Chapter 58

Back in the O’Connell Realm, things were abuzz also. Jillian had taken Culann to see Great Grandfather Mark’s Blacksmith shop with its many kinds of modern equipment, and he had been shown Fragrach. He, Connor, and Duncan were also shown the tractors and other farm equipment. Wolf, Carl, and James had been working on the fields and had allowed them to ride on the tractors with them.

Our Mage Sisters and Ken’s Wives had all been out in the fields also checking them. Chandra and the O’Keefes had been shocked by the size of our fields, the different crops, and the machinery. Clare and Saoirse had been in our Mothers’ kitchens and were amazed by the stoves, refrigerators, and other things there.

The next day and Friday we were in class at the University, so we missed what our Relatives were doing those days. Fortunately the five of us had most of our classes together. Our older Sisters were a year ahead of us and had different classes. There were several individuals in our classes who were less serious about learning than the rest of us.

The five of us decided that we didn’t need these distractions, and Ken and Kell cast a freeze spell on the entire class room. We then unfroze the offenders and warned them what would happen if they continued their distractions. A couple of them didn’t take our warning seriously, and continued to cause trouble, a definite mistake on their part. We had stopped the video camera that covered the classroom when we used the freeze spell, so there was no evidence for them to use against us. We, however, made sure that the camera recorded all of their antics over the next week or so. Shortly they were gone, and they had no one to blame but themselves.

On Saturday the 23rd, we had all taken our spouses shopping at the Farmer’s market and the mall. They were all amazed by the variety of foods at the Farmer’s market, and all of the things for sale at the mall. Our ladies spent time in all of the clothing stores with our Sisters. It took them hours to pick out what to buy as they had to look at everything. The Collins Sisters were shocked by the amount of skin that our Sisters and Cousins were showing and even some of our future spouses and Wives were a bit wary about how much skin they showed. Airmid and Almha of course weren’t worried about that having spent so many years naked, and they were the ones who modeled the skimpy bathing suits.

Labor Day was the first break at the University, and Gerald took the opportunity to transfer to the Other Reality, and Grandfather Wolfgang’s house to visit Erika, who he had dreamed about the entire time that we were gone. She returned with him on Monday afternoon for a visit.

High School Classes began on Tuesday the 2nd of September. Everyone quickly fell into the routine: school work, work in the fields bringing in the harvest, and Magic studies in the evening after doing homework. After the harvest was in, and everything was cleaned up, there was more time for work in the printing plant, although that was done in shifts because there were so many of us. The weeks passed by quickly. We had all moved into our houses also.

Unfortunately, even our Parents and Grandparents had been unable to convince Brian and Etain to leave the Otherworld to come to our Reality and marry all of those clan members who now had mates at one time. Instead two couples went to the Otherworld each weekend to be married and to have their spouses tested. Those of us already married also took our spouses to be tested and establish their Magic ranks. There were a few surprises.

The Masters had been shocked by Culann’s huge Talent, but were somewhat mollified on learning that he was a Blacksmith. He and Jillian had been one of the first couples to go, as she was anxious to be married. When the Collins Sisters appeared a number of weeks later, the Masters were even more shocked and distressed by the size and Power of their combined Talents. By Thanksgiving all of the new clan members had passed their first test and each had been awarded their Magic Rank, all were now Third Level or Masters. Everyone was also now married much to our Parents’ relief.

Over the Thanksgiving break from college, most of us returned to the Third Reality. The Eternal Flame brought us back two weeks after we had initially left. Still, everyone was glad to see us. The main house was quickly reopened, and we remained there for nearly a week before returning to our Reality to do a little studying for our upcoming exams. We made sure to take British Army uniforms, muskets, and a variety of other items with us when we returned. Grandfather Mark later showed them to some of the people who he knew in the re-enactment movement.

Our college exams were over by Thursday, the 18th of December, and we were off from classes until after the first of the year. Most of us again returned to the Third Reality. Another two weeks had passed since our last departure. We spent our Christmas and New Year’s break from college there. It was still February there when we left again.

The Surveyor had delivered a number of the new survey plats for some of our properties, but he hadn’t finished all of them. I had acquired the latest large scale maps of the area from our Reality, and we were able to plot the surveys on those maps after a little figuring to determine the correct starting point. We began the tentative layout of the new farm parcels then. The remaining plats came in while we were there, and we quickly managed to get everything laid out.

During our next visit over spring break and Saint Patrick’s Day, John with Gwyn and Glanda took copies of the new survey plats to the land office to have the changes to the legal description of the properties recorded in Savannah. While Bulloch County had been created by the Georgia Legislature there was as yet no County Seat with a court house where property transactions could be recorded. It was still necessary to travel to Savannah to correct the property records. We would have the Surveyor begin putting in the corner stakes for the new farm boundaries later in the spring.

