Our Story of Seasons: Pete X Claire

Chapter 15: Black Beginning

"What's that, Pete?" Claire turned around to face his field. The small journal caught her attention. That looks like an old book. Its cover was tattered.

"Oh, this?" Pete waved the book at her. "It's the old man's journal. It's a record of everything he's done on the farm. It could prove useful."

"That's convenient." Claire tilted her head. Did he find that in the house? "Wait, is that how you knew about the General Store?"

"Bingo." Pete grinned. "He mentioned that the store would sell seeds. He'd always make weekly trips to buy them."

Claire hummed in response. Maybe that journal could serve as their guidebook. Any advice on cutting stumps, perhaps?

"Okay..." After reading a few pages, Pete put the book away. He raised his hoe. Let's get to tilling!

ATCH!

Pete tilled three squares in succession. Okay, that's not bad. He was getting the hang of it. Five more squares were tilled, forming a 3 by 3 square plot of land, except it lacked a single square below the center.

"Huh..." Claire folded her arms, her eyes glued to the untilled spot. That's almost a perfect square. "Why are you leaving that land untouched?"

"Just following the old man's notes," Pete replied. "Why?"

"Why not till it?" Claire asked. "It doesn't seem... complete, you know?" Like an itch waiting to be scratched!

"We might not be able to tend to the plant in the center, though." Pete stuck his hoe down. "When the seeds grow up, they–..."

"Why couldn't we?" Claire rubbed her chin. "I don't see an issue with that."

"Huh..." Pete stared at the untilled land. "But..."

"Can't we just walk over the plants?" Claire raised a finger. "As long as we don't trample them, of course."

Pete stroked his cheek in deep thought. She makes a fair point. Why should he leave the land untilled? Why not make a perfect 3 by 3 square plot of land? They could easily navigate around the plants. The more he thought about it, the more he realized Claire was making more sense.

"You're... right." Pete raised the hoe and tilled the land. "I guess it was the old man's way of doing things."

"We're still at our prime!" Claire placed a hand on her other arm and flexed.

Pete chuckled. "I suppose we are."

And now, they had a square field with 9 individual plots ready for planting. Yeah, that makes a lot more sense. Pete took out a seed packet. Both the packet and the vegetable picture on it were white. There was a short caption that read: a spring crop that's easy to grow.

"Turnips." Pete hummed to himself. "The old man mentioned this was his first plant."

"Oooh, turnips." Claire inspected the packet. "How do we plant it?"

"Supposedly, each packet contains... 36 seeds." Pete directed his gaze to the tilled soil and made a mental calculation. So that would mean...

"4 seeds per plot?" Claire guessed.

"Right." Pete untied the packet. He scattered 4 seeds over each of the 9 plots. That's easy enough. He then took out a small watering can. "Next up would be to..."

"Water the fields!" Claire pumped her fists.

"Right again." Pete walked to a nearby pond and filled the watering can with water. He stood in front of the fields and began watering the plots one by one. "And done!"