“That’s good,” Johann said.
Walcha’s Coffee House was two blocks west of the hospital, he remembered. Johann had never been there before, though, so he was a bit relieved when he saw the shop’s sign, and he sped up his walking a bit. He held the door open for Staci and followed her inside.
The shop was larger on the inside than he’d expected; larger than the Green Horse tavern, even, which made it very sizable for a public space in Magdeburg. Standing inside the door, he saw several people whom he knew. He’d heard that the coffee house had become a favorite place for musicians and artists and people of letters, as well as those who liked to be seen with such. That did indeed seem to be the case, as he could see a fairly well-known writer and his friends at one table, and two or three of Frau Marla’s musician friends at another with some more players.
There was a small table with a couple of chairs to one side, against the wall. Staci looked up at him and pointed to it. “There?”
“Why not?”
They made their way there, beating out another couple. Staci was able to slip through the crowd and the other seated patrons and plop down into one of the chairs just moments before the others could, which collected her a couple of serious frowns. Johann noted that that didn’t seem to bother her, as her gamine’s grin was back in place on her face when he took the other seat.
“You enjoyed that, I think,” Johann remarked with a bit of a smile of his own.
“Too right, I did,” Staci said.
At that moment one of the servers arrived at their table. “First time here?” the young woman asked.
“Yes,” Johann said.
“Well, then, tonight we have coffee, Dutch chocolate, and American chocolate. The American chocolate is a dollar more, because of the extra sugar in it. If you want something to nibble on as well, we have a few of the oatmeal cookies left, and I could probably find some bread and butter. We normally have more, but a bunch of the army officers came in earlier, and ate most everything we had prepared for the evening.”
“Coffee for me,” Johann said, “and two of the cookies.” He looked to Staci.
“The Dutch chocolate,” she ordered, “and I was hoping for a piece of the chocolate candy I’ve heard so much about.”
“Up-timer, are you?” the server asked. That should have been a rhetorical question, Johann thought with a suppressed snort. Staci’s unmistakably accented Amideutsch should have left no doubt in the server’s mind. At Staci’s nod, she smiled and said, “I’ll see what I can do.”
As the server bustled off, Johann looked at Staci. Just by chance, she was wearing the same hoop earrings she had worn to Marla’s performance at the Green Horse Tavern, and his attention was caught by how they swung in the light, and how the little bauble on the loop slid freely forward and back as she tilted her head.
He caught her looking at him with a quizzical expression. “Sorry,” he said, “it’s just…your earrings are so different.”
“Are they?” Staci looked around for a moment, then returned to gaze at him. “I guess maybe they are. Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen anyone else wearing hoops of any kind, much less these big two-inch jobbies.”
“Pendants, yes, but not these…hoops. And especially with the little…whatever it is hanging from them.”
Staci grinned, reached up with both hands and a moment later had one of the earrings removed and was holding it before him so he could see it closer. Johann for a moment wished it was still in her ear but that he was that close to it.
“See?” she said. “It’s a little teddy bear charm. I’ve had these for years. I wear them for luck.”
Johann looked at the charm. He knew what up-timer teddy bears were. He had seen originals of them in Grantville, and had seen inspired imitations of them in various places in Magdeburg. The charm did resemble them, in a unique fashion. “Very interesting,” he said. “Very…cute?” He wasn’t sure that was the right word, but he tried it anyway.
From the look of pleasure on her face, he gathered that he had gotten that much right, anyway. Staci busied herself in restoring the earring to its proper location. After that, she looked to Johann, and said, “So, I’ve met your brothers. You look to be older than they are.”
Johann nodded. “Eight years and some months older than Christoph, a couple of years more than that to Heinrich.”
“Eight years is a big gap.”
Johann shrugged. “One stillborn child, one winter birth that caught the croup and did not survive until spring.”
“I’m sorry.”
