Outlander Reversed

Four

After breakfast on his second Morn in the twenty-first Century, Jamie was relieved when his hostess deemed his shoulder Healed enough to be unbound. She advised that he still be careful and not really use it very much, for it’d be easy to dislocate it again for prolly another week. If it hurt to do certain things–such as raising it over his head–he should simply let it hang by his side and raise it no higher than necessary to feed himself.

        Fully expecting there to be work that needed doing on her farm, he was surprised when Summer said that oughta be easier for him to manage than it wasn’t. She shot him a grin as she grabbed the keysta her truck and said that a trip into Town was somewhat necessary. Considering that trip was due to his sudden appearance, she wasn’t relegating him to being left behind at her house–if he could keep up yesterday’s ruse, that is. If he didn’t think he could play the role of her boyfriend without giving himself away, it might be better for him to stay behind and take care of a relatively easy task like weeding her Garden.

        Carefully considering his options, the ginger man was sure there was far more to discover about how things’d Changed since 1742, and he was curious. Since he’d played the role she’d assigned him fairly well the Day previous, he was pretty sure he could pull it off today, too. Besides, he didn’t like the thought of being left on his own in strange surroundings on top of it all.

        “So, whyddaye need to go into Town on me account?” Jamie queried once they were settled in her truck, which she parked across a Creek from the small Hill her house was built on.

        “’Cuz for all that I can make a lotta different things, there are some things that’re easier to just buy pre-made,” the young woman answered, shooting a pointed look at his legs. “Like the jeans we’re both wearing, for instance.”

        “Aye, heavier fabrics are generally harder to make into clothing,” he agreed, nodding.

        “And while I can make my own soaps, it’s easier to just buy things like shampoo and body wash that’s already been made,” Summer continued. “Kinda like I can mill my own flour, but I prefer buying even that pre-made.”

        “Ye actually use lye soap on yer body–and yer hair?” The ginger man’s eyes widened in surprise.

        “No, not lye soap,” she laughed, guiding her truck down the Dirt road in the Direction they’d Traveled to get to her neighbor’s the Day previous. “It’s kinda hard to explain, as many different chemicals and shit as man’s invented since 1742.”

        “Mmmph,” Jamie grunted, his brow furrowing thoughtfully.

        “But the point in making this trip today’s that I doubt you’re gonna wanna smell like a woman, as I’m sure you’d put it forever,” the young woman said.

        “Nay, I’d rather no walk around smelling like a woman’s Flower Garden, if I dinna have to,” he agreed.

        “Well, the same company that makes what I showedja before ya showered last Night–they make shampoos and body washes for men, too,” Summer told him. “I just can’t pick scents for ya, ’cuz I don’t have the first idea of what’s pleasing to ya, and what’d make ya wanna vomit.”

        The ginger man’s eyes widened in pleasant surprise as he processed that, already looking forward to taking another of what she called showers. He hadn’t exactly been fond of the Lavender scent in the body wash she’d handed him from under the bathroom sink, even though he’d admit that it’d relaxed him quite a bit. Unfortunately, he hadn’t exactly had much choice besides going to bed caked in sweat–which he’d do, if necessary, but wasn’t something he particularly enjoyed.

        As she skillfully guided her truck around one curve after another, she explained that while she kept an outfit or two for a man around, it’d be better to buy him more clothing, too. That’d be easier to accomplish if Jamie was with her so he could try on the pre-made clothes before they were actually purchased. But as she’d said before, taking him with her might not be the best idea, if he couldn’t keep up yesterday’s façade to avoid giving himself away as a Time Traveler.

        It took roughly an hour to make the drive from the young woman’s houseta what she called a Walmart store. Most of that drive was along a pair of Dirt roads–the one that actually ran in front of her house, and one that actually took them down the Mountain she lived on. Closer to the bottom of that Mountain than not, they turned into a black surface that she said was called asphalt, which made for a far smoother and faster ride. Well, that was as long as she didn’t have to slow down to round sharp curves that were referred to as switchbacks, even back in the eighteenth Century.