Chapter 8 – Life Begins Again.
The start of Autumn brought with it another strange occurrence, or at least a strange one for Kahlee. Her spiritual “helper” was busy in the garden again, trying to help cut down the time she spent out there.
Aside from that, most of Kahlee’s day was pretty normal. She was very surprised at finding more random fruit in her fridge… and part of her spaghetti missing, but she just went about harvesting her plants, weeding them and making sure everything was generally alright. While doing this, she had a tabcast on to help with her charisma skill, since she actually had time to go out and visit people now. After a good sleep, Kahlee grabbed a shower and then went off to sell her produce. Upon arriving home, she got a phone call from one of her friends.
Kahlee: “Hello?”
Akoni: “Hey, it’s just me.”
Kahlee: “Hey Akoni. How’s things?”
Akoni: “This living alone is getting boring, but otherwise fine… wait… what’s that noise?”
Kahlee: “…the sink.”
Akoni: “Need a hand fixing it?”
Kahlee: “Nah, I’m good. I’ve gotten pretty handy with a wrench.”
Akoni: “Ahhhh, alright. Are you going to this party later?”
Kahlee: “Haven’t been invited to one… but since today is my day off, I might crash it if I can find it.”
The invite turned up fairly quickly after that.
Kahlee: “A party at Gabrielle’s? That must be what Akoni was talking about! I am so there.”
It was a nice way to end the day, a party at a friends house, meeting old friends and making new ones. Almost as soon as she walked in, Kahlee was jumped by Gabrielle.
Gabrielle: “You came!”
Kahlee: “Well, you did tell me I needed to get out more.”
Gabrielle: “I’m still surprised you came. I know what you’re like for working on your garden.”
Kahlee: “Ah, today is my day off. I work on the garden every other day now.”
The two chatted for a while and generally caught up on their lives, then it was time to mingle. For once, Kahlee found herself approached by a somewhat attractive man. Normally it was the other way around.
Matteo: “Good evening.”
Kahlee: “Hi there. And you are?”
Matteo: “Matteo… and you?”
Kahlee: “Kahlee. Nice to meet you.”
Matteo: “Likewise. So, what do you do?”
Kahlee: “I’m a gardener. What about you?”
Matteo: “Night work.”
Kahlee: “…night work, huh?”
Matteo: “That’s right.”
Kahlee: “Would this be the ‘sneak around and pilfer stuff’ type of night work?”
Matteo: “Uh…”
Kahlee: “Well, if it is, don’t try your luck on my island.”
Matteo: “…why’s that?”
Kahlee: “The last burglar who tried is now in an urn.”
Such a charmer, but despite that they actually got on reasonably well, and Kahlee went back home with a new friend that evening. The next day was work day, so the young witch just spent most of the day in her greenhouse harvesting everything, then grabbed a shower and chatted with a random person on her computer, followed by some sleep. In the morning, her little helper came back.
Burglar: “I wonder if she’s worked out what’s going on yet…”
Kahlee: “What the… there’s more banana’s in my fridge! And where has that spaghetti gone?! …hang on…”
Since today was selling day, Kahlee intended to go straight to the grocers, but she spotted something in her garden which needed to be investigated.
Kahlee: “So
that’s what this plant was! That gives me an idea…”
After selling up her stuff, a quick trip to the bookstore was in order, and then she came home to read her new purchase.
Kahlee: “Huh… so that’s how you make it… and that’s what it does. Interesting.”
Since the garden had been partially harvested already, that meant Kahlee had a lot of free time the next day. She’d managed to gain a little bit more skill with her magic after using the conversion ritual on the various different seeds that she’d found, which meant she could now use her magic and her handiness skill to upgrade various different items. Of course, the first thing she upgraded was her sprinklers.
That night, she prepared a rather special meal and left it in her fridge.
She didn’t have to wait long for the results. Her little helper was quite persistent in lingering around the place.
Burglar: “Oooh. This looks good. I think I’ll grab this.”
Burglar: “That was lovely… wait… what’s happening?!”
Kahlee: “AHA! I thought it was you!”
Burglar: “…uh oh.”
Kahlee: “Sit down.”
Burglar: “…yes ma’am…”
Kahlee: “So… been playing around in my garden, have we?”
Burglar: “…yes.”
Kahlee: “Why?”
Burglar: “I wanted to help.”
Kahlee: “And why did you want to help?”
Burglar: “Being dead gives you time to think, and I felt bad for stealing your tent.”
Kahlee: “I never expected to hear that…”
Burglar: “…so if you thought it was me… why did you make that meal?”
Kahlee: “Everyone deserves a second chance.”
Burglar: “…not much of a second chance.”
Kahlee: “Why do you say that?”
Burglar: “I
died! I have no money, no job, no house and no friends.”
Kahlee: “Sound familiar?”
Burglar: “…sounds like you when you were dumped here…”
Kahlee: “Yep. So I’ll make you a deal.”
Burglar: “…what?”
Kahlee: “First, what’s your name?”
Burglar: “…Nevada.”
Kahlee: “Ok Nevada, I’m Kahlee. The deal is this. You can live here, but you have to help out in the garden. You’ll be responsible for harvesting until you get some skill, then you’ll be helping with the weeding too. We work on a day on, day off schedule. What you do in your free time is up to you, but I expect you in the garden on the specified days.”
Nevada: “Wait… what’s the catch?”
Kahlee: “Like I said, everyone deserves a second chance. I was given one, now I’m giving you one. Don’t disappoint me.”
Nevada: “…ok. You have a deal.”
And so that’s what they did. The day of Nevada’s resurrection was one of Kahlee’s work days. She passed the young woman her MultiTab so she could start learning gardening instantly, and then they both went out to the greenhouse. For the most part, this agreement worked very well for both women.
The evening soon arrived, and it was time for their meal and a quick chat.
Kahlee: “So… what happened to you?”
Nevada: “Huh?”
Kahlee: “Well, you don’t look like you’re very far out of your teen years… what happened?”
Nevada: “Oh. Mom died when I was young, so it was just me and my Dad. He… got involved with the wrong crowd.”
Kahlee: “He was a criminal too?”
Nevada: “Actually, he was a henchman. Their life expectancy isn’t exactly great, but he hoped to get promoted before anything bad happened.”
Kahlee: “I’m guessing that didn’t happen.”
Nevada: “Nope. So I had to make money somehow… stealing seemed the best option at the time.”
Kahlee: “Well, you don’t need to do that now. We’ll get you back on your feet.”
Nevada: “…thanks…”
And while the two women slept, someone else was less than pleased at this new situation.
Grim: WATKINS. STOP PLAYING WITH LIFE AND DEATH. THAT’S MY JOB!
