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The first conversation Harvey has with the new farmer, Bee, is when she limps her way to the clinic bloody and bruised.
Harvey is about to close shop, mopping floors and cleaning medical devices. One of the children in town had recently gotten sick and he wanted to make sure everything was perfectly disinfected. The health of his patients was his number one priority, after all.
He suddenly hears a harsh knock on the door. He walks out the storeroom and peers down the hallway (he kept the door in between open, a bad habit of his) and there he sees Bee in all her blue glory, sprayed with blood and applying pressure on her shoulder. Harvey rushes towards the door, messing with the lock in order to open the door. Bee walks in, the scent of blood and sweat following her. Blood stained footsteps mixed with mud make their way into the clinic, ruining the perfectly clean tiles.
“Hello-!” She pauses in order to pant “Mr doctor! ‘M in need of some help…” she sheepishly admits.
“H-how can I help?” Harvey stutters at the beginning of his sentence, not expecting this late at night.
Bee tilts her head. “Doc, my shoulder is bleeding. I feel the help I need is pretty obvious, no?” She grins when Harvey's face heats up in embarrassment, which makes him burn stronger in shame.
“Follow me, please.” His voice is steady, opposite to his red face.
Bee follows the doctor into the room where he treats his patients. He instructs Bee to sit on the bed while he checks her shoulder wound after putting on a pair of gloves. Luckly, the wound is not too deep and not dangerous.
“May I ask what happened?” Harvey says while disinfecting Bee wounds. She hisses before answering.
“I was exploring the mines, ‘cus you know, rocks and jewels, and this creature appeared out of nowhere! It came flying at me while I was hacking away at some copper, and it got a hit in before I reacted. It was definitely a rough fight, with how horrible my sword is. Really, why would you equip a poor young woman with a rusty, dull sword…” Bee murmurs that last part, pouting.
“Alright. Your wound isn't deep enough to require stitches, luckily, but I'll do a butterfly bandage to reduce scarring. Please try to stay still so you don't aggravate the wound further. Afterwards, I'll need to inject you with a Tetanus shot to make sure you don't get an infection. “
“An injection!? No! I'm terrified of needles! Please, doc, please have some pity on his poor young soul! Sir pleas-” Bee continues pleading (something he's quite used to, especially after working in a huge ER in Zuzu City, so he easily tunes her out), she's pale faced (which is something odd to see on a person with blue skin). Harvey ignores her, and after the wound is secure, he leaves the little office to go to the storeroom. He comes back not long after with the injection in his hands, and she's still pleading with Harvey to not inject her.
“OH GOD! You weren't joking! It's huge! Please sir- ” Harvey laughs, just a little. A Tetanus shot really isn't that large, compared to other needles.
“Roll up the cuff of your sleeve so I can inject you safely, alright.”
Bee finally shuts her mouth and rolls up her sleeve, eyes shut tight. Her lips are pursed as Harvey goes through his procedure. She yelps when the needle goes in, but otherwise behaves well compared to Harvey's previous patients. When he's done, he slaps a green Junimo band-aid over the injection site.
“Now that wasn't all that bad, was it? Make sure to get some rest for the next couple of days, and do try to avoid the mines when possible. Come back sometime next week for a checkup on the injury. Other than that you're free to go. I'll charge you by mail.”
Bee sticks out her tongue at the word “charge,” but she leaves with a simple “see you later!” She gets up one moment and is gone the next. Something tells Harvey she won't stop working on her farm to allow her wound to heal, a thought that makes him shake his head. He glances at the now dirty floor, sighs, and gets ready to mop it all over again.
(The new farmer reminds Harvey of him. Grief flows through his body again as he scrubs the white tiles, and Harvey does his best to ignore it. He has been dead for a long time now. Harvey can't keep seeing ghosts everywhere, seeing him in every one of his patients' faces, in every corner and hallway of his clinic. It's been a long time, but the wound still aches, an unquenchable fire that only diminishes in size, never disappearing or becoming less powerful.)
-
The next time Harvey holds a conversation with Bee, shes thursting a jar brusting with pickles the day of her checkup appointment.
“I asked Maru what kind of things you liked! She said pickles, and I thought to myself that making some for you shouldn't be that hard, now that I'm a farmer. So, here's my thank you gift since I never properly thanked you for helping me last week!” Bee's smile is so bright and wide, Harvey momentarily wonders if it hurts her face to stay in that position for long periods of time.
“...thank you?” He responds, “this really isn't necessary, though. Making sure the people of Pelican Town are healthy is enough of a gift.”
(seeing his patients sick and dying reminds Harvey too much of him in his final moments. He never wants to see someone he cares about get to that point ever again.)
The rest of the appointment goes swimmingly. Her shoulder is completely healed and isn't even scarred over, which Harvey is sure is impossible (but he's glad Bee is healthy again, so does it even matter?).
She waves goodbye as she leaves, and Harvey reluctantly waves back, a bit confused. He has no friends in town. Sure, he has acquaintances, he knows the whole town and can hold a conversation with all of them comfortably, but no one he can truly break that doctor-patient relationship with. With how lively and sociable Bee is, he wouldn't be surprised if she was going to be the exception to that phenomenon.
After he finishes up with the clinic, he heads upstairs to his home carrying a pickle jar. He breaks it open and tries one. They are the worst pickles he's had in his entire life. They're soggy instead of crunchy and they taste more like cucumbers than pickles, but they make Harvey laugh until his stomach hurts. Bee was so confident they'd taste amazing. The irony still makes him chuckle as he slowly eats them over the next few weeks. Why would he let such a great gift go to waste?
(Bee's gesture is the exact type of thing he would do, back when he wasn't grey and rotting in a bed. Harvey keeps thinking of him almost as much as he did back when he first died. It catches Harvey off guard at first, before he realizes why.
Bee reminds Harvey so much of him it hurts.)