Johann could see the sadness on Staci’s face. Another mark of the up-timers, he thought, to be so affected by what was a part of life. He shrugged again. “It happens. It is a part of life for so many.”
“And your parents?”
“Papa died of the plague in 1626, and Mama died last year. She had pneumonia two winters ago, and never really was the same after that.”
Staci shook her head. “So you and your brothers are all that are left of your family?”
“Of the immediate family, yes.”
They both paused as the server appeared with a tray. Johann sat back a bit to allow the server to slide a cup of steaming coffee in front of him, and a saucer with two cookies. A moment later saw a cup with dark chocolate sitting in front of Staci, and another saucer with a slab of very dark something sitting on it beside her cup. Johann took up his cup and blew on the steaming liquid before taking a cautious sip of the hot liquid, watching as Staci took up her candy and nibbled on the corner, then closed her eyes as a most blissful expression crossed her face.
Staci opened her eyes. “Oh, that is heavenly. I have really missed chocolate.”
“You must have,” Johann said with a chuckle, “to order both the liquid and the solid form of it.”
Staci laughed. “No, I didn’t order the coffee because this late in the day if I drink coffee I’ll be up all night.”
“Coffee does that?”
“Oh, yeah.” Staci took a sip of her chocolate, and laughed again. “Actually, this might as well. Pretty strong chocolate…a lot of difference between this and what we knew up-time.”
She took another nibble of the candy. “So you said you and your brothers are all that is left of your immediate family. Some extended family, then?”
Johann swallowed the bite of cookie he had been chewing. “Oh, yes. We have cousins all over Thuringia.”
“That’s good. It’s nice to know you’re not alone.”
Johann nodded. He’d never thought of it like that. He’d always taken it for granted. “And what of you? What is your family like?”
“Mother and Father still living, and they moved to Magdeburg not too long ago. Older brother Joel serving with a State of Thuringia-Franconia National Guard force in Fulda. Younger sister Melanie works for Kelly Construction as an electrician on the opera house project, and youngest brother Josef works as an apprentice for Kelly on the same project.”
“A family affair, then? I have met Fräulein Melanie, as it chances.”
“Well, almost,” Staci said with a smile. “And my roommate Casey Stevenson is getting ready to marry Carl Schockley, who’s the project manager for the opera house project for Kelly.”
“I have met Herr Schockley,” Johann said with a bit of a grimace. “I think he does not like me very much.”
“Oh, I think he likes you fine,” Staci replied. She took a sip of her chocolate, then continued, “He’s just afraid that you’re going to do something that will mess up the construction schedule.”
“And Fräulein Casey is a dancer?”
“Yep. One of Mom’s senior dancers, along with yours truly.”
It took Johann a moment to realize Staci meant herself.
“So, we don’t have anything quite like the dancing you do. What does it involve? Why do you like it?”
Johann picked up his coffee cup and settled back.
“Did you see the dance program in the July
fourth program last year?” Staci asked. At Johann’s nod, she continued with, “Well…”
And from there the conversation wandered as conversations often do. Staci spent time telling Johann about dance. Her eyes sparkled, and her voice was very animated. From the gestures of her hands, Johann could see her passion about it, and from her descriptions he began to see that there was art to it—it wasn’t just bodies moving, it wasn’t just like people dancing at fairs and parties—there was a skill and a craft to the dance as Staci described it that was above and beyond what his people thought of as dance.
Johann didn’t know how much time passed as he watched Staci. His cookies were long gone when he checked on them, and he was working on his second cup of coffee. He didn’t care if he was awake all night. Any excuse to sit and watch the young woman across the table from him was fine with him. Cheeks flushed, broad smile, leaning forward to emphasize something she was saying—it was like he was falling into her eyes, drowning in her joy and zeal and passion.
Staci finally paused long enough to finish her cup of chocolate. She looked around as she did so, and her eyes opened wide. Johann glanced over his shoulder, only to discover that they were the only ones left in the coffee shop.
