to live, to survive, and to grow | stardew valley

to live, to survive, and to grow

The first time I noticed that something was wrong with Emily was during my fourth year on the farm.

The previous few days had been hard on my family and me. The snow had hit hard, and it had hit fast. So fast and so hard, in fact, that all the radiators, farm lights, as well as other electronic devices had suddenly stopped working. I had ended up having no choice but to call Clint.

He, of course, hadn't said yes right away. I probably should have known that it would be a struggle to get him anywhere close to Emily—I'd had too much faith in him, I guessed; had assumed that, with the cold, and with our animals struggling, he would not resist too much. I had been wrong.

I had ended up walking to his shop in the freezing cold not once but multiple times, just so I could convince him that it would be fine for him to come to our property, that I would be able to distract Emily so that he would not encounter her; I'd told him I'd ask her to feed the kids or to put them down for a nap. But he just had not listened.

So, eventually, I had lost it on him. I had screamed in his face, demanding for him to tell me who the hell he thought himself to be. I'd made it clear to him over and over again that, unless he did something, Goatee, Lizzy, Prosciutto and the others would not make it very much longer.

He had then finally caved, admitted his wrongs, and started working on a substitute for our electricity supply right away.

The iron and gold bars and the battery pack he, after my outburst, had quietly asked me for had already been in my pocket. I had known he would need something of the sort, and I had really not needed yet another trip from one end of town to the other. I'd simply given them to him.

On my way out, he had tried to apologize, but I had been too angry to acknowledge it. All I had snapped as I'd left was, "Just be there ASAP. If not by tonight, please make it tomorrow."

He'd given his mumbled affirmation as I'd already almost finished closing the squeaking door.

Fast forward to Winter 16—he made it the next day, as promised, and he very much did replace the faulty circuits in the barn and coop. I had to admit to feeling a bit bad for him; he had no Emily to talk to, obviously, but under normal circumstances, he would have at least had me to occasionally talk to over the course of the day. But there I was, still angry, still not ready to forgive him.

He had, after all, very much left not only me and my spouse, but also my animals, alone in the middle of a snow storm. For no good reason whatsoever. Because—what, he was still wallowing in self-pity? He was still not over being too ashamed to ask Emily out before someone else did? The sulking, pathetic blacksmith deserved no different, I told myself.

Well, to be truthful, only part of me thought those things. The good, always-empathetic part of me wished I could bring myself to do more than bring him a triple shot espresso here and there.

So as I sat there at the table, not knowing what to do with myself—without any growing crops due to the season, and without being able to cook or clean or watch TV—all I could do was mope about Clint and I's break in a long-established friendship. I suddenly wondered whether my wife would be able to give any advice on the particular topic. She always did have great insights, so explaining the situation would most likely help with deciding what to do about Clint. She'd known about Clint for a while, too, since I simply couldn't excuse his weird behavior around her any longer. She'd been cool with it. She'd also been cool with having to 'hide' while Clint was working out on the farm. It bothered me more than it did her that she couldn't behave normally simply because of some villager's hurt ego, but as long as she was okay finishing up tasks around the house, that's all that mattered.