While Old Tim was busy with the plans for the machines Xana gave him, Xana was also putting her intelligence into the main material. The safety alarms, heart rate machines and recorders were soon to be launched.
From pieces of of a pitiful radio set, door bell and a host of other stuff she got from who-knows-where, the three machines were finally completed.
On a Thursday, after school, Xana visited Bill and together they left to Old Tim's smithy.
The way Old Tim thought about Xana had now completely changed. She was a genius and one he had never imagined.
"Come in, come in!" he enthusiastically welcomed her. Bill was treated like air. He sighed deeply to himself. All the months they had been friends, Old Tim never welcomed him this happily. He sighed again and saw himself into the house.
Xana and Old Tim were already in the smithy.
"I am done with the metal coatings though it cost me an amount of metals."
Old Tim's words reminded Xana of the iron deposit she found in the village.
"There is an iron ore deposit in the village. Would it be of any help to you?"
Old Was instantly gratified. He was surprised, then his eyes squinted in delight.
Xana dropped her bag on the table and brought out some contraptions from it. She picked up the metal coatings and fixed the contraptions into it. She was now holding the safety alarm.
"One thing I hate to see are females being harassed the most so this safety alarm would blast out a very loud sound immediately shocking the other party and creating and escape route for the female." she explained its purpose and Old Tim's head bobbed as he looked at Xana with respect and admiration.
She assembled the heart rate monitor and the recorder and explained their functions respectively.
Old Tim's feelings were quite complicated after the function of the recorders were explained. He had a very sad story.
At his former village, Outskirts Village, he was framed by his blacksmith apprentice who blamed him for the low quality goods that were created for a very important customer. Low quality goods were an abomination in their village and for this reason, he had been ostracized.
Not able to continue living there, he moved to Acorn Village were the villagers accepted him and quit his blacksmithing work. But the words of his friends had made him pick up his dream again.
If only there was something like a recorder that functioned then, his apprentice would not have been able to cover his face with mud.
Bill sighed as he felt for his friend. 'Old Tim was such a hard-working man, how could he have produced low quality goods?'
He left the sad thoughts and said, "These machines are very miraculous. Yes-" Bill paused like he had an inspiration. "The three miracles. This would be the name we'll launch it with."
Xana smiled at the enthusiasm of the middle-aged men.
The next village assembly was in two days and everyone was invited to speak. Bill and Old Tim discussed and decided to talk about the three miracles there. The three miracles being the name they had begun to call the machines.
.....
Saturday came and the village Hall was filled with people. Most of the talks going on that day was about the promises of Ronald Hopkins and how it had helped them in their endeavours.
Xana slowly walked in with her friends and scratched her sore ears which were tired of hearing praises about this man.
' He's just lucky to be born rich and into an influential family, therefore increasing his likelihood of winning the contest.
Above all, he was just chess piece in between her fingers.'
Midway into the meeting, Bill raised his hands up earning gazes from others in the audience. He hardly ever spoke much in the village meetings and was fine with almost all their decisions.
What did he want to say? They all thought.
"Everyone has spoken and I just want to say a few things that would be very important towards our growth in this village. I'll invite my friend to speak for us." he said and gestured at Old Tim.
Everyone's surprise turned to shock as the legendary 'still mountain' was also going to say something.
Even the village chief was surprised. What had gotten into these two?
Old Tim cleared his throat and began.
He introduced the recorder, safety alarm and heart rate monitor.
"For those of you who do not know, this was the reason I left my former home town." He shared with them the betrayal of his apprentice and the village sympathized with him.
He also talked about the latest news in the village of the harassment of a married woman.
"Such devil incarnates must be thought a lesson!" and he explained how the safety alarm comes into place there.
By now, the married woman who was harassed was crying and her husband was sniffling his tears.
The whole village was moved.
When he explained the use of the heart rate monitors, the village chief stood up instantly and stopped him.
"This is an important era in our history! And you, Old Tim, produced those?" he asked in awe.
"Not at all", Old Tim and Bill smiled and pointed at Xana in the back row
"That lady, Miss Deanna, was the brain and hands of this."
The village chief stopped and smiled. "It seems I shouldn't be asking useless questions. Don't take them personally, sirs."
Bill and Old Tim were startled. Old Tim furrowed his brows.
"We really mean it. She is!"
The village chief was shocked. These two had no reason to lie the second time.
He turned towards the girl who no one actually ever noticed and who was beginning to become visible. Deanna... even her name was weird. But she was a genius.
He clapped his hands and the stunned villagers slowly joined.
Xana smiled and so did her friends. Lucas narrowed his eyes and smiled.
The village chief called her out to the podium.
"This is amazing Deanna. You must be on he list for scholarships in the city."
Immediately, an angry voice sounded.
"Scholarship my foot!" Everyone turned towards the voice and Xana saw a light skinned woman with curled blonde locks whose face was twisted with rage.
"This wretch bullied my daughter and now she will be getting a scholarship?"
The village chief, Old Tim And Bill furrowed their brows deeply. Old Tim's was even deeper.
"It is very wrong to accuse someone that way, Madam." he said.
Xana smiled and brought out a tiny ball from her breast pocket.
"Let us see who bullied the other." she said with a sneer and pressed a red button.
"You b**ch!
You're a b**ch, you're whole family are b**ches!
You dare!"
A series of slaps followed and then a shrill scream.
"Stop immediately! How dare you wretch!
You know, for a weakling, you've got guts." Then a crack followed along with the agonized scream of a girl.
Everywhere was quiet and the faces of Tina's mom and Tina who was sitting next to her were unsightly. The faces of parents of the boy who cursed Xana were green with shame.
Xana smiled and pressed another button.
"I'm gonna pay you back." a fierce whisper sounded though the sound had been further amplified.
The recorder she held was in the raw state. No coating. She took it to school to work on and it actually payed off.
It was accidentally on record since.
Bill turned to the village chief.
"This is why the recorder is very useful."