Grantville Gazette 46 gg-46

by Paula Goodlett

  "Embroidery." Mitzi shook her head. "Could you imagine Logan doing needlepoint or serving tea to some old fogey?"

  Allan nodded sagely. "For about five minutes. What would happen after that depends on a great many things-like whether she had a certain stick you gave her."

  "Forget the lacrosse stick, before I hit you with one. Okay, she's not very. . feminine or motherly. After that incident with little Avery, when she was six, no one on my side of the family will put a baby in her arms. She's tried to get babysitting jobs and not even the Germans will talk to her. Gossip is an awful thing, especially when it's right. What have we raised?"

  "You have to admit, it was an inventive way to keep track of a baby. She didn't harm Avery much." Allan smiled. "She does have a rather brusque way with children. There ain't nothin' giggly-goo about Logan when it comes to babies. She told me off once for using baby talk with a baby."

  "She's just not the motherly type. I remember hearing her talking while changing a diaper. I certainly hope that baby didn't understand a thing she said. . Okay, I admit it. Do you think it was my fault?"

  "Remember that birthday party for Mabel's grandniece? We all went to the pond, remember?"

  "Oh God!" Mitzi hid her eyes with her hand as if the disastrous event were occurring right there before her. Then she began laughing. "You had to remind me about that, didn't you?"

  "No one drowned. And she did wallop that water moccasin before it got close to any of the tots."

  "Oh Lord! I forgot all about that. She wanted you to skin it so she could use it as a hat band."

  "Hence," Allan stated with a certain debonair tone, "the lacrosse stick."

  "We should have been supervising them more carefully. I wouldn't have forgiven myself if any of them drowned. Everyone just assumes little girls are just great with kids."

  "No, we shouldn't have given Logan the responsibility for all those little kids. She was what, seven? Eight? "

  "It was just a few months before the Ring of Fire. Allan Sebastian. ." Mitzi giggled. "How can I be properly mad at her now with you smiling like that? We need a unified front."

  "You'll find a way. Remember, she found Blaise. You can be mad at her for that."

  "Okay, Blaise is a little off the wall, but I never hated him. He's a perfect gentleman. True, take him up-time and he would give Liberace a run for his money. Whoever introduced him to cloth dyes then gave him extra money should be strung up from the nearest church steeple. That boy. . I hope they find him. That boy worries me. Even Matheny is out looking. I thought, of all people, the fire chief would be celebrating the disappearance of Blaise-especially if it didn't involve an explosion."

  "Julie says that Logan is pretending she doesn't care." Allan sighed. "I guess I should be more fatherly and glare more at Blaise. He might become our son-in-law."

  "Oh Lord, save our family tree. Blaise Pascal as a Sebastian? Oh Lord. ."

  "Remember that time she shoved him into the pool? I don't know who was more surprised: Logan for not realizing that few down-timers know how to swim, or Blaise for learning the modified doggie paddle in two seconds flat."

  "The pool was only three feet deep at that end. The boy could have stood up. I think Blaise was more traumatized by her one-piece. He was trying to wrap a towel around her when she pushed him."

  "She could have been wearing that 'cute' bikini your cousin sent her," Allan said.

  "Over my dead body! I sent that abomination straight back!"

  Allan smiled. "Well, how motherly of you, Mrs. Sebastian."

  "I hope he's okay. I hope they find him. I mean, how does someone become lost between Grantville and Bamberg nowadays? I mean, what are the odds?"

  "Well, dear, the boy did invent probability. Maybe he was doing a mathematical experiment."

  "Don't be absurd. Math he does well." Mitzi sighed. "Being chivalrous is one of the many things he does not do well. Remember the Thanksgiving Dance and that. . contraption he brought to pin on Logan's dress? I thought he was a goner right then and there-and he would have been if she had her lacrosse stick handy."

  The Home of Julie Drahuta, Director of Social Services for SoTF

  (mid-morning, the next day)

  The French Perspective

  Etienne Pascal thought the man was absurd. One simply did not stroll through his own house wearing cavalry armor. It simply was not done. But this minor absurdity diverted his attention from his distress for only a fleeting moment.

