The Viennese Waltz(100)
“Oh!” Anna stopped dead in the street. “Oh, would you look at that.” She wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular, since she’d come alone. But the words just flew out.
It was a bra. A lace bra. “Oh.” On a mannequin. “Oh, my.” In the window, with a sign. “Oh, I want one. I want two.”
She hesitated. Bras were the very latest thing. Everyone who was anyone had one.
She made her way to the window. And stared. “Oh.”
“Would you like to try one on?” the shopkeeper asked, knowing a sale when she saw one.
“Oh.” Anna hesitated some more. “Oh, yes. But I know it’s going to be too expensive.”
“Oh, we can work something out.”
* * *
After the fitting, still wearing her new acquisition, Anna began turning out her bag to see how much money she had. In the process, she pulled out her latest purchase of BarbieCo stock.
The shopkeeper asked, “What’s that? It’s pretty fancy printing.”
Anna explained, while continuing to check inside her bag. She didn’t have enough money.
“Let me send a runner,” the shopkeeper said. “I’m curious about something.”
A boy was called over and sent on an errand. Anna said, “I guess I’d better take this off. I just don’t have quite enough money on me. Can you put it back for me? I’ll be back next week to pick it up.”
“Surely, if that’s what you want. But let’s wait just a few minutes, until the boy comes back. We do sometimes give credit, if your reputation is good and your employment steady.”
Anna laughed. “I work for the people who issue these stock certificates.”
“In that case, your credit is probably pretty good. At least here in Race Track City.”
The boy came running back and passed the shopkeeper a note, which she read aloud. “This is from Mrs. Sanderlin. It says ‘BarbieCo stock certificates are to be accepted at par value, good as cash. The par value is written on the stock certificate.’” She looked at Anna. “So you do have enough money, after all.”
Liechtenstein House, Vienna
As soon as Anna got back to work, she began telling about her purchase, and even showing the lace off a bit. Anna was just a bit vain about her looks.
“Where did you get the money? I saw one of those and it was too expensive.”
“Race Track City. Frau Krauss’ shop.”
“Yep. That’s where I saw it. Did she give you a special price? I’ll go there tomorrow and insist on the same one if she did.”
“No. But she took my BarbieCo stock certificate. Said it was as good as cash. She even gave me change.”
* * *
That started the story of BarbieCo money. It wasn’t as planned as they might have preferred, but it wasn’t unplanned either. Word spread from servant to workman, from tavern to shop. And the Barbies went to considerable effort to convince people that they would really prefer not to let any of the stock out of their control.
The shopkeeper Anna had talked to got her bras from a four shift “sweat shop,” which, in turn, made them using the Higgins sewing machine brought by the Fortneys. By now everyone in Race Track City had heard about Hayley Fortney being one of the Barbies. Based on that, the shopkeeper had been considering taking the stock in trade. She was doing well now and the notion of a bit of investment for the future appealed to her. But she wanted to hear what Frau Sanderlin thought about it first. The “good as cash” from the note had been a bit of a surprise, so once race day was over she headed for the Sanderlin house—stock certificate in hand—to find out what was going on. The maid let her in. Frau Sanderlin was usually willing to talk to the merchants and craftsmen of Race Track City, and today was no different, except a little busier. Race days always were, especially since they added horse racing to the 240Z and Sonny Steamer laps.
There were half a dozen merchants who were bringing in IOU’s they had gotten from customers. And Frau Krauss, the shopkeeper who had taken Anna’s stock certificate. The others were a bit concerned because SFIC was getting more strict about who they would let the shopkeepers give credit to. They had to be. Frau Krauss was simply curious. She already had approval.
Frau Sanderlin wasn’t all that helpful. “I don’t really understand, but Hayley was here when the boy came with the note. It’s one of the Barbies’ business deals. I understand Susan Logsden doesn’t want their investment diluted by too many shareholders, so they buy them back whenever they can get them.”
Frau Krauss didn’t know it, but Gayleen Sanderlin didn’t understand what Hayley had told her even as well as Gayleen had thought. The Barbies weren’t in any great hurry to buy back BarbieCo stock. But Hayley realized that reputation was important, so the Barbies would, at least for now, buy them at par value in reichsthaler. To Gayleen, the important part had been that Hayley said they were as good as cash. Frau Krauss was left with the impression that they were better, since you could spend them if you wanted to, but if you held onto them they would grow at two percent a year or more.