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from all over, partly because Karl was becoming an important man, but also because it provided an
excuse to travel to the area of the Ring of Fire and look at what was going on.
The day was bright and sunny. Badenburg's market square was festooned with banners and ribbons.
Tables groaning with food were everywhere. More than a couple of fatted calves had met their fate.
There were countless cabbages, squash fruits, flavored gelatins and all manner of good things to eat.
There were jugglers, dancers, musicians, and assorted other entertainers. Three battery powered boom
boxes playing tapes at full volume added to the ambience. Games and contests were available for
children and adults.
Invitations had gone out to every employee and stockholder of the Higgins Sewing Machine Company,
as well as to every prominent person in Grantville, Badenburg, and the surrounding towns. The wedding
was a show of prominence. Not everyone who was invited came; but then, not everyone who came was
actually invited. Children were playing everywhere; quiet conversations were shouted. The noise was
deafening.
The wedding itself had happened that morning to control the size of the gathering. The wedding
reception was costing more than Ramona's bathroom, and had involved Karl taking out a loan secured
by some of his HSMC stock. Delia Higgins was not going to foot the bill for a city-size block party to
launch Karl's political career. Just after the wedding itself, Karl had announced the endowment of The
Badenburg School for Young Ladies. Endowing a school or other similar civic project was the traditional
way of gaining the sort of social rank needed to sit on the council.
There were many conversations on all manner of subjects, but two main topics dominated the
conversational landscape: the elections for Badenburg's senate seat, and the recent downturn in the
Grantville stock market.
David, Sarah, Brent and Trent were getting a lot of questions about the stock market, and questions
about specific companies. They were all, pretty much, the same questions:
What happens to the company if the up-time partner dies?
And:
Can this product really be made?
All too often the answer to both questions was: "I don't know." Questions, delicately put, about the
consequences of the kids being removed from the sewing machine company were met with a different
answer. There were four of them, and even if all were gone HSMC would continue to produce sewing
machines and continue to produce new models as needed. It was a bit humbling for the kids as they
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realized they really weren't needed at HSMC anymore. The designs for the Model Two were already
set, while those for the Model Three were almost set. Their knowledge of manufacturing and the use of
machines to make machines had already been imparted. They just weren't needed in HSMC anymore. It
wasn't that they didn't have value; but other than their publicity value, they could be replaced by
down-timers or an accounting firm.
Brent and Trent had not been shy about mentioning their argument over whether to build washing
machines or small-scale electrical power plants. Brent and Trent, as time went by, had focused more and
more on the mechanical aspects of the sewing machine project. Aside from a certain natural avarice, they
had never been all that interested in the money. They liked the idea of being rich just fine; they just didn't
care much about how that part of it worked. They cared about making things. For them the fun part was
figuring out how to make the parts and fit them all together so that they would work. There was
tremendous satisfaction for them in seeing the first prototype working and knowing that there was
something new in the world because of them. Aside from the sewing machines, they had been closely
involved in producing the collection of the gadgets that together were known asRamona's Bathroom . In
that project, they had met most of the top craftsmen in Badenburg. Now they wanted to make something
new and useful again.
Brent and Trent knew how clothing got washed here and now, and found the process horrible. They
knew that with small electrical generation units, combined with some basic circuitry and small electric
motors, appliances could produce a tremendous leap in both comfort and productivity for every
household that got one. They had worked up the plans for both projects. The washing machine could be
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