{
  "description": "[b][u]MY PLACE s03:e07 - Time Capsule[/u][/b]\n\nToday, I found Simon pacing around his house. \nDespite being right next to his home, he looked a little lost.\n\n\n“You okay, buddy?” I asked him.\n\n\n“Oh, hey, cool guy!” he smiled. He was carrying a small box in his hands.\n\n\n“What’cha got there?” I asked.\n\n\n“A time capsule!” he explained. “I’ve been thinking of making one of these for a long time now…”\n\n\n“Neat,” I said. The phrase ‘morbidly curious’ would hardly describe how I felt right there. “So uh… what’s in it?”\n\n\nSimon laughed. “Why don’t we wait until I dig it up? It’s no fun if you know what to expect,” he said with a wink.\n\n\nI helped Simon find a spot to bury the capsule and dug a hole for him. He complimented me on how perfectly circular my dig spot was. I’ve had plenty of practice by now.\n\n\n“What made you wanna do this?” I asked once we had buried it, patting the earth with my shovel.\n\n\n“I dunno,” Simon shrugged. “I guess it’s just something I haven’t done in this town yet. Plus, I’ve written myself a letter in there, so when I dig it up, it’ll be like talking to myself from the past!”\n\n\nThe conversation sorta died after that. We both just stood there, staring at where the time capsule had been buried as the sounds of the nearby river and the wind blowing through the trees filled the void. In a way, time seemed to stand still, which is very counterproductive for a time capsule project.\n\n\n“Did you know that Alice is thinking of leaving?” I told Simon after a few moments of quiet.\n\n\n“Really?” he asked, surprisedly. “How come?”\n\n\n“Mostly because of all the stuff that happened the other month,” I admitted. “She said she’d think about it, but I doubt she’ll change her mind.”\n\n\n“You don’t want her to go?” Simon asked.\n\n\nI thought for a moment. It was true, I didn’t want to see Alice leave. But I didn’t wanna see anybody leave. For all their weirdness and the squabbles we may have had, I still miss Bluebear, Yuka, Beardo… even Jitters. And Alice has been here for almost as long as I have, so we have that in common. Plus, I really don’t wanna leave on bad terms, even if we did make up, I know that our arguments will be the reason she goes.\n\n\nI explained this to Simon in as eloquent a fashion as I could muster.\n\n\n“Well,” he answered, “if she was so dead-set on leaving, wouldn’t she have done it by now? Maybe there’s something that's keeping her here…”\n\n\nI looked over to her house in the distance, as if expecting inspiration to strike me.\n\n\n“Maybe,” I said as I watched postie Pete fill her letterbox. “Or maybe… maybe I need to give her a reason.”\n\n\nAnd that goes for everybody. It’s all fine and good giving the villagers new benches to sit on, but as Mayor, I’ve really gotta give these animals a real reason to stick around. Perhaps this beautiful town ordinance could do the trick? It is what Alice wanted, after all…\n\n\n\n~Author’s Notes~\nBeing a mayor is hard I guess.\nAlso, thanks for tuning in for the first seven episodes! My Place will now return to its usual ‘out-when-its-out’ schedule. And we like that, “it’ll be out when it's out”. Great work ethic."
}