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out of the USA. He was less surprised, almost comforted, by the lecture he got about getting drunk and
hitting people. The lecture amounted to "Don't Do It. We can always take another picture if we need to."
When offered a place in the army he respectfully declined. When asked what he was qualified to do he
said he had been in service once. He had to explain what he meant. "My family were servants in
Amsterdam." He was assigned to a labor gang.
July 3, 1631: Wendell House
Sarah knew it was bad news as soon as her parents came through the door. Her father had talked to the
bank. No loan would be forthcoming. He wanted her to know that he was very proud of the work she
and the others had done. That it was a good proposal, and probably would have been granted if they
were older. Even with Delia as the primary applicant, just the fact that the kids were involved had killed
it. He apologized for not being able to really push it. He was in a tough situation. Her being his daughter
made it harder for him to argue for something she was involved in.
It all just sort of rolled over her. She understood the words. Her parents had tried to prepare her for the
probability that the loan application would be rejected, and she had thought they had succeeded. In a
way, it wasn't the loan being rejected that shocked her so much. It was that it mattered. That was what
she hadn't been prepared for. How very, very, much it mattered, and not just to her.
The hardest thing was knowing how it would affect the others. In the last month she had gotten to know
them better than in years of friendship, and she had been able to read a bit between the lines. The four of
them had all been more worried about the Ring of Fire and what it meant than they had let on. Doing this,
something that would help make Grantville self-sustaining, had helped. That was the hardest thing about
being a kid, especially in a situation like this, not being able to really help. No! It was being able to help
but not being allowed to.
July 3, 1631: Delia Higgins' House
She had been expecting the call. Nothing ever goes the easy way. She had hoped, but not really
expected, that the loan would come through. She still wasn't sure about the storage containers. She
wasn't sure how the emergency committee would come down. At this point, she wasn't even sure how
she would come down. She might just decide to give whatever was in them to Grantville, but they weren't
her only resource.
Most people didn't really understand about her doll collection. They assumed it was much more
important to her than it really was. She collected dolls because she liked to, no more or less than that.
There were a few, gifts and memories, that were important to her. But mostly they were just nice to have
and fiddle with, now and then.
Important? Important was David working on something rather than casting about like a rat in a maze
with no exit. Seeing excitement rather than desperation in his eyes, and the eyes of the other kids as well.
Important was keeping the promise that she had made when she told him that, if they came up with a
workable plan, she would find the money.
Important was the kids not feeling helpless. Delia knew helpless. She remembered when she had
realized that Ramona would never be quite so bright as the other kids. Not retarded, no, but not as bright
as she should have been.
Dolls weren't important.
Of course Delia was lying to herself. She really did care about her dolls, and it really would hurt to give
them up. Just not as much as she cared about other things. So maybe it wasn't a lie. Or if it was, it was a
good lie.
Still she had no notion of how to go about selling them.
July 4, 1631: Grantville
The parade was great fun. It let them all forget, for a little while, that the loan had been rejected. The
wedding was less fun, but not bad. David, Donny, Ramona and Delia were on the Higgins' side of the
wedding, along with Delia's parents. They were probably Jeff Higgins' closest relatives down-time,
second cousins twice removed, or something like that. David never could get it quite straight. One thing
he never would have expected was cousin Jeff turning out to be a hero. Or getting the girl. And boy,
what a girl he had gotten.
July 6, 1631: Police Station
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