The procession was forming up, Count Ludwig Guenther’s steward ensuring that all diplomatic representatives and their guests were in their proper places—that always minimized protocol disputes. It should be coming into the marketplace in just a few minutes.
Since Benny Pierce didn’t have a booth, but just an upside down keg and an old backpack, he kept on performing. The sheet music sales of “The Romish Lady” had been really good. He wanted to pick up any last-minute loose change that might be flying around.
After the wild success of the week before, he’d decided to add more old-time Gospel to his Mother Maybelle mix. In spite of the fact that any thinking seventeenth-century theologian would ask a lot of questions in regard to doctrinal issues pertaining to “certainty of salvation,” he’d gotten away with:
Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till set of sun,
Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care.
Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.
Even “Work, for the Night is Coming” hadn’t caused any catastrophe.
Alas! Joachim had just given him a quickly translated German version of “Toiling On.” Joachim hadn’t stopped to think about the theological implications—it had just struck him as a rousing call to action, usable as a song for the Committees of Correspondence meetings with only minor modifications.
He had, unfortunately, left out the line about Salvation is free.
As the formal procession to the state dinner rounded the corner and the heralds in front entered the marketplace, Minnie sang:
Schaffe nun, schaffe nun!
Es gibt noch viel zu tun!
* * *
The town was tense enough, as it was. One of the apprentices, more than half-drunk, and obviously not having been present during the rendition of “The Romish Lady,” suddenly yelled:
“Work Righteousness! The Americans are secretly teaching Popery! Right here in Jena!”
* * *
Minnie reacted fast when she saw the first cobblestone coming. “Save the fiddle!” she shrieked, pushing Benny to the ground and snatching up the herring keg, which she proceeded to wield as a three dimensional shield above his body.
Benny saw nothing wrong with her priorities. He scrabbled around the ground with his right hand until he located the violin case, pulled it over, tucked in the instrument and bow, and covered them both with his body.
Minnie’s past life experiences had not been such as to give her much confidence in the civil authorities. However, Benny had firmly told her that if there was trouble, she should call, “Help! Police!” Minnie’s voice really did have carrying quality. On general principles, she switched to, “Hilfe! Polizei!” Under the hail of cobblestones, the keg was coming apart in her hands. She started throwing the staves.
Tanya and Jamie Lee were back at the inn with the radio, which was never left unattended, but the other four kids who had come to Jena with Ed were at one of the picnic tables behind the brewery booth. Pete, Joel, and Zack headed over toward Benny Pierce at a dead run. Staci grabbed a tub of very dirty dishwater from the back of the booth and dumped it over the head of the guy who had started it.
The police had been positioned to guard the procession of notables. To get to the scene of the fight, they had to go through the crowd on the south side of the parade route, toward the booths lining the edge—since these weren’t in the way of the procession, they were the last ones that would be taken down.
It was slow going. The crowd was starting to turn to see what was going on. Parents with children were trying to go at a perpendicular angle to the police movement, to get them out to safety.
Somebody yelled, “What’s going on?”
At the edge of the crowd, the reply came. “Papist spies! Somebody found a nest of Papist spies!”
Several dozen day laborers who had been working on dismantling the booths on the west side didn’t have the obstacle that faced the movement of the police. They came around the edge of the crowd, not sure what was happening but anxious not to miss it, whatever it might be. One of them took a look and added another cry. “That girl’s a thief! She stole money from my uncle in Dieskau. I recognize her. Thief! Thief! Thief!”