7.1 Harvest Festival

Autumn 1996, Founder's Park

"Wow, look at all this fruit and veggies! They're huge!", Mae exclaimed when she arrived at the festival.

Linda was happy to see her. It was already far into the afternoon when she finally came.

"You finally got out of bed?", she teased her little sister.

"Mae, dear! You look great!", the other woman behind the food stand claimed.

Vivian hadn't seen Mae since she came back, Linda just noticed. But then, she lived in a further neighbourhood.

"Hey! Herbert had to work longer and we wanted to go together!", Mae exclaimed.

"Also, this is Herbert!", she added quickly, as if she almost had forgotten.

"Uh.. hello, - Miss... West!", the man next to her stumbled, unsure how to adress her.

"Call me Linda!", she said cheerfully to him.

He really was different than Mae's usual boyfriends.

"The stand is still loaded. You got no customers?", Mae asked. "You have to advertise better!"

"Cheeky as always!", Vivian chuckled. "We just have a lot of supply."

Mae turned towards the woman with long black hair, that just arrived next to her.

"Hello Mam! Look at all those great fruit and veggies!", she said.

"Oh? Hi...", the woman was definitely surprised to be adressed like that.

"My sister grew them all by herself, and they're the best in the world!", Mae went on. "You should buy some!"

Herbert winched uncomfortably. "Mae?!", he whispered, "That's the daughter in law of the Count of Willow Creek!"

"So what", Mae replied unimpressed. "Counts are people, too. And they also need food."

Mae had also drawn the attention of a few more people around, which gathered in front of the stall.

Herbert looked unhappy.

Linda had to laugh, then turned towards the black haired woman.

"Mrs. Goth, can I help you?", she asked friendly.

The woman looked around a bit, hesitating, then discovered the small tray in the middle.

"Oh, I see you have seeds too?", she asked.

"Yes, they're from the town garden plants. They're grown all natural", Linda explained to her.

"How nice! I think I'll take some", the other woman replied.

"See, now you have a lot of customers!", Mae said, obviously proud of what she had achieved.

"Come Herbert, let's grab some food! Bye!", she added gleefully.