CHAPTER 19 -- Have You Heard?
August 26-27, 1969
Later in the chapter, there is a discussion between Severus, Azalea, and Yesmina over the cost of buying an item.
To put the cost into perspective, here are some prices of items in 1969:
1st-class postage stamp: $0.06
One gallon regular gas: $0.35
One dozen eggs: $0.62
One gallon of milk: $1.10
Average monthly rent: $135.00
Tuesday morning dawned oppressively hot and humid, and it was already in the 80s as the children shuffled slowly to breakfast. It was too hot to even talk, although Severus noticed Yesmina pulled Steve behind the rest of them and was whispering something into his ear.
No one was in the mood to eat anything hot on this hot morning, so breakfast consisted of day-old muffins, cereal, fruit, and ice-cold milk.
By the time they had finished eating and had helped to clean up, the temperature had broken 90, and to Severus the air felt thick enough to swim through. He therefore had no objection to the suggestion that they all go swimming, and they only paused long enough to pack a picnic lunch, collect towels, and for the girls to put swimsuits on under their clothes.
Dawn brought along her transistor radio that she had received as a gift on her birthday, and as they reached the edge of the pond, the weather forecast at the end of the 10 o'clock news broadcast stated that the temperature was currently 96 degrees and would most likely reach the low 100's by midafternoon, with a 50 percent chance of a thunderstorm by evening.
The water was cool and refreshing, and soon the pond was crowded with other children who lived in the area, and a good many adults who were part of the Hog Farm entourage.
Severus would periodically pause to look over to the woods at the far side of the pond, and once he saw some movement in the shadows, which made him wonder if Karwan was watching and listening to them.
Shortly before noon, they all got out of the pond and gathered on the blankets Steve had brought along, being joined not only by Jay and Libby, Rusty and Jill, and Dave, but also by the Gauchons who'd brought Andy and April to play in the shallow water at the edge of the pond. Even Annie and Benjie had come with Judy, as most everyone in the area decided that just sitting in the shade at the edge of the pond was cooler than staying on the farm.
As Severus searched in the cooler, trying to decide whether he wanted a peanut butter and jam sandwich on whole oat bread, or a boiled egg and cheese sandwich on whole wheat, the noon forecast on the radio stated that it was now 101 degrees with a high of 108 expected, with a 50 percent chance of a thunderstorm by evening.
Severus decided on a peanut butter and jam sandwich, followed by a cold orange and a can of what Steve and Dawn called "pop", but which Azalea insisted was "soda". Severus let them argue about the name as he slowly sipped a flavor called "Birch Beer".
He leaned against the trunk of the tree they were under, Annie by his side, holding Judy in her lap. Severus was surprised when Judy smiled at him and grabbed his finger. He smiled as Judy tightened her grip, and he closed his eyes and listened to the music on the radio and the murmur of voices and the buzz of insects…
He must have dozed off, because the next thing he knew the sun was further in the west rather than directly overhead. Annie was lying on the blanket asleep, a sleeping Judy in the crook of her arm, as Benjie now sat in approximately the same place as his wife had been sitting.
Severus rubbed his eyes and looked out at the pond, and saw that the rest of the kids were back in the water.
"What time is it?" Severus asked Benjie.
"Almost two-fifteen," he answered, looking at his watch. Severus was surprised that he had slept so long, but surmised that it must be due to the heat and humidity.
"Going back in?" Benjie asked, crossing his arms behind his head and leaning back against the tree, closing his eyes.
"I don't know…maybe…"
Benjie just grunted and then seemed to doze off himself.
As appealing as the cool water was, Severus was not really in the mood to spend the rest of day swimming. In the end, he opened a can of pineapple-flavored soda or pop or whatever it was called, slung his satchel over his shoulder, and made his way down the path back to the farm, turning off at the path that led into the clearing in the woods where he had met Elvis and Priscilla the other day.
However, while he could see evidence of the elves having been there, and perhaps still camping there, he could not find any evidence of the elves themselves, including their caravan. Severus wondered if they had already left, or had just hidden their caravan and other belongings when they were not around.
He sat down on one of the logs that was in shade, took a sip of soda before carefully placing the can on the ground, and took his wand out of his satchel.
Even though his mother had told him that there would be time enough to learn wand magick when he went to Hogwarts, he had still memorized all the spells in his mother's copy of Wand Magick for Beginners. He pointed the wand at the can of pineapple soda.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted. Nothing happened.
He glared at the can, and then at the wand in his hand. He still was not quite certain as to its effectiveness, he was not even sure that it really was a magick wand.
Perhaps the problem was in the pronunciation of the spell. The book had shown how to pronounce the spells correctly, but he had not paid that close attention at the time.
"WingGARDium Leviosa!" he again shouted, aiming the wand at the soda can.
He saw the can shake back and forth. He slowly raised his wand, the soda can slowly rising in response.
Severus grinned broadly, as he slowly moved his hand to the right and to the left, the can following where the wand pointed.
