Grantville Gazette.Volume VII

by Eric Flint

  A brighter face may take my place when we're apart, dear,

  A sweeter smile, a love more bold and free.

  But in the end, fair weather friends may break your heart, dear.

  If they do, sweetheart, remember me.

  Remember me when the candle lights are gleaming,

  Remember me at the close of a long, long day.

  Just to be so sweet when all alone you're dreaming

  Just to know you still remember me.

  Tina Marie's dance slowed to an end. She rubbed her hands against the back pockets of her black denim jeans. "Scotty Wiseman wrote it, back when the National Barn Dance was broadcast out of WLS in Chicago." She straightened her shoulders. "Wash that all out in the laundry, will you, guys? Just forget about it. I'm really not one bit the sentimental type."

  She turned back to the globe, Sartorius looking over her shoulder.

  "The point is that Wismar's not that far away."

  ***

  "It's a beautiful song," Jonas said to Gary Lambert and Ronella Koch that evening. "A little melancholic, but lovely." He looked rather wistfully at Ronella; then looked away. "I believe that I will translate it into German."

  ***

  "They can't mean it." April was horrified. "They can't really mean for her to go off with him and leave us behind."

  "Considering that they just told us so," Hans-Fritz said, "they probably mean it. Look, we're not that bad."

  "But we've always been able to count on Mom."

  "Don't be stupid," Dietrich said. "She's a totally unsuitable wife for my stepfather. It's absolutely shocking for her to plan to leave you here, sharing it with Hans-Fritz and me until Ronnie and his fiancee get married. We aren't even really related."

  "If you don't like it, there's nothing to keep you from moving out."

  "April, that's rude." Ronnie shook his head.

  "Well, then, if he doesn't like it, then I can move out. Live with my boyfriend. Maybe he thinks that's less shocking."

  "You don't have a boyfriend," Vance pointed out.

  April shot a hostile glance at Dietrich. "If he pushes me, I'll find one. If I need to."

  "Mom's not going right away." Carly looked at Anna. "That's right, isn't it?"

  Anna nodded. "Not until some time in the spring."

  "So we don't have to panic right away, do we?"

  Ronnie hugged her. "We don't need to panic at all. Someone will think of something. If Mr. Know-It-All there would just stop sticking his oar into the water."

  "If Grandma hadn't sold her house after Grandpa died," Garret said, "we could move in with her."

  April's expression was sour. "You and Carly could. The odds that she would have me are zero percent."

  "Well, she did sell her house," Hans-Fritz said. "So that's not one of the things that you need to worry about."

  "Easy for you to say."

  "Well. If nothing else works, I guess I could find somebody and get married myself. I'm the oldest, after all."

  Carly stared at him. "But Hans-Fritz, you're not in love. You're not even dating."

  "No. But I have a government job and live in a house with indoor plumbing. Trust me, Carly. In a pinch, I can put out word that I'm looking for a wife and have one in a month."

  Garrett stared at him. "Would you really do that for us?"

  "Hey, kids. I may not be as conscientious as Dietrich here, but I'm not all bad. I'm about the age I should be thinking of getting married. Lucas was good to us. If he needs a favor from me, I'm willing to pay him back."

  ***

  "Yes. It is quite true. All that remains is to set a date for the wedding." Salome Piscatora nodded her head firmly.

  "I can't believe that she's even thinking of marrying him." Mildred Baumgardner pointed at Lucas Sartorius with her fork. "Or that he's thinking of marrying her, for that matter. She's a horrible woman. An unfit mother. But if she takes off with this, this-this German, Garrett and Carly will have no mother at all."

  "She isn't an unfit mother." Kitty Chaffin gestured with her cup. "She never was. She fed them. She kept them clean and sent them to school looking neat. She never once left them without a sitter. And you know that yourself. If it was otherwise, you'd have brought it up in court when you were trying to take them away from her."

  "You. What do you think?" Mildred turned to look at Salome.

