Val woke up early, and after breakfast got to work on unloading the contents of the boxes in her basement office. After 4 hours of boring cataloging and stocking shelves she headed upstairs. "Time for a little outside work Luna."
The property of the home had been untouched for several months and was looking overgrown and unkept. Val tried her best with her old lawn mower, but it wasn't cooperating with her. She tried a little weeding and raking up, but the yard just wasn't looking much better. Val sat on her porch and was thinking about her landscaping options, when the Postman drove up. "Oh wow, our first mail delivery Luna." Val walked over to retrieve the contents of her mailbox, and pulled out a few letters and flyers. One of the letters was from the township addressed to "new resident." Val opened it, it contained a notice of fines from the town beautification committee. The letter went on to describe all the areas of her yard and property that needed attention "IMMEDIATELY" or fine would be assessed.
"Well, isn't this a fine welcome to the neighborhood." Val thought. "Looks like we've picked another fine town to move to Luna" Val sighed. "I guess were going to need some more local High School help." Luna. With that, Val sat on her porch made herself a sandwich and waited for the daily parade of Teenagers. The beginning of the full moon week had started, so Val could sense the thoughts of the passing students fairly clearly. After watching a few girls and nerdish guys pass by, she focused on the tall handsome boy now passing in front of her house.
"Excuse me young man." She called.
"Yeah" he responded.
"Can I speak with you for a minute please." Val asked.
He walked over, and responded "what's up?" in a rather boorish tone of voice.
"Well, I'm new here, and I am looking to hire some help to get my yard into shape. Is that something you are interested in"? "I pay quite fairly, and in cash." Val added.
"How much?" the boy questioned rudely.
"I think 15 dollars and hour is a fair wage." Answered Val.
"Yeah, ok, I guess so." He responded.
"You see I'm about to get fined from something called the "Town Beautification Committee."
"Yes, I know about them, my mother is the chairperson of that committee." He stated.
"Can you start on Saturday?" asked Val
"Yeah, I guess so." He replied.
"Ok, great. What's your name son?
"Charles, most people call me Chip." he answered.
"Ok, Chip, see you on Saturday."