Sundays
Chapter 1

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I sat humbly in my seat, looking out the window at the passing trees and buildings. I jumped a bit as the train racketed around. I grew bored of the constant trees, and decided to investigate the cabin.

In the back corner was an aging hog. "How strange," I muttered. I was used to traveling with other humans. Who knew hogs rode the train? I certainly didn't. She was quietly beginning to doze off when the train car rattled again. She perked up, looked around, the stared at her feet again until she began to doze off once more. She was then shaken by the routine rattling.

The constant cycle of dozing, rattling, awaking bored me, so I glanced over towards the phone booth in the back of the cabin. Someone occupied it, though I couldn't tell whom. I could only distinguish a set of ears atop the character's head. They were quite large, and were placed oddly. It took me a moment before I realized that the occupant was not human either.

"Is this the wrong train?" I thought aloud. Taking another glance around, I noticed that this particular train car was inhabited only by the two out of place animals, and myself. Though I felt more out of place than anything.

I heard a sliding door open, and snapped my head back to the phone booth. A blue and white cat was walking in my direction. And not the way a normal cat would walk, but the way a human would walk.

"Hey, is it April 20, 3:14 PM?"

I gave him a blank stare.

"Um.. I think so."

"That's good. Hey, mind if I sit here?"

I was beginning to feel a bit awkward, but I didn't want to be rude to him. I hesitated before finally sighing a "go ahead" to him.

"Hey, thanks," he chuckled, jumping up on the seat across from me. "So, I'm Rover. Nice to meet ya." "Yeah," I managed to spit out. The fact that an upright walking and talking cat was trying to stir up conversation with me on a train headed to who knows where was finally starting to sink in.

"What's your name?"

I paused. I argued with myself silently over whether or not to tell him. I finally figured that it couldn't hurt, and I told him.

"Call me Revey."

"Heh.. Heh.."

"What?"

As soon as I asked him, he burst out laughing. I felt like getting up and leaving, but I had nowhere else to go. He took a moment to gather himself up again.

"Well.. Now THAT's an odd name."

'And like Rover isn't?' I growled angrily in thought.

"But that's not the point. The point is, do YOU like the name Revey?"

I continued to stare at him. "Of course I like it. It's my name after all. Isn't it cool?" I began to beam. I always felt pride in my name. Well, Revey wasn't my real name. My real name was much more elegant. But Revey was what I wanted to be called, so that's what I told everyone.

"Of course it is. It's a great name for a guy--"

"Do I look like a guy to you?" I shouted. The hog in the back was staring at me. Apparently, my shouting had disrupted her dozing cycle.

Rover coughed a bit, then scratched at his ear. "Oh, sorry. You don't look like a guy. My words just got mixed up. Sorry again," he mumbled. I could've sworn I spotted a bit of pink on those white cheeks of his, but I didn't want to continue staring, so my gaze returned out the window.

"Sure. Whatever," I grumbled.

"Where you headed?"

"I'm getting off on the next stop. THAT's for sure."

"I think the next stop's Cat Town. Not sure, though," Rover said, pulling out a map from seemingly nowhere. "Yup. The next stop's Cat Town. I've been there before. Nice place, Cat Town," he began to trail off.

'Maybe because you're a CAT?' I thought to myself. "Sounds like a nice place to live," I said absent-mindedly. I regretted it soon after because Rover began to hound me about moving.

"You're moving there? You're so lucky! I wish I could. I could go visit Olivia more often."

"Olivia? Who's that? One of your cat friends?" I asked him, giving him a strange look. He nodded happily, not sensing the sarcasm in my voice. "So, which acre you movin' into?"

"Acre? There's an acre system?"

I had no clue what he was talking about. All I knew was that I wanted to get off that train as soon as possible. Rover the cat was driving me nuts.

"You.. Don't tell me you don't know.. where you're.. You're KIDDING!" he shouted. I stuck a finger in my ear and wiggled it around a bit. "Don't shout in my ear," I grumbled. But he obviously didn't hear me because he was already halfway to the phone booth. On his way, he shouted back at me, "I'll be right back. I'm gonna talk to a friend of mine that can hook you up down in Cat Town."

