//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: Apple Family Reunion 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

In the meantime since we last saw them, the older folks, such as Granny Smith, Apple Rose, Auntie Applesauce (though precisely whos aunt she was was unclear in that regard) had got out their knitting needles and had set themselves up in the chairs set aside. Before them was a large and incredibly long quilt, which had at least one foot on it for every reunion. As there had been 20 reunions thus far, the quilt was at least 20 feet long, and ran forward in front of them in piles and curls, rolled up and flowing along like a wave, not a piece of fabric.

"Well!" Apple Rose joked, her false teeth producing a smile. "It seems as if we've been workin' on this quilt fer years."

"They started it at the first reunion back in 1914," Grand Pear explained, having been briefed on the story of the quilt. "Ah believe it was Mrs Smith's grandmother who did the first stitch on the quilt, and here we are, 100 years and 20 feet later!"

"You got that one right," Granny Smith smiled, as she sat back in her chair and looked up at the sun, before dropping in her sun shades. "Ah doubt this quilt will ever be finished, and part of me hopes it won't. What else will Bright and Pear do in their old age? Or Big Mac, Applejack, or Apple Bloom, fer that matter?"

"Ya don't necessarily need ta finish it," said a voice, which rapidly turned out to be that of Bright Mac. "But we brought a special somethin' that Ah think will help ya make more of it." He stepped behind them, and then whisked off a dust cover and a tarpaulin. Under that dust cover and tarpaulin had been sitting a set of sewing machines, gleaming and modern with delightful new metalwork. "These sewin' machines will help reduce the strain on yer hands," he explained, clearly quite proud of his idea. "Not ta mention, you'll be able to make more than one foot of quilt. You'll be able ta make up ta three feet in a day!"

"Three feet in a day?" Auntie Applesauce exclaimed. "Now, where's the fun in that, youngin'?"

"It's a labour savin' device," Bright Mac replied, with a smile on his face, as he pulled the ripcord, which started the machines up. They began to rumble and roar, and the ground shook as they got going. "Won't workin' together with these machines be excitin'?" he asked, over all the noise.

Unfortunately, the older folks were a little hard of hearing. "What?" Apple Rose asked, as her false teeth floated out of her mouth and floated through the air.

"AH SAID, WON'T IT BE-" Bright Mac reached over, and the machines switched off -"excitin'?" He headed off toward the centre of town as the ladies got to work on the sewing machines.

"These machines make havin' a conversation difficult!" Granny Smith shouted.

"WHAT?"

"These machines make havin' a conversation difficult!" Granny Smith repeated loudly.

"Ah can't hear ya, these machines make havin' a conversation difficult! And Ah was gonna ask about mah Parasol!"

And it went on like this for several minutes.



Elsewhere, Pear Butter was keeping an eye on fritters. A fritter, for those who do not know, is a delicacy made of batter or bread, and often covered in sugar or other such preservatives, and filled with a variety of different food items, such as meat, seafood, vegatables, fruit, or many other things. They existed a few miles south in the form of Beignets (which Babs knew all about from her trip to New Orleans), and the major constituent families all did variations on the fritter. In a table in the centre of town, with large Dutch ovens sitting near the railroad lines, fritters with oranges, pears, apples, cherries, and many other items were being processed into the ovens. But the process was going a lot slower than Pear would have liked. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and she didn't want anybody there to miss out on the cooking. So, she decided to use an old technique the Pears had perfected. Stepping over to the table where a group of women were working, she spoke to them.

"Here, try this," she suggested. Her hands worked swiftly, and she produced a perfect one in seconds. "Roll, fold, crimp, slide to the left." She then demonstrated it again. "Roll, fold, crimp, slide to the left." She then repeated it one last time. "Roll, fold, crimp, slide to the left. Very good. Now then y'all, let's keep this assembly line movin'! Ah don't want a single person here missin' out on a fritter." She turned around, and looked over to where the kids were busy racing round a tree and falling over. "Please don't overdo it, Applejack," she asked quietly. "We don't want any injuries today." She glanced back, seeing fritters positively flying into the ovens, which Big Mac was watching over. "How are the temperatures?" she called.

"Hotter than a boiler on a Shay!" Big Mac called. Just then, a Shay did roll past, blowing steam as it did so. The steam flew through the air and covered over the ovens, making Big Mac very confused. "Well, Ah didn't know these ovens could make so much steam."

Pear Butter facepalmed. "Honestly, Mac."

As the first day of the Apple Family Reunion came to an end, it had yeilded mixed results. Whilst people had got to know each other, a lot feared that proceedings, as organised by the Apple Family, were simply far too hectic and compromised the values of just seeing each other once again. After dinner at the Last Run, most people simply retired to their homes and relaxed with their families, but some came back out again under the cover of night. In the centre of the town courtyard sat a telescope. And standing next to the telescope, dressed like an old wizard, was Mr Starswirl, and he was ready to give a planetarium display.