Chapter 15

Friday 19 August:

After being closed up for the last month, the house had been rather hot and stuffy, when we arrived home last night, and we had changed the air in the entire house for cooler winter air before going to bed last night. Now in the morning, the house was again quite warm, but my wives just opened most of the windows and started the ceiling fans instead of changing the air again.

There wasn't a lot left in the cupboards or the refrigerator to eat, so breakfast was a rather fast affair. Our shower before breakfast had taken a lot longer than breakfast. It was so nice to have our own large shower to use again. After breakfast, I unloaded the SUV and then returned the dress boxes and backpacks from their temporary storage at my source of power.

"We need to return the rental vehicle and go to the store. We need groceries," Katie told us, laying out the plan for the next several hours. I also needed to stop at school and check that everything was taken care of and to pick up my schedule for the semester that would start on Monday in addition to picking up the books that I would need.

My wives followed me in the pickup to the rental facility. We didn't have any trouble returning the vehicle. They then dropped me at school to check on my classes and buy books.

After dropping me off, they went over to the big shopping center near the university for groceries and other things that we needed before returning to the university to pick me up. They still had the money that they hadn't needed to spend on vacation thanks to the money in their account in Ireland.

They had to wait for me to finish, as things were very confused with everyone trying to get their things together for the start of school on Monday the 22nd. I managed to get most of the books I would need and would have to search for the remainder later. It was well past 1:00 PM before we returned to the house and unloaded everything.

"I need to check on the condition of the crops," I told my wives once everything was in the house.

"Yes, but do that after lunch," Margie told me. "We'll get things unpacked and the groceries put away."

"We'll check on the herbs and other things after we get everything put away," Katie added.

In the stable after lunch, I checked the tractor for leaks and filled the gas tank. We would need gas again shortly and more of the Redline lead substitute as well. It was when I hit the starter switch on the tractor that things went down hill. The starter just barely turned over a few times and then quit. The battery on the tractor had discharged while we were gone.

Exasperated, I got the pickup and moved it over to jump start the tractor. After parking it close to the tractor, I hooked up the cables and went to try starting the tractor again. When I hit the tractor's ignition switch the motor turned over a few times before the pickup stopped.

"Great!!" I said in disgust and unhooked everything. I tried to start the pickup but it only turned over slowly with out starting. This was just too much. I closed my eyes as a power spell came into my mind and I recited it. The pickup instantly roared to life as did the tractor. Leaving the tractor idling in the stable, I returned the pickup to the front of the house and parked it.

Back at the stable, I gave the tractor some more gas, put it in gear and drove out to inspect the crops. Most of them looked to be all right. It had apparently rained sufficiently while we were gone to keep everything reasonably well watered. There were still weeds that would need to be removed, and the deer had gotten to the plants on the peripheral rows, but hadn't caused serious damage.

By the time I finished my survey, my wives were out looking at the things they had hand seeded. They seemed quite pleased.

"There are a number of things that we can start harvesting," Margie told me.

"Yes, and there is weeding to be done also," I told them. "And the deer have been into some of the outer rows of the crops."

"We can take care of all of that," Katie assure me. My wives closed their eyes and chanted a spell and all of the weeds in the field we were in disappeared. The spell that they had used came into my mind then, and we visited all of the other fields and got rid of all of their weeds. My wives visited the special warding stones at the corners of each field and renewed the spell there to keep the deer out of the crops. It had been a very productive afternoon and we returned to the house satisfied. I could get used to farming like this.

The dinner my wives prepared was excellent, and it was a better meal than the food in all of the restaurants and other places we had eaten on our trip - except for the meals in the Otherworld and at Aengus's house that is. We all slept very well that night.

Saturday 20 August: We started harvesting some of the things that were ripe already. There were a few that had spoiled while we were away but not too much of anything.

"We'll start on preserving these next week when you're in school," Katie told me later that day. My wives had placed a spell on what we had picked to keep it fresh until they had a chance to prepare it for freezing or to can the perishable items. Other things would be dried and hung in the basement. Some would go to the root cellar for storage with the preservation spell still intact.

Saturday evening we watched an old movie that my wives had and went to bed early. We hugged and kissed for a while before Margie pulled me over on top of herself. Katie was next when I recovered. In between Katie and Margie had pleasured each other.

Sunday 21 August: We were up early and had breakfast expecting the minister to arrive as usual. He failed to show up - perhaps not realizing that we were back or expecting us to attend church in town. We just redressed and returned to work in the fields. Sunday night we only slept, as school started tomorrow and I would need to be fresh for the first day of class.

