It was late in the afternoon when the Corbins arrived in New Haven, Connecticut. After visiting with some of Miriam and Naphtali’s old friends for a few hours, during which time Rosemary found a chance to write to some of her friends from Misty Peaks, they went to the hotel to which they had a reservation and checked in for the night.

  In the morning, before breakfast, the girls packed up the cats just as they had the day before, and Rosemary cast the same spell to repair any damage the cats might have done the night before. Then, just as they were about to start packing, Miriam told them to each leave a suitcase outside of their shopping cart and sidepack.

  “Why?” asked Serena.

  “Because today we’re going to Rafi and Elisa,” explained Miriam. “They aren’t allowed to know about magic, so we won’t be able to explain how you’re able to go on a trip without a suitcase.”

  “What about the thing that Simon, I mean Rosemary, is wearing?” asked Serena.

  “That’s so that I won’t have to explain why we’re bringing Rosemary and not Simon,” said Miriam. “It will not help me avoid having to explain why you are traveling without suitcases.”

  Finally, after breakfast in the hotel lobby, they continued their trip to Massachusetts. Miriam always told people that Rafi and Elisa lived in Boston — but technically that wasn’t true. What she meant whenever she said that was that they lived near Boston and she didn’t trust whoever she was talking with to understand what area they lived in if she didn’t say they lived in a city with a recognizable name. They actually lived in Boxborough, a small town west of Boston.

  When they arrived, they exchanged warm greetings with the local Corbins — those being Rafi, Elisa, and their children. As Dr. Fletcher had predicted, Rafi casually asked where Simon was, Miriam explained that he wasn’t able to make it, and nothing more was said on the matter.

  “So,” Rafi said to Rosemary, “you usually seem to avoid us in our visits. Do you think this time we’ll get a chance to know you, maybe?”

  “I think so,” said Rosemary. This exchange felt a bit awkward to her, but she knew that if it weren’t for the glamour charm she was wearing, these questions would have been more along the lines of how come he was now learning that Miriam and Naphtali had a twelve-year-old daughter that he had never heard of before.

  Rafi led Rosemary and Serena up the stairs. They followed, lugging along with them the suitcases that would have been stowed away in their shopping carts and stashed in their flying sidepacks were it not for their need to conceal magic from their own aunt and uncle.

  “Your mother says that I should put you together in a room that is not in the basement and not in the ground floor,” he explained, “and I believe I have just the room for you.”

  Once upstairs, he took them to a room with two beds waiting for them, one slightly higher than the other. Rosemary knew that the reason for the height difference between the two beds was so that the lower one could roll under the higher one when not in use.

  “Rosemary can take that bed,” Rafi said pointing to the lower bed. “Serena can take the other one.”

  Rosemary went and sat down on her bed.

  “Don’t let Luna out now,” Serena said quietly to Rosemary, as soon as Rafi had left the room.

  “I know,” said Rosemary. “We only do that when it’s time for bed.”

  * * *

  Rosemary, along with her parents and her sister, spent the next eleven days with the local Corbins of Boxborough — those being her uncle Rafi, her aunt Elisa, and their children, Sarah, Itamar, and Yoav.

  There were no Christmas lights in Rafi and Elisa’s home, just as Rosemary knew from past-years experience there probably weren’t any at her own home in Oak Ridge — and for the same reason. That said, they still all appreciated seeing the Christmas lights that others in town displayed. And on Christmas Eve, the whole family went out on a drive to see the Christmas lights. Rosemary and Serena rode in Rafi and Elisa’s car along with Yoav, who sat in a special child safety seat that was fastened to the car’s backseat. Miriam and Naphtali followed behind in their own car, with Sarah and Itamar.

  The day after Christmas, the family made their first trip to Boston of this vacation.

  “Are we going to the Science Museum?” asked Rosemary.

  “We will go there,” said Rafi, “but probably not today. We have other plans.”

  “Like what?” asked Serena.

  “First we’re going to Quincy Market,” said Rafi. “We’re going to look around there for a bit. And your parents also said something about picking up for your sister a late Hanukkah present. And then we’re going to try to go to the Aquarium. And before we head back, we’ll try to see some of the city lights. But don’t worry. We’ll be going to Boston again this visit, and then we can go to the Science Museum.”

  * * *

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  While at Quincy Market, after walking around for a bit with the rest of the family, Miriam and Naphtali excused themselves to go their own way with Rosemary. They left Serena with Rafi, Elisa, and their children, and took Rosemary to a store which featured bicycles in the store window. As they got a bit closer, Rosemary noticed that there were also cylinders in the windows that somewhat resembled the collapsed form of her broomstick, except that none of them were made of wood. Her heart leapt as she looked at the storefront sign that read “Chainswell’s Magical Cycling — Est. 1886” — and below it, a smaller sign that read “Proprietor: Aleister Chainswell”.

  “Is it okay for them to have a magic store like this in the open?” Rosemary asked her parents as soon as the three of them were inside the store.

  “Don’t worry kiddo,” said a somewhat elderly man walking toward them. “Mundies can’t see this shop. They just walk right past it.”

  Rosemary looked at the old man. He had a thick yet neatly-trimmed greyish-white beard and a slightly balding head. He wore a well-worn flannel shirt, cargo pants, and fairly thick wire-framed glasses.

  “What about the mundies that were given magical sight?” asked Rosemary.

  “Don’t worry about them,” said the man. “They only give that to mundies who’ve been specially cleared to know about magic.”

