Chapter Thirty
When Justin opened the door, the servant stood ram-rod straight with a small bundle stretched out in front of him. For a moment, he wondered if he needed to tip the man, but soon realized that he was being ridiculous. Even if he was supposed to, which he was fairly sure he wasn't, he had no cash to give him. He couldn't even give him a stick of gum.
As the man passed the clothes, bowed, and walked away, Justin was glad he was spared having to explain what the clothes were for and why he needed them. He doubted the man would have cared anyway.
While Maggie had worn a simple dress with lace and pretty beadwork on it, he had not really paid attention to what the king had worn beyond a large, thick blue robe that dragged on the ground when he walked. He was shocked to see that the bundle of clothes contained forest-green pants that looked more like loose jogging pants and a large, oversized grey shirt that came down to the middle of his thighs. He was relieved to see a wide black belt to put around his waist, making the shirt less flowy and cumbersome. There didn't seem to be anything else in the bundle other than a separate set of identical clothes like the first.
As he changed out of his stiff clothes, he realized that he had not been provided with any shoes. His shoes were solid black, but were still tennis shoes and would bring questions if anyone really looked at them, but he was just going to have to risk it. He would rather wear his own shoes and make up an excuse for why they looked the way they did than wear shoes that didn't fit him well.
He was surprised at how quickly he was able to get dressed. He worried he might need to call for help to tie strings and fix buttons out of reach. It was evident that the clothing style here was one for convenience. Now that he thought about it, it resembled the clothing style from medieval England in his world.
As he was finishing retying his shoes, another knock came on the door. He was pleased to find Maggie on the other side when he opened it. "I thought a servant was going to be escorting me to supper." Maggie smiled at his words and hid a giggle behind her hand. "Well, if you would rather walk with a servant, I can easily find one for you; I don't mind in the least." As she spoke, she put her hands behind her back and stood rocking back and forth on her feet. She looked almost giddy as she joked with him.
"Don't you dare. I never know what to say to the servants. Besides, you are a much better company than they could ever be. Um, no offense to them."
"Oh, don't worry, they wouldn't take offense at your words. Besides, they wouldn't expect you to say anything to them. It is the way of servants to be silent. They would have thought it odd if you tried to hold a conversation with you." This time it was Justin who laughed. "That is good to know. One other thing that would be good to know is what we are having for supper. Do you have any idea?"
Maggie's eyes lit up, and she licked her lips in a very unladylike fashion. "Oh, you are going to love what the cook has prepared for us. She has gone all out. We are having peacock." Justin was sure he must have misheard her. "Pardon, what did you say?"
Maggie looked at him with a hint of concern on her face as though an unpleasant thought had just occurred to her, and she was afraid to voice it out loud. "I said, the cook has prepared peacock. You do eat peacock where you are from, right?" Her eyes were imploring him to say yes, but all he could do was shake his head and swallow hard.
"Um, where I am from, peacocks are looked at as an exotic, beautiful bird that people stare at and take pictures with. We definitely DON'T eat them. Not nowadays anyway. "
"Take pictures with?" Maggie's concern turned solely to confusion as she stopped walking and looked Justin full in the face. He wiped his hand down his chin as he thought of a good way to explain what a picture was. "In my world, we have devices that can capture what is happening in any given moment so we can look back on it later. We call those pictures.
Where someone may spend hours painting a landscape to capture a moment in time, we can do it with the click of a button. Maggie shook her head at him in amazement. "Your world seems very different from mine, but I must admit that I wish I could visit there if only for a time."
As they continued to walk in companionable silence, Justin thought about what it would be like if Maggie could see New York. She would probably be overwhelmed by the noise and the smell alone. Aldervaile was so much slower and calmer than the sleepiest Sunday in New York. It would probably take her a while to get used to it.
When they reached the double doors to the dining hall, Justin looked over at Maggie and reached for her arm. "Thank you for providing me with these clothes. I don't feel so out of place now, and I genuinely feel better in clean clothes. Where did you find them so fast?"
Maggie nodded once to the guards and held up a finger to signal them to wait before opening the doors. "I went to the kitchen and talked to the cook. It just so happens that her grandson is visiting her, and he is about your size. She was more than happy to give me a few sets of his clothes."
"Well, I must be sure to thank her and her grandson for their generosity. But tell me, I didn't notice any nightclothes in the bundle of clothes. What do men normally sleep in at night?"
Maggie's eyes shined as she motioned for the guards to go ahead and open the large double doors, right before she took a step inside the dining room she turned and said one word, "nothing."
Staring after her, Justin gulped in a deep breath of air and slowly walked in to eat with the king. One thing was very, very clear to him. He was definitely no longer in New York City.