Chapter 3

Popuri wakes up the following morning feeling completely refreshed. As soon as she stretches her arms, she hears a knock on the door to the room. She takes a peek out the door, and finds a bucket filled with toiletries just outside her door. She takes the bucket, and heads over to the bathing room to take a warm bath. The experience is new, she has never slept or bathed anywhere outside her home, let alone Mineral Town.

After getting dressed, she walks herself down to the lobby. She takes a look around and finds a phone by the desk. She did run away suddenly, so she knows her mother is very worried. She figures that a call to tell her that she’s fine wouldn’t hurt. As soon as she calls, her brother Rick answers. He immediately starts screaming at her as soon as he realizes that it’s her. She keeps the receiver away from her ear until he finishes ranting off about how sick and worried everyone in Mineral Town is.

As soon as Rick is done yelling, Popuri apologizes and promises to come back home as soon as possible. A promise she doesn’t plan to keep. As soon as she hangs up the phone, Takakura walks into the inn and find Popuri standing in front of the phone.

He walks up to her and asks, “are you ready?”

Popuri looks at Takakura with a puzzled look and asks, "ready? Where are we going?"

Takakura smiles and says, "I want to show you something. I really think you should meet a good friend of mine.

Popuri becomes nervous again. She has only met him last night, now he’s going to introduce her to other strangers. She wants to say no and go home, but Popuri feels only kindness coming from him. If he wanted to harm her, he would have done it the night before. So she nods, and follows Takakura out of the inn.

As they walk together, Popuri wonders if she is making a mistake. She is nervous about meeting Takakura’s friend, but she also feels that she can trust him. After all, she already took the risk of leaving home. If she is going to be so afraid, she should have never left Mineral Town. But as she is debating with herself, she realizes that she still haven’t thanked Takakura for taking care of her last night.

Popuri suddenly stops and says, “um, I don’t think we’ve properly introduced ourselves yet.” She then bows at Takakura and continues, “my name is Popuri. Thank you for everything you did for me last night.”

He nods and says, “my name is Takakura. It is nice to meet you.”

There is a moment of silence before Popuri says, “umm, I don’t mean to be rude, but where are you taking me?”

Takakura turns around and points at a nearby ranch, "something you said bothered me last night. So we are going there. Instead of me explaining all the boring details, I want you to see it for yourself."

"But it's a farm. I live next to one back at Mineral Town."

"Just wait and see." Takakura then continues toward the farm, Popuri curiously follows him.

As they walk in, Popuri marvels at the sheer size of the farm. Rows after rows of crops laid out so neat and carefully. The fenced pasture has cows and sheep grazing happily under the spring sun. She blushes as she watches the cute chickens pecking in the chicken yard. The farm back in Mineral Town is so generic and lazily put together, Popuri is amazed that another farmer put so much love and care into the farm in Forget-Me-Not Valley.

“Is this your farm?” asked Popuri.

Takakura shakes his head no while answering, “not anymore. Me and my partner used to run this ranch together. Now his kid took over shortly after my partner died. I’m old and retired, so I just watch over his kid.”

Popuri crosses her arms and pouts as she snaps, “I bet it was his son.”

Suddenly, the front door of the farm house opens and a young woman about the same age as Popuri walks out. She stretches her arms ready for another day working in the farm. Instead of a long frilly dress, she has a white and orange shirt, jeans, brown work shoes, work gloves and a rucksack. Popuri gasps as soon as she realizes that she is the farmer of this land, not a guy.

“Jill, come on over here,” called Takakura.

Jill yawns, then looks over at Takakura with her sleepy eyes. She rushes to Takakura and gives him a warm hug. “Uncle Taka! You came to visit!” As she hugs Takakura, she notices the pink haired guest hiding behind him. “Who is this? A new girlfriend? Isn’t she a bit too young for an old timer like you?”

Takakura laughs cheerfully while rubbing Jill's head roughly, "take it easy there, this is a new friend of mine. Introduce yourself already."

Jill bounces over to Popuri, "hi there! My name is Jill, what you're name?"

Popuri nervously answers, "I'm Popuri, I'm from Mineral Town."

"Wow, that's such a cute name!" She then shakes Popuri's hand. Her powerful grip impresses Popuri. "Welcome to my farm!"

“I can’t believe it! Are you really a farmer?” asked Popuri.

"Yup! My old man left it to me. Been caring for it ever since then," answered Jill.

Takakura gives them a warm smile. He knew that Popuri would be inspired by Jill. He then begins to walk towards the house and says, "Come on you two, we have a lot to talk about."

Back inside Jill’s house, Popuri sits at the table as Jill prepares tea for her guests. She looks around, impressed at how nice and clean the house is. The house is decorated with a feminine touch with a lot of pinks and lace. Imagining Jill working at a job usually handled by men while keeping her feminine self impresses her. Popuri wonders if maybe she could someday do the same.

As Jill is serving the tea, Takakura announces, "guess what Jill, Popuri tell me that she is interested in being a Chicken Rancher."

"Really? That's so cool," answered Jill.

Popuri tilts her head down a bit and blushes. "I don't know if I can. . . My family won't let me work on our ranch. Every time I try to help, things get messy. I tried to take care of a chicken, and it got attacked by a stray dog. I was so upset."

