Thump! Thump!
"Hello! Anybody home?"
"Open the door!"
"Annie? Come on out and open up! I'm ready to get to work. If we fall behind schedule, don't come blaming me!"
"Hello?!"
Standing in front of the little wooden house at the northwest corner of the ranch, Gotz pounded hard on the door with his thick fist and shouted for the little girl who clearly hadn't gotten out of bed yet.
To be honest, Uncle Gotz—who wore many hats as the backwoods forest ranger, a miserable old bearded man, a master carpenter, a lonely lumberjack, and the real estate developer of Mineral Town—had never expected that little Annie, who seemed so insignificant and unreliable to him, would actually manage to scrape together the huge sum needed to expand and renovate her house in just two short days.
So after she'd paid him in full, right there and then, for all the materials and labor, he'd been required to come to the girl's ranch every day from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. starting on Spring 12 to work on her house. The schedule was tight, too: he had to finish everything and let her inspect it before the next season—that is, before Summer 1 of the following month.
"Who is it..."
('-ω??)~zzZ
And so, early that morning, while a little girl was still fast asleep, he came to wake her. She opened the door for him with bleary eyes...
Because starting that morning, his work was officially underway.
"Ah..."
|?˙╭╮˙)?
"Oh, it's Uncle Gotz..."
(っ?-?)
"It's so early. What time is it? Why are you knocking on my door?"
?(?′0`?)? Ah-choo~!
Clearly still half asleep, Annie gave her visitor a huge, very impolite yawn, then grumbled at the bearded man who'd inexplicably come pounding on her door first thing in the morning.