  He raised his head a bit to face Rosemary’s parents. “So, I’m Aleister Chainswell. How can I help you?” he asked, extending his hand.

  “We wrote to you about a bicycle that we had selected for our oldest,” said Naptali, shaking Mr. Chainswell’s hand. “But we may have a change in plans which one to get.”

  “And you are?” asked Mr. Chainswell.

  “Naphtali and Miriam Corbin,” said Naphtali.

  He adjusted his glasses and looked at Rosemary.

  “And this is?” he asked.

  “Rosemary,” said Rosemary.

  “I thought you wrote about a Simon,” he said to Rosemary’s parents, not taking his eyes off of Rosemary.

  “We did,” affirmed Naphtali. “But Simon became Rosemary.”

  “I see,” said Mr. Chainswell, slowly looking back up to Rosemary’s parents. “So I suppose you’ll be wanting a girl’s model then?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Okay,” he said, “you can all come by and look at the girls’ models we got, and see if you like any of them.”

  “Don’t I have to try it?” asked Rosemary.

  “Not necessarily,” said Mr. Chainswell. “Whatever you pick, I’m anyway going to have to adjust to your size. But have you had a bike before?”

  “Yes,” said Rosemary. “I have a bike in Oak Ridge.”

  “But that one is not a magical bike,” said Miriam.

  “This is my first magical bike,” said Rosemary.

  “Then there’s a few features I’ll have to show you before you go,” said Mr. Chainswell.

  Rosemary, together with her parents, looked for several minutes through the girl’s models of bicycles that Mr. Chainswell had on display. Finally, she chose one that caught her eye — a dark purple one with a bright pink floral design on it.

  As soon as she told him what bicycle she wanted, Mr. Chainswell took Rosemary’s measurement with the same Metiretur Vestimenta Sua spell Lacy had used months before. “It’ll be a few moments,” he said as soon as he was done, and then went to the back of his shop.

  A few moments later, he returned and handed Rosemary a cylinder similar to the collapsed form of her broomstick, except that it was metallic rather than wooden, and it was purple with the same pink floral design as the bicycle she had chosen. Near the front, on the top, was an especially large pink flower. Mr. Chainswell explained that that was how she’d know what position it was in before opening it up. He also handed her a smaller peg that was the same purple as the cylinder with a smaller version of the same pink floral design.

  As soon as Rosemary’s parents had finished paying for the merchandise, Mr. Chainswell had Rosemary open up her bicycle and showed her how to use all of its features. He showed her how to collapse it, as well as how to magically chain and unchain it to anything from a lamp-post to a wall when she needed to secure it without collapsing it.

  He showed her how to attach luggage behind the seat. Of course, the features of chaining and unchaining the bike, as well as attaching and detaching luggage would require Rosemary to use her wand, possibly in public — but fortunately she had learned how to do so without mundie passers-by noticing it.

  “What’s most important,” said Mr. Chainswell, “is that those features are keyed to you on this bike. So nobody but you can lock or unlock your bike or attach or detach luggage from it.”

  He then showed her how to use the navigation.

  “Why is it just a little square and not a crystal ball?” Rosemary asked, pointing to the crystal screen at the center of the bicycle’s steering wheel.

  “Because the bike’s magical interface has to be discreet,” said Mr. Chainswell. “So it’s a crystal screen instead of a crystal ball.”

  The navigational feature of the bicycle was also somewhat different from that of the broom in other ways — because the bike, unlike the broom, needed to deal with the constraints of ground-based travel. Instead of highlighting just the destination she was trying to reach, the bike’s navigation highlighted a trail for her to follow.

  Finally, after showing her how to use all of the bicycle’s features, he showed her how to open up the peg he had handed her into a bicycle helmet and collapse it back as well. “When it’s open,” he explained, “it looks just like a mundie bike helmet — but it’s far more comfortable, and safer to boot.”

  “But where do I keep it?” asked Rosemary.

  “Why?” asked Mr. Chainswell. “You don’t have a flying sidepack?”

  “I do,” said Rosemary, tapping her purse, “but does it have a place for that?”

  “It should,” he said.

  Rosemary opened up her flying sidepack to where her broom was stored. There was one large space where she already was holding her broom. She saw another large space just like it where she now put her bike. However, she now noticed two much smaller holes that she hadn’t paid any attention to before. She slid the peg into one of them, and it fit perfectly. “Oh, I see,” she said.

  “And one more thing,” said Mr. Chainswell, bringing Rosemary a booklet from his desk. “I know what we went over is a lot. So this is in case you need help remembering any of it.”

  Rosemary read the title of the booklet: ‘Operating a Magical Bicycle’.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “So,” explained Naphtali, “we’re staying with my brother and his family. And they do not have permission to know about magic.”

  “Well then,” said Mr. Chainswell, “you could just leave it uncollapsed till you leave. Chain it to your car if you have to.”

  “Won’t it get damaged?” asked Naphtali.

  “Not likely,” said Mr. Chainswell. “Magical bikes hold up a lot better than regular ones do.”

  * * *

  A few minutes later, Rosemary walked out of Mr. Chainswell’s shop with her new helmet on her head holding her new bicycle beside her. She kept walking that way alongside her family until they left Quincy Market. She then got on her bike and rode it the rest of the way to her parents’ car in the garage. Once she got to their car, she kept riding around the garage until her parents arrived. Naphtali then placed the bike on top of the car and held Rosemary up as she cast the spell to chain it to the car.

  Finally, with the bike secure, the three of them left to join the rest of the family at the New England Aquarium.