Gunpowder and Tea Cakes: My Journey with Felicity

I decide it’d be smart to get away from the crowd. I tell Felicity I’d like to go to her home. I have to shout because it’s so noisy! Felicity looks toward the Governor’s Palace one last time, before turning and smiling at me. Ben adds he’ll come with us to the store. The streets get quieter as we get farther away from the Palace, and I get my first good look at Williamsburg. Many of the buildings look familiar, and the people don’t look any different from interpreters. But there are differences, too. Bricklayers and carpenters are actively constructing some buildings that are old in my time. Some people wear filthy and ragged clothes. People are speaking other languages, and I wonder if they’re newly arrived immigrants. I can’t even count the number of horse-drawn carriages on the streets, versus just the few I normally see. I also see wagons pulled by oxen, and horse-riders. It smells different, too. Smoke rises from every chimney, and coaches kick up clouds of dust. A man who seemingly hasn’t bathed recently bumps in to me. I also smell good smells, too. I get a whiff of lavender perfume as a lady in a pretty dress hurries by, and a floury, surgery scent is emanating from the bakery.

Ben and Felicity stop in front of a building that looks like a house. It has red bricks and a steep, pointed roof. Felicity says it’s the finest store in all of Virginia. Ben nods at me and hurries up the steps. Felicity asks me whether I’d like to stop inside or proceed to the house.