Staci put her cup back on the table with a thump, and pulled back her shirt cuff to reveal a watch. “Oh, no,” she said. “It’s after nine o’clock. I need to get back to the school…I have an early day tomorrow.”
The server appeared at their table as Staci pushed her chair back. She had a small piece of paper which she used to wrap up the piece of candy which Staci had barely nibbled on, which she then presented to Staci with a flourish.
“Thank you,” Staci said with a smile. “It is really very good, and I would have eaten more of it, if someone,” she lowered her eyebrows at Johann, “hadn’t got me started talking.”
“Think nothing of it, ma’am,” the server replied, with the up-time courtesy. “We are used to that happening.”
“And I’m sorry we kept you so late,” Staci said with an apologetic expression on her face and a touch of her hand to the server’s arm.
“We stay open until the last customers leave,” the server said. “Georg says he wants people to feel comfortable here.” She gave a wicked grin. “Of course, there’s been a time or two where he was out sweeping the floor with a broom, too.”
“I bet!” Staci said with a laugh. “Anyway, thank you, and I’ll tell everyone that your chocolate to drink is wonderful and your chocolate candy is to die for!”
“That’s all we can ask,” the server responded with another smile. Johann had seen the price board when they entered the room, so when the server looked his way with one eyebrow raised, he passed her twenty dollars, folded so the bill numbers were visible. That was enough to cover their drinks and food and provide a gratuity in the up-time style. The server’s smile broadened just a bit, the bills disappeared with a deft move of her hand, and she gave a small bow to Johann.
“And you are?” Johann asked.
“Anna,” the server replied. “Georg is my husband.”
“We will be back,” Johann said.
“Thank you, and good evening to you,” Anna said as they turned to go.
“Good evening,” Staci said over her shoulder.
Johann preceded Staci out the door to make sure the way was clear, then held the door for her to step out of the coffee house. They started walking down the street together. The evening was quiet. There were a few other pedestrians in view on the street, but none were close by. The sky was clear; no clouds hid the stars, and the golden light of the crescent moon shone down on them from low in the eastern sky.
After a few steps, Johann was almost startled when he felt Staci’s hand slip onto his arm. He instinctively crooked his elbow, and felt her grasp settle and rest in that crook. They walked that way for a couple of minutes or so. He felt his chest tighten a bit.
“You shouldn’t have let me ramble on and on like that,” Staci said. “I did all the talking.”
Johann chuckled. “Fräulein Casey warned me some time back that you were all dancer.”
“She’s a fine one to talk,” Staci said with a snort. “She’s just as fixated on it as I am. But you still shouldn’t have let me monopolize the evening.”
“I enjoyed it,” Johann said.
After a moment, “So did I,” softly. A few more steps. “But next time, I get to ask the questions and you have to talk.”
“That is fair,” Johann conceded.
The rest of the walk to the townhouse the school was in passed by in silence. Johann could feel a grin on his face. He kept trying to suppress it, trying to be serious, but the happy feeling in his chest kept rising and making the corners of his mouth curl up. He kept his arm tight, feeling the presence of Staci’s hand pressed between his arm and his side.
All too soon they had arrived in front of the building. Johann walked Staci up the steps to the portico, where she removed her hand from his arm. It was a slow withdrawal, and Johann was certain that was an expression of a certain reluctance. That resonated with him, for he was certainly reluctant to have it release its contact with him.
They turned to face each other.
“I had a very good time tonight, Johann.” Staci had a smile on her face, and her eyes were bright in the lamplight. “Thank you for inviting me.”
“Thank you for accepting my invitation,” he replied. He started to raise a hand, but stopped with the movement barely begun.
Staci’s mouth quirked. “It does feel a bit odd, doesn’t it? You and me, I mean?” She held her hands out, and after a moment, Johann took them in his.
