Free Grantville Gazette, Volume 40 by Paula Goodlett, edited by Paula Goodlett Page A

Bradthuhn and a train-station worker unloaded the wagon, and carried everything to the "Baggage and Freight Check."
    Tilda then smiled at Bradthuhn, and gave him heartfelt thanks for all his help. He grunted, and walked back to the wagon.
    A minute later, Tilda gasped. "That much?"
    Tilda nearly choked when she learned the cost of getting herself, the sewing machine, and her other worldly goods to Grantville.
    As Tilda waited for the train, she thought, I wonder, does Grantville has a cathedral that I can sit and beg in front of?
    Deep in thought, Tilda barely noticed the two up-timers, even though they were the first up-timers she'd ever seen. The up-timers were a man and a woman, and they were each wearing the blue pants that Tilda had heard tailors discuss so much.
    Teacher's Lounge, Grantville High School
    First Lunch, Friday, May 9, 1636
    Shackerley Marmion was already at the table when Stephanie walked in, carrying a cloth shopping bag. Stephanie stopped by Shack and said, "Here you go, darlin'. As promised." From the shopping bag, Stephanie removed two folded-up blue garments and put them on the table.
    "Wherefore two?" Shack asked. "She can but one wear upon the stage."
    "The top one's a gift. A WVU Mountaineers sweatshirt, blue-and-yellow. She'll like that. Actually, they're both gifts, since I can't fit in this blue dress anymore."
    Stephanie took her seat at the table and dumped out the rest of the shopping bag's contents, her lunch, as Shack unfolded the sweatshirt and looked at it.
    "What doth mean Mountaineers?"
    "That's poet talk, Shack," said Tony Mastroianni. "The classy way to say hillbillies."
    Everyone smiled at that, then Stephanie said, "Guess what else I found when I was in my attic yesterday."
    Stephanie explained about finding the footlocker with the denim in it.
    Nicole Hawkins asked, "So why'd you stop? You sewed half of one denim jacket, then you quit the whole shebang. Why?"
    Stephanie blushed. "Well, I screwed up. I sewed that much, and then Elaine here, um, asked me, 'So how'd you wash all that denim? Cut it into pieces and wash everything in the bathtub, or hang it lengthwise on a clothesline and blast it with the garden hose? What is it, twenty yards?' I said, 'Eighteen yards, and I've used two up. Why would I wash it?'   "
    "Shrinkage?" said Tony Mastroianni.
    "Bingo, that's what Elaine said," said Stephanie. "Duh! Then Elaine said, 'Plus, if you sew it without washing first, the seams might pucker when you do wash it.' I decided, next time I was in Fairmont, I'd go to the fabric store and buy two more yards of denim. For a while I didn't have the free time to buy those two yards, then personal stuff happened. When the drama was over, I'd lost all interest in the project."
    Elaine Onofrio reached over and squeezed Stephanie's hand.
    Art Class, Grantville High School
    An hour later
    The end-of-period bell rang, and the students rushed out of class. Janice Ambler walked in, as fast as her sixty-one years would let her.
    "Is it true?" Janice asked Stephanie. "You have no-kidding, for-real denim at your house?"
    "Uh-huh, sixteen yards," Stephanie said. "Why, sweetie? You have a rich uncle who's hunkerin' to buy it?"
    "No, I want to film it! Can we bring a video camera to your house after school?"
    Stephanie thought this would lead to her house getting burglarized. She replied, "How about I go home and get it, bring it back here, and you video me here in the art classroom? All that dark blue will look great with all the greens, yellows, and reds here."
    Janice laughed. "Not to mention, the hot-pink heart that someone painted on the wall! Okay, after school, we'll come here to the art room and wait for you to return with the denim." With those words, Janice left.
    By now, the classroom was half-full with the next period's class. Elisabeth Hahn asked, "Are you doing something with television now, Teacher Turski?"
    "Yes, sweetie, I'm going to be on television. On the news!"
    Elisabeth's eyes went