He lowered the can to the ground, and then went over and sat on the log and raised the can to his lips, taking a long quaff. He then laughed. He could not help but laugh.
He was not sure where it had come from, but the young Shadow Creature was suddenly at his side. Severus got the feeling that it was very curious about him.
He pointed his wand at another log in the circle.
"WingGARDium Leviosa!" Severus commanded, raising the heavy log with his wand, flipping it over in a circle before lowering it to the ground again.
Wait until Lily saw this!
Lily. He had not realized how much he missed her until this moment.
He remembered another spell in Wand Magick for Beginners. He had actually wanted to try it shortly after meeting Lily, but it would have meant "borrowing" his mother's wand, which she not only kept locked away, but under protective charms from the prying curiosity of little boys.
Severus held his wand out at arm's length.
"Orchideus!"
Once again, nothing happened. He had pronounced the spell with the accent on the second syllable, but obviously that was incorrect.
"ORchideus!"
Nothing.
"OrchiDEus!"
A bouquet of flowers sprung out from the end of his wand, which he easily plucked from the end.
He stared at them, grinning with satisfaction. They did not open and close like Lily could make flowers do, but he was sure that when he performed the spell in front of her and presented her with the bouquet, she would be both pleased with the gift and impressed by his prowess at magick.
He would be the first wizard to present her with a magickal bouquet produced via wand.
Hopefully he would be the only wizard to give her such a gift. Suddenly he felt very lonely and insecure. He would have to get back home soon.
He heard a sound in the woods nearby, and only then realized that the Shadow Creature had gone.
"Severus Snape, man creature and wizardkind!"
Severus turned around, and saw Karwan and two other devas at the edge of the woods. He stood up and came over to them.
"Hello," he offered, shoving his wand into his back pocket.
"Severus Snape," Karwan continued, a worried look on his face. "We have come here to give you warning." Severus' brow furrowed.
"Warning?" Severus replied. "What sort of warning?"
"You must tell your herd to leave the watering hole and return home quickly."
"What?"
"Severus Snape, there is no time to be stupid!"
Severus was rather taken back by Karwan's rudeness, but Karwan continued.
"The guardian man creatures call Bird of Thunder is on the move. Na'api is angry, Her anger builds, man creatures will see Na'api's anger tonight. We will protect the herd known as Temple, and all the herds that take shelter there, but you must take shelter! Tell your man-herds this warning!"
The other two devas said something in their own language, and before Severus could say anything else all three devas had disappeared into the woods.
"That was rather sudden," Severus sullenly grumbled. However, as he turned to go back to the log where his soda and satchel sat, a shadow crossed the clearing as a terrible screech and a sound like thunder filled the air, and he saw the Thunderbird from the other day cross the sky.
He could here Jackson barking frantically somewhere on the farm; in fact, not only Jackson, but he could make out dogs suddenly barking in the distance all around him, and he remembered what Elvis had said about the Thunderbird presaging a bad storm. Or disaster.
That must be what Karwan was trying to tell him. A storm was on its way, a really bad one, if it warranted a warning from the devas.
Severus put his wand into the satchel and quickly finished the can of soda. He was going to just toss the can, but something stopped him. He suddenly felt guilty about just casually tossing the can. After all, Elvis and Priscilla had not left any garbage lying around, and something told Severus that the devas would not be happy with him leaving trash behind.
He stuffed the empty can into his bag, and then rushed back to the pond.
It was very hot and humid. Severus could easily believe that the temperature had reached the predicted 108 degrees Fahrenheit.
And it was still very sunny. He suddenly felt very foolish over the idea of telling everyone that they would have to all go home because a storm was on its way.
As it was, it seemed as if half the people had already gone home. Severus realized that it was late in the afternoon, and surmised that they had left to go home for supper.
Annie was sitting at the water's edge, half in the water, holding Judy up by the arms and letting her legs dangle in the cool water. April and Andrew sat next to her in the water, cupping water in their hands and splashing Judy with water. Both mother and daughter laughed each time.
Everyone else was actually out of the water at this time. Benjie still seemed to be asleep, and all the boys seemed to have follow suit.
The girls on the other hand were all working on each other's hair and experimenting with eye coloring and lip-gloss.
"Where you been at?" Azalea demanded as Severus came up to them.
"We all have to go home right now," Severus answered, ignoring Azalea's question. One of Benjie's eyes opened, but no one else stirred.
"It's too hot to go back," Azalea announced, turning back to finish painting Libby's eyelids what seemed to Severus to be a particularly hideous shade of turquoise.
"There is a bad storm coming. We need to get back now."
Angel and Steve opened their eyes and stared at Severus. Steve then sat up and looked at the sky. The very sunny sky.
"He's right," Steve finally stated, much to Severus' surprise. Steve smiled at Severus.
"You learned how to read storm signs since Woodstock," Steve announced. Angel looked at the sky, seemingly not convinced of Severus' forecast.
"It's too sunny," Azalea announced authoritatively.
