It works!

Then he'll put 1 Hay back into the refrigerator and maybe come back in a week to see if it's still there.

Separately, what's up with that large question mark?

That's the Lost & Found box! It is currently empty.

"Emily, do you know anything about the box under the question mark?"

"Huh, I don't. I've never lost or found anything ever, until that book on your farm! But it doesn't seem to have shown up here."

"What do you think would happen if I put 1 Hay into the box?"

"Then I think there would be one hay in the box?" Emily sounds uncertain, like maybe Oliver is going to pull a slime out of the box instead.

"I mean, do you think it would mysteriously show up back in my backpack overnight?"

"Nooooo?"

Okay, not a slime. A dinosaur? She doesn't seem to be getting the right answers on the quiz.

"I feel like I ought to be able to mess with this somehow but I haven't figured any good ways yet."

"Any idea where we find the Mayor at this time of day?"  Oliver isn't going to actually try stealing objects from this house; the relationship with the Mayor seems potentially crucial.

"Oh, sure, he likes to make the rounds of the local businesses. We were at Pierre's earlier and didn't see him there, so he's probably either at Willy's fish shop or Robin's carpenter shop."

"Guide me there while singing cheerful songs?  Whichever one is closest, first."

"Golly, they're both pretty far away, and in opposite directions. It's a beautiful day, let's go down to the beach!"

Emily sets off, making up a very silly nursery rhyme about ostriches that twitch and snitch.

As the pair approaches the river, they cross paths with a young boy with messy reddish hair.

"Who's that?" Oliver will say to Emily, after the boy comes visible and hopefully at a natural break in the rhyme.

"Oh, that's my neighbor Vincent. He's Jodi's little boy."

"Does he have any sort of obvious role in the universe?  Is he good?  Evil?"

"Uh... he's a kid? He goes to school at the museum. Penny teaches Vincent and Jas together."

"I haven't seen any sign that he's evil! He likes kid things, like ice cream and cake and hanging out at the beach. He misses his dad a lot, I think."

"I'll put him down as 'probably not an immediate danger' for now."  Oliver will give a cheery wave to Vincent as he passes!

"Uh... sure, that seems entirely sensible."

"By the way, do you mind if we just talk while we walk? I'm having trouble thinking of more words that rhyme with ostrich."

"Sounds reasonably vaguely valid.  What's up with Vincent's dad?"

"Oh, he's deployed in the war. Jodi and Sam and Vincent miss him terribly."

(...does Oliver already know anything about a war to which Ferngill Republic soldiers would be deployed?)

No, this is the first Oliver is hearing of it.

"...there weren't any noticeable wars involving the Ferngill Republic in my own version of reality.  What war do you speak of?"