A new face was somewhat rare in Pelican Town. Hardly anyone visited outside of the festival season, and there weren’t many people looking to live there. So once Sam’d caught wind of a new face, he’d been the first person to greet them when they’d first moved in to Pelican Town nearly two years ago. It had surprised him that someone so young was living on their own. He was still living with his mom!

Sam was so sociable, he got along with basically everyone. It was easy to get the new farmer to open up to him. Moving in to a new place had to be scary, right? Maybe they were lonely! Sam couldn’t have that. He included them in his own outings with his friends, Sebastian and Abigail, as much as possible — it resulted in a strong friendship with the farmer.

One spring day, he’d invited the farmer over to get a second opinion on a song he’d been writing. Sam wasn’t too sure if he wanted to keep going with it or scrap it altogether.

“No, no, okay. How about this?” He plunked through the rift on his guitar; a little off-key, but hey, cut him some slack! He was still learning! It sounded sort of punk-y. Sam had definitely improved, but he still had a ways to go. His tempo was inconsistent. His eyes were narrowed, his lip caught between his teeth as he tried his best to get through the rift with the least amount of mistakes possible.

When he’d finished, he gave the farmer a huge, boyish grin. “Eh? How about it?” When he was met with silence and an amused look, he tilted his head, his grin turning sheepish. “No good?”

He could use some more practice.