But at that moment, the 4 o'clock news broadcast on Dawn's radio ended with the weather forecaster announcing that it was currently 106 degrees with an 80 percent chance of thunderstorms arriving after 6 pm.
"You see," Steve stated, standing up and starting to gather up the blankets. "Severus is right."
Everyone slowly packed up the rest of their belongings. Jay and Libby left for their own home, and Dave left with Rusty and Jill.
While the path back to the farm was shaded, the air was hot and very still, so it was not a comfortable walk, and they went slowly, Yesmina helping to carry a very sleepy and cranky April and Leon Gauchon giving his son a piggyback ride as Andy had announced that it was too hot to walk.
Azalea did not say much, just kept turning and glaring at Severus, and even Angel seemed a little annoyed with him.
But Steve had actually rushed on ahead, and as Dawn carried her radio, which was still on, the broadcast was interrupted for a breaking report, the announcer stating that a tornado had occurred in some town to the west. The station then went back to playing music.
Severus just gave Azalea a smug look, but Leon asked Benjie if he would carry Andy for him, and when Benjie had gotten Andy onto his back Leon, looking very worried, gave his wife a quick kiss on the cheek, stating, "See you back on the farm!"
He then ran up the path, sweating in the heat. Annie and Benjie gave Corrine a questioning look.
"We probably are in for a bad storm," Corrine stated. To Severus, it looked like she was trying to not look frightened, but he could see the look of concern on her face.
Azalea must have noticed it too, because she suddenly became very quiet and no longer gave Severus dirty looks.
By the time they got back to the farm, Severus could see that not only the cows were being brought in from the fields, but also that the pigs were being brought inside their barn, and the chickens were also being locked in. Then they heard a low roll of thunder.
Corrine took April from Yesmina and looking at Dawn, stated, "You better get Steve's loft locked down."
She and the Silversteins then left for the farmhouse.
"Come on!" Dawn ordered, running towards the barn with the loft. The others just stood and stared at each other, but then a strong wind started blowing and there was another roll of thunder -- louder this time -- and they realized that what had been a sunny sky was now a sickly shade of green.
They ran into the barn. Dawn was already up in the loft.
"Come on!" she shouted down at them. "I need help with this door!"
They scrambled up the steps, and realized that Dawn was referring to the hayloft door. Azalea, Angel, Severus and Dawn all helped to push the door shut as the wind turned into a gale, and Dawn showed them the long piece of wood that needed to be lifted into the latches to lock the door. Azalea, being the tallest, was the only one who could actually reach the latches, but Angel, Severus and Dawn helped her to lift the heavy wood.
"What else?" Azalea asked, somewhat out of breath and wiping sweat from her forehead.
"We need to get back downstairs and watch out the window," Dawn explained, starting to climb back down the ladder without waiting for the others.
Again, they all looked at each other.
"Watch out the window for what?" Azalea whispered, as thunder cracked and they could see lightening through the windows. Everyone else just shrugged.
"Come on!" they heard Dawn cry out from below.
"Watch out the window for what?" Azalea shouted down to her.
"For a twister," Dawn answered. "A tornado. There's a storm cellar in here, if we see a twister we need to get in it as quick as possible!"
They stared at each other. No one moved. Severus did not know if they were all frozen in fear, or like him were just very confused.
"Get down here now!" Dawn demanded, as the wind suddenly grew much more violent, the sky darkened, and thunder and lightening was now occurring almost nonstop.
Severus decided that he was now more afraid than confused. Very, very afraid!
They all ran for the ladder at the same time, causing confusion as they all tried to get on it at once. But surprisingly Azalea took charge, making sure DeWard went down first, followed by Yesmina (who had made sure to grab her bag with the medicine in it that Severus had made her).
There was then an argument about who should be next. Again, surprisingly Azalea did not want to go first…she argued that as the oldest, she should go last, meaning that Severus should go next. But Severus did not want to seem a coward, and Angel made a convincing argument that ladies should go before gentlemen, which then resulted in a response from Azalea that it was about time Angel recognized that she was a lady, but what made him think he was a gentleman?
Thunder cracked so loudly that it shook the barn.
"Goddammit will you all just get down here!?"
This brought the argument upstairs to an immediate halt. No one had ever heard Dawn swear like that before. They then realized that the barn was creaking.
Severus decided that since he was the youngest of those remaining upstairs, and at that moment he did not care whether Azalea or Angel considered him a gentleman, he hopped onto the ladder and scrambled down as quickly as he could, Azalea's butt almost in his face as she scrambled down right after him. Angel was immediately after Azalea.
Dawn was glaring at them when they got to the bottom. "City kids!" she mumbled, going over to one of the windows at the front of the barn.
Yesmina and DeWard were clutching each other in terror. Severus realized that it was very, very dark both inside the barn and outside; in fact, it was so dark outside that it almost seemed as if it were night.
He went over to look out the same window as Dawn, with Azalea and Angel following him. Outside the window it was raining, but the wind was making it fall sideways instead of down. When lightening occurred they could see the trees being violently lashed by the wind, and Severus wondered if they would all be uprooted.
