Chapter 2

Winter is over, and spring marks a new year in Mineral Town. Everyone is busy around town, waking up and walking around now that the snow has melted away. The crops at the farm are sprouting, the cows and sheep over at the Yodel ranch are active, and the chickens at Popuri’s home are pecking at the dirt looking for worms. Even Popuri walks out of the house feeling refreshed by the new year. Kai has never come back since summer, and no letters came for her. He is gone, and Popuri will have to live without him.

Early that spring, the residents of Mineral Town prepare for a festival for young couples to bond. This festival is known as the Goddess Festival. Many tourists arrive from many places to watch the young women of Mineral Town dance for the blessing of the Harvest Goddess. Each young lady is escorted by a young man to protect her until the festival is over. Many couples eventually get married because of the bonds created from the Goddess Festival.

During the Goddess Festival, Popuri usually comes alone. Kai has never been in Mineral Town during the spring, and she has never allowed anyone else to escort her. This year she allows Jack, the farmer of Mineral Town, to escort her. Her brother Rick escorts his childhood friend Karen to the Goddess Festival. Even though Popuri’s heart is still broken, she wants to attend to respect the traditions of Mineral Town.

All the young women arrive at Rose Square safely in their ceremonial goddess costumes, which is just a toga adorned with spring flowers. All the visitors clap as each beautiful young woman arrives with their escorts. All of the girls mingle with the crowd until it is time for the dance. Each girl has been practicing this dance since they were young girls, so they dance for their dates, the people watching, and for the Goddess who will grant them her blessing. Popuri isn’t in the best mood to dance, but she still performs her best for her town.

After the dance is over, all the girls change into their casual outfits. Popuri walks around watching the young men ask their dates to go somewhere private. She is a bit jealous, since she was hoping that maybe Kai would someday escort her to the Goddess Festival and run off someplace where they can be alone. But she takes a deep breath and accepts that there are some things she will never have.

As Popuri walks around Rose Square, Jack approaches her and asks to go to the Goddess Pond in the woods. Popuri smiles, but bows respectfully as she turns down his offer. She doesn’t find Jack unattractive, but she doesn’t have any romantic feelings for him. But as she is talking to Jack, Popuri notices Rick and Karen talking behind them. Her eyes widen with shock as Rick drops down to one knee and pulls out a blue feather to present to Karen. Karen jumps with excitement as she accepts Rick’s marriage proposal.

Popuri’s eyes well up in tears as she watches Rick confess his love for the girl he loves. She turns around and runs away leaving Jack shocked and confused. She finds the fact that Rick gets to be with the one he loves, but not her, totally unfair. Feelings of hatred and envy fills her soul, she needs to run away before she explodes.

As she runs away, her mind fills with the memory of her brother getting in the way of her romance with Kai. Her eyes fill with tears, she can barely see where she’s going. It is also late, and the sun is beginning to set. Sooner than later, her heels sink into the ground and she falls to the ground. Popuri gets up and finds herself in the beach of Mineral Town once again. Kai not there to comfort her.

Kai’s empty diner only makes her feel worse. She slams her fist into the sand over and over until her knuckles turn red. For a moment, she thinks about just jumping into the sea and end her misery. She hates Rick, who drove Kai away. She hates this town for not giving her a chance because she was born a girl. She hates life because it is unfair. She wonders if she will ever find happiness?

“All aboard,” yelled Greg as the tourist board the boat leaving Mineral Town.

Popuri stops crying and looks up at the boat. At that moment, she gets an idea. If she can’t live freely in Mineral Town, she will run away and start a new life somewhere else. She has no idea where the boat is going, but she doesn’t care at that point. She just wants to go away, somewhere, anywhere.

She stands up, and pats the sand off her skirt. After wiping off any tears, she casually walks towards the dock and blends into the crowd of tourists. Acting as naturally as she possibly can, she pays her fare and boards the boat. Greg does notice Popuri board the boat, but he figures it’s fine and boards with everyone else. The boat then drift off into the distance taking the passengers away from Mineral Town.

The boat docks somewhere an hour later and Popuri gets off. She is not too far away from Mineral Town, but she is far enough to let her think about what she is doing. She can finally take a deep breath without being smothered by her memories or troubles. But she has a new problem now, she has no idea where she is. She is now in some sort of valley with a few buildings peppered here and there. She can also see a farm and a ranch somewhere in the distance. This village has even fewer people living there than Mineral Town. She was able to get away, but now she needs to figure out what to do from this point.

