"Eric Flint - Grantville Gazette - Vol 4" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flint Eric)

Heather shook her head. "This is just silly. We know what we want to buy, and we know that people, not
marks, are starting to sell. The market is down since Guffy Pomeroy died, and people are nervous. All
we have to do is show up at the wedding. They'll come to us. Mrs. G said so."
"Yep," Judy confirmed. "They'll come to us and pat us on the head, and treat us like a bunch of idiots,
like we're too young to know what we're doing just because we're only fourteen. Then they'll try and
dump their stock on us, because they'll think we're too stupid to know better. I'm getting a little tired of
that part, but we can use it. Make them think there's a problem and they'll start dropping the prices."
Judy looked like she was ready to rub her hands together in anticipation, while Vicky looked energized.
Susan Logsden just rolled her eyes, while the others grinned.
"Seriously, all of you," Susan remarked, "We ought to be able to double our net worth at this wedding.
Mrs. G arranged a loan on our HSMC stock, so we've got a lot of cash to work with. Make the best deals
you can, then get Mrs. G involved. She can look like she's trying to save us from being dumb, and
people will drop their prices. It should work. I want to walk away from this with enough . . . "
Susan's voice trailed off, but Heather knew what she meant. Susan wanted to be rich enough and secure
enough that she wouldn't ever have to be afraid of anything, ever again. She was still worried that
something might go wrong, that she might have to go back to her mother. She didn't want that and all the
girls knew it. For Susan, the building panic in the stock market was an opportunity for security. For
Judy, it was a game, a game she enjoyed and played somewhat ruthlessly. Vicky seemed to be treating it
like a contest between the girls, a contest she wanted to win.
Heather shook her head again. Money was nice to have, sure, but she just wanted to have a good time
and enjoy herself. Hayley, Gabrielle and Millicent felt the same way. "If I can make a deal, I will. But
I'm not going to spend every minute looking for them. It's supposed to be a party, you know."
***
"Well," Vicky explained, "all those resistors and transistors, the integrated circuits and stuff are pretty
complicated. They used to have special rooms to build them in, back up-time."
At first, the older gentlemen in the group treated her with amused condescension. Gradually, though,
they started to look a little concerned. The girl's comments stuck a chord matching some of the things

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 - Chapter 1

they had read lately. Sensing the change in attitude, Vicky threw out a few more comments, this time
about how difficult it was to compress natural gas and store it, and then wandered away.
***
Arend Nebel had never been convinced that gas-powered stoves were a good idea. After listening on the
fringes of the girl's discussion, he was even less impressed with that investment. Master Drugen became
interested in soldering irons first, because he thought they would be useful when making jewelry. Then
he discovered that soldering irons were useful for producing a good seal on gas pipe connections in
stoves. Arend didn't see the relationship.
"Henning, are you sure your father was right? That girl said the gas was hard to store, that it could leak
and cause a disaster. Maybe we should sell our interest in that company before that happens."
"Arend, you know my father was careful. He believed the oven works was a good investment, or he
wouldn't have put so much of his money into it. You are giving in to this atmosphere of panic. If Father
was still alive, he would say the same thing. We have only to wait, and we will be rich."
"I wanted to be a goldsmith. I still want to be a goldsmith. All three of us, even Justine, must now work
like peons while all we do is wait, and wait some more. I'm tired of waiting, and I do not want my future
wife to work, like one of these . . . these . . . common women of Grantville."
"Research at the library is hardly common, Arend. Justine enjoys the work. She is becoming quite
modern, you know. She even spoke of continuing the work, after you are married." Henning knew he
shouldn't have teased Arend that way. Justine did enjoy the work, though, and Arend's attitudes were