Chapter 19

Monday started a week of discoveries and amazement for our future wives. While Pat and I hit the books, as the old saying goes, on Monday morning, our Sisters and female Cousins took our girlfriends shopping in Statesboro. They went on the small bus that makes regular trips to town several times a day so that our people can shop or run other errands.

The first shock was the bus itself. It's one of the small types of buses that can carry 25 or so passengers, like those used by many churches and other small organizations. Our women were amazed that it moved without horses to pull it, and at how comfortable it was compared to the forms of transportation that they were used to.

The next surprise was Statesboro itself. While not a large city by any means, it was larger than they were used to, and was an astonishing sight for them from the moving bus. The amount of other traffic on the roads there also amazed them.

Pat and I heard all about the trip when they returned. We had plowed some of the remaining fields that afternoon, and were cleaning up after parking the tractors when our women returned laughing and giggling with our Sisters. All of them were carrying bags containing new clothes.

"Michael, you won't believe the places that we have been to, and the things that we have seen today," Shannon told me excitedly after our Sisters had left.

"We rode in a coach that didn't require any horses to move it," Sheena told us. "It was very comfortable and the ride was sooo smooth."

"The coaches and wagons go so very fast here. We were afraid that it would crash, but your Sisters weren't afraid at all, and we soon stopped worrying," Shannon told us.

"There were many other coaches and wagons of various sizes on the road when we arrived in the city, which had many tall buildings. It was very noisy there, and smelled bad from the fumes that the coaches made," Clare told us with a wrinkled nose.

"There were many small coaches waiting in the field where our coach stopped outside of the biggest building that we had ever seen. It had its own weather system inside and there were numerous large lights in the ceiling that run on your electric Magic," Cathleen added.

"They sell everything imaginable and some things that we couldn't imagine in that one building. We explored every part of it, and were constantly amazed by all of the things that we saw," Shannon told us excitedly.

"They had more clothes than we thought existed in the world, and shoes also. Your Sisters told us that every town has such a building, and that they all have such large quantities of things. It is hard to imagine if it is true," Sheena told us.

"Oh yes, it's quite true," Pat told her. "In fact, some large cities have more than one such large building."

"But why?" Shannon asked.

"Because of the large numbers of people living there, and so they won't have to travel too far to get what they need," I told her.

"They even sold food there. There were many shelves with the metal and glass containers like those in our kitchen. There were also many things in different kinds of paper sacks. They also sold regular vegetables and fruit, but we could sense that much of it was old and that others had been picked before they were ripe," Clare told us, and didn't sound happy about this.

"There was also meat and seafood. Some was fresh or preserved, but much was covered in a see through skin and kept very cold. Are these things all right to eat?" Cathleen asked, worried. Pat and I looked at each other to determine how to answer her.

"Yes, we have always eaten the things sold there, especially the meat and seafood. We grow much of our own food, but don't raise many food animals or do much butchering," I told them.

"They make their own bread, pastries and pies there also," Shannon told us on a lighter note. "We could smell them baking."

"Did you buy any clothes?" Pat asked to get them off of food.

"Yes! We have never seen such a variety of clothing," Sheena told us.

"We did not care for the short pants that your sisters were so interested in. They did have many blouses and skirts, but we did not care for some of the colors," Clare told us.

' "But the undergarments, they were so soft and smooth. Your relatives helped us pick out some and to get the correct size. There were so many sizes. Could they not just make a few sizes, and then shrink them to fit like you have done for us?" Cathleen asked.

"Most people in our society don't have any Magic ability, and they can't do that," I told them.

"Don't the stores have Wizards to do that for them?" Clare asked.

"No, most stores don't have that," Pat told her with a grin.

"Remember that for a very long time there was little or no Magic here. Things were developed to get along without Magic. Instead, technology was developed, and it is able to make things in many different sizes, and to use different ways to preserve food and other things," I told them.

"The skirts and dresses there were all very short, coming only to our knees. We didn't buy any. Your sisters in particular seemed to think it strange that we wanted longer skirts and dresses," Cathleen told us, and didn't seem terribly happy about the selection.

"You need to talk to our Grandmothers," Pat told the girls. "They have always been into long dresses and skirts. They also still wear petticoats."

"What are petticoats?" Sheena asked.

"Something that goes under the dress or skirt," I told her.

"Can we go to see then now?" Shannon asked, excitedly. I looked at the clock. It was almost 5:30, but we should be able to talk to our Grandmothers before dinner.

"Yes, we can go there now. Leave your packages here," I told them. When they were ready, we joined hands and vanished to reappear in our Grandparents' large parlor.

"They're probably in the kitchen," Pat said when no one came to the parlor after a short time.

"Grandmother?" I called as we neared the kitchen so as to not startle them. We could feel the wards around the kitchen, as we approached it. Clare and Cathleen began to giggle, as we neared the spell.

