***
“Isn’t this exciting?” Sara asked.
“Nae,” Helene and Brenna spoke as one.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”
“Do they nae have battles in San Francisco?” Brenna asked, curious to know all she could about the future.
“Not like this,” Sara said.
The three women sat on Brenna’s bed, waiting and listening for anything that might signal danger outside of these walls.
“What’s it like there?” Brenna asked. “Sophia told me that ‘tis beautiful and that she likes the music and food. She also said something about travel. Do ye ken what she was speaking of?”
“Travel is a lot faster there. There are cars, which you see everywhere. Also planes,” Sara said.
“Planes?” Brenna tried the word on her lips.
“They fly. People get in them and they can travel anywhere in the world in a short period of time. It’s not like here, where it takes days to get anywhere.”
Brenna couldn’t believe her ears. The thought of flying like the birds had always been something she’d wondered about, but would be afraid to actually do.
“Aye. Do ye remember taking me to the movies with ye, Sara? And then we’d go have those delicious cinnamon rolls,” Helene said, appearing almost wistful.
“Oh, yes! That was so much fun. I miss cinnamon rolls.” Sara smiled. “You know, when Zeke and I were kids we lived with our grandfather and he’d take us to baseball games in the city. We’d always get hot dogs and a soda. Grandpa would have a beer and Zeke would always volunteer to hold it for him and when Grandpa wasn’t looking he’d sneak sips. Zeke wanted to be a baseball player when he grew up, but things didn’t work out that way.”
“What’s baseball?” Brenna asked.
“’Tis a sport,” Helene offered. “’Tis verra fun to watch.”
“There’s nothing better than going to a game on a hot summer’s night.”
“I don’t understand.” Brenna was puzzled by this.
“It’s too difficult to explain. It’s too bad there’s nothing like it here in this time,” Sara said. “Do you have any good dirt on Logan?”
“I dinnae ken what ye mean. Logan was like any other lad. He was always playing in the dirt.”
Sara smiled at her misunderstanding, “That wasn’t quite what I meant, but I can just imagine what he must have been like as a little boy.”
“He was always with Dougall. They’ve been friends for many years. They’d go off on their horses and stay away from the castle overnight. Da would punish Dougall, but that never stopped them. They learned quickly though that Da wouldnae be angry with them if they brought back fish for the evening meal, orbetter still if they’d spied on our neighbors and then told him all about what they’d found.”
“I’ll bet they were cute,” Sara said.
Again, Brenna wasn’t sure what Sara meant, but she knew that the time they’d spent talking had taken her mind off of what was happening at the castle. They continued their conversation, laughing and enjoying themselves as they shared more stories about the men when they were lads.
***
A knock at the door took the men by surprise. They drew their weapons as Dougall approached the door. “Who’s there?” he called.
“They’ve gone,” Hamish reported and Zeke breathed a sigh of relief.
“Come in,” Dougall said. “Logan go tell the ladies they can come down now.”
“They seem to have left on good terms with the laird,” Hamish said. “They were laughing and smiling as they said their goodbyes.”
“Hamish, welcome,” Helene said as the women and Logan came into the room. “Will ye stay and have something to eat with us?”
