After breakfast, my phone rang.

“Yes?“, I answered, while I made my way back to my apartment. Amadeo just told me, that the doorbell was broken. I hadn’t noticed and Lali forgot to mention it. I wanted to check it.

„Son.“ My father sounded as unhappy as ever. He even sounded unhappy when he was actually happy.

„Hi, Dad.” I smiled while imagining my father sitting grumpy in his office, calling me. “Did something happen?”

“Did?”, he muttered. “We didn’t hear from you after you ended the phone-call with your mother. We gave you some time to calm down, she said you were a bit upset. But you didn’t call us on your own.”

“Dad. I’m not a child anymore. I don’t need to call you every day.”

“Your Mom send you to her friend. It is normal, that we want to know if you’re okay! You didn’t answer your phone when she tried to call you. But you never called back!”

“She did? I didn’t hear or saw anything. Did she use my old number again? She keeps doing that.”

“That sounds like your mom, yes.” He snickered. “She thought you were too angry to call us back. Ok… That problem is solved. Call us more often, please. She called her friend instead. Alessia told us, she got you from the bus-stop. And? Do you like your new home?”

“No.”

“Is it that bad? Your Mother visited the farm when she was still in University. She and Alessia invited their friends to parties inside the apartment you live in now.”

“Oh, dear.” Mom always said that she was very wild at University. “They have a lot of animals here. Alessia’s daughter Lali is a funny girl. She named her goose Dodo. But Lali’s cousin Phileas is rude. We just met and he criticized my choice of closes!”

“Did you wear girl’s clothes again? I told you people can get mean about that! Do yourself a favor and start wearing proper clothes for young men! I don’t want my son to get mistreated by mean idiots! Also, you life at the farm. For free. I expect you to offer some help, while you’re there. Anything else would be unpolite!”

“Dad!”

“Son!”

I didn’t have any clothes, that were suitable for… farm-boy stuff! I was a model, a celebrity, for f*cks sake!

“Well, about your next photo shoot. Your Mother will arrive tomorrow morning. She rented some rooms in a hotel. Not one nearby but close enough. She said it wasn’t easy to find some rooms, but she managed. Of course, she did! You will bring two of your coworkers. Timon and Helena. She asked me to inform you.”

“She didn’t say anything about Helena!” I sight. And if she could find rooms in a hotel, why didn’t she get one for me?”

“Noelle, you could’ve searched yourself.” He sighed. “Didn’t you just tell me, that you’re a big boy now? About Helena. That is why I tell you. Will you be fine? I know, that you two don’t get along well, but the magazine wants pictures with you three together. They pay a lot of money for the pictures. A big deal. Ming said, if the people from that magazine are happy with the results, they might be willing to do a longer cooperation. The… The Variety Paper, I think. That famous one. They asked for farm pictures. So, your mom was very happy, when Alessia said, she can do the photo shoot at the farm. Since you life there now too. For some weeks. Or month.”

“Dad? I know that! Mom told me about the big deal. The same day, she told me about the apartment. But, thanks anyway.” She just forgot to mention the farm thing. And Helena. “How are my sisters?”

“They’re fine. You could call them.”

“Nope. Lu hates phone calls and Aurora won’t stop talking.”

“True. Good luck, Son! Be polite to that family! They refused to get paid for letting you stay with them. And help where you can! I love you, kiddo.” And he ended the phone call. I didn’t get to say Bye. I was used to it. He always did that. Mom kept complaining about it.

Help? I didn’t want to help. Was that, why Phileas showed me the animals? No… He would’ve said something, right?

I needed to do some shopping. Sneakers. Maybe some… No. Not any rubber boots! What ever they kept telling me, these shoes were a fashion sin! But they were right about not being able to walk here… My beloved shoes weren’t made for a farm. Sadly.

I grabbed my bag, I pink glittery one, and made my way to that stupid car. I saw Phileas driving away in an old, but steady, car that I hadn’t seen before. Of course. They had more than one car. Not only the tin and the carriage. Alessia stood next to the road and waved after him until she spotted me.