Suddenly, something came flying at the barn, and they could hear it bang loudly on the side wall.
"That's it!" Dawn announced. "Time to get into the storm cellar!"
She turned and quickly went to the opposite corner of the barn. It was too dark to see what she was doing, but they heard a loud creak as she lifted something heavy from the floor.
Severus, Azalea and Angel just stood by the window, looking at each other and then at Yesmina and DeWard, who were still standing in the middle of the barn clutching each other.
Something else hit the building, and without further prodding, they all turned and came over to where Dawn was standing. She had gotten a flashlight from somewhere, and was shining it into a hole in the ground.
"We've gotta get down there," she announced. They peered cautiously past the door Dawn was holding up; there were a few cinderblock steps leading down into what Severus thought could only be described as a hole in the ground.
"I ain't goin' down that thing!" Azalea protested. "Look like a grave!"
"You might need a grave if you don't get down there!" Dawn yelled at her over the thunder. Azalea was taken up short by Dawn's attitude. Rarely did anyone other than Angel stand up to her.
The barn was creaking badly at this point, and unknown objects continued to batter the sides of the building.
Azalea, without saying a word, climbed down the steps and then turned to face Yesmina, holding her arms up.
"Give me DeWard," she stated, but when DeWard heard this, he started to cry hysterically.
Angel then climbed down the steps and held his own arms up towards DeWard.
"Come on, DeWard my man!" he said. "See, it ain't so bad!"
However, DeWard, unconvinced, frantically scrambled out of Yesmina's grasp and ran into the middle of the barn.
"Get down here, Yesmina," Angel instructed. "He'll come if you're here."
Yesmina did not look convinced, and Severus could see tears in her eyes when she glanced at him, but she timidly climbed down the stairs, turning towards DeWard when she was halfway down.
"Come here, DeWard," she called out. "Keep me company!"
Yesmina continued down the steps, calling out to DeWard when she reached bottom. But this only upset DeWard more, and all the coaxing from Azalea, Angel and Yesmina only made him more terrified.
"DeWard!" Dawn ordered. "Get over here!"
However, DeWard would not be swayed. Dawn glared at Severus, and then ordered Yesmina to stay where she was when Yesmina started back up the steps.
Severus sighed and went over to DeWard. He started to sing the spell he had sung to DeWard back in June, when they were in Central Park and Azalea had decided that they should all run away from home.
It seemed like a lifetime ago now.
But not only did the spell work its effect on DeWard, who stared mesmerized at Severus; but it seemed to work on the storm itself, as suddenly the wind died down and it got noticeably lighter outside.
Dawn sighed loudly.
"All clear," she announced. "Storm's passed by…"
Yesmina, Angel and Azalea came back up from the storm cellar. Dawn slammed the door shut and then turned off the flashlight, hanging it on a hook on a post close to the storm cellar door.
"Next time you all better move a lot more quick than that!" she admonished. "If we'd really gotten a twister, you'd all be dead and me with you because I have to be mother hen to all you chicken asses!"
Dawn started climbing up the ladder, but stopped part of the way up, turning back to them.
"Well, don't just stand there, come up here and help me get these doors open again! Then we gotta go see what damage there is!"
Perhaps because climbing the ladder to the loft was a more agreeable prospect than going down steps into a grave-like hole, they needed no further prodding to come help Dawn open the loft doors.
When they had done so, they had a good view of what the storm had done to the farm. It actually looked relatively unscathed. Most of the remaining corn had been blown down, and Dawn explained that probably any of the bushy vegetables like the tomatoes and peppers were probably hit hard. But all the trees, including those in the orchard, were still standing, although Severus could see many branches that had been torn off and scattered.
"Let's go up to the house," Dawn suggested, and no one objected.
Everyone seemed to be gathering at the farmhouse to touch base and make sure that everyone was all right. Severus thought that many of the Hog Farm Commune looked like they had actually been outside throughout the storm, and indeed what comments he could hear them making reinforced this viewpoint, as many seemed to think the storm was "Like, wild, man!", and one of the commune women observed that it was "A groovy high!"
And when the sun broke through the clouds in the west, creating a rainbow over the devastated corn field to the east of the farmhouse, there was more than one exclamation of "Far out!"
However, none of the actual denizens of the Temple Farm seemed to share that viewpoint. Steve and Dawn's father stated that it was a good thing that they had gotten all the animals locked down when they did, but that they'd have to go out after supper to assess what actual damages they may have incurred.
One of the casualties was the aerial antenna on top of the house; Pat and Jack were working together to get it placed back onto the roof so that they could turn on the evening news and find out what damages had occurred in the county.
There actually wasn't any electricity available, but the farm had a generator, and Tom Temple soon had it up and running.
The children were shepherded into the kitchen for a quick supper of cold cuts and salad. Annie reached over to Severus, pulling him to her and giving him a tight hug and a kiss on his forehead.
"Thank you for warning us, Sev!" she exclaimed. "Imagine if we'd gotten caught in that storm out at the pond!"