Her hands were of a scale to match the rest of her; slender, slight, and very fine-boned. He felt as if he were holding the wings of a dove in his hard long-fingered hands, and he forced himself to hold them gently, for all that he wanted to grasp them firmly.
“I…” Johann couldn’t settle on the right words. Strange, that, given how self-assured he usually was.
Staci freed one hand and lifted it to place the tip of her index finger against his lips. “Shh. We don’t need to say anything tonight. No great protestations or promises. Whatever we might have between us, let’s let it grow on its own, without forcing it.”
Johann reached up and recaptured the hand in his own. He looked at her for a long moment, head tilted slightly. “All right. We have some time, I think.”
“All the time we need,” Staci said with a warm smile, the moonlight glinting from her eyes. She squeezed his hands, then dropped them. “Thank you for tonight.” Johann opened the door for Staci; she laid a hand atop his for a moment, then slipped inside.
The door closed. Johann stared at it for a moment, then turned and moved down the steps to the street, where he turned and looked back up at the townhouse, where lights glimmered in a few of the upper windows. He was sure that one of them was Staci’s, and he felt nearer to her for a moment.
Sticking his hands in his jacket pockets, Johann turned and started back toward his rooming house. “God,” he muttered, “what kind of Escher are You making out of my life? When I am with her, I feel suspended between Heaven and Earth; yet when she is not near, I feel as if life is upside down. What are You doing to me?”
* * *
The door clicked shut behind her. Staci sighed, and leaned back against it, arms wrapped around herself.
Wow. What an evening. It had been so mundane, on one level; just the two of them—well, mostly her—talking. Yet she had never talked like that before to anyone—not her mother, not Casey, not any of the male dancers she had known in the up-time. Certainly not any of the typical high school jocks who’d thought she was cute or that they’d make a good couple.
Johann didn’t know dancing, not like she did. She could tell that he hadn’t really grasped a lot of what she had talked about. But everything had registered with him. She could almost see things sink in with him, or into him. Nothing had bounced. No one had ever listene
d to her like that. No one. Not even her mother. And because of that, she had opened her heart, and poured out all her dreams and fantasies, and even her fears. And he had taken them in. All of them.
Wow.
Staci didn’t know how long she stood there, but she became aware of a face staring at her from the door to the office. It was Casey, of course, waiting on her. When she saw that Staci had finally noticed her, she stepped out into the hallway.
“You okay?”
Staci nodded. “Yeah. I think I am.”
“So how did it go? Give.” When Staci didn’t reply right away, Casey frowned and walked toward her. “Did he try something? Was he rude? Was he a jerk?”
“No, no,” Staci said after a hiccough of a laugh. “He was fine all night long. He was better than fine.”
There was a moment of long silence after that, before Casey said, “So what’s up, then? Is this it? Are you done with him? Are you going to see him again? Come on, tell me what’s going on in that pointed little head of yours.”
“I…” Staci took a deep breath. “I think…”
Another gap of silence. Casey advanced and placed her hands on her friend’s shoulders to give her a little shake. “Earth to Staci. Tune back in, girl.”
“I think he’s the one.” And with that a big smile broke out on Staci’s face. “I think he’s the one.”
Casey grinned at her, and shook her head. “You’ve got it bad, don’t you, girlfriend?”
June 2, 1635
“Johann!”
Johann jerked back to awareness and looked to Christoph and Heinrich seated across the table from him. It had been a long day, and he had a lot on his mind. “What?”
Christoph snorted. “I have asked you three times now what the holdup is in testing the wind connections through the console cabinet. I know we do not have the pipe ranks ready to go, but we could at least test it as far as the console, make sure that the keys and pedals will release air.”
“Compenius has hired away the whitesmith who did the first pipes for the run from the main wind-chest to the smaller reservoirs behind the console,” Johann replied. “They do not connect correctly and need to be modified, but he now says he cannot promise he can work on them any time soon because of his commitment to Compenius.”
1636- the Flight of the Nightingale Page 25