Living History
Chapter 1

Looking up from checking the oil in the truck I see my wife Meg locking the door behind her. "All set?" she asked bouncing down the steps.

"Looks that way." I reply climbing behind the wheel ready to start the trip.

This was to be our last big adventure before she entered residency at the local hospital while I took up teaching history at the university. The back seat held our dogs and the trailer was packed with our personal gear, all four of our horses, my portable forge setup, Building tools as well as Meg's leather working and fletching tools. We were on our way to a new living history village depicting life in the late middle age Europe that was in its infancy. I was to be the resident blacksmith as well as helping with the building and helping with 'martial' exhibitions. Meg was to be our leather worker, give demonstrations of various methods of making bows and arrows and be our resident medic if anyone was hurt of became ill. We had started out on what would turn out to be the trip of a lifetime...

At this point in our tale I should probably introduce myself and my companions. My name is Alan Ward. I'm a 28 year old soon to be history professor. My thesis was a study of metal working advances in the high middle ages. I'm 6'2" tall and 240 pounds with Dark brown hair and green eyes. My wife Meghan Ward is 26 years old and scheduled to begin her residency in emergency medicine this fall. She is 5'6" and 125 pounds with long red hair and green eyes. Meg is one of the rare redheads that can tan rather than suffer through the "freckles growing closer together" reaction to the sun. Our traveling companions include our dogs Max, Emma, Bonny and Janie. The dogs are all black mouth curs. While a fairly young breed they are great hunting and watch dogs. The Horses are Rorschach, Midnight, Blackie and Shadow in honor of the black coats that are part of the Friesian breed standard. Rorschach our stallion and the three mares are all purebred Friesian horses each over 15 hands while the stud horse is over 16.

Meg and I met our freshman year at university, to say it was love at first sight would be a lie. At 17 I still had not grown to my full height and 'husky' was used to describe me more than once. Looking back I know I made a pretty poor impression if I was noticed at all. Meg on the other hand was one of the most beautiful girls in the class. Many thought her a bit 'stuck up' though it was more a case of her being preoccupied with her studies determined to maintain her academic scholarship. At the beginning of the second semester we found ourselves members of the same study group for a philosophy class. During the semester she somehow decided I wasn't such a waste of time and we became close friends. I don't doubt that my "Freshman Fifteen" the weight often gained by new students being a loss of 15 pounds while gaining a couple inches of height to a tad over 6 feet hurt much. While not thin, I was getting more and more solid as I worked out in the school gym at least 4 times a week. I learned that Megs parents had been killed by a car wreck the previous summer and that she was determined to go to med school and specialize in Emergency medicine. As we had become close friends, near the end of the spring semester I asked her what her summer plans were to find that she didn't have any or really anyplace to go after the loss of her parents. I invited her to spend the few weeks between spring and summer semesters at my Uncle Jack's ranch outside of town. I'd lived with Jack for as long as I can remember my parents lost in a boating accident when I was a baby. The break came and went and we each took one class during the summer. I took a course on blacksmithing that filled an art elective while Meg took a botany course that focused on herbal medicine. As summer turned to fall I asked Meg if she would consider staying at the ranch and saving the money the dorm would have cost her for med school. As our sophomore progressed we both became involved in the SCA as well as the local western martial arts club. She became interested in archery and bow making while I developed a love of the axe, spear and sword. As time progressed our friend started asking when the wedding was or referring to the other as our 'boyfriend/girlfriend' etc to our confusion. As we drove home from a WMA training class the Bonnie Raitt song 'Something to Talk About' came on the radio causing her to turn to me and ask "What do you think? Do we risk our current relationship in hopes of something better or do we maintain the status quo?"

As I pull the truck to the side of the road before turning to reply. "Meghan, I think I've been half in love with you since we met. The time since has only deepened that. I would love to see where our relationship could go. What I won't do is push you to do something you are uncomfortable with."

Nodding she turned to back to the windshield deep in thought as I drove back home. Over the next few days Meg was withdrawn, driving her car to campus rather than riding with me and talking little over dinner. Just when I was thinking I had screwed up and lost my best friend she came into the ranch 'office' where we often did our studying.

"I know I've been quiet the last few days but I had a lot to think about. I realized how much I love you and want to move forward with our relationship. I do want to take it slow and remember I will be going to med school and refuse to jeopardize that."

Standing I take her into my arms I reply. "I can live with that."

The rest of our undergrad years seemed to flow by, culminated with our wedding between graduation and our beginning medical/graduate schools.

We lost uncle jack the following spring, waking to find he had passed in his sleep. This spring break was spent with a funeral as well as time with my family's attorney to learn not only had Jack left the ranch to me but there was a considerable amount of funds from his estate as well as triggering my access to the remainder of my parent's estate whose funds had grown rather surprisingly. Returning to school was hard for both of us but we had made a promise to finish our educations that we intended to keep. As the following years passed we worked hard at our studies as well as our hobbies. I had slowly sold off the cattle, improved the fencing and transitioned the ranch to a breeding facility for the Friesian horses I'd become enamored with. At the same time we built a timber frame smithy as well as a wood shop. Meg had added leather working to her hobbies remarking once with a grin "leather is just skin that's been treated to be a bit tougher why not learn to cut and sew it" As I was preparing to defend my thesis and Meg finishing med school we were approached by a gentleman by the name of Martin Higginbotham as we left an SCA Arts and Sciences meeting.

"Excuse me" he said as we were leaving "Could I buy you two a coffee? I have a proposal I'd like you to consider."

Looking at each other and shrugging we agreed and went into a nearby coffee shop. Once we had our drinks he laid out his plan.

"I have a large parcel of land that I'd like to see if a living history village could be built on. The test case would be on a small scale lasting only the summer to then I would ask you to document your thoughts on the experiment to see if a larger more long term endeavor would be feasible."

We asked for and received two weeks to discuss his proposal and agreed to begin once we had finished with school. The following month was hectic planning what to take with us including the decision to bring not only a breeding population of our horses but the dogs as well hoping no one would call us on the lack of 'authenticity' of the breed. Hand tools both new and old were packed. My 19th century hand crank blower for the forge managed to sneak in claiming it was 'for production work, not demonstration' Cloths both period and mundane. We packed as much weapons, armor, camping gear and as much raw materials for our crafts as we could jam into the trailer with our craft tools and the biggest medical kit I'd ever seen. All that was left was to load the critters and take off first thing in the morning.