Severus just smiled and took his place at the table, glancing over at Azalea, but she did not look up from her plate. Yesmina didn't say anything, either, but she glanced from Azalea to Severus and then down at her own plate.
He noticed that neither girl was eating much food; they were mostly just pushing bits around on their plates and only taking an occasional bite. Angel didn't seem as picky about his food, but Severus could see that he too was not eating much.
Steve and Dawn, on the other hand, were eating as if nothing had happened, and strangely enough, DeWard was also gobbling his dinner. Severus sort of admired DeWard's ability to rebound from things that upset him, and so Severus decided to follow his example and have a hearty supper, also.
After supper, they caught the tail end of the local news broadcast on TV, as Pat and Jack had found and successfully reinstalled the antenna. According to the report, actual tornados had torn through the areas surrounding the Temple farm, and everyone commented on how lucky they were to have been so miraculously spared.
Steve then led them on a reconnaissance of the farm, gathering up the debris the storm had left behind. As Dawn had predicted, the corn had been flattened, as had crops like tomatoes and peppers, but their crops could still be salvaged if done quickly over the next few days. Most of the other crops had already been harvested, and the winter wheat had not been planted yet, so all in all the farm had weathered the storm pretty well, especially considering the damage that had occurred all around them.
By the time they finished it was already dark, so Steve got a kerosene lantern from his father, Dawn retrieved the flashlight from by the storm cellar, and they all silently climbed the ladder up to the loft and just as silently went to bed.
Dawn turned off the flashlight and Steve blew out the lantern.
"Don't you do 'nother storm like that while we still here!" Azalea ordered in the darkness. Severus heard Dawn moan softly and Steve snort.
"Not much anyone can do about it, Princess!" Steve chuckled. It was now Azalea's turn to snort.
If there were any more arguments that evening they were quiet ones, as Severus was soon fast asleep and did not wake up until the next morning.
"Gimme some money!"
"No."
"You got money. I see Jack give you lotsa money after breakfast!"
"So?"
"Gimme some!"
"No."
It was late morning of the next day, Wednesday. Electricity had been restored to the farm, and it had been announced at breakfast that Steve and Dawn had to make a trip to the local coop to get school clothes and supplies, as school was starting for them the following Tuesday. It was decided to make an outing of it, the Silversteins following behind Jan Temple.
Just before they left Jack had come up to Severus and handed him a large roll of American money.
"What is this?" Severus asked.
"Your share of the clothes that sold this past weekend," Jack explained. Severus looked at the money quizzically, and then just as quizzically looked up at Jack.
"It was your design and your ideas that made it sell so well," Jack explained. "I convinced them that you deserved a certain percentage of the profits…"
Severus wasn't sure how the whole thing worked, but he knew he liked the idea of being paid money just for thinking of something and suggesting it, and he found it amusing that the shirt that had been the source of so much ridicule back home was considered so…well, profitable on this side of the ocean.
Moreover, he was amazed to learn from Jack that $650 had been made in sales of the various outfits based on his smock's design. Jack had apparently argued with whomever needed arguing with that Severus deserved to be paid 20 percent of the profits, but in the end they had compromised at 15 percent, and so now Severus had a roll of twenty $5 bills in his front jeans pocket.
And Azalea was demanding some of it.
"It's not for Azalea, Sev," Yesmina explained. "It's for Angel's birthday gift."
"Yeah," Azalea agreed. "We need to get Angel a gift!"
"You need to get him a gift," Severus countered. "I've already gotten him his gift."
"Wotchoo git him!" Azalea demanded suspiciously.
"I'm making it for him," Severus answered. "It's not finished yet."
Azalea looked like she did not believe him, but Yesmina looked crestfallen.
"What?" Severus asked her.
"Well, we were thinking we'd do a group gift," Yesmina explained. "You know, from all of us, me and you and Azalea and DeWard because…"
"Because what?" Severus demanded.
"'Cuz we ain't got 'nuf money!" Azalea whispered harshly, putting her arm around Severus' shoulder as if to get closer to whisper, but using it as an excuse to give his arm a sharp pinch.
"Ouch!" Severus shouted, which caused most of the patrons and all of the staff of the coop they were in to look over at them.
Severus threw Azalea's arm off.
"I'll give you some money, but not her!" he told Yesmina. "What is it you want to buy?"
"A cassette tape recorder," Yesmina answered.
"A what?"
"Like what Benjie got!" Azalea interjected. "You know, that thing he has you put those tapes in and play music?"
"They have them with radios now," Yesmina explained. "They're the latest thing."
"And we could get him some tapes t'go with it," Azalea added, her eyes sparkling. "Both music tapes and blank tapes, that way we can record from the radio or from a record player…"
"Just whose gift is this?" Severus demanded.
"Angel's course!" Azalea sniffed. "But he let us all use it!"
If it were just Azalea demanding it, Severus would have had no trouble continuing to say "No" to her. However, Yesmina looked so pathetic, he felt sorry for her.
"Do they sell stuff like that here?" he asked.
