Back in town, Mother takes Brother to the merchants as his clothes will take no more repairs, while Father and Daughter head off to the postmaster’s office. Brother turns red when a transport of new arrivals catches sight of him and gawk, muttering loud enough for him to make out their comments on his curves and the bounty of this new land. The locals, though, simply take a look at the now settled family and direct Mother to the section of the clothier’s to get Brother the support he needs.
At the post, Father and Daughter mail their letters to the universities and the postmaster gives the now youthful Father a knowing nod. Daughter is pleased with her new, softer dad and holds his hand tightly. Up until he says they need to pick up her school books while in town. Daughter groans and suddenly becomes difficult to drag through the dirt streets.
Father plops Daughter down inside the school depot and rings the bell on the counter. They hear a clacking thud on the wood floor approaching from the back and a woman apologizes for the wait. She starts to explain she was just packing some supplies as she comes up front. She too clearly isn’t a local. She has deeply tanned skin and hair darker than the night sky, tightly tied back into long ponytail that almost reaches to the floor. She wears dark red lipstick that magnifies how sparkling white her teeth are. She adjusts the glasses resting on a turned up nose and stares at Father. He steps back, uncomfortable with attention on his new body. The woman rushes around the counter, her heels loud on the wood planks, and runs right to Father’s side. The berries! Has he managed to grow some?! Father is uncomfortable with the strange woman, but Daughter helpfully confirms they indeed have. Her family are great farmers. The woman rushes back to her counter and grabs a purse from below it. She holds forth a satchel jingling with coins and asks how much will he charge for one. Father is confused, one berry or one bush. The woman stumbles back, practically toppling on her heels. He has more than one bush!?
Taking the strange woman back to the farm, she explains that she’s the town teacher. As they suspected, she’s not a local and moved here from far up north a few years ago after hearing tales of strange crops that only grew in this area of the country. She had a... particular interest in the fruit and had a deal with a family that tried to settle around here earlier, but after one delivery, she didn’t hear back and the land was abandoned when she went to visit. Packed into the back of the transport, Brother blushes at being pushed up against the attractive stranger that not so slyly glances enviously at his curves. Sister is pleased because nobody remembered to gather the school books and she gets to sit on her brother’s plush lap.
The teacher rushes over the field of berry bushes, stumbling on her heels ill-suited for navigating farmland. She grabs a berry right off the bush and chows down. Blushing, she turns to the family, as the juice runs down her chin, and proclaims that she’ll definitely pay them for that. She looks down and gingerly rests her fingers on her chest and looks impatient. Brother tilts his head and softly offers that it took him a while the first time. She returns a nervous laugh and says she knows quite well, but a girl can hope, right? She wipes her hand with her mouth and returns to Father and Mother, asking how much it would cost to bring a crate back home. She doesn’t have much money on her right now, but the next time they’re in town, she- Mother stops the rambling woman. Father confirms that this woman knows what this cursed fruit is capable of, and the woman just laughs. “Cursed”?! It’s divine. In fact, if the family is willing to work out a deal, she has contacts of people she knows back home and that she met in her travels that would also be willing to pay good money for the berries. Father and Mother smile and each put a hand on the woman’s shoulders before inviting her in to speak over coffee and some pie.
Brother slaps Sister on the back and with a smile tells her that she probably just aced all her schoolwork for the year and class hasn’t even started yet. Sister beams at the advantage of having a teacher that loves her family. She skips towards the house and thinks how the year just keeps getting better and better.