“Noelle! Phil said you want to go shopping. He wanted to take you to a good shop, but a call came in. A swarm of bees build their hive in the wrong place. He asked me if I could show you the store.”

“He did say something about shopping. But I plan to go alone.”

She furrowed her brows. “Do you know Brooks Farming Stuff? You get some good shoes there. And some clothes that survive all this farm dirt! Cheap or expensive. The have a nice variety. I don’t want you to ruin your clothes.” She looked at my bag. “That one is lovely!”

“Eh. Thanks. Is that shop in Saint Carrothaven?” That was the name of the small town, The University Of Arts and Music was set. The town got its name from a miracle involving carrots in 1870. A silly name.

“Yes. It’s a bit hidden”, Alessia said. “We can drive there together. But I need to feed the chickens first. You can help me. If you want to?” She looked skeptically at my clothes. A nice yellow shirt with funny sculls printed on it, short black pants, and bright pink ripped thin leggings. And high heels, of course.

“Eh… I wanted to go to another shop, but I can help you, yes. My father just told me, I’m supposed to help here a bit.” They let me live here for free. I could help feed some chickens, I guess. I looked at my shoes. Black High Heels with bright pink dots. They matched my bag. I chose these to impress the town people, of course. And to lure in a suitable partner. These shoes were my mating call! But no chicken call…

“What? No… You aren’t supposed to help. But I would gladly accept some help… Come along! And be careful with your shoes! You really need other shoes. Do you only buy these heels? How can you walk in these all day?”

“I’m used to it. I owned some sneakers up too my high school days. But now, I’m free!”

“I see.” She smiled a bit confused. We went to the chickens, and she gave me some corn to throw at them… Eh no. To them. I put my high heels aside since they weren’t suitable for walking here. And I didn’t want to get them this dirty. I put them back on when we went back to my car. Clean shoes, dirty feet. Pretty Me!

Alessia persuaded me, to show me that shop at least and like this, we ended up going shopping together. We went to the little shop I wanted to go to, okay a boutique, first. I found some nice black sneakers with some sparkly rhinestones and black equally sparkly jeans. Perfect!

My mom’s friend stared at all the clothes the shop sold. The prices nearly made her faint. But I noticed her starring at a yellow flowery scarf. “It would look nice on you.”

“Oh!” She turned away from the scarf. “No. Too expensive.”

“Hm.” I took the scarf and looked at the price tag. “It’s not that much. Let’s find a scarf for Lali too.”

“What? No!” She put her hands on her hips. “I won’t let you buy stuff for me! You’re my best friend’s kid! I could be your Mom!”

“And? I can live at your place for free. It’s a thank you.” Even if I greatly disliked the farm. Smiling, I found a pink scarf with black stars. “Would Lali like this?”

Alessia finally gave up. “She would love it. We lack the money to spoil her with gifts. She gets some, of course. On her birthday. And on Christmas. But we can’t afford to randomly buy new stuff for her unless it is something she needs.”

“Why letting me live at the farm for free then?”, I asked a bit confused.

“The apartment is too broken and too old, to rent it out for money.”

“Ah, okay.” That was true. It looked like it would fall apart soon.

I paid for my jeans, the shoes, and the two scarfs. Alessia seemed incredibly happy when I handed her her gift. And the one for Lali. “Thank you!”, she whispered. “You’re a very nice boy.”

After that, she showed me that farming shop. It was full of ugly stuff. But I found some resistant and, as the tag said, waterproof shoes with which I was fine. But I refused to get rubber boots. Nope. No rubber. I didn’t buy anything else. It was all ugly. And I didn’t plan to be a true farmer. I did like to feed the chickens… Back at the apartment, I made some pictures of my new stuff, to post on twinklegram when I was back in ‘Internet-Land’.

That night, when I went to sleep, I had the feeling someone was watching me. But I couldn’t see anyone. I looked around, but I seemed to be alone. Only Oscar wasn’t where I left him. On my bedside table. No. Confused, I found him inside it. I put him back on top of the small table. But the next morning, he was gone again.