Free Grantville Gazette, Volume 59 by Paula Goodlett Page B

playing the part of an adult explaining to a small child just why what they wanted was ridiculous and that they should leave the important decisions up to their elders. He sat up straighter and changed his tone of voice. "First of all, we are not printing a book for pleasure reading, and it's not just for the Jewish community! And even if we were, few people read Hebrew well enough to do it without struggling with this unfamiliar script! Even Yakov, who is very proficient, has problems reading it. I know I do, and it's a rare Christian who can read Hebrew better than I can! In the end, it needs to be understood, or we won't have accomplished anything. And one avoidable day of delay is a day too many. No. It's got to be in the Hebrew type Yakov already has. No more messing around."
    Leon's eyes flashed. "If we are paying for it, it should be done in the form we desire!"
    Al leaned forward and gripped the edge of the table with both hands. " Paying for it? How in the world do you propose to pay for it? From what I heard, the only reason you're in town in the first place was because you couldn't pay your bills back home in Venice! If you're thinking of a fund-raising campaign just so you can goldplate the job, there's no way in the world to guess how long that would hold up production. Forget it! If you want to do something else with a second edition, fine, and you can take as long as you want. Maybe you'll even find a couple of people who want it."
    Yakov was holding one hand palm-down a few inches above the table, rocking it gently from side to side. His lips were pursed a little. What? Before Al could figure out whether that was some kind of a message, or Leon could phrase a rejoinder, William exclaimed, "Gold plate? No-one spoke of illuminating the pages with gold leaf."
    That stopped Al for a moment, and let off some of the steam. "What? Oh. Sorry. No, I don't mean gold leaf. It's a piece of up-time slang. It comes from defense contracting. Goldplating means wasting a lot of extra time and money on fancy frills that don't do anything useful. You remember, I wanted to just mimeograph it all and get it out of here, but you convinced me nobody would value what they got if we didn't put in the time and labor for a good printing job. Okay, you won your point and we made the decision to move ahead. But enough is enough." Leon wasn't talking for the moment, but he was looking sharply at William, clearly awaiting an answer to this sudden swerve in the discussion.
    "The mimeograph . . . Brother Green, I have a thought. If the great matter is that there should be a copy without delay, to be taken elsewhere so that it cannot be lost or destroyed if ill should befall here, why not bring the Hebrew typewriter from the barn and make mimeograph copies quickly, for the immediate use of the scribes in their work? Then they might work where they will, perhaps where there would be room for more of them to divide up the task of editing."
    Al turned that over in his mind. The editing bottleneck. . . "Hmm. Maybe, but not the mimeograph. That's for making thirty copies. If we only need one or two, carbon paper is a whole lot cheaper, and easier to do corrections on."
    "Carbon paper?"
    Yakov was looking puzzled too. "Yes, what is carbon paper?"
    Al got up. "Better to show you than tell you. Let's take a walk over to the new barn. If we're even thinking of changing the plan, we'll never have more time to do it than we have this minute."
    As they hustled across the yard, Leon started talking again. "These thirty copies you speak of, Yakov said something about it. I think perhaps you don't know our people. Many more than that could be sold."
    "I'll take your word for it. The reason I'd have been satisfied with thirty is that the Christian world isn't ready to face the idea of a less than absolute unquestioned authoritative scriptural text. If I send thirty copies to thirty carefully chosen schools, it will be enough to guarantee that the text will