With Mia braced against me in an uncomfortable position and Rumble’s branches squeezing me on the other side, it had been a long tiring night for me. With the morning dawn not quite fully arrived, I was fully awake. Having slept for only a short time, I had awoken to a mind full of thoughts. The most prominent thought was wondering what this glowing flower was and how to get more. It obviously calms nearby people and helps them ignore what would be otherwise crippling afflictions such as fear. But what exactly was it? Did it just randomly appear in the area or was it something rare that we lucked out finding? Why hadn’t Rumble shown me before? He had either cleared the area around it or its growth inhibited nearby plants from growing… and if it was the later, why would he want it here at home?

Not knowing what the answers to my thoughts were, I tried easing my way up. Not wanting to let Mia just fall to the ground, I tried gently lifting her up off of me and lowering her to the ground. As I was mid motion to lift her, she stirred awake and gave me a slight smile. Within moments my face was red and embarrassment hit me. Not knowing what to say, I slowly got up as she supported herself and walked over to the cupboard.

Reaching the cupboard I withdrew enough food to start breakfast and then realized that the firepit was thoroughly flooded. “Well that isn’t good.” I said aloud while staring at the pit.

“Agreed, for now let's stack some wood to lift the fire up off of the wet pit. We need to make do until the end of the season. If we can make it through then we will hopefully have enough for not only next season’s harvest, but with foraging we might be able to buy a cheap stove. I think I saw one that vented outside. It was cheap, but we might be able to upgrade it by winter.” Mia said as she got up and hung up the dew covered blanket.

“How long do you think the rain will continue for?” I asked.

“Not sure, but it will probably rain off and on until fall or winter.”

“Ugh, is there anything that we can afford?” I wondered aloud.

“Haha, we can afford plenty, but not if we want to grow.” Mia chuckled.

“Well, I guess today I will eat some veggies raw. I really need to get out and search for something to sell before the midday heat sets in. Also, you need to get on your way into town.” I mentioned.

“Ya, it's going to be a long walk since Sal isn’t here. I just hope that I can get back before nightfall. It seems as if the rain is mostly at night.” Mia said while dusting herself off and moving for some food.

“Well, be sure to hurry so that you can make it back in time. Also, Rumble and I got something last night to sell, but they pretty much all spilled out of my pockets while I was running back to the shack. So let's use a blanket to make you a makeshift backpack and I’ll walk with you until we pick everything back up.”

“No need to use a blanket.” Mia responded, quickly swallowing her mouthful of raw veggie. “Sal had given me a backpack while you were in the infirmary. Nothing special, but it can hold quite a bit.”

“Why haven’t I seen it?” I asked.

“It is up above the cupboard and to be fair, you have not been in the shack until quite a bit after the sun is on its way down.”

Immediately glancing at the cupboard again, I saw a flat brown duffle bag barely visible on top of the cupboard. Pulling it down I saw that it had 2 sturdy adjustable straps and enough space to fit a small person curled up.

“This is nice, well I can tell it's nothing fancy, but it is awesome that we have it!” I commented.

“It is, we should be able to fit everything that I will purchase today with some room to spare.” Mia said.

Nodding in agreement as I finished the last of my cold breakfast, I opened the door to check what the storm had wrought on our field,

The grass was still glistening in the morning dew, humidity obvious on the gentle wind, and plants seemingly a few inches taller.

“No way! There is no possible way!” I shouted out loud as I sprinted off down the path.

Mia quickly swallowing her last bite and running out the door behind me shouted her question. “What is it? Did the storm kill our plants?”

She was about to ask some more until she saw it. Stopping next to me at the edge of our field we both just gazed out onto the road slack-jawed for a minute. There were hundreds of small little brown objects strewn down the road. There were Kiwi fruits!

“I think we hit the jackpot last night Mia.” I said in disbelief.

“Uh-huh, I would have to agree on that statement.” she responded, not knowing how to process our good fortune.

“Don’t kiwis grow on large vines?” I asked Mia

“I think so….” She trailed off, letting the implications hang in the air.

“RUMBLE!!!” we both shouted.

Within moments we saw Rumble shoot out of the door with his body thorny and ready for combat. With a confused emoji flashing intermittent with a worried one, Rumble caught sight of us before striking a confused pose.

“Rumble, where is the plant that you got this from?” we both said in sync once again.

With a finger like root, he pointed off into the grass while walking towards us at an easy pace.

“Can you take us please?” I asked my overly calm familiar.

With a nod of his head, he led us off into the grass. Within a few minutes of eagerly walking into the grass, we had arrived. Almost tripping over the vines as we literally walked out of the grass and into the fruit.

“Woah, there are dozens of them!” I said excitedly

Matching my excitement, Mia said, “I just hope that they sell for a lot!”

And so with her backpack open on the ground, we loaded it up with all the kiwis we could grab.

“Let's take them to the shipping bin, can you carry them?” Mia asked.

“Ya, that's no problem. Hopefully we can get that stove early!” I said with hope in my voice.

“If we spend it all on seeds then we can buy more later.” Mia argued while we started back into the grass and towards the shipping bin, led by Rumble.

“Look, that will be an excuse forever. We need heat and cooked food. If we don’t have those, then our productivity will fall. We will also be able to close the roof once we get a vented stove.” I retorted

As we made our way onto the road we started collecting all the fallen kiwis from the night before while arguing the merits of buying a stove now.

As we made it to the shipping bin we had finally settled the argument. The foraging funds would be diverted away from spices and into a new stove. And so with excitement high, we started loading the bin up with goods to sell and Mia to actually put in the sale order. And oh boy was it a surprise!