"Your family won't let you? That really sucks," snapped Jill.

"Yeah. . . Where I live, boys do all the work, and girls just stay home and cook."

Jill slams on the table and yells, "that's unacceptable! Girls can work just as good as boys can! We can even do it better sometimes!"

Takakura interrupts, "it seems like in Mineral Town, they still practice older traditions and customs. Nothing wrong with that, but some of them need to change. This is an age where equality exists after all."

"Yeah, I wish Mineral Town would get the message already," whined Popuri.

Takakura notices the sad look in her eyes. He wants to help her, but he wonders if he should. He doesn’t know Popuri at all, but he can definitely tell that she has dreams that will be tough to fulfill. He wants her to go back home and reunite with her family, but he fears that she will only run away again if things don’t change. Next time, she might not be as lucky.

After Popuri and Jill talks some more, Takakura gets an idea. "Well Jill, it's time that we got going already. I'm sure them cattle won't wait for you forever!"

Jill nods, "cool! Thanks for visiting uncle Taka." The then turns to Popuri and continues, "it was great meeting you Popuri. I hope you can come and visit sometime."

Popuri nods cheerfully. After everyone says their goodbyes, Takakura and Popuri leaves the farm and Jill rushes off to work. As Takakura leads Popuri, he asks, "well, how did you like Jill?"

"I really like her. She's so strong and independent! I wish I could be like her!"

"You can be if you want."

Popuri sighs, "Not really. . . Even if this valley is more free than back at home, I still can't work with ranches at Mineral Town. I really want to run away and find a place of my own. But if I did that, my mother would be so sad and lonely. I feel so trapped. . ."

Takakura stops and turns around, then says, "Lets make a deal. I want you to go back home right now, and reunite with your family."

"But I-"

Takakura interrupts, "but in exchange, I'll train you myself every Monday right here in the valley on chicken ranching. I'll even arrange something with Greg so you won't have to pay for the trip here and back. Do we have a deal?"

Popuri beams with excitement, "really? You'd do that for me!?"

“It would be my pleasure. You can even spend time with Jill as you train,” answered Takakura.

Popuri gives Takakura a warm hug and thanks him over and over. Once Popuri contains her excitement, they move back to the dock to wait for the next boat to Mineral Town. Takakura explains the situation with Greg, and he is glad to help. Popuri and Takakura says their first goodbye, then she boards the boat heading back to Mineral Town.

It was a very nervous trip back home. Popuri rehearses over and over on what to say to her mother and brother. She knows that they are very upset, but she is also an adult at the same time. She knows that she needs to apologize, but stand firm as she explains that she wants to go to Forget-Me-Not Valley on a regular basis. If she can convince them to let her have that much freedom, she will be happy.

Back at home, Popuri receives an earful from her mother and brother. She does her best to explain that she only ran away because she was upset at Rick, but nothing is getting through to them. She can only allow them to vent their frustrations before they can listen to reason. "Don't ever do that again! Do you have any idea how worried you made mom? She's friggen ill for crying out loud," yelled Rick.

Popuri sighs nearly rolling her eyes, "fine, I'm sorry. You'd think at twenty years old, I should have the freedom to go where I want."

"That's not the point! And you shouldn't apologize to me, apologize to mom!"

Popuri nods, she hates to admit it but Rick is at least right about that. She then faces her mother with shame and guilt in her eyes, "mama, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry. I was just mad at Rick, and I ran away. Please forgive me."

Lillia embraces her tightly. Trembling and sobbing, she says, “I thought I was going to lose my baby. I know your brother is hard on you, but don't run away ever again. We're a family, and we should talk to each other."

"I won't run away again. I promise mommy, so don't worry."
Even after Popuri’s apology, they continue to discuss what happened since Popuri ran away. They had officer Harris start a search party, unaware that Popuri left Mineral Town completely. People started to believe she was kidnapped until Popuri called from Forget-Me-Not Valley. Now that Popuri is home, everyone has calmed down. Popuri had no idea everyone in Mineral Town was so worried about her.

Now that everything is okay, Popuri still has one last thing to talk to her family about. "Mama, I'm going to go to Forget-Me-Not Valley every Monday starting next week."

Lillia looks at Popuri seriously and answers, "You plan to go to another town regularly without my permission?"

"But Mom! I'm old enough to go out if I want!"

"Remember Popuri, as long as you live in my house, you will follow my rules. That goes for your brother too."

Popuri understands her mother's demands. She then tilts her head down innocently, "mama, can I go to Forget-Me-Not Valley every Monday? Please?"

Lillia sighs and asks, "why do you want to go there every week?"

"I met a really good friend there, and I think I can benefit from going to the valley every now and then. Please. . . Can I?"

Lillia knows that Popuri isn’t telling the full story. Even though she is her precious daughter, she does understand that Popuri is a grown woman and she can make her own decisions. She decides to allow it under one condition, "as long as you promise to never run away from home again, you can go."

Popuri glows with happiness, and begins to jump for joy. While she is distracted, Rick walks up to his mother and quietly asks, "are you sure it's a good idea to let her go out there all by herself?"

Lillia whispers back, "I know the valley well. The people there are kind and gentle. I won't have to worry as long as she goes someplace I am familiar with. And besides, I am good friends with Vesta. If something happens, she'll let me know."