  The heavily pregnant wife of the Lutheran minister took a sip of the boiled milk in her cup. "It is not my place to have an opinion. I do know that under the laws of the church, her first husband was left up-time and will be considered dead. Her divorce from the second husband is valid, since he both abandoned her-that is desertion-and committed adultery. Those are Biblical grounds. We do not have as many divorces now as you up-timers have, and only those two grounds exist. But Frau Hollister's divorce from your son, gracious lady, is valid under our laws."

  Kitty wasn't ready to let go of Mildred's other allegation. "She's always kept a close eye on all her kids, and they've all turned out just fine. Ray and Ronnie are in the military. Doing well. Ray's still up north and Ronnie's been detailed to the Mechanical Support Division. Ray's married. Ronnie's dating Megan Collins, who is a real nice girl. Vance is military too-a radio operator up in Erfurt. April's out at the mine, apprenticing to be an electrician. They all got their high school diplomas. Garrett will graduate from high school next year and go into the military, too. Carly's grade are good. What more could anyone ask?"

  "Custody of the kids," Mildred said. "Considering that they're the only grandchildren I have."

  "You're in the assisted living center," Kitty pointed out. "Because of the walker and all. It took three of us to get you down to the cafe this morning. Salome and him and me. It was one thing back when Horace was alive, but how could you possibly take custody of those kids now?"

  Sartorius listened to them talk, twisting his goatee.

  ***

  "It won't be hot on the Baltic coast," Lucas Sartorius said. "Not in the way you describe this Brownsville. I'm afraid that you will find it cold. Cold and damp."

  "You do have fireplaces, don't you?"

  "Yes. But mostly they burn peat rather than wood or coal."

  "Anna will go back with us. She says that in spite of all Grantville's attractions, she would rather be with you than with her half-brothers, 'given how stultifying they are.'" Tina Marie laughed. "That seems to be her favorite word right now."

  "But not your daughters."

  "April says that she can take care of herself."

  "Can she?"

  "Why not? She'll have my house to live in. Megan can move in too, once she and Ronnie get married. Vance and Garrett will be home most of the time. In a pinch, we could ask Ronnie and Megan to move up the wedding a few months. Have it before we leave. There's no reason they can't."

  "So?"

  "No matter what, she's staying to finish her apprenticeship. I sort of doubt that there are many jobs for electricians in Wismar anyway."

  "Which leaves the question of whether Carly goes or stays."

  Tina Marie bit her lip. "She stays. I want her to finish high school here."

  "Can April take care of her? Does she have the time? Or the will?"

  "I don't really want to risk that. April doesn't have the time. Or the patience."

  "Her father?"

  "Impossible."

  "So?"

  "If Dietrich tries to come all fatherly on her, she'll just fight it. Rebel. She wasn't even three when Zane left. She's never had a father telling her what to do and she's not used to it. I cry every time I try to think about leaving her behind."

  "Perhaps there is a solution."

  Tina Marie raised here eyebrows.

  "Move the grandmother into the house with Carly and April. With them, plus the boys, plus Ronnie and Megan, she does not need an assisted living center to take care of her. They can easily carry her up and down the steps to the street. Shop for her."

  "That means that M
ildred wins, I guess."

  "You are giving them up to go with me. Can you tell me honestly that you would not feel better to have their grandmother with them?"

  "I can't. But I sure wish that I could."

  "Perhaps she will be so demanding of attention and keep Dietrich so busy that he will not have the time to exasperate April and Carly."

  Tina Marie finally smiled. "If Mildred has to be wished off on somebody… Well, Dietrich deserves her if anybody does."

  ***

  "I'm giving her custody. For a year. Carly's willing. So is Garrett. If they can't get along, all of them together in the house, we'll know by the end of the year. If they don't, I'll have to think again. I had a long talk with the child welfare people."

  Sartorius smiled. "I have a feeling-an omen perhaps-that the plan will succeed."

  Tina Marie turned to him. "I have a feeling-an omen perhaps-about marrying you. I'm not one bit the superstitious type, but they do say that the third time's the charm."

