"So," said granny after they had all went into the living room, "what did them fellers you took that there letter to tell you?"
"Apparently," said Phoebe, "the signature is authentic. So is the entire letter. The authenticator seemed very excited. He verified that it is George Washington's signature and that Washington apparently wrote the whole letter himself. And he gave us a letter of authentication for it. So if anyone asks, you can prove that it's genuine."
"I never doubted it," said Cletus. "Ain't no reason fer no one to be lying about something like that."
"Well now you know for sure," said Phoebe. "In fact, the authenticator said the letter was worth a great deal of money. He said at auction it could bring as much as forty thousand dollars or more. That would be enough to buy back your farm and still have enough left over to live on for quite some time."
"We ain't interested in selling it," said granny. "It's a family heirloom. Cain't sell no family heirloom. It just ain't right."
"I know," said Phoebe. "I just thought it was an option you should be aware of so you can think about it."
"No, granny's right," said Cletus. "It been in our family fer many a generation. It wouldn't seem right to sell it to no stranger. I reckon we's just gonna have to figure out some other way."
"Well, we'd better start thinking of someway to find you a place to live," said Piper. "You obviously can't stay here forever. And with demons coming after that amulet like they are, we'd better begin to look for ways to enchant it so they can't find it."
"The Elders can help there," said Leo. "They can provide you with the means to enchant another place like your farm was enchanted. The rituals are complicated and take a while but they should do the trick. All we have to do now is figure out where it's going to be."
"That could be a problem," said Paige. "They don't have any money. And I'm betting they won't be able to get jobs that will allow them to make enough money any time soon. Most of them can't even read or right. And with no high school diploma, most places aren't even going to hire them."
"I could go back to school," offered angus Todd. "I done gradeated the sixth grade. Alls I gots to do is finish the rest to git my deploma."
"That's still six years of schooling," said Phoebe. "And where will you stay until then? Piper's right. You can't stay here. There just isn't enough room. Besides, we still have the demon attacks to worry about."
"We still gots kin in Virginny," sad granny, "I reckon we could go there. Might keep the demons from cetchin' up with us fer a bit."
"Are they witches?" Piper asked.
"I reckon not," said Cletus.
"Even if they were," said Paige, "the types of demons we're talking about are very powerful. It may take the Power of Three to vanquish some of them. If you get caught out on the road without us around you wouldn't stand a chance."
"I'm plumb out of ideas," said Cletus. "We's hoping the demons wouldn't start attacking so soon after we got here. I reckon we done misjudged them demons."
"We'll figure out something," said Piper. "Right now why don't we just take it easy. I'll start dinner. I think we could all use a good meal after that demon attack."
"I'll give you a hand," said granny.
"Great," said Piper. "It will give me a chance to try out some of those recipes you gave me. Paige, why don't you hang on to the amulet for now? If a demon does attack, you'll be able to orb out with it."
"Oh fun," 'said Paige. "I get to play human target."
"Seems to me you've gone out of your way to do just that a time or two," said Phoebe smiling at Paige.
"Point taken," said Paige. "Okay, until we can figure this thing out I guess I get to be the keeper of the amulet. Only let's figure out something soon. I don't want every demon in the underworld coming after me for this thing."
"We'll do our best," promised Piper as she and granny headed for the kitchen.