  "Papa, you will make yourself ill. Drink it," Gilberte urged him. "Just smile, Papa. It will all turn out for the best if we leave it to God."

  Etienne tried to give his eldest daughter a smile but the effort to raise the corners of his mouth was too much.

  "It is not your fault, Papa. Stop this at once. Stop."

  "But it is my fault. I sent my son here. And as it turned out, for reasons that were false. I thought he was in danger of being taken and used as some sort of token of French greatness, past, present and future-a puppet. And now he is gone." Etienne took a sip of the tea. "Bah, this is tea?"

  Americans used an absurd amount of honey in their tea. What would normal people do if they were able to get their hands on sugar in the amounts it appeared were common in the twenty-first century? He had seen those abominations called "five pound bags." The thought of that much sugar in one place made him shudder. The tax on that much sugar just lying around made his head spin.

  "It is good, Father." Florin, his new son-in-law, smiled and replaced the tea mug carefully on the table.

  "Papa?" Gilberte said.

  "It is all absurd," Etienne said softly. "All of it. Should I have kept Blaise in France? I do not know anymore. It is all absurd."

  "Papa. . they still search, Papa," Gilberte said. "They have found his horse, his jacket, this. . thing called a 'sneaker,' a book with sword damage, and many other things he was seen to leave Grantville with. It appears two men might have killed themselves and that Blaise is okay. None of his possessions were bloody."

  "They did not find the 'calculator' Jacqueline says he loves."

  "Apparently the horse dragged him quite some distance but he appears to have survived the experience. They have not found him. Papa, there is a chance he is. . alive. We must have faith in a loving God and his attention to the sufferings and misadventures of children."

  "He is not a child, not quite. I read some of his writings. Spoke to his employer at the. . power station. He is not a child, Gilberte. He has an important job that even I do not fully comprehend, and yet he comprehends it quite well. Jacqueline presented a very unforgiving picture of her brother. I will speak to her about her writing. It is a gift she has and should not be used to describe her brother in the way she has. His relationship with this. . this. . Logan, for instance."

  "Jacqueline loves Blaise," Gilberte said defensively. "She was justifiably concerned about his relationship with Logan. Actually, she seemed more concerned that Blaise would do something to Logan that would result in Logan. . what did she say. . 'braining' him?"

  "I can see why this young lady's father did not cut Blaise's young head from his shoulders."

  "Because she would probably do it herself if Blaise acted in any way that was not gentlemanly," Gilberte said. "American women, even the younger variety, are. . dangerous, Papa. Apparently, they do not need brothers."

  "This Logan is quite fond of Blaise, it is true. There were many who found them both. . what is the word? Cute? I could find no hint of scandal or gossip. It was all out in the open."

  "I spoke with some who apprehend my little brother in much the same way the Romans apprehended the Visigoths or the Vandals. Apparently, the Jews enjoy his attendance at their religious rituals. He attends the Catholic service regularly, and his singing is commented upon favorably."

  "Jacqueline's translation might have been inaccurate," Etienne said. "She knows many languages, it is true, but is she old enough to understand them?"

  "We should have brought her with us
. She understands and speaks this English quite well. I was impressed. She left us a mouse, and now she is somewhat less like a rodent."

  "You are being unfair to your sister."

  "Yes, Papa. My apologies."

  "I will not lose both of them, Gilberte. She is safe with Madam Delfault. Madam Delfault has done very well under trying circumstances. What will I do with her services now?"

  "Maybe my husband and I can use them? She makes some sense by suggesting that you accept the offer to move in with the Fermats. Our financial situation, father, cannot be helped by your coming to Grantville and here. The hotel is quite expensive."

  "You are not with child already, Gilberte?"

  "Well, we are, as the Americans say, French," Gilberte smiled.

  "Bah! These Americans and their notions about what is what and who is whom." Etienne frowned. "What have I done, Gilberte? Maybe your mother's family was right about me. After your mother died, I did my very best, and it was not good. ."

  "Shush, Papa! You have done very well, indeed. I will not have you admonish yourself further. They will find Blaise alive. I know it."