  Grantville, February 1635

  "Pastor Kastenmayer could have done more to prevent this marriage," Dietrich Zuehlke complained to Kitty Chaffin.

  "Well, maybe. But after I got to know your stepfather a bit, I figured the two of them were a pretty even match. Maybe the preacher thought so, too."

  "It all worked out pretty well, I thought," Hans-Fritz said with his usual amiability. "At least, I didn't have to get married right away. Although now that I have the idea in my head, I may do something about it fairly soon."

  Kitty grinned. "Who's the lucky girl?"

  "I don't know yet. But what April said about a boyfriend sort of got under my skin. That if she was pushed, she could find one. I can probably find some pretty girl who's interested in me." He smirked at Dietrich.

  "Go to work, guys." Kitty threatened them with her paperclip holder.

  ***

  "I sort of doubt that anyone at the city hall could tell you how to get there," Ronella Koch said. "Why don't you try the post office. All the people who deliver mail have to know their routes and there's one that goes out that way, into the holler."

  So Pastor Kastenmayer made his way to the post office and requested a favor. Bernita Walsh obligingly agreed to get the mailman on the route to write out directions, even though she just had to ask why anyone in his right mind would want to talk to Zane Baumgardner, given that he'd devoted the last dozen years to drinking his life away.

  Kastenmayer looked embarrassed. "Not only is he a lost soul, but a lost soul with a German surname."

  "What difference does that make?"

  "It is obvious. Some time between 1630 and 2000, some place between Germany and your West Virginia, the Lutheran church, as Gary Lambert would put it, 'dropped the ball' in regard to this family. Until now, I have let my parishioners go out and gather in freshly cut sheaves, as in the case of the young men who will be confirmed in April."

  "Oh," Bernita said. "Yeah, I'll be there. One of them's my brother."

  "Ah. Which one?"

  "Lew Jenkins."

  "Sabina Ottmar is a fine woman."

  Bernita pushed her hair back from her face. She was so tired all the time these days. "I sure hope so. That's what I'm counting on."

  "I have limited myself to instructing the candidates for confirmation when they were brought to me. I have merely placed the grain in storage, if that is the correct way to phrase it. I have not acted as an evangelist. But perhaps I should be a missionary. Although I may not succeed in restoring this man Baumgardner to faith and sobriety, at least I will try."

  Bernita looked at him. "Good luck," she said. "From everything I know about Zane, he's not at all the religious type."

  CONTINUING SERIALS

  The Dr. Gribbleflotz Chronicles, Part 2

  Dr. Phil's Amazing Essence Of Fire Tablets

  Kerryn Offord and Rick Boatright

  1633, Jena, Dr. Gribbleflotz's office

  Dr. Phillip Theophrastus Gribbleflotz took another look at the bill. He was spending that much on candles? Surely not. "Frau Mittelhausen. This bill for candles. Who has been using wax candles so wastefully?"

  Frau Mittelhausen sighed heavily before looking Dr. Gribbleflotz straight in the eye. "You have been, Herr Doctor. You use the good wax candles to heat your beakers. Why you can't use that alcohol burner the up-timers provided, I don't know."

  Phillip paused to digest Frau Mittelhausen's statement. Well, yes, he did use candles to heat the beakers sometimes. Especially when he didn't want a big fire. The problem was that the tallow candles didn't give anything like the same heat. And they produced too much soot. Even wax candles, which burned cleaner and hotter, made a lot of soot. He often needed to use several candles at once.

  He knew what he needed. Something like the "Bunsen burners" at the up-timer high school. However, that would have to wait until he had access to gas. He knew there had been talk of producing "propane," but for now that was as far off as his much-needed aluminum. As for the alcohol burner the Kubiak Country people had given him, it was very clever. But he could never see the flame, and the alcohol was always evaporating, and it always ran out at the most inconvenient moment. At least with candles he could easily add more, and the heat they put out was greater than that of the single alcohol burner.

  He returned to checking the bills. "There must be a better way."

