For just a brief moment Jabe looked trapped, but then he nodded. "I can do that. I think I'd like that. I haven't been anywhere much except Grantville and Magdeburg, except for a trip up to Luebeck a few months ago."
"It is settled then."
"Yeah, except . . ."
"Yes?"
"I'll need some help. And I just had a good idea."
* * *
A part of Sherry didn't want to pick up the things she'd left at Artemisia's home. She hoped they would stay friends, but she expected now that the trial was over, just about everybody would forget her. She was surprised when she found not only Artemisia, but also her two daughters and Jabe McDougal waiting for her. She noticed the ring on Prudentia's finger.
"Congratulations," she said to the young woman. Atemisia's daughter glowed with happiness.
"You know you and the child are always welcome wherever I am," Artemesia said. "But I wish to offer you a job."
"What can I do for you? I can't even draw stick figures."
"I need . . . what is the term? . . . a personal assistant." Artemisia looked to Jabe and he nodded. "Someone I can trust. My soon-to-be son-in-law suggested you, and I can think of no one better. It won't pay well at first, but I think I can provide a living for you if you are willing to learn some needed skills. Please say yes."
Sherry found she couldn't say yes. She was too choked up. She could only nod.
"Good," said Artemisia, beaming with delight. "Your first job will be to help me plan a wedding."
The Chase
Iver P. Cooper
Grantville High School
July 1633
"Are you ready to play?" Gabrielle Ugolini asked, tennis racket in hand.
"Hang on a sec, my hands are cracking. Let me get some lotion." Heather Mason reached into her school daypack. One of the geeks at school had nicknamed it the "magic bag of holding" because there was enough stuff in it to fill a pocket universe. Her hand emerged, triumphantly, with a plastic bottle. The up-time lotion was long gone, but it had been carefully filled with Doctor Gribbleflotz's "Celestial Dew of Mount Sapo." She squeezed out a bit of "dew," and rubbed her hands together.
"Okay," she yelled across the net, "What's the holdup? Serve!"
The Barbie Consortium had staged yet another takeover. This time, it wasn't financial. There were three tennis courts at the high school, and they were playing on all of them. Hayley Fortney and Susan Logsden were playing singles on one, Judy Wendell and Vicky Emerson on the second. There was a doubles game on the final court, Heather and Gabrielle on one side, Millicent Anne Barnes and Kelsey Mason on the other. Kelsey wasn't actually a member of the Barbie Consortium, but she was Heather's older sister, and a good athlete.
* * *
The main road was on an embankment, looking down at the tennis courts. William Cavendish, the third earl of Devonshire, stood there, watching the game. He was on his "grand tour" of Europe, a rite of passage for young British noblemen. He had traveled through France and Italy and across the Alps with his governor, Thomas Hobbes. On this fine summer morning, he was just three months shy of sixteen years of age.
"Geoffrey, what game are they playing?" Geoffrey Watson was one of the three lesser servants he had brought with him to Grantville.
"I couldn't say, sir."
"They're hitting the ball about with rackets. And there's a net to separate them. It's almost tennis. But there are no walls. It can't be tennis without playing shots off the walls and rooftops. And those balls—look how bouncy they are!"
"Fifteen-love!" shouted one of the girls.
William snapped his fingers. "This is some kind of tennis. No way the same crazy scoring system would appear, by chance, in an unrelated game."
William had been left to his own devices because he had interrupted Hobbes one time too many as the tutor tore through the Grantville Public Library. The last straw had been when William had brought Hobbes a comic book, saying, "Mister Hobbes, look at this, it has your name on it." Hobbes had taken a quick look at The Complete Calvin and Hobbes and then suggested that William go find the local gymnasium and converse with other gentlemen his age. With Geoffrey to watch over him, of course.
"Don't look now, but cute stranger at four o'clock," said Heather.
Gabrielle looked, of course, although she tried to turn her head as little as possible. "Since when are you interested in boys?"
Heather didn't deign to answer. "You think he's some kind of nobleman?"
"Duh? Dressed like that, he has to be. Guy next to him is obviously a servant."