"They sell everything here!" Azalea gleefully exclaimed.
It indeed seemed true; part of the coop was like a regular department store, another part was like a sporting goods store, another part was a lumberyard and hardware. Still another part sold food and equipment for a variety of animals.
Steve and Angel were off in the boys clothing department, checking out shirts and jeans.
Dawn was with her mother in the girls clothing department. DeWard was also with them, as Dawn had insisted that she needed DeWard's opinion on every outfit she tried on.
Severus had actually been enjoying himself in the book department, checking out the wide variety of subjects. He had been engrossed in looking at the photographs in a picture book devoted to reptiles when Azalea and Yesmina had interrupted him.
He decided he would like to buy the book, so he kept it with him as he followed Azalea and Yesmina to the electronics department.
Azalea stopped and longedly gazed at a record player.
"Someday I'm gonna have a record player like that!" she stated. Severus saw that it cost $129.99 and figured that Azalea was going to have to wait a very long time for a record player like that.
"Where is this player thing?" he demanded.
"Over here," Yesmina replied, leading him into the next aisle where radios and cassette players were on display. Most of the devices were one or the other -- either only a radio, or only a tape cassette player. But one small section had a few devices that were both radios and cassette players in one unit.
"Which one?" Severus asked, as there were three models on display. Yesmina and Azalea glanced at each other, but neither said anything.
Severus saw that the cheapest model cost $19.99; it was almost all plastic, with a choice of colors in bright lime green, deep red, sunshine yellow, Day-Glo pink, or purple.
The next model was $27.99; it also was almost all plastic, but it had the option either to run the unit just by batteries, or to use an included adapter to plug it into an electrical outlet.
The last unit cost $39.99, which Severus understood to be a lot of money, as he was becoming better at understanding the value of American money.
The expensive unit came in only one color, a black plastic. However, it also had much more metal on it than the others, a brushed silver metal of some kind that gave the unit a sophisticated and sleek look. It also had the option of running by battery or via an electrical outlet, and while it was far larger than the cheaper models, to Severus' eye it had a much better design. The other two looked like they would fall apart after a few years, while the most expensive model looked like it was built to last.
"I think this one is the better value," Severus announced, pointing to the most expensive model. Both girls looked surprised, none more so than Azalea who obviously had been prepared for a long argument to try to convince Severus to buy the expensive model.
"I think you're right," Yesmina said. "I've heard players like this one; they have much better sound…"
"Okay, let's buy it 'fore Angel sees!" Azalea whispered, grabbing a box containing the player in question from the shelf below the display shelf.
"We need to buy some tapes, too!" Yesmina protested.
"Where are tho…?" Severus began to ask, but both girls were already on their way to a few aisles over to where both LPs and cassette tapes were sold.
"He like Santana!" Azalea announced, grabbing a particular tape from a display.
"You like Santana," Severus observed.
"Angel like him too, he Spanish," Azalea stated dismissively.
"Well, he actually likes other Spanish bands better," Yesmina observed.
"Santana as Spanish he gonna get in this neighborhood!" Azalea sniffed, picking out another cassette.
Severus let the girls pick out the music cassettes, which he suspected were more to their tastes than Angel's. He saw some cassette tapes marked as blank tapes, and chose two of them, bringing them back to the girls.
"Here are some blank tapes," he said, handing them to Yesmina. She had three music tapes she had chosen, and Azalea had chosen six.
"Just how many tapes are you getting him?" Severus demanded, taking Yesmina's hand and turning it so that he could see the price of the tapes.
"Three each, Yesmina, DeWard and me!" Azalea stated defiantly. "'Cuz Severus Snape no way no how involved in this gift, Severus Snape already decide he do his own gift without askin' no one else!"
"Severus Snape is not involved in this gift," Severus observed, "except that Severus Snape seems to be paying for it all. If Severus Snape is not involved in this gift -- no way no how -- then Severus Snape expects to be paid back. With interest."
There was a certain coldness to his voice that surprised even Severus. Moreover, by the look on Yesmina and Azalea's faces, it also surprised them.
"We got some money," Azalea offered. "We'll buy the tapes, you just buy the player."
She put one of the tapes back on the display rack, and then sidled up to Yesmina whispering, "How much money you got?"
Yesmina whispered something in return which Severus could not hear, but in the end it was decided that one tape each would be sufficient.
They then brought Severus to the checkout and paid for the items while Angel was still with Steve. Azalea then brought everything to Annie and Benjie, who were in the sporting goods section trying to decide what tent to buy.
Azalea explained that they'd gotten Angel's gift, and the Silversteins looked surprised when they saw how nice the player was. Benjie took it and the bags contains the cassette tapes (and the book Severus had bought for himself) and promised to hide it up front in the van so that Angel would not see it.
Severus wandered back to the book department to pass the time while the others finished shopping. Yesmina joined him, gladly looking at various books. But Azalea's personality was such that if she could not afford to buy something, she was not interested in looking at it. So she immediately lost all interest in even "window shopping", and decided to join DeWard in helping to comment on Dawn's fashion choices.
