I pulled the truck up at the gas pump, Lochinvar stood beside me, looking up and down the road while I filled it with gas.
Then we both went into the store because I needed to use the bathroom and couldn’t wait. He said, “I will guard the store from inside, ye want a soda?”
“Yes, I’d love another Sprite, I need to store it up like a camel.” He narrowed his eyes. “A camel, Lochie?”
“Och aye, a camel. C is for Camel. The bairns hae a book on it.”
“They store water in their — you know, never mind. Next time we come back we’ll all go to the zoo and I’ll tell you all about it.” I left for the bathroom.
When I came out he had a plastic shopping bag full of something and two Big Gulps.
He passed me my very large Sprite.
I asked, “What’s in the bag?”
“I found the best things tae take back for everyone. The verra best.”
We climbed in the truck and while I started it he opened the bag on his lap and showed me a pen. “Look, tis the verra best pen ye ever saw! This is a pen that will save yer life.”
I laughed. “Show me, it looks just like an ordinary pen. How can that save your life?”
He gasped, comically. “Hae Itoldye about how pens saved Magnus and Kaitlyn’s life?”
“No, I heard pens were important, it’s been mentioned, but I don’t get how it happened.”
“They were stuck verra far back in time, before history, almost, before anythin’ was written down. Nae one knew where they were.”
“Ugh, remind me not tae go back that far.”
“Och, we are goin’muchfarther back.”
I said, “Great... does this have a happy ending?”
“Aye, Magnus had pens. He signed contracts and leases and filled books with writin’ with the modern pens. And then someone noticed, ye ken, that the writin’ in the book was froma modern pen. Twas a mystery. Twas in a magazine. Emma showed it tae me, the headline said: The Mystery of the Modern Pen. That was how they found Magnus and Kaitlyn, the place, the date, and year.”
“I’m impressed, that’s amazing.”
“Twill be even better withthispen, look at it.” He fumbled with it. “There is a light!” He pulled off the lid revealing a flashlight on the top.
“Very cool.”
“Tis not all...” He struggled for a moment, muttering that his fingers were too big, then he uncapped the other end. There was a tiny screw driver. He said, “A blade!”
I smiled. “Awesome. It’s small though.”
“Och,” he joked, “tis like Fraoch says, ’Tis not the size of the blade but yer swing.’” He eyed the screwdriver. “I can think of three ways tae kill a man with it, right now.” He capped it again, then pulled apart the middle to show me the pen. “Andit writes, if ye are in dire straits in a dungeon in Balloch in a year before the vessels, ye will hae three tools tae get yerself free. Tis all one could ever need.”
I said, “That is a great pen, how many did you get?”
“I bought all of them.”
“Enough for the whole family?”
“Aye.”
We pulled up at the safe house and parked the truck. He drew his gun as we moved from the garage into the house, and kept watch while I changed into my Balloch clothes. Then I kept watch while he dressed in his kilt. We met in the backyard.
I had my suitcase beside me, a grocery bag with stuff to make pies, Lochinvar had a bag of pens. We each had a Big Gulp in ourhands. I joked, “It’s not what we were told to buy but we did all we could. By the way, what’s in that bag?”
