The Happy Happy Village

Bad Whiskey (Part-1)

-Romance and The Spit Take-

In the end, a tour isn't enough to do justice when it comes to learning about the Happy Happy Village. Sometimes you just need to experience it for yourself, just like I did shortly after the twins left me. I went off to explore a little more to kill some more time for myself, see what else I could find out. The results of my findings felt... fruitless to say the least.

At the barber shop, I found a couple of men getting their hair cut short by a few female stylists. A few women were also getting their hair done, though it ended in one of the three common hairstyles (pony tail, braids, or a bun as I'd recall). The customers smiled for the service, and the workers smiled for their work as if it were a modern art masterpiece. I wouldn't recommend this place to any stylists searching for a job in a barber shop. Keep looking.

Then there was the book store, again nothing special. You'd think that maybe a book concerning the principles of Happy Happy-ism could at least exist and be found there, but there wasn't. All the books that filled the shelves of the store had the same binding, color, length, and content, but were apparently written by different people. In every book, printed within the pages were... equal signs. These weren't math text books, every page front to back have a big black equal sign in the middle of it. Every book was the same, yet people were buying them!

Every building I visited only raised more questions than answers. The quilt shop had all quilts patched with rags, the furniture store had pieces that looked poorly made, and grocery store believe it or not only had two things, the white bread and white cheese that made up the sandwiches at the café. The most bizarre part? Every place I went to had all satisfied happy smiling workers and customers. It's just all too strange. How could anyone look, live, and work so miserably yet not be bothered at all by their lives? I tried to ask a villager about their culture, only to receive a piercing glare as the villager just smiled at me. I was too afraid to ask them personally.

By the time 4:00 P.M. rolled over I felt very exhausted and miserable from my exploration. There was one place left where I was willing to wind up, at Harold's bar for a drink. It may seem vain, but a shot of cheap whiskey at the end of the day always manages to pick me up. I was at least looking forward to that when Lucas mentioned it. Back in the roaring twenties, alcohol was so easy to produce, all they needed was a clean bathtub and BAM! You've got yourself a nice batch of bathtub gin. How could this town even mess up whiskey?

So there I was, standing inside the bar leaning up against the counter. The simple décor felt more fitting this time around, looking just like a saloon straight out of an old western. Villagers gathered here for a nice drink and chat among one another as I kept to my own silence. I wish I had something to discuss with these people and have a nice little conversation, but I doubted I could even look at anyone without them looking at me with their wild smiles. I stayed up against the wall, not making any eye contact with anyone.

I could be worrying about what I was going to do now that I didn't have a job, but I was just too curious about this town. Maybe if Mercedes gave me a brochure or a form introducing me to the culture she had created, I then might have all my questions answered and I would stop worrying about it. But if I did obtained some sort of brochure, I wouldn't have found out a few very bizarre and interesting things that I doubt any brochure would list in a million years. Very... interesting... things.

As I stood by the counter, listening in on the villagers' conversations for any valuable information on the subject on Happy Happy-ism, I listened to the green radio and the woman that sang inside it. To me, the music felt like the only splash of color keeping this town from growing dry for me. I could listen to this station all day and forget that I was even standing in the middle of an isolated town without a job, a partner, or even a chance at a wealthy future. I didn't know how but it eased the pain I was feeling inside.