The Misadventures of Ivanabe Gaye

She wasn’t very intelligent, but her cleverness and problem-solving skills made up for her low grades in class. She was naive, but still dangerously strong. When problems occurred, she always found a way to solve them.

Meet Ivanabe Gaye, also known as Ivy: a cheerful Western girl who lived on a farm run by her adopted family. Her younger brother wanted an older sister so badly that her parents adopted her from a local orphanage. Even then, she still saw them as her real family and didn’t care a bit about being adopted.

Anyone who met her would remember her by her chocolate brown hair tied up in pigtails and the bright smile she always displayed on her face. They would also tell you that she never paid attention in class and every teacher hated her for her energy.

“Ivy!” the teachers would screech. “What ended in 1878?”

“1877, obv’ously,” Ivy would reply with a cheeky grin on her face.

Then, she would get sent out of class as her peers roared with laughter behind her.

Fast forward a couple of years, and Ivy is now a twenty-two year old and has been out of school for a long time. She still kept her clever personality and still had her street-smarts (or should I say road-smarts?) wherever she went. She spent her time helping her parents on the farm with her brother and kicking wild’s animals’ furry butts when they tried to steal the crops.

Then, one day, Ivy had an odd dream as she slept. Inside of the dream, there was a voice telling her to head out into the Wild West to help the people in need. A few years ago, demonic creatures (especially cows) invaded the West and no one can go around without either being killed by demons or bandits.

“You must help the others,” the voice whispered. “Be the hero.”

It disappeared after.

Gee, dream-Ivy thought to herself. That sounds pretty important to make it into a dream. Better go follow it!

Being the “act before thinking” type of gal she was, she woke up and told her parents she had an important mission to complete in the West. After tons of convincing and bribery, she finally got her parents to let her into the Wild West when the next carriage came by.

Finally, it was the day the carriage would arrive at their town. Ivy woke up feeling excited, adrenaline rushing through her veins. She quickly snatched her pre-packed items, and was about to leave when she heard a squawk from near the window. It was her bird!

Being in such a rush to get out, she had forgotten about her old buddy, Russel. Ivy rushed over to the cage and stroked her friend a few more times.

“Goodbye, boy,” she said as she fed Russel a bug. “I’ll be leavin’ soon.”

Russel squawked and gobbled up the insect.

“Ya’know, Russel?” Ivy reached for the lock on the cage. “Maybe it’s time for ya’ ta go, too.”

The bird ruffled his feathers and stared at his owner. She opened the cage and Russel hopped out onto the windowsill. With one last glance, it squawked goodbye and soared off into the skies.

Ivy, feeling like she accomplished something, left her room, took one last look at her home, and went outside where the rest of her family was. Her mom waited outside with a smile on her face.

“It’ll be sad to see you go, darlin’,” she said as she pulled Ivy into a hug. “We’ll really miss you.”

“It’ll be a shame to see our Critter Kicker leave!” her dad yelled from across the field, where he was working. “Could’ve at least taught Rufus to continue yer job!”

“Relax, Pops!” Ivy yelled back. “Rufus has his cool inventions ‘n stuff! He can drive ‘em away!”

Her brother, Rufus, looked up from a strange-looking multicolored cube upon hearing his name.

“Ayyy, Rufus!” Ivy strode over to her younger brother. “Now ya gotta take over all the chores when I’m gone!”

“But you’ll visit, right?” Rufus asked sadly, obviously not caring about the chores.

“Huh? Well, ‘course I will!” Ivy reassured him. “I’ll come back every month!”

Relieved, Rufus matched all the colors on his cube and held it out to her.

“I want you to have this,” Rufus said as Ivy carefully took it from his hand.

“But, aren’t ya gonna present this at yer class?” Ivy asked.

“I can always make other cubes,” Rufus answered. “but you’ll always be my only sister.”

Trying her best not to cry, Ivy pulled her brother into one last hug before dropping the cube inside her backpack. As much as she wanted to stay longer with her family, the carriage would be arriving soon and she had to catch it before it left.

“I’ll miss ya guys!” Ivy called out to her family as she walked off into the distance. “I’ll be sure to visit every month!”

After her family was out of view, she approached the carriage station just on time and hopped on. She was finally on her way to the Wild West!

***

“Final stop for Borin’ Springs!” the carriage driver called out.

Not wanting to accidentally go back, Ivy jumped out of the cart and onto the dirt road. She landed next to a dusty turnip on the ground, so she picked that up.

“Never know when I’ll be needin’ this!” she exclaimed, dropping it into her backpack.

Turning to inspect her surroundings, she noticed a sign that read “Dirtwater 300 miles.” Ivy knew that Dirtwater would be her final destination, since Boring Springs wasn’t far west enough to be considered “the West.” Three-hundred miles would be too far to travel on foot, so she decided that she would need to buy a horse first.