"Indeed, Pierre told me!  Was already considering it!  But you know, when it comes to coops, and folds, and all the other things you can do on a farm--planning out that whole future and business plan, you see--it would be nice and helpful for me to know in advance that it was possible to properly expand the place.  That's why I'd like to make sure the land beyond is unencumbered, and be clear on where I go to file papers and what the bureaucratic response timeline looks like!"

Lewis, now considerably less jolly, shoots a look at Robin.

"I have a thought! Why not have a look at my catalog and think about how you can build up the land you've already got? You'll be so much more comfortable once you've built up your house, don't you think?"

"Why, I'd be happy to look at the catalog!  And it's no problem if Mayor Lewis has forgotten the procedure for filing homesteading papers, or even if the town's legal process finds itself a mite confused about where its laws are written down.  I would be happy to check the legal books myself, or even devise some new laws for it if nobody can remember what the old laws are!"

Robin passes over the catalog. It lists:

- basic materials such as wood and stone
- a variety of improvements for your house, such as windows and fireplaces
- appliances such as televisions, refrigerators, and a telephone
- furniture such as beds of various sizes
- recipes for crafting your own lighting and flooring of various types

Robin can also upgrade your house and build various farming outbuildings. The stable comes with a free horse!

"We do not at present have a mechanism for granting or selling land."

"Luckily, we do not at present have any need of one!"

"Why, that does sound like a bit of a future cucumber being brined and turning into quite the future pickle!  But I expect that if I can get a petition signed by five residents of Pelican Town, it'll pass into law after a four-day period to see if anyone objects.  That would be sensible, if you don't have any pre-existing mechanism for adding new mechanisms.  In time, it'd give me a lot more stuff to sell to all of you and buy from all of you, after all!  I'd wager it's been a while since Robin has sold a coop, and there's only so many coops you can put on just a little bit of land!"

"That... that actually suits me just fine, but make it twelve residents, not five, and you have a deal."

"...Emily, how many residents does Pelican Town have total?  Whose names you can remember."

"Hmm, about 25 or so, I think? I'd have to sit down and list them out to be sure."

"Sounds fairly reasonable, then, so long as they're not half kids who can't sign... do you spot any reasons why there'd be no way to get twelve signatures?"

"You'd have to talk to a lot of people, and some people might not agree, but no, I don't immediately see any reason why you'd be doomed to failure."

"Well, I'm not actually going to object if the Powers That Be want to make a fair, solvable quest out of it."

Does Oliver already know what the Telephone from Robin's catalog will do, or does he need to ask Robin about that?

Better ask Robin!

"Robin, might I inquire as to what can be done with a telephone, in Pelican Town?  Your electronic-informational infrastructure is not quite what I'd been accustomed to."

"You can call any of the shopkeepers in town to find out their hours and what they have in stock. It can be nice if you want to know Gus's dish of the day, for example."

Robin does not mention the frequent crank calls. No reason to bring that up.

"Oh, interesting.  I realize, of course, that I have no way of using the information now, but would you happen to know Pierre's telephone number?"

"Oh, you just push the PIERRE button."

"I heard rumors that somebody in this town has Internet access.  Don't suppose you know who sells a cable modem?"

"My son Sebastian has internet! He's a computer programmer and he needs it to do his work online. You could go down to his room and ask him about it. I don't know how he got it set up."

"...thank you."  That was a more straightforward promise of future enlightenment than Oliver was expecting, though who knows if that promise is to be fulfilled.

Does Oliver now just know all the material that was in Robin's catalog?  Can he, for example, remember the cost of a structure that contains sheep?  Does he know its area in terms of land-square-footprint?  What was the cost of a regular and a large chicken coop?

The structure that contains sheep is a Deluxe Barn. The Deluxe Barn is the biggest size of barn and takes up a 7x4 footprint, though of course it's much bigger on the inside. It costs 25,000G plus 550 wood and 300 stone, but that's as an upgrade to a Barn and then a Big Barn, which cost {6,000G, 350 wood, 150 stone} and {12,000G, 450 wood, 200 stone} respectively.

A Coop costs 4000G, 300 wood, and 100 stone. It houses four chickens.

You can upgrade it to a Big Coop and then a Deluxe Coop for {10,000G, 400 wood, 150 stone} and {20,000G, 500 wood, 200 stone} respectively. The larger structures house 8 or 12 animals.

"Robin, would you happen to know what, besides a Deluxe Barn, one would require in order to have and shear sheep, or spin their wool into cloth?  Or make cloth any other way, for that matter.  Or Mayor Lewis, if you know."

"Hmm, Marnie's the expert, but as I recall you can buy shears from Marnie to shear the sheep. Or of course you can install an Auto-Grabber! That's quite a piece of technology! It automatically milks cows and goats, shears sheep, collects eggs, and everything else you can imagine! And it's just one compact machine that sits in the corner of your coop or barn! Isn't that amazing?"

"And then to get cloth from wool, you need a loom."

"You can also get cloth by recycling soggy newspapers with a recycling machine."