she was a lost child if she just held his hand? In the end she took it and they started to head to the right platform. More than once they were stopped by people who wanted to greet or him or to ask for informations. Connie would look to the ground every and each time and would only raise it again when the person who approached him left.  
"We're almost there," he announced with joy. "Do you want me to keep you company until the train is here?" He asked.  
"I wouldn't want to keep you from your work, sir," she replied honestly. And the man chuckled, shuffling her hair.  
It didn't take that long for the train to get in the platform so she boarded it and waved one last time to the guard.  
"Have a safe trip, Connie! And be good to your grandparents!" The guard waved back.

The travel to Clover town was pretty long. Connie lived in the city while Clover town was a rural area. She didn't have much to do so she took the envelope with the notes and decided to read the second one.

**"Hi, Connie! **  
**You be good! **  
**Mommy loves you! **  
**Kisses! **  
**XOXO! **  
**I'll see you soon! **  
**Love, Mom 3"**

"What is this?" she mumbled to herself, holding her laugh and her tears. By the end of the note there was a kiss mark with the lipstick her mom always used. "I love you too," she whispered, holding the note close to her chest.


	2. Chapter 2

_"We've arrived in Clover town,"_ the metallic voice said.  
Connie hopped out of the train and looked around. Her grandparents were not waiting for her at the  
train station, but she already expected that. She was just walking out of the train station when she  
overheard an old man talking to himself.  
"The Harvest Sprites must have abandoned us," he cried out loud.  
Connie was still unsure if she should talk to him or not, but then she saw a familiar face at a bridge  
close by.  
"Grandma!" Connie shouted, running her way.  
The old lady opened her arms to shelter Connie in a hug. Then looking to the old man that was  
complaining at the front of the station, she greeted him.  
"Good evening mayor," she said cheerfully.  
"Not good at all, not good at all," the man continued complaining but Connie's grandma, Sharon,  
didn't seem to pay it any attention.  
"Let's get going, Connie?"

On the way to the farm Connie couldn't help but notice that almost all the shops were closed  
already.  
_"It must be later than I thought,"_ she pondered on her way back to the farm.  
The farm was just like Connie remembered, though it was all empty.  
_"Probably the animals are sleeping already,"_ was what she thought, and not too far from the farm's  
entrance she found grandpa Graham.  
"Welcome, welcome! It is good to see you again, Connie. My goodness, you've grown quite a lot  
since the last time I saw you. Can't believe my daughter would leave such an adorable daughter all  
by herself," he mumbled, more to himself than to anyone else. "But then again she did choose a hard  
job, one can't blame her. I just hope you enjoy your stay here!" He said with a warm smile, and  
Connie felt like home already.

"This will be your room. We prepared it specially for you!" Grandma Sharon said, turning on the  
lights.  
"Did you see that? Now we have electricity!" Grandpa Graham boasted. "The last time you came to  
visit we used candles and lamps, do you remember that?" He asked, excitedly.  
"Of course I do!" Connie said, her grandpa's excitement rubbing on her. "That feels so nostalgic,"  
she said.  
"We can dine with candle lights if you'd like, but I'm afraid it wouldn't be that comfortable," grandma  
Sharon offered. "And talking about dinner, you must be starving. Get settled while I prepare  
something for us to eat, okay?"  
Connie agreed and when the two left she jumped on the bed. It had the perfume of chamomiles and  
mint, which she found quite pleasing. And before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

"Wake up, wake up," grandpa Graham called, shaking Connie's arm. "The sun is shining, the bees are  
buzzing and your grandma prepared breakfast," he said, and with a mischievous smile he put his  
hand on the side of his mouth, as if telling a secret, "Pancakes."  
Now, if there was one thing that Connie could never forget about her stay on her grandparents years  
ago were grandma Sharon's pancakes. There was _something_ in them that made them extra soft and  
extra tasty, though back then the girl never had the idea of asking what. This time she thought it  
would be worth it to ask.

"It is a family's secret, dear," she said, laughing. "But don't worry, someday I will teach you."  
Connie didn't feel bad about it at all. It wasn't like she could prepare pancakes by herself, so she  
decided to wait for the day where the pancake recipe would be hers. In the meanwhile grandpa  
Graham seemed to have plans for her.  
"Since you'll be staying with us for some time I thought you'd like to help with the work instead of  
just playing with the animals," he offered. "I will understand if you don't want though," he added in a  
hurry, as if he was afraid that Connie wouldn't like the idea.  
But Connie liked it.  
"I'll do it!"

Grandpa Graham gave her some money and instructed her to go to the seeds shop.  
"It is the first shop you see once you get out of the farm, so there's no mistake," he had explained.  
Connie did as instructed and saw two blondes talking. One was an adult female while the other  
was a kid around her age, though she couldn't decide if it was a girl or a boy. She walked up to them  
and the woman beamed.  
"Oh my gosh, I know you! You're Sharon's granddaughter, aren't you? You've grown quite a lot! I've  
heard you would come from Sharon but I didn't know it was so soon!"  
The woman babbled a little more before finally letting Connie enter the shop - the woman's shop, she  
found out - to buy seeds. Though the one on the balcony was not the woman, but the kid.  
"Hi," Connie greeted. "I'm Connie," she introduced herself.  
"I'm Cecil," the other said.  
_"He's a boy,"_ Connie thought after hearing his voice. "I'd like to buy some seeds," she said, and the  
boy showed her the available it hit her: she didn't have any idea of what kind of crop she  
should buy.  
"If I can give you an advice," the boy started, shily, "I'd buy the tomato ones. They're a very popular  
and also very used around this time of the year," he said, nodding as if to give more credit to what he  
was saying. And Connie believed in his words.  
"I'll take them, then."

"Now, let me just use this thing… done! Now in a couple days we should have ripe tomatoes. And  
then you'll be able to make some juice with them," he said proudly. But then, one second later, his  
enthusiasm left him and he looked to Connie, worried. "You did want to make tomato juice, right? I  
mean, it is okay if you don't want to try it too, grandma Sharon can always make it for us and all," he  
said, twirling the end of his moustache, pondering.  
"I do want to," Connie said, brightly. "I can't just spend all my days here doing nothing, right?" She  
smiled.  
"That's my girl," he said, patting her head.  
And all of a sudden Connie wasn't angry about being left behind by her parents anymore.


End file.

Harvest Moon, Family, Friendship