Grace Haven: Days 29 -31

I got up before midnight,

and spent the first few hours of Sunday morning catching fish.

I had been carrying around a wish to grow an outstanding bell pepper plant so, when the wish suddenly disappeared while I was out fishing,

I knew it had been satisfied and that I had received points for it.

When I was done fishing for the morning, I went to the grocery,

and sold my catch for $4,885.

I went home and tended my garden ("Hurry up, guys!" I pleaded, but, since I can't talk to plants, they didn't pay much attention to me).

I climbed into bed around 9:00, and slept till nearly 6:00 p.m.

When I got up I sent my two Luminorious gems off to get cut.

They were worth $289 and $298 uncut, and it cost me $10 each to get them cut into the emerald shape. So, we'll see what the $20 investment gets me.

In the mail I received three certificates--one for gardening, one for cooking, and one for fishing.

I wonder why these all came together--I've been a Level 10 angler for quite some time now.

I spent the early evening making a few more improvements to my house--

another front door, side patio doors (okay--I don't have a patio, but I will some day), a couple more counters, and many more windows. (Gosh, windows are expensive!--I had spent nearly $5,000 before I'd even realized it.)

I thought my little house was finally nice enough to invite over my fiance, Jon Lessen, so I did.

Before he arrived, I hurriedly got to work preparing dinner.


Here's a big admission--even though I'm a Level 10 cook, I've never actually prepared a meal. Since the GAC Challenge doesn't require me to do any real cooking, but only to study Cooking and learn recipes, I always saved time by just eating produce out of my backpack.

Despite this absence of any practical skill, I spun a wish to serve a perfect meal to Jon.

"Well, that's probably not going to happen!" I observed grimly. I started doggedly preparing Ratatouille--figuring Jon would be impressed that I was making him dinner out of my own produce--and was interrupted by Jon's arrival.

I went outside and threw my arms around him and kissed him.

"Are you almost done?" he asked me.

"Oh, sorry, Jon--I've just started dinner. This is actually the first time I've ever cooked anything, so I'm following the recipe really carefully."

"I don't mean dinner, dopey," he said affectionately. "I mean the GAC Challenge."

I explained that all I was waiting on was my Perfect Garden LTW, and that it was just a matter of time.

"Okaaaaay," he said, settling down at my new dining table with a romance novel, "but I'm not getting any younger." (I think I heard him sigh softly.)

It took me so long to make dinner--I'm a Perfectionist, so I felt it necessary to start over a couple of times--that Jon actually asked me if he could go take a nap in my bedroom. He'd played a concert with Mercy Hellhole last night at the stadium, and then a benefit at the theatre this afternoon. "It'll just be a short nap--I'll wake up in probably half an hour," he assured me.

I told him that was okay, and honestly I was a bit relieved to be left alone to finish cooking so that I could concentrate and not be nervous while making my first meal.

I finally got the ratatouille into the oven a bit after 9:00 p.m.

When dinner was finally ready, I peeked into the bedroom to check on Jon. He was sleeping soundly (he'd been in there for over an hour), and I didn't have the heart to wake him. (Jon has mentioned before that his schedule with Mercy Hellhole is grueling, and leaves him no time to do what he wants or to play the kind of music he wants to play.)

So, I ate by myself, and put the leftover ratatouille in the fridge. (It wasn't a Perfect meal, anyway.)

I left Jon a note on the dining table that I would be outside gardening, and that whenever he awoke he should call me and I would reheat dinner for him.

I went out to the garden, and found that the Death Flower Bush I'd planted from the seeds I'd harvested at the graveyard was of Perfect Quality. (Gee, I hope that counts toward the "Plant and Grow 8 Different Species of Perfect Plants" definition of my Perfect Garden LTW.)

An hour later I was done tending my garden, but Jon showed no signs of waking up, and it was prime Deathfish-catching time. So, I changed the note on the dining table to say that I was going fishing, that if he needed me he could call me on my cellphone, but that there was leftover ratatouille in the fridge if he was hungry.

So, I went fishing at the graveyard and the Science Facility.

I caught a fair number of fish,

and sold them at the grocery on my way home,

and earned another $1,189.

Once I got home, I rushed into the bedroom to see if Jon was still there.

He wasn't, though he'd left me a nice note thanking me for letting him catch up on his sleep, telling me he'd enjoyed the ratatouille, and saying he'd call me later.

So, I went to bed.

I got up a bit before 3:00 p.m., and reheated some ratatouille for myself.

Jon had left his dinner plate from the night before on the dining table and, though it was emitting green fumes, I didn't clean it up before I was done eating. Kind of pathetic, I know, but I missed Jon, and I was regretting that our first evening together hadn't gone a bit more smoothly.

I took inventory of my garden,

checked my mail,

and received the two Luminorious gems back from the gemcutter.

I was able to sell the cut gems for $733, which was much better than the $587 I would have gotten for them if I hadn't had them cut.

It was too early for Deathfish, so I decided to try to catch more Vampire Fish. I went down to the Carpenter-Rhodes garden to harvest some of their garlic,

then set out for one of my favorite fishing spots--just north of the southeasternmost bridge--where I could catch Vampire Fish, Angelfish, and Piranha (the bait for Robot Fish), among others.

I fished there and, later, at the Science Facility, and had a very good evening.

I sold my catch for $1,957,

and went home to sleep for most of Tuesday.

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NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Join us next time, when Grace finally buys something to sit on and read, other than her toilet. She dons a cute new gardening look, and Jon--who drops by--loves it. He hangs around, looks buff in his swimsuit playing in the sprinkler while Grace gives making dinner another try, and he even stays the night.