October 26, 1631: Fortney House
Judy the Younger had a plan. Judy did not have her sister’s economic talent, nor did she know nearly so much about business. In most measurable ways, Judy was not so bright as her studious elder sister.
But Judy was persuasive. While Sarah had focused on, well, money, Judy had focused on people skills. She had loads of friends and somehow, magically, people often ended up doing precisely what she wanted, even her parents and sister. No one, not even Judy, was sure how it happened. She genuinely liked people, even her older sister. She laughed when she was supposed to laugh and even whined when she was supposed to whine. There are times when you’re supposed to, since it makes people think they’ve gotten away with something. You just have to be careful not to keep it up too long. There were times when Sarah made that part difficult.
Judy’s plan was amorphous, not really thought out yet. It just seemed to her that it would be great for everyone if the kids at school were stockholders in the Higgins Sewing Machine Corporation. After all, that’s what Sarah said corporations were for. To let people that didn’t have enough money to start a company get a piece of someone else’s, and to let the corporation get enough money to expand.
Everybody wins, everybody’s happy, and Judy is the one who arranged it. So everybody is happy with Judy. When Sarah had first mentioned the possibility, Judy had talked about it with some friends. There were a few select eighth graders in Grantville’s middle school who had known about the incorporation before even Trent, Brent or David. They called themselves the “Barbie Consortium,” but only among themselves. They weren’t totally sure what consortium meant, but it sure sounded cool. There were only seven of them, but they were the most popular girls in the eighth grade. It was really quite convenient that just at the age when they were ready to give up their dolls, the dolls had suddenly become very valuable. Judy had told them of their dolls’ increased value back in June.
Most of them had hidden their dolls away to escape parental embargoes on sales. All but Vicky Emerson, that is. She had sold hers. That had almost killed the “Barbie Consortium”, since it had taken all Judy’s persuasiveness to keep the other girls from following Vicky’s example, but she had prevailed. When Mrs. Higgins had sold her dolls for so much, Judy had been vindicated. She had full control of the consortium.
Well, not control. Judy never went for control. Judy went for Influence.
Now was the time. Higgins Sewing Machines was going public. They were having the first stockholders’ meeting tonight. Which was why Judy was over at Hayley’s house. Only three of the “Barbie Consortium” were present but there was still much whispering and giggling. Hayley’s mom did not take much notice, comfortably convinced it was about the standard things. Well, some of it was.
October 26, 1631: Schmidt House
Karl Schmidt did not have a plan. He had two plans, and hadn’t decided which of them to implement. The first plan, to copy the tools and machines of the Higgins Sewing Machine Corporation and start making his own, had several drawbacks. While Karl had more and better connections outside the Ring of Fire, and in a sense more money, the kids had better connections inside the Ring of Fire, and a head start. They also had, in a sense, Ramona.
Karl really liked Ramona Higgins. Maybe he even loved her. He was no Romeo and he wasn’t fourteen so there was no question of abandoning his name and house, but if he could avoid it he would prefer not to hurt her. He would also prefer not to get in a fight with David, not with Johan and his shotgun in the background, although Karl was fairly confident that guns would not come into play over this. If it had been his only option he would have done it. He had even been preparing the ground to do so until a fairly short while ago.
Granted all his preparation so far had been dual use. Not all the machines and tools useful in making the parts of a sewing machine required up-time equipment to make. Forms and tools could be made that in turn could make the production of parts easier and cheaper. Karl Schmidt was quite familiar with tricks of his trade as practiced by the craftsmen of his time, and for the last two months he had been picking up what he could of up-time notions. The combination was useful. By now he was producing most of the parts he sold to the Higgins Sewing Machine Corporation at a good profit.