Taking Root (Stardew Valley - Shane)

Chapter Sixteen

Grandpa's quaint kitchen started to fill with the acidic aroma of chopped tomatoes as I worked away at a basket-full, the red flesh splitting with ease under the pressure of a sharp blade. It was Sunday, and after the town had been awoken by the rising sun and had set off to church, we would be gathering on the beach for the annual Luau. It was supposed to take place at least a week ago, on one of the warm Tuesdays that the Governor would use to visit Lewis in the valley for so-called business meetings - but since it had been pouring with rain more days than ever this summer, the event had been reluctantly postponed.

Tomatoes were a good choice for a giant pot of soup, right? They're a solid staple. Although, I guess it didn't really matter at all what vegetable I bought - I couldn't imagine it tasting good if the ingredients were thrown together randomly with no rhyme or reason. I still felt it was possible that Emily was messing with me all along, and there would be no massive wooden bowl perched on the sand, ready and waiting for my home-grown goods. Because it sure sounded like some kind of joke.

I couldn't help but think about Shane while I mindlessly cut at the produce on my chopping board. I had been thinking about him ever since we had shared the wooden dock together, beers in hand. Or, rather, about what he had said. Just a handful of words. But words with a lot of thought behind them - words that were dark and upsetting. I wondered what could've happened to him this week, or month, that made him feel like that. Had he been delivered some bad news? Maybe. If I really thought he'd confide in me, I would have asked him there and then. Now, even though our relationship wasn't anything close to friends, I still wanted to find a way of cheering him up - of helping him to forget about it and feel better. Nobody should feel like he did.

I thought about what we had said on Friday just before we split away for the night. After we had finished at the lake, Shane had followed me up into the farmland, even though he looked entirely uncomfortable as we walked in dead silence under the rippling purple skies. When grandpa's cabin came into vision, he stopped moving any further, his shoes grounded into the earth like tree roots holding him in place.

"Are you coming to the Luau on Sunday?"

Shane had been looking at the landscape around him, although I'm sure he really couldn't see much at that time of day, before turning to me. "No."
"Why not?"
"I'd rather stick my head in a blender."
I laughed and winced a little. "Ew, I have a pretty vivid imagination, you know."

"Good." He huffed with the tinsy-tiniest hint of a smirk. "Just really picture my face all mangled up in that blender."

I rolled my eyes and turned to head back towards the cabin again, gradually moving away from Shane's fixed position. My hair tangled softly against the side of my face as I turned to him to call, metres away from the golden glow of the porch light, "I really think you should come."

Shane just stood there, his arms folded across his chest as he made sure I was shut inside of the building before dragging a hand across his scalp and trailing off homewards.

That was the end of Friday, and I hadn't stepped a foot off the farm on Saturday, so today was my next opportunity to catch a glimpse of him again. It seemed that I would never know what Shane I would see each time I did catch a glimpse.

Sometimes he was ignorant, not saying much else other than "What do you want? Go away," or "Can't you tell I'm busy?". At other times, he would be less evasive and actually let me into his thoughts, if only for a handful of minutes. And I could remember quite clearly how devilish he had been over a meal of pepper poppers or outside of Marnie's house after I lied for him.

I started to think that maybe his mood changes weren't really on purpose. I mean, yeah, I still knew the man was a total asshole. But maybe it all had something to do with what he shared with me on the wooden dock of the lake.