Eventually Steve and Dawn got the clothes they needed for the upcoming school year, plus the necessary school supplies, and Annie and Benjie bought a large tent that was on sale. Severus noticed that Angel had not bought anything for himself.
"Is there anything you'd like?" Severus asked him.
"Nah, I'm fine amigo, but thanks for asking," he answered.
"You sure? I saw a book on baseball…I don't know enough about the game to know if the book's any good or not…"
"Really?" Angel asked. "Where is it?"
Severus showed him the book in question. It was a picture book of famous players throughout the history of the game.
"This is a pretty good book," Angel decided, placing the book back on the shelf.
"If you want it, get it," Severus announced, reaching into his pocket and retrieving two $5 bills and handing them to Angel.
"You sure?" Angel asked in amazement.
"Sure I'm sure," Severus answered.
Angel picked up the baseball book and headed to the checkout.
"I'll give you the change back," he promised.
"Don't bother, keep it…" Severus told him. "I'll meet you outside…"
It was not hard to keep Angel from discovering his gift hidden in the front of the van, as his nose was in the baseball book for all the ride back home.
After lunch, it was decided that they would go swimming again. Severus demurred, stating that he would rather read the reptile book he had just bought. What he really wanted to do was work on Angel's gift, and after the others had left for the pond he stuffed a pair of Angel's jeans into his satchel, gathered up his bag of pop tops and headed to the clearing in the woods.
There was still no sign of Elvis and Priscilla; Severus wondered if the elves had already left.
He scanned the woods surrounding the clearing, and saw that he was completely alone…no elves, no Shadow Creature, no devas, no Thunderbird flying overhead.
Severus welcomed the seclusion; while the storm the previous night had broken the heat wave, the temperature was still in the 80s that afternoon, but with a gentle breeze, making it quite comfortable to sit on the side of the clearing that was now in shade.
He sat on one of the fallen logs, and took Angel's jeans out of his satchel and laid them on the ground. He then took the pop top "chain mail" chaps he had started for Angel and laid them on top of the jeans to see if it was the correct size.
Something did not look quite right to Severus, so he held the chaps up to himself to see how they looked. However, Angel was a little taller than he was, and definitely huskier, so Severus could not really tell that way, either.
In the end, he decided to add some more pop tops to the outer sides to the garment, but after a few minutes, he realized he had made a mistake, and it was now totally out of proportion.
He was in the process of try to undo the crimps of the pop top tabs he had just added when he heard a loud pop behind his left shoulder.
"Hey, it's the wizard kid! We were hopin' t'find ya here!"
Severus turned and saw Elvis and Priscilla with their caravan where there had only been grass and logs before. Severus guessed that they had charmed their campsite so that it was not visible when they were not there.
"Hello," Severus greeted them. "I had wondered if you had left or not…"
"This evenin'," Elvis answered. "Decided to go visit that cousin in Tennessee…"
"What's you makin', Severus?" Prissy asked, coming up and peering at the pop top chaps Severus had in his hands.
"Another gift," Severus stated glumly. "But it's not working out."
"What the fuck is it?" Elvis demanded. Severus sighed.
"They are supposed to be a pair of what they call 'chaps', something to put on over a pair of jeans for protection," Severus explained.
"Likes chain mail!" Prissy exclaimed, seemingly impressed.
"Yes, exactly," Severus answered.
"Are those pop tops you're usin'?" Elvis asked, coming over and sifting through the bag.
"Uh, yes," Severus answered. "I got them at Woodstock when we helped clean up afterwards…"
"That's one shitload of shit y'got in that bag, I'll give ya that!" Elvis exclaimed, laughing and going to lay on one of the loungers. He took out his pipe and proceeded to smoke it.
When Severus turned back to Prissy, he saw that she had already undone all of his work.
"Dis the size youze wants?" she asked, holding Angel's jeans up in front of her.
"Yes, those pants belong to the boy I was making the chaps for," Severus answered. "But it was harder than I thought it would be…I did make a shirt for myself, but I did have some help on it. This I had to do all on my own, because it is a surprise…"
However, Prissy was already fast at work. Moreover, she was indeed fast…her hands were a blur as she deftly attached one pop top to another.
In what seemed no time at all, she held up a perfect pair of pop top chain mail chaps. Severus was amazed…they were much more sophisticated than anything he could have done. Prissy had made the legs below the knee in a circle so that one had to actually step into the chaps. The top was finished with chain mail loops so that the chaps could hang from a belt.
In addition, Severus could see that Prissy had worked actual designs into the garment using additional tabs from the pop tops.
"Stand back," Severus heard Elvis instruct, and as he did so the elf pointed a wand at the chaps, and in an instant they were now shiny as chrome, rather than a dull aluminum color. Severus just gaped, open-mouthed.
"Here," Prissy said, handing the chaps to Severus.
"Tha…thank you!" Severus gushed. "It…it is beautiful!"
