Nice to Meet You

Word Count: 1972; Characters: 2
Danny pocketed the money his mother had given him and walked down the road from the farm towards the main town. This would be the first time he'd been out since returning home to Moondrop. He wiped the sweat from his brow as he walked. The weather may have cooled, but the work still got him from time to time. As he entered the main part of town he stopped, looking around as he tried to remember what Ma Dahl had sent him for.
Around the same time, Rodney had just been leaving one of the stores, sadly not finding what he was looking for... wait. What was he looking for again? He rubbed his hands together for a moment before shoving them in the pockets of his hoodie, when he noticed another friendly face wandering the streets. "Hey, uh, excuse me!" He had just remembered what he was looking for, "Do you know if there's, like, a hardware store in town?" He scratched the back of his head. He was looking for a specific screwdriver to put together a bookshelf, but wasn't having any luck finding it at the general store.
In a moment Danny looked at this newcomer, having not immediately realized he was the only one close enough to speak to without yelling. Hardware store? He didn't recall there being one, and even so, the few things they'd ever needed at the farm could be found at the general store (screw and nails, to be specific).
He shook his head. "I dun think so. Whatcha need?" He asked in his heavy southern drawl which was only rivalled in thickness by his sister or father's.
"Looking for a tiny screwdriver for a small shelf." Rodney said, holding his hand out to the stranger, "Name's Rodney-- I'm the new owner of the Library in town. Running out of space for books," He laughed, "I managed to lose the screwdriver I need, and all the other ones I have are too big."
Danny took the offered hand and gave it a firm shake. "Name's Danny, work up on the family farm." He let the hand go, "what size screwdriver you need?" They had plenty back home, he could probably loan one out.
"Looking for a flat-head-- either a size 3 or 4." Rodney smiled, "Lots of farms around here," he commented, "I always thought it would be really cool to live on one. Also a lot of work, I assume!"
Danny nodded, noting to himself the sweat on the back of his neck. "We probably got one back at home, if you'd like to borrow it." He told Rodney. "I just gotta grab a few things for Ma first."
"Wow, really?!" Rodney seemed pretty excited, "Dude, that's super nice of you! I'll help you carry stuff back home-- 'least I can do!" He grinned, rolling up the sleeves on his sweatshirt a bit.
Danny nodded. He began to walk towards the general store Rodney had recently left. "Ya dun need ta help me carry nuthin back home, but thank you. It's jus' a few small things." He entered the store and a bell jingled above the door.
"Hello!" The petite girl who owned the place spoke up with a smile. "Can I help you?" Marcia asked.
Danny shook his head. "I'm good, thank you." He searched a little and grabbed some flour and a spool of thread. "What else did she ask for?" He muttered to himself.
Rodney followed him around the store, glancing around at the items on the shelves. He was taking mental notes on things he might want to pick up next time he's in need of groceries... "Hey," he began, "Is a lot of this stuff locally made or grown?" He seemed facinated by how fresh everything was... unlike when he was in college, he was lucky to find fresh-- let alone local food at the store.
"I think so?" It appeared to be, to Danny at least. "The produce might be a few days old, but I don't buy here anyways." He picked up a book he thought his mother hadn't read, or at least didn't own a copy of it at home. "I think I've got everything."
He approached the woman at the counter and set his things down, fishing for his money. He pulled out a handful of dog treats. With a both embarrassed and irritated blush he shoved them back in his pocket and reached into his other pocket...
There was his money. He set it on the counter and Marcia gathered it, handing him his change and bag of items. "Thank you, sir." she smiled and Danny nodded, exiting the store.
"Jus’ follow me, the farm's jus’ up the road a little ways." he pointed at the old dirt path. "No more than a mile, I'd say."
Rodney tried not to chuckle over the young man pulling out dog treats rather than money. He nodded politely to Marcia before following Danny out the door with a hurried pace to keep up with him. Wait. A mile?! That was pretty far... but Rodney definetly needed his screw driver. The walk wouldn't be too much of an issue for Rodney, though at this point he was definetly wishing cars ran in this town... "Y'know," Rodney chimed, following close behind Danny, "This is a really different pace from the city. No one is in a rush here, and everyone seems to be going at a nice, even pace..." He smiled, looking up at the sky. "The air's fresher, too. This is the kind of place I dreamed of when I was a kid... I hate to admit it, but it's a lot more work than I thought it would be." He crossed his arms behind the back of his head and streched a bit, "It all feels so worth it though, y'know?"