  1633, Jena, the new HDG Enterprizes facility

  Dr. Gribbleflotz walked around the site of what would soon be the head office and main manufactory of HDG Enterprizes. The new facility was a large compound with buildings for the various production lines, accommodations for laborants and other employees who lived on site, the head office, and the new apartment building for himself and his household. Finally, there was the set of rooms that were his personal office and laboratory.

  The current area of interest was the large waterwheel, or more precisely, the area where the waterwheel would be installed. Phillip could see the men clambering around the heavy structure that would eventually support the wheel. He joined the small crowd watching an older man slapping clay around the joints in the steel. Confused, he continued to watch.

  "You might want to step back, Dr. Gribbleflotz."

  Phillip turned and looked up to see Ted Kubiak. "What is he doing?" He pointed to Erwin O'Keefe.

  Ted followed Phillip's pointing arm. "We want to weld the steel frame together. Erwin is going to thermite weld. Right now he's slapping on clay to contain the molten steel until it cools."

  "Molten steel? How can you melt steel without a furnace?"

  "It's a chemical reaction, Dr.. I can ask Erwin to explain if you like, but for now, just watch. This is really cool."

  Phillip watched as Erwin set an odd package over one of the clay covered joints, lit a fuse and jogged back a considerable distance. After a few moments, the brightest light Phillip had ever seen burst from the package. White-hot droplets leaked from the bottom of the clay seals.

  Ted pointed. "Those droplets are molten iron from the thermite. The clay holds it in, and the iron cools in place to make a weld. It's really neat to watch."

  Phillip stared, awe struck. "Yes, please, Herr Kubiak. Do ask Erwin to explain."

  ***

  Dr. Gribbleflotz idly fondled a crude iron ingot while he read the letter from Erwin O'Keefe. The ingot was the product of a final demonstration of the thermite reaction that Herr O'Keefe had conducted with one of the remaining thermite kits he had brought with him. The demonstration had so impressed Phillip that he had asked for a "cheat sheet." Herr O'Keefe's letter described the thermite reaction in such detail that he was sure he could easily duplicate it. Herr O'Keefe had even included a couple of alternative methods of initiating the reaction.

  Phillip looked over at his cabinet of chemicals in their jars and bottles. He selected a couple of jars and walked to his fume cupboard. He placed a watch glass on a dished firebrick and carefully measured out a small amount of the purple crystals from the up-time "chemist
ry set." Then he added just a drop of the oily liquid, clicking the stopwatch function of his pocket watch at the same time.

  While he waited Phillip admired the "Buick" logo on the door of the fume cupboard. He watched through the safety glass of the fume cupboard door as the purple powder ignited. With the first signs of ignition Phillip stopped his watch. After observing the whole pile of crystals burn, he retreated to his desk where he made notes in his journal. The observed time for the reaction to occur was within the range Herr O'Keefe had written. It was a most interesting experiment, but not as interesting as melting iron in a ceramic pot would be.

  As he read Erwin O'Keefe's directions, Phillip could see a potential problem. The thermite reaction used aluminum. Aluminum was a rare and strategic resource. The Kubiak people had indicated he was lucky to get the few pounds they had been able to provide.

  Unlike his aluminum pyramid, the thermite reaction could use any aluminum. Minor impurities did not matter. Phillip looked along his bookshelf, toward the model pyramid with its faceted gems. He sighed. He had had such hopes when the Kubiak Country people had provided him with the ingots of aluminum. However, his tests with the scale model had failed to invigorate the Quinta Essentia of the small rodents he had tested it on. It was the aluminum he had concluded. It wasn't pure. The Kubiak Country people had admitted that there were other elements in the mix.

  Phillip already knew that pure aluminum would not be available until the up-timers were able to mine the ore. Well, they had admitted that there might be a way to purify the aluminum. However, it required a chemical he wanted nothing to do with. After reading the up-timer handling instructions and warnings, he was happy to let others play with hydrofluoric acid.

  He walked over to his store cupboard. Once there, he picked up the few remaining ingots of aluminum. At a guess he had half a pound left. Biting his lip, he turned his gaze to his dysfunctional model pyramid. Make that two pounds.