Ken, Kell, and their Wives had not accompanied us on these last few trips. They had responsibilities in the Other Reality, and had visited their Tower Houses, people, and lands in Ireland there.

School was out in our Reality in Mid-May, yet when the Eternal Flame returned us to the Third Reality, it was still early April there, and the Congress would be back in session to accept and swear in the new Representatives from the former Colonies which had held elections after joining our Confederation.

The first few days of the new session were very confused, as there were a large number of new Representatives, and it required time to get all of them organized and seated. Many of them, especially those from the former Southern Colonies, came dressed in green and joined our faction, but not all of the former colonies were represented yet. The New England colonies and the Canadian Provinces hadn’t had time to hold elections yet. The Congress was in session for nearly two months, but not every day during that time.

G & G and S & S had delivered their babies -- all of them were single male children in Mid-April at the hospital in Statesboro in our Reality. They brought them to the Third Reality and Congress while we were there. We had previously arranged to rent a large house in Washington City when the Congress was in session. Chandra had delivered her baby -- also a boy, and she, Saoirse, and the Collins Sisters watched the children while their Moms were attending the sessions of Congress.

While Congress was out of session and on weekends, we had all visited our constituents to learn their views on things that were before this session of Congress, and to ask them to elect someone else to Congress. While we were honored by their confidence in us, we were all extremely busy at present, and also no longer lived in or near their districts. This actually worked fairly well, but we had neglected to also ask our new neighbors not to vote for us, and we wound up with Gwyn going to the Georgia Legislature, and Sererena going back to Congress from Georgia for the next session.

A number of our Relatives didn’t join us on this trip until sometime later, as they had other things to take care of. There were still the fields in the O’Connell Realm to be planted and the crops there cared for. The Okeefes and Connor Gallagher had stayed in our Reality to help with the crops. They all marveled at how quickly they could plow and seed the fields there using our equipment. Cullan had attended a number of Blacksmithing meetings, and this summer he attended one of the best Blacksmith schools for several weeks. He was very popular wherever he went, and usually spent more time teaching than learning. Jillian often went with him when she could.

The Surveyor and his men had begun laying out the new farm properties from the revised plans that we had prepared for him. Nothing would actually be done on the ground until after the harvest this year, but we made sure that each family knew where their future land was located, so they could become familiar with it, and make plans for where their houses, barns, and other buildings would be located.

Once Congress was out of session in June, we had time to do some work at the O’Connell plantation. We had supplied the seeds and paid a number of the local men to plow the ground, plant the seeds and tend the growing crops for us. Our Mage Sisters had ensured that the crops grew well, and we had all helped with the weeding. Our employees had been quite amazed at how we could make all of the weeds in a field just disappear with a few words and a sign. We also had large gardens planted near the main house. They had been planted by our regular employees. Our Sisters also had large herb gardens planted for the making of salves, teas, and other things.

Seamus and Duncan had arranged for their neighbors to do similar work on their farms in northwest Georgia. Chandra and A & A had seen to the weeding of their fields and the planting of the herb garden when they could get away.

If all of this sounds like we were all very busy, it’s only because we were. We remained in the Third Reality until mid-July before transferring back to the O’Connell Realm to work on the fields and crops there before preparing to return to college in mid-August.

All of our Sisters and Cousins in high school had graduated in May and were beginning college this fall. Some of our spouses had also graduated and were ready to attend at least a few years of college in our Reality. Other of our spouses still needed to finish high school. There had been a lot of catching up for some of them to do.

This next year, 1803 in the Third Reality, would be as filled with moves between the Realities as the previous one had been. None of our Wives or Sisters got pregnant during this period as there was just too much going on, and they didn’t need the additional burden. Gwyn and Sererena changed majors to Government. Glanda and Saraid changed their major to Teaching. Many of our Sisters selected Teaching as their major as well. Seamus and I had changed our majors to History. Wolf changed his to Civil Engineering, and Carl changed to Agriculture.

Back in the Third Reality, our neighbors had begun the move to their new farms once the harvest of 1802 was over and the crops sold. Some of them moved their existing houses to the new location where practical, while others built new houses using some of the lumber that we had made available to them. There was quite a bit of tree felling that fall and then the cutting of the logs into lumber of various sizes later.

We O’Connells managed to get away from our schooling on weekends and holidays to visit the Third Reality. The Eternal Flame had given us the spell to move to and from that Reality before we returned to our Reality in July. What we were unable to do was change the time difference that we remained in each Reality. If we spent two months in our Reality, it was two months later when we returned to the Third Reality.

