Trust can be a heavy load, but it can strengthen even as it weighs you down.
July 23, 1631: Delia Higgins’ House
Delia, on balance, liked Sarah’s lectures; they had passion. Sarah had just delivered one on the whooshing noise the down-timer money made as it disappeared into Grantville’s economy. After the kids left, Delia called the Wendells and asked. She got confirmation, complete with bells and whistles. Judy Wendell said, “If the up-timers don’t start spending money pretty soon we’re going to end up doing to this economy what the iceberg did to the Titanic.”
“But we are spending money! Lots of it. Everyone is worried that we won’t have enough to buy food.”
“That’s food,” was Judy Wendell’s response. “And while food is more of the local economy than it was up-time, it’s still less than half of the total. We’re not sure yet how much less, but so far, all our revisions have been down. Most people here aren’t full-time farmers, and a lot of the farmers aren’t growing food crops. It’s the other things where we’re hurting the economy. Hardware, clothing, luxuries, and services. We have more and better of most of them, especially the luxuries. Which really suck up the money.”
“The dolls you just sold are an excellent example. You cleaned out that Federico Vespucci fellow. Every bit of the money that he was going to spend in the surrounding towns went into the sewing machine company’s bank account and most of it is still there. Don’t get me wrong, Delia, I am thankful for the faith you have shown in the kids. More thankful then I can say. I agree that the sewing machine project has a fair chance of success, and will be valuable to Grantville and, well, the whole world, whether it works or not. Still, that money, and most of the money that has come from selling off the contents of the up-time renters’ storage containers, is sitting in your bank account. Then there is everyone else. The local down-time townspeople are coming to see and buying. Merchants are doing the same, but from farther afield. Money is flowing into Grantville, and for the most part it’s staying right here. If it’s here, it’s not paying craftsmen in Badenburg for their labor and skill.”
“We need the down-timers to accept up-time money, because we need to be cash rich enough to spend our money on luxuries and investments. That’s not going to happen till we are sure there is enough to spend on necessities. A big part of that is getting the down-timers—and more than a few up-timers—to treat up-time money as real money. There must be enough extra money in the system to make up for the time between when we sell something and when we buy something.”
Delia had gone out and hired another guard. Then a few days later she added Dieter, who was accompanied by his wife or perhaps girlfriend. Delia wasn’t sure and didn’t ask. Her name was Liesel. She had been with him as a camp follower when he was a soldier in Tilly’s army and the relationship had held firm. The other new guard was a refugee. Johan had been moved up to guard captain, and was available to the Higgins Sewing Machine Company as German speaking chief bargainer.
Fitting everyone in was a hassle. The mobile home used for an office was a one bedroom. Its living room was used as the office, and until the Ring of Fire the bedroom had been used to store padlocks and dollies and other equipment. The bedroom had been cleared out when Johan was hired. The equipment had been moved into a storage shed. But the living room was still needed as an office during the day. It was also where the guards slept. Three men and one woman in one bedroom was less than comfortable. So Johan had moved into the sewing room in the main house. They had strung up a blanket to give a semblance of privacy, and Ramona had tried to keep the noise down in the office while the guards were sleeping.
The discussions had not been the only reason for the hires. One guard was not enough. People need time off. With the increased crime, Delia figured she needed at least two guards, preferably three. Then there was the fact that setting up the HSMC would, unavoidably, require doing business with people outside the Ring of Fire, and she wanted someone reliable with the kids when they were out there. So Johan, and occasionally one of the other guards, would be needed to accompany the kids. This way, she could provide the kids with Johan’s help without charging them for it. The kids were getting to be something of a pain about not taking any more of Delia’s money than they absolutely had to.