Prissy just smiled and went inside the caravan. Severus sat down next to Elvis, not knowing what to say.
"The devas were rather impressed with you, I heard," Elvis stated, taking a puff on his pipe.
"Huh?" Severus asked, shaken out of his reverie. "Uh, yes…I guess…I mean, I don't really know…"
"They wouldn't have gone out of their way to warn you about the storm yesterday if they weren't impressed with you and those people yer stayin' with…" Elvis explained.
Prissy came out with a bottle of their Elf Wine Cooler and three glasses, and proceeded to pour them all a drink.
"How did it go, your wine cooler I mean?" Severus asked, gesturing to the bottle with his glass.
"Very well, as a matter o' fact!" Elvis answered. "Actually, better than expected! We're almost all out. That's one o' the reason we're goin' to Tennessee, we're goin' to set up a production facility there…they know brewin' in Tennessee!"
Elvis laughed as if he thought Severus understood him, but the only thing Severus knew was that Tennessee was to the south of where they currently were. He took another sip of wine cooler to have an excuse not to say anything.
"So you are leaving tonight?" he finally asked, when an awkward pause ensued. "There won't be a problem if my friends want to come here tomorrow?"
"Nope," Elvis answered. "All spells keeping nonmagickal humans out will be gone…why?"
"It's my friend's birthday," Severus explained. "Actually, it is not until Friday, but we are leaving Friday morning, so we are going to celebrate his birthday tomorrow…"
"And youze wants to have a party here!" Prissy guessed.
"Well, no…well, sort of…not really a party…that's tomorrow night, at the house. But they need to decorate the house, so we're doing sort of a fake birthday thing here tomorrow, so Angel won't suspect anything…"
Severus felt foolish. He had little experience with birthday parties, and really did not understand why everyone was insisting everything be kept secret from Angel…after all, didn't Angel know that was his own birthday?
But Elvis and Priscilla nodded as if they clearly understood what Severus was explaining.
"I should go," Severus decided, finishing his wine cooler. "I have to get back before Angel does, so that he does not know that I took his jeans…"
Severus stood up, and as he did so, Elvis and Priscilla also stood up. Elvis offered Severus his right hand.
"It's been real nice meetin' ya, Sev!" Elvis exclaimed, shaking Severus' hand. Priscilla then made it a point to shake his hand, too.
"Weeze gonna miss you, Sev," she said, and Severus wondered if he saw tears in her eyes.
"Anything you want for Christmas this year, just put it in your letter to the Big Guy!" Elvis suggested, slapping Severus on the back. "Mention my name in the letter, we'll make sure ya get it!"
Maybe it was the wine cooler, but the thought of Christmas suddenly made Severus very confused. He had no idea where he would be come Christmas…
"Uh…thanks," was all he could think to say. "Thank you very much."
He started to walk towards the path out of the woods, but then turned to say something else to the elves. However, they and all their belongings were nowhere in sight.
Severus sighed. If it were not for the chaps in his satchel, he would almost think that the elves had only been a figment of his imagination.
As he entered the woods, he saw the Shadow Creature come up alongside him and keep pace with him. However, this time it did not stay in the woods when Severus reached the farm, but stayed at his side as he went into the barn. It stayed downstairs when Severus went up into the loft and quickly returned Angel's jeans and hid the chaps behind the bale of hay Severus had been using as a sort of headboard.
The others returned from the pond, and Severus was surprised to see that the Shadow Creature was still lurking on the ground level of the barn.
What was even more surprising was that it followed him to supper, remaining on the edge of the patio by the bushes, and then followed him when he returned to the barn with the others. It again remained downstairs when he went upstairs into the loft.
Angel had borrowed Benjie's cassette recorder, and he and Steve proceeded to make tapes of Steve's record albums.
Now you know how nice it feels
Scatter good seed in the fields
Severus had joined Azalea, Yesmina, Dawn and DeWard in playing some game called "Monopoly"; after they had explained the rules, Severus found that he rather enjoyed the concept of the game, and he won every round of the game save two, Dawn winning one round and DeWard surprisingly winning the other.
Life's ours for the making
Eternity's waiting, waiting
For you and me.
Later, as the last light was turned out when they all went to bed, Severus thought he heard something moving in the barn below them. And then it was a sense of something coming up the ladder rather than hearing it.
The next thing he knew, the Shadow Creature was sitting beside him. Severus just stared at it, wondering. It finally lay down between him and the open hayloft door.
"Suit yourself," Severus whispered, turning over.
"What?" Yesmina asked.
"Nothing."
Now you know that you are real
Show your friends that you and me
Belong to the same world
Turned on to the same word
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Now you know how nice it feels
Scatter good seed in the fields
Life's ours for the making
Eternity's waiting, waiting
For you and me.
Now you know that you are real
Show your friends that you and me
Belong to the same world
Turned on to the same word
Have you heard?
Have you heard?
Have you heard?
Have you heard?
Have you heard?
HAVE YOU HEARD? (Part 2)
On the Threshold of a Dream
The Moody Blues
1969