Monday 22 August: I was up early and dressed for school after shaving. A quick breakfast and a kiss for each wife, and I was ready to leave for school. My wives were getting their canning supplies out as I was leaving.

The start of classes at the university was the usual disaster that I had come to associate with the start of any school. The freshmen were confused and the rest needed to get used to their new schedules. Justin was in my first class.

"Well, farm boy, how was your summer. I see that you're well tanned," he quipped on seeing me.

"I had a fine summer," I answered. "How was yours?"

"Not what I thought it would be," he said, somewhat dejected. I also noticed that he was somewhat pale. "That desk job was in the basement of the building and involved a lot of long hours. I didn't see Brenda all summer and the women at my office didn't even want to talk to me, other than to tell me what to do. It was a real bummer," Justin finished "How were the fields and all of that outdoors?"

"The fields were fine and I had plenty of time to relax after work. In mid July, the O'Connells took me to Ireland with them. They knew some people in Dublin, and after visiting them we went out to Sligo County on the west coast for a few weeks," I told him. "We just got back last Thursday."

"Damn, man! You had a lot better summer than I did," Justin said, sounding very depressed. Brenda showed up after class to claim Justin. She looked well tanned and must have also had a better summer than Justin had.

By that evening there were a number of new jars of canned food in the pantry and the freezer was also filling up. The sisters had a chest type freezer in the cellar and that too was eventually filled. My wives were too tired for sex that night, but we did spend some quality time hugging and kissing before going to sleep after our usual long shower together.

Things returned to a rather normal schedule after that. School in the morning, work on the fields and harvesting the ripe crops after school. Sometimes my wives needed the pickup and would deliver me to school and pick me up after classes. This was, of course, noticed by my friends and acquaintances, and I was kidded about my beautiful employers. I was also now carrying one of the sisters' cell phones, so they could reach me if they needed anything.

In September, I made it a priority to get the library straightened out.

"What's in the attic?" I asked Margie one Saturday.

"Not a lot. Just some old furniture and things that we are storing."

"Would it be all right to move some of these books up there. You aren't using most of them currently."

"All right. Let's go up there and see what space is available." The attic was dusty and full of cobwebs. Margie and Katie quickly used a cleaning spell, and it was much better in a short time. After a little straightening and rearranging, there was a side room that was cleared out and would make a good library annex.

I picked up some metal shelving at a thrift store the next week and soon had plenty of shelf space for the many books scattered about the library downstairs. I moved and rearranged the books by subject matter and soon the library / study was in much better shape, and I could actually use it to study in.

I found again that I didn't have any problem remembering my school work and used the study mainly for my continued study of Magic in the evenings.

By October, nearly everything was harvested and I used the disk harrow to plow the now dried and dead stalks and other plant material back into the ground. Having more free time now, I started working out with the Bata staff and it started teaching me how to use it. It was in early November that the Bata raised a concern with me.

"Fragarach is unhappy," It told me.

"Why is that, because I haven't started exercising with him?"

"No," the staff answered. "It's because you haven't sharpened him. He isn't ready to be used and is unhappy about that. He thought that when you restored him that you would finish everything quickly. He feels only half restored."

"I don't have the proper equipment to sharpen him here," I said, feeling stupid talking to a staff.

"Well, you need to do something. At least talk to him. He's sulking in the recess where you keep us," the staff informed me.

After finishing my workout with the Bata, I retrieved Fragarach from his resting place. The sword was very restless in my hands for a short time.

"What is wrong?" I asked, feeling foolish.

"You haven't finished my restoration," the sword said in my mind in a deeper male voice than the Bata had.

"I don't have the proper equipment to sharpen you here," I answered.

"I am not much use to you in my present dull state," It answered.

"My Uncle, who is a blacksmith, has the proper equipment to sharpen you and do it quickly without a lot of heat to draw your temper," I told It.

"When can we see him?" the sword demanded.

"Not for a few weeks yet. The Thanksgiving Holiday will be here soon. I will go to visit my relatives then and that should give me the opportunity to get you sharpened," I informed the sword.

"All right," the sword agreed. "When you finish working out with that stick, I'll teach you how to use a proper weapon," It informed me in a voice full of superiority.

"Yes, one weapon at a time," I told it. "I can use the stick even in these times, but using you now would be a very bad idea. The law would take a very dim view of me using you on someone."

"Yes, I know that, but you will need me eventually when you face the witch. She will not be happy to do what you want and will do all in her power to impede you. I will clear the way and she will not be able to lie to 'The Answerer'," he told me proudly.