"Another cat, I'm guessing," I sighed. I waited impatiently for him to return to bother me. I'm not sure why I wanted him to return, but I guess it was better being bothered by someone rather than being bored alone.

I stared out the window again until I realized that I could hear Rover's voice coming from the phone booth. Leaning over in my seat, I watched his ears bounce around as he stood talking to his friend.

He mentioned my name once or twice, and talked about bells and a house. I figured I wouldn't be given a house for free, and suddenly I began to wonder how much I'd be charged for a living space.

Rover returned, both to my dismay and my relief, and sat across from me once more, his large, goofy grin still glued on his face.

"Well, my buddy'll hook you up. No prob'. He's got a house or two for you to pick from, even," he smiled. "That's a relief," I replied, a tiny smile breaking on my face.

"You got bells?"

"Oh yeah," I laughed.

"Then you'll be fine."

A large crackle was heard as the speakers came to life. The conductor announced the approach to Cat Town and instructed all of whom were getting off to stand near the exits. I parted ways with my friend, and walked towards the exit, leaving both my awkward unease and that bothersome hog behind me.

As the train came to a halt, I jumped out of the train into the sunlight. It was a beautiful day, and I could see trees and houses and even river nearby. "What a nice town.. Maybe it won't be so bad here," I sighed happily. The porter smiled happily at me as I stepped away from the train. It took me a moment to realize that the porter was a monkey. It startled me, but not as much as if I had not had that conversation with Rover.

Hoping down the station steps, I happily looked around my new home. I took another step or two until I heard shouts.

"Revey!"

I turned my head towards a nearing figure. As the source of the shouts came into view, I saw that my caller was a raccoon. And a fat one at that.

"Woo.. Let me catch my breath, eh?" He took his little breather, then chuckled a bit. "Hoo hoo. Haven't had to run like that in a while. I'm a bit out of shape, see? But yes. You're Revey, are you not? Ho ho, what a funny name!" And with that, he broke into laughter, just as Rover had done.

I'm not sure what they found so funny, but the fact that my name was getting laughed at irritated me.

"Whatever," I growled. He quickly quieted, then sighed and apologized. I mumbled in response, and waited for him to show me my new home. I'm assuming he sensed this for he instructed me to follow him. And follow him I did. I chased after him into a cute little square with four houses and a bulletin board in between them.

"Take your pick. You may investigate any of them as you so please because they are, after all, unlocked," he smiled at me.

"Before I go in, what's your name?"

"Oh, I terribly sorry. It must've slipped my mind. The name is Nook, my dear human. Nook the Raccoon. I own the local shop and these four lovely homes. One of which I'll be selling to you," he added with a wink.

I shook it off, finding it a bit creepy to be winked at by a raccoon. I looked at the four houses, and decided to investigate the one with a crumbly red roof. The paint was chipping, and the house looked awfully small, but all the others were in the same condition.

Walking in, I was displeased with the emptiness, but I figured I'd make it cozier as time went on. "This looks nice.. Yeah.. I'll stay here," I smiled to myself.

I walked back out, quite satisfied with my choice, and alerted my companion of my decision.

He dove into a brief explanation, and lucky ol' me got a free tape deck in the process. When he had finished, he asked me if I wanted to hear it again.

"No, no. I think I got it," I told him.

"Alright then. Well, all in all.. the cost comes to about 19,800 bells," he chuckled. Apparently, to him, that was quite cheap. Unfortunately, I looked in my bag and realized I had but 1000 bells. Quite the dilemma.

I handed it over, hoping he wouldn't notice. But alas, he did. "You're kidding with me, no?" he seemed hopeful that I was hiding a few more bags of bells in my bag. I shook my head with a disappointed face.

"Hm.. Why.. You're so short, I can't help but laugh! Haha.. Well.. You need a place to stay, but I can't just leave you the place for free. Quite thorny this is.. I've got it! You can work for me to pay off the rest of the debt! Come by my shop later today, and I'll put you off to task," he chuckled as he ran off.

I stared after him until he disappeared in between the many peach trees.

"I hate Sundays," I spat out absent-mindedly.