The boat leaves, and she is now stuck in the valley. She has nowhere to go, and nothing to do. She used all of her pocket money to get there, so she can’t even go back home if she wanted to. It is also getting late and it is now too dark to see clearly. Instead of looking around, she stays at the dock to stare into the ocean. She hates doing this, but she feels a bit of comfort believing that maybe Kai is looking at the same ocean she is. She stares for hours, wondering what will she do now.

As she looks over the dark black ocean, she wishes that she can just grow wings and fly away. That way she can find the man she fell in love with. But she sighs, knowing that she doesn’t want to do that either. Even though she still loves him, she feels abandoned and betrayed. He could have taken her with him, but he chose not to.

Hours later, Popuri still hasn’t budged from that spot she was dropped off at. She just lets the cool spring air blow through her long pink hair. Her skirt also dances as the ocean breeze picks up. Soon enough, an older man who is walking through the valley notices the young lady at the dock. It may be dark, but Popuri’s bright pink hair billowing with the wind catches the old man’s eyes. He stops and wonders who is at the dock just standing still in the middle of the night?

Curious to know what’s going on, the old man walks towards Popuri. Slowly so that he doesn’t scare her. The old man is now standing next to Popuri, but she doesn’t even notice him. Her mind has drifted so far away that she isn’t aware of what’s going on around her. After a few minutes, the old man says, “quite a nice cool night, don’cha think?”

Popuri gasps and turns to her right to find the old man standing next to her. At first she is afraid, but she quickly feels that the old man is harmless. He appears to be around sixty years old with a bad back. His hair is jet black with exaggerated eyebrows. His eyes appear to be shut, but he can clearly see. His white tank top, blue jeans, and black work boots gives her the impression of a hard worker. Possibly is or was a farmer.

“A little,” Popuri dared herself to answer.

“So what brings you to these parts? Mighty rare to see strangers around here,” asked the old man.

Popuri hesitates to answer. But considering that she is lost, alone, and with so much in her head, she decides to confide in the old man. If he was going to do anything bad to her, he would have done it when she wasn’t paying attention. She takes a deep breath, then says, “life is just not fair. . ."

"How so?"

Popuri sighs, then begins her story, "my dad won't let me work on the family business because I'm a girl. He taught everything he knew to my brother. He then left home, and never came back. After that, my brother thinks he can just control my life. He wants to decide what I do, and who can I love. I just want to help with the business, but he just keeps yelling at me. When I fell in love, he chased my boyfriend away. I hate him so much!"

"I see. . . Sounds like a real problem." The old man remains silent for a moment before asking, "by the way, what sort of business does your family own?"

"A chicken ranch."

"A chicken ranch you say?" the old man asked while raising an eyebrow.

Popuri nods and continues, "girls are not allowed to work in farms or ranches. We are only meant to be little house wives who cook and clean for the men. Sometimes I wish I was born a boy. . ."

The old man takes a moment to take in Popuri's words. Then he looks at her and says, "It's getting pretty late. Why don't I find you some place to rest. If you allow me, I want to show you something in the morning."

Popuri looks at the old man, surprised by his offer. If she was back in Mineral Town, Popuri would have turned him down and screamed for help. But at this moment, she finds herself with very little choice. It is past midnight, and Popuri has no idea where will she stay or what will she do until she figures things out. So she bravely nods and follows the man into the valley.

Some time later, the old man takes Popuri into an inn. She takes a look around to marvel the old inn which is filled with eastern culture. This inn is much different than the one back at Mineral Town. The scent of burning herbs fills the room with soothing aroma. She wonders how will she afford staying at a nice place such as this? The old man calls out, “Ruby, are you in?”

Soon, an older heavy set yet mildly attractive woman walks down the stairs to find them. “Takakura, it’s late! What’s going on?”

“I need a favor,” answered old man Takakura. “This young lady is lost and needs a place to stay for the night. Think you could help her out?”

“Of course, anything for a friend.” She then walks to Popuri and bows gracefully, “welcome! My name is Ruby, my family runs this inn. What is your name?”

“My name is Popuri from Mineral Town.”

“I see. Please follow me to your room,” said Ruby.

Popuri is nervous, she wasn’t expecting so much kindness from strangers. Neither Takakura or Ruby has any reason to trust her, but they welcome her anyway. Popuri looks back at Takakura, and he nods signaling her to trust Ruby. Popuri nods back and follows Ruby upstairs. She is then taken to an empty room with a bed. Ruby then walks away to tend to the other guests.

Popuri sits on the comfortable bed and wonders what just happened. She ran away from home, met an older gentleman named Takakura, and now she is staying at a fancy eastern style inn on a valley she never knew existed. She then lays on the bed and realizes that she never thanked Takakura for listening to her or helping her out. She hopes that she can thank him in the morning. But for now, she quickly falls asleep.