Sunshine and Shadow Acres [A Stardew Valley Fanfiction]

Chapter 19: Responses

Waking up the next morning to an email notification on my phone from the shelter was a shock. I hadn't expected to hear back from them so quickly. I hadn't even told my friends about the idea yet, since none of them got the chance to stop by yesterday. Robin and I had made several plans for the farm and she had several weeks of plans laid out for the farm.

I clicked on the email and skimmed it. I saw the words 'We'd love for you to come meet them' and 'We'd love to send someone to inspect the space' and I couldn't help the giddy feeling that built inside me. I crafted a response explaining that I lived in Stardew valley but that I'd love to meet them and would be willing to accommodate any inspections they may want to carry out. I explained to them the vision I had of starting a rescue and that I hoped that I'd be able to take in more animals from them in the future. I also mentioned that the only current pet I owned was a cat.

I messaged the group chat with a screen shot of the email right afterwards and wrote in all caps "I MIGHT BE ADOPTING TWO DOGS". Abby was the first to reply with a bunch of gibberish letters which caused me to giggle. The next was Sebastian.

Sebastian: I don't have a car, but I have a motorcycle. If you need to visit before being approved to take them home I can take you.

Me: What? Seriously??

Sam: He tote does!!!!

Abby: Yeah, he loves that thing

I giggled at their antics but couldn't help the happiness bubbling up inside of me. It felt like things might finally be going my way. Before the anxiety could creep in because of that, I put myself to work. Abby and Sam did show up today and cleared out the rest of the trees we'd marked for now. Considering we were on an expansive section of land, there would always be more to clear, but I wanted to leave a large portion of forest for the time being.

"What's the plan now?" Abby questioned, collapsing on my porch steps as we tended to do.

"I'm thinking of building some fences, for now. With Seb and Robin's help I've planned out what I want to do with the couple acres or so we've managed to clear so far. A very large part, including a small strip of forest, I want to dedicate to pastures and space for the farm animals. Obviously as I expand, I'll have to build additional spaces for them, but an acre should be more than enough to get them started. I want to block off the rest of the forest for now as well, so any potential predators would have a deterrent."

"That's smart! Plus, we have plenty of wood to get started!" Sam beamed and I nodded.

"That's what I thought! And Ab's, if you want to work on something else, I was also thinking about starting to lay pathing," I added, and she smiled.

"That sounds interesting! Plus, divide and conquer!"

"Sammy, you and I can work on fencing, how does that sound? And then Robin is working on buildings. She's building a shed first, though, so I can get started on the wine process."

"Sounds good to me! Want to start now?" Sam suggested and I giggled.

"Sure, why not?" So we did. Abby started to look around for pathing options for the farm while Sam and I started on fencing. We started fencing off the forest to begin with, especially considering I was planning on trying to adopt two little pals soon.

Sam and I always managed to get a surprising amount of work done, but I was truly astonished with what we managed to accomplish. We'd gotten a huge section of the forest fenced off and had begun to pivot and fence in the outer fence for the pasture towards where the house would be. Our game plan was to get the farm dog friendly as quickly as possible, and then we planned on working on the rest. When Sam and I officially collapsed on my couch beside Abby at the end of the day, we were exhausted and disgusting. We'd probably constructed at least a forth of the fencing, though, so it was an incredibly productive day.