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that was reserved for family use, there was a collection ofPlayboys going back almost to the first issue.
Alas, the blockages of communication between the generations and the genders hid this knowledge from
those most able to use it. ThePlayboys continued to gather dust.
The final deal was made. A consignment of selected dolls, all sizes and types, each with a signed and
sealed certificate of authenticity, and undisclosed sundries, were exchanged for a rather large sum of
money. In fact, most of the money that Master Vespucci had available to him in Thuringia. The things
he'd been planning to buy in Badenburg would just have to find another buyer. The sundries were David's
Playboys , all twenty-four of them. And fifty really raunchy color photos downloaded from the internet
up-time, that he had used the last of his color ink to print.
Delia got to keep most of her dolls, at least for now. They had asked the bank to loan them rather more
money than the sales realized. Almost twice as much in fact. They had asked the bank for the total
amount they had estimated plus the hundred percent fudge factor that Mrs. Wendell had suggested.
Now, that fudge factor was gone. Federico Vespucci had paid them little more then the minimum they
thought they would need. They would have sold more dolls, but Federico Vespucci hadn't had any more
money to spend. It was enough to start.
David didn't know whether to laugh or cry over the sale of the dolls. There was a tremendous sense of
relief that they would, probably, be able to build the sewing machine factory. On the other hand,
Grandma's dolls! Even if it wasn't the whole collection, or even the largest part of the collection, still,
Grandma's dolls! And she was effectively committing the rest of the collection, on an as-needed basis.
How do you respond when the queen gives you the crown jewels for your wild ass gamble? You can't
say: "No thanks, ma'am, it's not worth it."
The others, especially Sarah, felt somewhat the same. Sarah, being a girl, had gotten the tour of the dolls
in a bit more detail than the guys. She knew that Mrs. Higgins could tell you precisely where and when
she had gotten most of the dolls in her collection. Even if it was just "We were in the Goodwill, and there
was the cutest little three-year-old there that day. With her mother's permission, I bought her a baby doll,
and these I got for me." They weren't just dolls, they were memories. How do you repay someone who
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sells their memories to invest in your dream?
July 20, 1631:
The sale of the dolls had been finalized. Now the company was legally formed. Since all the start-up
capital had come from Delia's dolls, the kids insisted that a majority share go to Delia. Brent, Trent,
Sarah, and David each got ten percent, Delia got the rest. Delia turned around and gave Ramona and
Dalton five percent each, and her grandchildren David, Donny, Milton, Mark, and Mindy, two percent
each. Which meant that David ended up with twelve percent. She also gave Jeff and Gretchen five
percent as a belated wedding present. Finally, for his help in finding the buyer for her dolls and
negotiating the deal, she gave Johan five percent.
The gifts of shares were not entirely acts of generosity. They were also acts of politics. Dalton and
Ramona had never gotten along. Dalton had felt, with some justification, that Ramona got more support
from his parents than he did, and resented it. So Delia tried consciously to be somewhat even handed.
She also wanted more people to have at least some interest in the success of the sewing machine
company. Especially in the case of Jeff and Gretchen. She had figured out that Jeff and Gretchen were
playing a much more active part in the political structure of Grantville than she was. Delia almost gave
some to her parents, who were retired and living in Grantville, but after the ragging they gave her over the
whole project, she didn't. Instead, she gave it to Johan. She had realized he was a valuable resource for
them all, and wanted to tie his loyalty to the family in a material way.
There was one other reason for the gifts that Delia thought long and hard about. She figured the thing
most likely to kill the company was if the kids gave up on it, and the thing most likely to make them give
up, was if they felt they had lost control. That their decisions, their actions, didn't matter. She explained it
to the kids as soon as she got them alone. "You know and I know that it's unlikely any of the others will
ever vote their shares," she said. "Maybe Johan, but he'll probably vote the way David tells him to."
"I remember the concern you all had, that the grownups would take it away. Well, we won't. As of now,
the four of you can outvote me, and nobody can outvote you, without me on their side. This was your
project in the beginning and it still is. I want that clear in your minds. You kids thought it up, you did the
work, and more importantly, you will still be doing the work. If it is going to work, you're the ones that
will make it work. If it's going to fail, well, that's you too." Delia grinned a very nasty grin. "Scary ain't it?"
She softened a bit "I'll be here if you need advice. So will your parents. But this is yours."
Trust can be a heavy load, but it can strengthen even as it weighs you down.
July 23, 1631: Delia Higgins' House
Delia, on balance, liked Sarah's lectures; they had passion. Sarah had just delivered one on the
whooshing noise the down-timer money made as it disappeared into Grantville's economy. After the kids
left, Delia called the Wendells and asked. She got confirmation, complete with bells and whistles. Judy
Wendell said, "If the up-timers don't start spending money pretty soon we're going to end up doing to this
economy what the iceberg did to the Titanic."
"But we are spending money! Lots of it. Everyone is worried that we won't have enough to buy food."
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"That's food," was Judy Wendell's response. "And while food is more of the local economy than it was
up-time, it's still less than half of the total. We're not sure yet how much less, but so far, all our revisions
have been down. Most people here aren't full-time farmers, and a lot of the farmers aren't growing food
crops. It's the other things where we're hurting the economy. Hardware, clothing, luxuries, and services.
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