Rae Mansfield: I bought a collection of medieval medical tools at an auction.
Linda Lau: I bought them because they were really shiny and somehow they were very well kept for the time period it came from.
Bernie Stephan: But when I brought them home to my family and shared my excitement, I found they were not as excited as I was about this.
Rae Mansfield: In fact, they were rather concerned.
Linda Lau: So, to help them get on board with these medieval medical instruments I gave them a show and tell.
Bernie Stephan: I started with this thing that looked like a knife, pulled it out and showed them that this was what we did surgery with in the old days.
Rae Mansfield: I picked up another thing that looked a bit like a magic wand.
Linda Lau: I swished it around a few times.
Bernie Stephan: And I said “Abracadabra.”
Rae Mansfield: All of a sudden my family and myself were all transported back to the Middle Ages.
Linda Lau: It was very unfortunate that we didn’t have the right clothes for that time period.
Bernie Stephan: We look pretty ridiculous in our shorts and medieval times.
Rae Mansfield: People thought we were running around in our underwear.
Linda Lau: At least we could speak English with them.
Bernie Stephan: We must have been in England.
Rae Mansfield: They thought we were witches.
Linda Lau: So they tried to round us up.
Bernie Stephan: We all started running away from the crowd.
Rae Mansfield: I swished it through the air again.
Linda Lau: I said, “Abracadabra.”
Bernie Stephan: And luckily that crowd just disappeared.
Rae Mansfield: I wonder if they got sent back to visit dinosaurs.
Photo Credit: Warren LeMay, “Rothe House, Cill Chainnigh, Éire,” 2018