"Just a minute," we heard a bit later. Grandmother Katie appeared shortly after that. She was still adjusting her clothes, as she came through the doorway to the kitchen. The spell had been canceled just before she got to it.

"Is everything all right?" I asked worried.

"Yes, Dear. We were just a little busy," Katie answered, and looked back into the kitchen as Margie and Grandfather Mark appeared behind her. They were both grinning.

"What can we do for you?" she asked on turning back to us. Clare and Cathleen were smiling big time now.

"The girls want to talk to you about dresses," Pat told her.

"Dresses?" Katie asked.

"The dresses that the girls showed us were all too short. They barely came to our knees," Sheena explained to her.

"Oh, do you ladies prefer long dresses?" Margie asked with a smile.

"Yes, we have always worn long dresses or skirts. Even our robes as Apprentices came down to our ankles," Shannon explained.

"You have come to the right place. It took us forever to get used to short skirts, and we have many long dresses and skirts. Come upstairs with us," Katie told our girlfriends, and led the way up to their bedroom.

"Come into the kitchen," Grandfather Mark told us after all of the women had gone back to the front of the house and the stairs there.

In the kitchen, we could see that preparations for dinner had been underway, but had been interrupted at some point, as all of the pots were cold, and there were vegetables on the counter that were only half prepared for cooking.

"We ... ah, we didn't interrupt anything, did we?" Pat asked in embarrassment.

"Not anything that won't wait," Grandfather assured us, as he reached into his pocket and withdrew a credit card in a small brown leather pouch.

"This card has the $7,500 on it for the gold that you gave me yesterday. If you need more than that, let me know, and we'll see what can be done," he told us. Pat and I sat there flabbergasted. We had never had that much money at one time in our lives.

"Thank you, Grandfather!" we both said, still shocked. Grandfather got three bottles of O'Connell's Irish Ale out of the refrigerator, and we sat there and drank them until the women returned.

When our Grandmothers and our girlfriends returned sometime later, they were all wearing long dresses or skirts. Naturally our Grandmothers had on several petticoats under theirs. It looked like our girlfriends only had a single petticoat on under their dresses or skirts.

"In a couple of days, we'll take your ladies shopping for appropriate length dresses and skirts. We will see that they get some jeans for work in the garden and fields too," Katie told us with a smile, as our girlfriends showed off the clothing that they were wearing.

"We heartily approve of your choice of wives. They hold many of the same values that we have held all of our lives," Margie told us.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Katie asked next.

"We wouldn't want to put you out," Pat told her.

"Put us out!?" Margie asked. "Don't be silly. It's been a long time since we have had a real family dinner. You men can go out to the parlor while your ladies help us whip up dinner." Grandfather rose at these instructions. We did also and followed him out to the small parlor.

Dinner, a little later, was fabulous. If there was one thing that our Grandmothers had learned in their 200 plus years of life, and they had learned a lot, it was how to cook; at least to cook the way that we liked it. Our girlfriends certainly agreed, the way that they put the meal away.

We left after our girlfriends had helped clean up following the meal. They still had on the dresses and skirts that our Grandmothers were lending them. They left behind the long aprons that they had worn while preparing the meal and doing the clean up.

"Don't forget, we'll pick you up tomorrow morning at 9:00 for the trip to the farmer's market," Margie reminded our girlfriends, as we were leaving.

"Oh yes! We'll be ready," Shannon assured her enthusiastically.

"You're going to the farmer's market!?" I asked, once we were back at our house.

"Yes. Even though you have many things preserved, we need fresh vegetables and meat to make a stew the right way," Sheena told Pat and me.

"And in the afternoon, we are going to practice our singing with your Grandmothers' help," Clare told us.

"You don't mind, do you?" Cathleen asked, apprehensively.

"No, we don't mind. We'll be busy ourselves," I told them, as Pat and I hugged and kissed our women.

"Do you know what your Grandparents were doing in the kitchen when we arrived?" Clare asked shyly after a few minutes.

"No, we have no idea, but they weren't cooking. Everything was still cold," Pat told her.

"Oh, they were cooking all right. It just wasn't food that they were cooking. They were fooling around, and at their age, too!" Cathleen told us with a smile.

"Isn't it wonderful that they still love each other so much?" Clare asked with a big grin.

"How do you know this?" I asked, as the spells had blocked what they were doing from us.

"We could sense it, even through their spells," Cathleen told us.

"You could sense it?" Pat asked in shock.

"Yes, remember that our Magic is different from yours, and we can often feel things that your Magic blocks from you," Clare told us. Pat and I were shocked beyond belief at this revelation.

Later, there was the study of Magic for the O'Connell Sisters. Clare and Cathleen had also called up a book of Magic that they were busy studying. When I looked at it over their shoulders, I noticed that it was in a very ancient dialect of Gaelic.