The old man simply stopped writing one day. I grew worried about him when he wouldn't respond my letters, so I went to visit him. I had run into the mayor, who gave me the two biggest shockers of my life. First, the old man died. I nearly fell on the floor when I heard that. My friend died. The mayor then told me that the old man left me the farm.
The old man had no family. He left his farm to a kid that exchanged letters with him for years. I wanted to cry for him.
I had no time to waste. The farm was mine now, and frankly, it was in dire need of repairs. My 'house' was little more than a dusty shack. The barn was empty, just like the chicken coop. The fields were chocked with weeds, stones, and dried up stumps and branches. Impossible to clean up by myself. So, I cleaned up a bit, had myself a small lot for farming, and went to the market to get some seeds. That is when I met...her.
I had never seen a more beautiful girl in my life. When I entered the market, she walked up to me, greeted me and gave me a free bag of grass seeds. I smiled like such a goof! I walked up to the counter, bought a bag of turnip seeds, and walked out of the market, telling her goodbye. My heart was racing that day!
After that, I ran into her every now and again. Sometimes, when I'd take a break from my farm, I'd find her by the waterfall close to Mother's Hill, on the edge of Mineral Town. Whenever I went shopping for supplies, I'd see her working in the store, and I'd tell her hello. She and I would always talk, always happy to see each other. I really liked her. Barley, the man who worked the cow farm, told me that the key to showing how much I liked a girl was to give her something she liked. I eventually learned that Karen really liked wine.
I bought her wine every chance I had. Wine was expensive, and I wouldn't always have the money for it, but I bought it anyway, for her. I still sometimes chuckle at the memory of the time she beat Duke, the local winemaker, in a drinking contest! That was amazing.
She isn't the best cook in the world. She'd always enter the yearly cooking contest, even though she always came dead last. She always tried cooking some weird recipes. One time, she mixed chocolate into a fish stew! I still laugh about how it was so bad it sent me to the clinic, even if at the time I didn't find it so amusing.
I would often walk with her on the beach after sundown. Yeah, most of the time I'd be bone tired, with my body aching quite a bit after farm work. And sometimes I'd do things that were just silly, like walking under the rain for over an hour just so I could visit her at the market, and give her a bottle of wine, or something I had cooked for her in my kitchen. Yeah, I'd often catch colds because of that, miss a few days or work. But you know what? It was always worth it to me, to see her smile.
When my farm became more successful, I had my old shack expanded into a real house, with a few more rooms and a few more amenities. Sure it wasn't a mansion, but it was a good house. Good enough for the family of a farm man.
A family. I had long decided that I loved Karen. I knew in my heart of hearts that I wanted to marry her. I bought the Blue Feather, which is the custom in Mineral Town, to ask her to marry me. She said yes!
We're married now, expecting a child. My life is amazing, and it's all thanks to that one time I got lost. Thank you, old man. I'll name my son after you.
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