  "He did what he did for me, you know. I should have never warned Jacqueline we were coming. Blaise devised the code so, of course, he would know as well. He had to prove he was a man to his old father and go after this wayward girl who, apparently, is quite capable of taking care of herself. Imagine letting young girls play such a game with a club. It is. . indecent."

  "Will you tell her she is indecent?"

  "No," Etienne said quickly. "The situation is absurd enough without being clubbed about the head by a girl. Are all American women this. . forward? Maybe that is why Monsieur Drahuta wears his armor indoors."

  "I think Gilberte is quite capable of maintaining herself with these American women, Father," Florin stated gracefully. "She may not have a stick but she has other weapons."

  "You only say that to prevent Gilberte from clubbing you," Etienne said. "You are part of the reason I sent Blaise and Jacqueline away so that I could concentrate on your wedding-and not the potential kidnapping of my son to be used as a piece in a political game."

  "My point, with exactness, father." Florin smiled and took another sip of the tea.

  "Men." Gilberte fussed with her tea mug. "It is all about violence with you isn't it?"

  "You better hope so for Blaise's sake," Florin said. "My guess is that Blaise found trouble far more serious than an inaccurate measuring device and a church steeple."

  "I saw that steeple," Etienne said. "It was very tall. He calculated the height to within two decimal places. His math impressed me. The ruler was, indeed, inaccurate. I hope. . his mathematics will impress me again, Lord willing. Please bring him safe to me, oh God, please. ."

  The Home of Julie Drahuta, Director of Social Services for SoTF

  (mid-day, the same day)

  The Perspective of the Lady of the House

  Julie tried to calm her breathing before speaking. "Norman, if you are going to tramp around the house in your armor, at least take off the damned spurs! The Pascals look at you like you're some horror they can't name."

  "I might have to leave at a moment's notice."

  "I swear, Norman, as the director of social services, I will enact an animal cruelty law if I see you spur that beautiful animal once. Just once!"

  "This whole Blaise event is going on in my jurisdiction. I have to look good. Cavalry officers wear spurs."

  "You are not going to look very good if your wife tosses your clanking butt out into the street! If armor was meant for casual wear around the house, JC Penney's would be selling it in their catalogs if there was a JC Penney's anymore, which there isn't!"

  Norman glared down his nose at his wife. "I look cool in this."

  "You look like a dork in that." Julie glared straight back at him. "Can you at least sit with our guests without ripping the furniture? You can sit in that, right?"

  "I can."

  Karla laughed. "You look like the Tin Man, Daddy."

  "See?" Julie noted. "You are being laughed at by your daughter."

  "If I remember, Karla, you were afraid of the Tin Man," Norman reminded his daughter.

  "Not anymore." She giggled.

  The Home of Julie Drahuta, Director of Social Services for SoTF

  (evening, the same day)

  The French Perspective meets the American Perspective

  The Pascals-Etienne, his daughter Gilberte, and Gilberte's husband Florin-sat in one side of the parlor of the Drahuta home.

  The Sebastians-Allan and Mitzi-sat in the other side of the parlor. Logan stood off to the side, uncomfortable in her role as translator.

  Julie Drahuta sat between the two groups, in a position that allowed her to easily see all of them. She had picked up some French, back up-time, when she had gone to Europe for a conference on social work. And she had picked up quite a bit more, down-time, from Jacqueline Pascal. She hoped that between her sparse grasp of the French and Logan's more poignant and hostile French, together, not too much will be missed in the translation.

  Etienne began, "I thank you, we thank you, for your good wishes about Blaise. To tell you the truth, Mr. Sebastian, it had occurred to me that our first meeting might be on opposite sides of crossed swords."

  Logan glared at the man but maintained her cool.

  "What?" Allan said. "Because of Blaise and Logan?"

  "Yes." Logan translated unnecessarily and with a dramatic roll of her eyes.

  "Never." Allan almost laughed until he saw his daughter's face.

  Mitzi added, "Blaise has always behaved as a gentleman toward Logan, Monsieur Pascal."

  "I am most relieved to hear that, Mrs. Sebastian," Etienne said.