Danny nodded softly as he led the young man up the road to his farm. "If that's what you're into, it's nice." He looked back at Rodney following him, "I myself travelled a few years, I like 'em fine both the same."
"I suppose if you've never been around a place like this it's nice." He shrugged lightly. the road they were on led left and Danny followed the natural curve. "We're almost there." He noted.
Rodney peered off into the horizon, squinting his eyes, and carfully placing his hand over head in an attempt to better see the house. In doing so, he wasn't quite paying attention to where he was going, and stumbled a bit over his own feet; Something he appeared to be doing a lot lately. In a huff, he shoved his hands into his pockets and whistled off the incident, continuing to trott casually behind Danny.
Danny glanced back at Rodney briefly and continued walking. Slowly, a sign on the side of the road beside a branched off path came into view. It was faded but still clearly showed 'Dahl Family Farm' in large letters. It was probably sixty yards away when the young men could first begin to see it. As they made it closer a spaniel puppy of a few months old came running into the road, yapping at the two.
"Calm down, girl," Danny said, tossing a dog treat from his pocket to her. He stopped beside the sign and talked back to Rodney. "Tools are in the shed behind the house."
The plot of land was of decent size, and a small farmhouse stood off center in the near middle of it. From their chosen angle a small shed could be seen behind it, along with some trees and a chicken coop as it appeared to be.
Upon arriving to the property, Rodney could feel his eyes widen in excitement. This was the first farm he'd been to since he arrived in Moondrop... technically, he thought, this might just be his first time being on a farm ever. Sure, he had a friend who raised horses-- ... well, who's family did. Show horses. They were a bit... fancier? Not so... rustic. None-the-less, Rodney took a deep breath as he took in his surroundings. Then, the dog made him jump-- just a bit! "Oh, hey!" Rodney waved at the dog, (like the dork he is,) and continued to follow Danny. He found himself fixated on the chicken coop for a moment-- and then quickly remembered something else. "Danny, you know anyone who has goats around here?"
"Goats? Can't say I know of any. Might ask my Pa or sister, they've been around long enough to know." He began to lead Rodney through the grass back around the house towards the shed, the puppy following on his heels. "What size screwdriver you say you needed?" He asked as he opened the door to the old building.
"Either a three of a four," Rodney said, "Also, thanks for the info about the goats!" He chimed, "I've actually been trying to round up this one that keeps trying to eat out of the trash..." He sighed, "I feel bad for the little dude. At first I thought it was a cat, but I never actually saw it...? I was leaving out cat food for a goat..." He leaned against the wall of the building as he rambled on, "But then, this witch I knew, she was able to see him in her teacup, right? Like using a magical security system-- and she was like 'Haha, that's not a cat that's a goat' and I was like, 'Woah no way' and she was like 'Yeah way,' So I stopped feeding him the cat food and I've been leaving out... like, carrots and corn for him... But yeah, I finally tried catching him, but he sprinted off. He's pretty dirty; I'm assuming he doesn't belong to someone that takes care of him. It's sad, really, he's like... a baby? He's got the nubby horns does that 'Bleeahh' sound."
"Interestin'," Danny said as he rifled through his father's tools. "Yer right, though, doesn't sound like a goat that would belong to anybody, probably lost from its momma." he pulled out a small screw driver, "flathead or phillips?" he asked as he examined the tip of the tool.
"Oh, flathead." He commented, "Thank you again for the screwdriver, bro! But no, yeah, the poor little dude. I think if I can convince him to trust me and all that, I'll wind up settin up an area for him to live and chill out at my yard. I've been planning on getting, like, stumps and stuff for him to climb on-- also will definetly need a bigger house for him than the itty-bitty dog house I left outside the library..." He thought for a moment, "Oh, wait! Yeah, that doghouse might actually be perfect for your little dude out front. If you want it, it's totally yours, free of charge."
Danny nodded, setting down what he was holding and searching for the correct type. "Doghouse? That'd be real kind a ya." He said, "thanks. I'll have to stop by soon to get it." He picked up the correct screwdriver and handed it to Rodney. "Keep it as long as you need. I can just go get it back if I need it later."
Rodney nodded, letting out a quirky grin. "Hey, thank you! Heck, I'll probably be done with it by tomorrow-- if you want to swing by the Library to pick both that and the doghouse up, that would be rad." He laughed, "Heck, maybe check out a book or two if you want, bro. Plus, free coffee. Can't go wrong with that, you know?" He placed the screwdriver in the pocket of his hoodie, resting his own hands with it to make sure it didn't fall out.
Danny nodded again. "Sounds good."