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

wide.
    ****
    Hours later, school was over, but child art prodigy Mary Timm was in the art classroom when Stephanie returned with the blue cloth. The down-timer child got drafted to help demonstrate how much blue cloth Stephanie owned for the TV camera.
    Folded in half, the denim ran from one corner of the classroom almost to the opposite corner, making a dark-blue road that was five feet wide.
    Grantville Train Station
    Friday evening, May 9, 1636
    Tilda was amazed. In the old days, it would have taken two or three days of torturous travel to go the sixty miles from Halle to a place near Rudolstadt. Yet here she was, with departure and arrival on the same day, and it wasn't even sundown yet. Trains are wonderful, she decided.
    Tilda stepped off the train and thought, I hope I'll still recognize Louisa—
    "Tilda! Tilda! Over here!" a smiling, plump woman yelled.
    Sometime during the years after her first wedding, Louisa had become a hugger. Tilda got squeezed by her sister, then Tilda was introduced to Louisa's second husband. Christian had a trimmed beard and a ready smile.
    Hanging back were two up-timer men. Louisa introduced the older man as Ken Miller, Tilda's new landlord. Herr Miller introduced the limping, blue-eyed man with him as "Jimmy."
    The Turski residence
    Friday night
    Every Friday night, Stephanie hosted "Dinner And A Movie" for a mixture of up-timers and down-timers.
    Sometimes Stephanie showed deep, meaningful award-winning dramas that explored the human condition, like Casablanca , The Godfather , Shakespeare In Love , or Das Boot , so that Stephanie could put her Masters in Film to good use—
    —and sometimes she showed schlock like Animal House , A Nightmare on Elm Street , Reefer Madness , or Plan 9 From Outer Space .
    Food was potluck, with everyone bringing a dish. Jacqueline Pascal always brought potato chips. Tonight's guests had just gone through the kitchen, loaded up a dinner plate, and returned to their seat. But rather than sit in the chair, everyone stood waiting for Stephanie to sit down. This part of the seventeenth century, Stephanie liked a lot.
    No sooner had Stephanie put her plate on the table, than her son Seth cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, Herren und Damen , before we eat, I ask you to please watch something on the TV."
    And indeed, Seth walked away from the dinner table and into the living room, where he picked up the VCR remote.
    "We're starting the movie early?" Sveta (Svetlana) Trelli asked, confused.
    Seth called back from the living room, "No, Mrs. Trelli, I have something else to show y'all."
    "Mom is on the news!" Aaron said. "We taped it, so y'all could watch it."
    Prudentia McDougal turned to Sveta and sneered, "Did Stephanie say she start movie early? My god, what a blonde."
    To which Sveta replied, "Prudi, sweetie, too bad flapping your jaw doesn't burn up more calories. Then you would look good like me. Tsk, you birthed a child five months before I did, but two months later, only you are fat."
    It was always like that between those two. For some reason, Prudi and Sveta hated each other.
    Jabe McDougal said, "Prudi? Sveta? You both look great."
    "Thank you, Jabe," Sveta said warmly. "You are kind."
    Prudentia fumed.
    By then, Seth had fast-forwarded through the news to the part about Stephanie. "That's Mary Timm!" Jacqueline Pascal exclaimed.
    Dinner was delayed while Seth played the videotape. Dinner was further delayed when everyone begged Stephanie to show them her denim.
    All the down-timers exclaimed at how stiff and thick the unused denim was, and what a rich dark blue was its color.
    "What are your plans for it?" Balthazar Abrabanel asked.
    Before Stephanie could reply, Shackerley Marmion did: "If 'twere mine own, I would gather up a great multitude in the car park of the Freedom Arches—"
    "Shack, darlin'," Stephanie said with a smile, "the term is parking lot, not car park."
    "For you up-timers, aye. But we of England must needs save the language of