  "In fact," Allan said, "the danger between Blaise and Logan might be that Blaise does something perfectly gentlemanly, which ends up infuriating Logan."

  Julie flinched as Logan had difficulty translating "infuriating."

  Gilberte finally spoke up, and Julie translated, gratefully. "Yes, my sister, Jacqueline, has said that American women are dangerous."

  Allan chuckled. "Well. . when it comes to being dangerous, Blaise is right up there with the best of them. However, the danger Blaise poses is always unintentional-and frequently directed at himself." Logan translated that with apparent glee, but as far as Julie could tell, accurately.

  "Yes." Etienne frowned. "Jacqueline has also informed us about Blaise and his difficulty with a church steeple."

  Allan chuckled again. "Events like the steeple incident are what make me think that Blaise and Logan just might be perfect for each other. The things we could tell you about some of the ridiculous things that Logan has done."

  Logan's look attracted the attention of the Pascal's.

  "Yes, please do tell us," Florin said. "It might be well that our family learn as much as we can about Logan."

  Gilberte glared at her husband. Florin gave Gilberte a conciliatory smile.

  "Okay," Allan said. "When Logan was eight, about a month before the Ring of Fire, we let her see an old movie called A Night to Remember, about the Titanic."

  "Oh Jesus Christ! Not that again!" Logan blurted.

  Now Mitzy glared at her daughter.

  Julie explained to the Pascals what a movie was, and what the Titanic was. Apparently, Jacqueline had made her job easier by describing movies in detail, in previous letters.

  "Dad! Stop it!" Logan growled.

  Allan continued, "We went to a child's birthday party. Part way through the afternoon, when the adults all went to a nearby pond, Logan had all the smaller children in the water."

  "She had them all in floaties-duct taped the floaties right to them," Mitzi said. "She was pretending they were all survivors of a ship wreck, and she was the surviving ship's officer taking them to safety."

  Julie had to struggle to keep from laughing out loud. She hadn't been there but had heard all about it even after the Ring of Fire.

  Julie explained t
o the Pascals what floaties are, and what duct tape is. It took awhile without Logan's help.

  "Logan was leading them in a variation of that Psalm." Allan smiled. "Yea, though we float through the pond of death we will fear no shark attack. ."

  "Some of those kids looked terrified," Mitzi said. "Oh Lord, I thought someone was going to dive in and drown Logan right there and right then."

  Logan didn't convey the second part of what her mother had just said, but Julie discerned that the Pascals were filling in the blanks from the less-than-complete translating. Despite the occasional incomplete translation and the frequent melodramatic facial expressions, Logan seemed, at least, to not be intentionally mistranslating.

  "She even had Styrofoam ice chests as icebergs," Allan said. "I don't know what some of the parents were more upset about, their kids floating in the pond or the warm beer."

  Julie explained to the Pascals what Styrofoam ice chests are. She wasn't sure if she was successful.

  "Logan did keep all of them herded together, though she had them pretty far from shore," Mitzi said. "But no one drowned. And she did whack a water moccasin with her lacrosse stick, before the snake got close to any of the tots."

  Julie explained to the Pascals that a water moccasin is a very dangerous, poisonous water snake, but apparently, not more dangerous than Logan Sebastian.

  "Logan wanted me to skin it," Allan said, "so that she could use it as a hat band."

  Julie could see realization dawn over the Etienne Pascal's face.

  "My good lord in Heaven," Etienne whispered, when it finally made sense.

  After a long pause, Florin pressed further about Logan. "Logan came here to Bamberg to become an aircraft pilot. Is this common in your up-time world, that girls wish to become pilots?"

  "It's not as common as many other things," Allan said. "But it's not so rare that anyone would be surprised by it."

  "How did Logan come to this interest?" Florin said, conspicuously not looking at Logan.

  "When Logan was about five years old," Allan said, "she came to me and asked me to make the other airplanes stop shooting at her. I had no idea what she was talking about, so I tried to get her to explain, but she just kept repeating that the other airplanes keep shooting her down. When I asked her to show me, she took me to my home computer and ran my air-combat program."