Chapter 2

Leaving the two equipment buildings, the two women took me out to the fields behind those buildings. There was about five acres of fields on either side of the house. They were overgrown at present, but it wouldn't take a lot to plow them and get them ready for planting. The remainder of the area was the lawn in front of the house, the area behind it, which included the actual garden, plus there were trees and shrubs around the perimeter of the property. I could distinctly hear turkeys calling along the back perimeter of the property.

"Do you get much wildlife here?" I asked.

"Yes, there are deer and quail in the fall, and turkeys in the fall and spring," Mary Kate answered.

"Do you hunt?" I asked.

"No, and we don't allow others to hunt here either," Mary Margaret answered.

"Are you against hunting?" I asked, having hunted since childhood on my uncles' farms.

"No, we just don't want strangers on our land. We had enough of that when we were younger," Mary Kate told me very emphatically. We turned back to the house after that.

"I need to take a good look at the pickup truck," I told them, as we neared the old carriage house.

"Yes, look it over and see what it may require in the way of maintenance or repair," Mary Margaret told me. The two women continued on to the house, while I turned toward the carriage house and its vehicles. It wasn't until I reached the doors that I remembered that they had locked the padlock when we came out. I was about to call out to them when I noticed that the lock was in fact unlocked.

Now, I distinctly remember them locking it before we went to the stable. How could it be open now? This thing with locks was starting to get to me, but I had other things to do before I could go home for the day.

I checked over the F-150 thoroughly. It was a '98 model although it looked like it was almost new. The odometer didn't have more than a few thousand miles on it. I went over everything and found the tires were nearly out of air. Luckily there was an air compressor there in the carriage house. I checked its oil and the gas level and then fired it up. There had been a tire gauge in the truck and I aired up the tires to the correct pressure. I would check them tomorrow to see if they had lost any pressure.

When finished, I returned to the house to let them know that I was leaving. I knocked on the front door and stood there for several minutes, but there was no answer to my knocking. I tried the door and found it open. I called "Hello! Mary Kate, Mary Margaret!" but received no answer. I did, however, hear something coming from further in the house. It appeared to be coming from further down the hall, and I advanced in that direction.

There was a parlor on either side at the front of the house with the doors open but no one was there. I continued past them and stopped at the next door on the right side of the hall. The door was closed most of the way, but I could hear music coming from the room.

I opened the door very quietly and stood in the doorway for a time listening. The women had changed into dresses and both were wearing light blue now. Mary Margaret was singing in Gaelic. She had an almost haunting voice and though I didn't understand the words, just the sound of them seemed to awaken something in me.

Mary Kate was seated near her, accompanying her sister on an Irish harp. Mary Margaret came to the end of the current song, and Mary Kate immediately started on a second one with a different tempo on the harp, which Mary Margaret immediately picked up. I just stood there in the doorway and listened - fascinated. After several more minutes the song and the music ended. I couldn't help myself and began applauding. Both women turned toward me in surprise.

"Mark!" they both exclaimed on seeing me.

"That was just beautiful. You have a really fine voice, Mary Margaret," I said.

"Thank you, Mark. You took us somewhat by surprise," Mary Margaret answered, as both women approached me.

"This is the music room," Mary Kate informed me. "We often entertain ourselves here." I could see that there was a piano in the room as well as the two harps along with a small stereo system in one corner.

"What were you singing?" I asked. "I only heard the last two songs."

"The first was 'An Caitin Ban'. It's a lament for a little white kitten. The second was about a little girl 'a bhios i gcomhnai gaire' or one who is always smiling," Mary Margaret told me with a smile.

"It was really beautiful. Have you considered a career in music?" I asked.

"Oh, no!" both women answered.

"We aren't that talented. If you really want to hear a great talent, we have many recordings of Mary O'Hara, the Irish folk singer. She is much more talented than we are," Mary Kate told me. In the meantime, I remembered what I had come into the house for.

"I've checked over the pickup," I told them. "It's going to need an oil change, and also the transmission and differential fluids will need changing. It may also need to have the tires replaced. I'll know tomorrow if they hold air all right."

"All right. Can you get all of that done in town?" Mary Kate asked.

"Oh, yes. That shouldn't be a problem. I should be able to get all of that done in an afternoon, unless it needs new tires. That might take a little longer," I told them.

"Can you return tomorrow afternoon and bring some gas for the pickup?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Yes, certainly," I assured them. Mary Kate reached into a pocket and held out a twenty-dollar bill to me.

"Will this be sufficient?" she asked, handing it to me.

"Yes, more than sufficient for two gallons of gas and a container. To fill the tank though will be more expensive," I told her.

"Would you care to stay for tea? It's nearly time," Mary Margaret asked, politely.

"No, I don't think so today. I'm a bit of a mess from examining the equipment and would ruin your furniture. Another day perhaps," I told them.

