Gardenia: Days 2 - 3

On Monday, after getting up late morning, Gardenia worked hard on the few things she had planted, and got to Gardening Level 3.

She fertilized a plant with the one Red Herring she had caught, and realized she could really use more Red Herring (she had heard it was a Grade 5--out of 7--fertilizer).

She decided to visit Pinochle Pond, where she harvested more plants, and spent some time talking to them to raise her Social Need.

She fished for a long time, and caught several good specimens that she could sell at the market to earn some money.

Late at night at home, she spun a Wish to improve her Cooking skill, so she sat down with the cookbook that was in her inventory till she reached Cooking Level 1, while listening to her favorite Latin music to keep her mood up.

"Wow, it's late," she observed, upon closing her book and heading to bed.

On Tuesday, Gardenia slept till noon.

She woke up, somewhat displeased with herself.

"I'm not exactly keeping gardener's hours! Or angler's hours!!" Gardenia had heard that the best time to fish was just before dawn.

She read the paper, which had been delivered hours earlier,

and found that there was a 20% off sale at the bookstore.

"Great! I can get some recipes at a big discount!!"

She hastily fertilized the remainder of her plants with the Red Herring she had caught the previous day at Pinochle Pond, then went to the market to sell the rest of her catch.

She earned $174 for her fish.

She went to Divisadero Discount Books,

and purchased 3 recipes, including 2 that were readable only by a Level 3 cook (Gardenia was at that point Level 1).

"Still, it's a good buy," she told herself, even though she had spent $143 of her total $174.

She finished the afternoon fishing at Old Pier Beach.

"Wow--I can definitely see why they named this town 'Sunset Valley'!" she said in awe, gazing across the water.

She returned home and tended her garden, and reached Gardening Level 4.

After showering, she spent a little time fishing in her small home pond before bed.

"I keep thinking I've forgotten something!" she worried.

Wednesday morning, she realized that she had only one day left to pay a bill of $138, and that she had only $31 cash on hand.

Panicked, she realized she wasn't going to earn the kind of money she needed fishing in her own pond. Desperate to keep the repo man from taking away her wonderful bed or anything else she valued, she went to Old Pier Beach to scavenge.

She was lucky to find several items she could sell, including some silver,

which she didn't have enough money to have smelted, so she just sold it outright.

Together with the water beetles she had found, and the fish she had caught the previous night, both at Old Pier Beach and on her own lot, she had earned just barely enough to pay her bills.

"Phew!" she said as she was putting her check in the mailbox, resolving never to let herself get into such a situation again.