In 1803, the Georgia Legislature finally established the County Seat for Bulloch County by designating that it be established in the vicinity of where the two main roads in the area crossed and that it be named Statesborough. This was where Statesboro had always been. Clan O’Connell donated two hundred acres of land near the cross roads for the establishment of a courthouse, sheriff’s office, and jail. We also had a modest brick building constructed to serve as the courthouse, plus another nearby for the sheriff’s office and jail.

John McIntosh was elected the County Attorney, he being the only lawyer in the county initially. Glanda became the County Clerk and was responsible for records of many kinds including births, deaths, marriages, Land records and deeds, and voter registration. Both of these were part time jobs, as was that of sheriff and County Commissioner. With a population of only around twenty-five hundred, there was little crime in Bulloch County, and most disputes were settled by the interested parties. Many were brought to O’Connell House to be heard, since our neighbors knew that we would render an impartial decision just as we had been doing since arriving here. Others in the County had adopted the practice as well, as they found our decisions to be fair also.

Things finally settled down some during 1803. Most of the farmers were now settled on their new properties. The land records were moved to Statesboro with the establishment of the Court House making it easier to make changes in the numerous deeds to reflect the new owners of the subdivided properties.

All of the O’Connells settled down to their studies now that there were fewer interruptions. We were all out of politics now except for Gwyn and Sererena who retained their seats respectively in the Georgia Legislature and the Congress for many years. Things had calmed down enough in fact that a number of our Sisters, Cousins, and Wives decided that they could now get pregnant. They all just needed to time it so that they would be out of school when they delivered their babies, since we all had several years yet before we finished college.

That spring and summer there were a lot of O’Connell children born in the East Georgia Regional Medical Center in Statesboro in our original Reality. All of our Sisters, Cousins, and Wives eventually had what had become the norm in the O’Connell clan, that being a Son and twin Daughters. All except Chandra who had twin Daughters and a second Son in addition to her first Son. Seamus was very proud of her. The children of this generation were more spread out age wise than those in my generation had been.

Epilogue

Time: Sunday, 8 January 1815 in the Third Reality

I arose early this morning and spent some time gazing out the window of our bedroom here at O’Connell House. The fields are all empty at this time of year and there was still some water visible on them from the recent rains. As I looked at the fields, I considered some of the many things that had occurred over the last twelve years. A number of our older employees have retired but they still live here with us in their houses near O’Connell House. There are a number of newer houses here also now for our current employees.

Today was the three hundredth anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans in our original Reality where the O’Connell Realm is located. We had long since disposed of the huge quantity of British Army equipment that had remained when their Army left North America. At first, we had sold items directly to individuals in the various re-enactment groups, but this soon became both time and labor intensive. We eventually selected a number of individuals to represent us as retailers, and they sold the items, took their commission, and we received the remainder of the sale price. It had been a very satisfactory arrangement for many years.

The Confederation Army and some of new states were interested in a part of the equipment especially the black powder and musket balls. Cannon balls had also been in demand as well as the cannons themselves, but especially the larger ones. Many of the smaller three and six pound cannon went to the re-enactment groups who weren’t interested in the larger siege cannon. There was also no interest from the Confederation Army for the red uniforms of the British or the green uniforms of many of the German units.

We made a huge amount of money from the sale of all of these items, but there was a problem. All of the money was in American currency of the 21st Century. Fortunately, Great Grandfather Mark was willing to exchange it for gold from our Great Grandmother’s hoard in the basement of their house at the rate of one hundred dollars an ounce. This was of course well below the going rate for gold at that time in their Reality, but was still three times what they had originally paid for it. Gold bars were easy to exchange for coins here in the Third Reality, so it hadn’t been a problem for us.

There would be no Battle of New Orleans here in the Third Reality to make Andrew Jackson famous. The British had stayed away from North America ever since the Battle of Delaware Bay. The Royal Navy still patrolled around their possessions in the Caribbean, but had strict orders to avoid sailing closer to the coast of North America.

The Confederation Navy had built a number of frigates during the early 1800’s, and we O’Connells had warded them to ensure the strength of their hulls. A couple of the heavier forty-four gun frigates carried twenty-four pound cannons, but the majority of their ships carried eighteen pound cannons. There was even a forty-four gun frigate named Rattlesnake that was very heavily armed and that we had taken particular care to ward both the exterior and the interior of the hull. She was the only ship in the Confederation Navy that was permitted to fly the O’Connell Flag. The British, and the French also, made every effort to avoid her.

Admiral Graham, still known to us as Captain Billy, had retired in 1807. He had married the herb lady, Evelyn, several years earlier. They still lived in Savannah and the Captain had a small coastal trader that he sailed.