"Yes, that will be fine," both women said, as I turned to leave.

"You'll find the front gate unlocked. Just close it when you leave. It will lock," Mary Kate told me.

"Did you detect his approach?" Mart Kate demanded when Mark was out of hearing.

"No, I was as shocked as you were when he began clapping. How could he do that?" Mary Margaret asked.

"I don't know. There are few who have been able to hide their presence from us in the last hundred and thirty years. This young man is very interesting," Mary Kate finished with a smile.

On Wednesday, I went to lunch before changing clothes. I hadn't stopped for lunch yesterday, and had been really hungry when I got back to campus.

I stopped at an economy gas station and filled up the Kawasaki and paid for that before buying a two-gallon gas container and filling it up. I used my bungee cord to secure it on the rack on the back of the bike, and arrived at the women's house somewhat later than yesterday. The gate opened as I arrived and I drove up to the house before stopping the bike and removing the gas can.

"Hello, Mark!" both women said coming out on the porch.

"I'll gas up the truck and try to start it," I told them, as I held up the container of gas.

"All right. Just leave it running when you get it out of the carriage house," Mary Kate told me.

In the carriage house I was surprised to find that the pickup was now off the blocks and sitting on the ground.

"How did they do that?" I wondered, as I didn't see any jack, but thought that perhaps they kept it elsewhere. I checked the tire pressure, and they were all OK. The gas container that I had purchased came with a spout and I soon had the gas cap off and emptied the contents into the truck's tank.

The keys were already in the ignition when I got in the truck. The engine turned over for maybe a half minute before it caught and black smoke came out the exhaust for a short time. That stopped in a bit, and the engine idled nicely with only an occasional sputter. I put it in gear and drove out of the carriage house, stopped, and got out to close the doors.

When I pulled up in front of the house, both women were there in identical dresses and were apparently ready to go into town with me.

"We need to see our lawyer," Mary Kate told me as they got into the truck, after I came around to open the door for them. That was when I started to wonder how I always knew which one was talking to me, even when they were dressed identically, as now. I had no idea how I was doing that, but I was. When I got back in the driver's seat, Mary Margaret was next to me. I was sure it was her without the aid of the jasmine perfume that she used.

I stopped after we passed through the main gates so the women could close and lock them, but saw them close by themselves behind us in the rear view mirror.

"Don't worry about the gates," Mary Kate told me.

We stopped at the first economy gas station that we came to and I filled the truck's tank. Mary Kate paid the attendant and bought some ice tea for the two sisters to drink. She gave me the address of their lawyer. When we got into town, I went down North Main Street to the address of their lawyer's office and found a place to park.

"We won't be too long," Mary Margaret assured me. They were gone about a-half hour and returned smiling.

"Our lawyer is such a teddy bear," they said with a giggle.

"Where are you going to have the work done?" they asked next.

"I know a good place near the university," I told them. "It's on Brannen Street."

"Oh, good!" Mary Kate said. "That's near the Walmart. Drop us off there." She handed me two hundred dollars before they got out of the truck.

"Will that be enough?" she asked.

"Yes, more than enough," I answered.

"You can pick us up here when you are done," Mary Margaret told me, as they both got out.

I drove over to the quick-change oil place and had them change the oil, transmission and differential fluids. They are really quite good, and it was only an hour or so before I was on my way back to pick up my two employers.

The two women were just coming out of the store as I pulled into the parking lot. They saw me and pushed their full shopping cart over to where I had parked.

"Well, that was quick!" they said, as they approached the truck. I was already out of it and helped them load the bags into the back of the cab and the bed of the truck.

"I guess we are ready to return home," Mary Kate told me, when we were all back in the truck.

"Don't go back through town," Mary Margaret said. She was sitting by the door now. "It's too late for that, and traffic will be bad. Take the parkway back around. It won't be as crowded."

On the way home, I opened the Ford up on the Veteran's Memorial Parkway that circles most of Statesboro. As we approached the women's property, the gates opened by themselves and closed behind us.

We unloaded the purchases and I helped carry them into the house before parking the truck in the carriage house and locking it up. I went up on the front porch and knocked on the door to speak to the women and return the change from the money they had given me. I had the receipts for everything I had spent, also. They appeared shortly after I had knocked on the front door.

"I have your change and the receipts," I told Mary Kate, as she opened the door.

"Thank you, Mark. Won't you come in for a few minutes?" Mary Kate asked in a very sexy voice.

"Won't you have tea with us?" Mary Margaret asked, when I was inside.

"We usually dress more formally for tea, Mark," Mary Margaret told me, "but we'll make an exception today." They led me into the small parlor, which was set up for tea. They had a kettle of water heating already and had various accouterments already set out for serving tea. I never realized until much later that they never checked the receipts or money I had returned to them.