From your response, or should I say your not response at all, I guess you didn't like last chapter, so I got the message :). So here's the chapter where Glinda has her first encounters with the folks in Kansas. Hope you will like it and comment on it, good or bad.

A.N.: I don't own Oz, The Wizard of Oz or Glinda the Good. Just my imagination.

Now and Then

Chapter 7

Glinda never felt so nervous and amazed on what she was witnessing. She couldn't yet believe that she was in this strange land, wearing unfamiliar clothes, and uncertain motivations, but one thing she is totally sure about: this was the most exciting moments in her life probably since the arrival of Oscar Diggs in the Land of Oz.

I wonder what Oscar would say if he saw me here, she muses, and she suddenly starts thinking about him. What is he doing right now, or is Knuck not giving him too much grievance, better yet, what if he discovered of her lie. Other thoughts keep coming to her during her short trip to the small settlement on the hill. She misses him so much. She will pay anything to have him with her right now, having that vacation he always mentioned. He would have been the perfect guide, maybe show her around where he grew up, his first experiences in the carnival. She realizes that she is falling in love for the mighty Wizard. The notion not long time ago would have been totally alien to her and certainly not feasible, her responsibilities were too great for her to even think about love or silly things like that. But Oscar Diggs, or the Great and Powerful Oz, changed all that. And she was growing fond of the idea, having that warm sensation every time he looked at her or give one of his charming smiles, will give butterflies in her stomach, every time he touched her, she felt like giggly like a little girl. But she is here alone. And so she has to focus on her cover. Oh my! I'm being a con! Oz has certainly rubbed his ways on her for sure!

She enters the village slowly, looking around her, the main street being surrounded by small houses, an emporium, an office with the a star on it door, another bigger building with peculiar swinging double doors, and at the end of the street there was a simple and solid place for worship, a church it was called. Her arrival did get noticed by a few townsfolk, some of them were kids that were playing within the school yard. So she prepares herself for the questioning that inevitably will start as soon she stops the cart.

"Mrs Gale! Mrs Gale!" a little boy starts running towards her screaming that name.

"Mrs Gale! How are you today ma'am?" the little boy asks.

"I'm sorry, my dear child, I'm not Mrs. Gale." she answers sweetly.

"Tommy, stop pestering this sweet lady! I'm very sorry ma'am, pardon him, he's sometimes very excitable" a sturdy man with a nice looking hat and a five point star on his shirt.

"Oh no, don't worry, he's quite a charming little man. Please let me introduce myself. My name is Linda Ozgood, very nice to meet Tommy" she kneels down to meet the kid's eyes and shakes his tiny hand.

"Hello Mrs. Ozgood. Sorry to have mistook you for Mrs. Gale." he says with embarrass.

She smiles sweetly at him. "No harm done".

"Welcome to our little community Mrs. Ozgood, I'm John Casey and I'm the sheriff. If you don't mind me asking, what's a pretty lady like you going around alone in these whereabouts? Brigands are always out there looking for a easy prey and that could put you in danger."

"Oh! Brigands? Oh my! It seems so lovely and peaceful out here, but I'll defer to your advice, sir".

The emporium's door opens, revealing a lovely couple, the man tall and broad-shouldered, raggedly handsome, his arm around the girl, wearing a lovely checkered blue and white dress, pure and lovely is her face, and they started towards their wagon.

"There Tommy, that's Mrs. Gale for you" says the sheriff to the kid."Hi there Jon! How's it going?"

The young couple walks towards them. "Sheriff, nice to see you, hope everything's OK?"answers Jon Gale, shaking the other man's hand.

"Everything is good around here, for goodness sake. Hello ma'am, nice to see you too, you definitely make the best half , no offense Jon".

Glinda freezes at the sight of Annie, Oscar's first love. She really looks like me, she thinks. Annie just smiles shyly and presses herself to her husband "You are too kind Mr. Casey".

Jon then notices Glinda standing there and just stares at her, before asking "And who you might be ma'am?".

"Oh, I'm sorry, name's Linda Ozgood, very nice to meet the both of you".

Annie turns her head and looks at Glinda and remains shocked at what she's seeing, she feels like she can't speak a word. Jon feels her stiffen and asks "hey sweety, are you OK? You look like you saw a ghost"says grinning to her.

"Oh? Oh no no! Annie Gale, it's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Ozgood."

Jon looks at the scene with a weird feeling, then asks" Say Ms. Ozgood, do you have to leave soon? It will be our pleasure if you can spend the nite at our place, it's pretty big and my Annie is a wonderful cook, you gotta taste her apple pie! Isn't a good idea Annie?".

"Yes! It will be lovely to have a guest, would you like to join us as well, sheriff?".

"You tempting me with your culinary skills but I have the night shift tonite, maybe another time".

"Well then Ms. Ozgood why don't you follow us with your carriage at our farm? It's not very far, just a few miles near the river." says Jon.

So Glinda, with renewed resolution, follows the Gales to their farmhouse, hopefully to an eventful evening and not an awkward one.

Here we go guys. Hope you will enjoy this new chapter, and I would like to remind you that a little comment will always help me improve this story, so I'll appreciate if you can leave me a little review. Thanks again for reading :)