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paraphrased in the other, to make sure that everyone got it. Sort of like the Shakespearean trick of using
three versions of a line, one to the left, one to the right, and one to the front so everyone could hear it.
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The playwright team that had written this version ofThe Importance of Being Earnest had used that
trick to play with the audience. The play worked if you spoke English, it worked if you spoke German,
but it worked better if you spoke both because there were subtle and sometimes not so subtle differences
in what was said in each language. The effect was a two-language pun of some sort about every third
line. That wasn't the only trick up the writer's sleeves. The lines were arranged so that if you spoke only
English it seemed that the guys were being reasonably sane and the girls were total ditzes. But if you
spoke only German the girls seemed fairly reasonable and the guys off the wall. If you spoke both
languages, it added to the feeling that they were talking past each other. At one point, one of the ladies
described herself in German as preferring the quiet life in her country estate of Ept to the social whirl of
the big city. The English version of the line was "I'm still socially in Ept." It was all like that, a reasonable
statement in one language followed by a groaner of a translation.
"So, David," Judy the Elder asked as they all walked outside during intermission, "how is Master
Schroeder treating you?" Bruno Schroeder was the master tailor in charge of the clothing for Karl
Schmidt and Ramona Higgins' upcoming wedding.
"I got him to give up the diapers."
"Diapers?"Fletcher was still a little miffed about the non-date date, and quite ready to hear about David
in diapers.
"Yes, sir.Those really puffy short pants they wear. They look like diapers; worse, they look like full
diapers."
"So what did you have to give upto lose the diapers?" Sarah asked with a grin. She knew that Master
Schroeder was trying to convert up-timers to down-time fashions, even though he claimed to be looking
for a compromise.
"Embroidery.Bruno has found a way to use a Higgins sewing machine to do embroidery. Basically he
draws the pattern in chalk and then sews along the lines. Apparently the king ofSweden had all this gold
thread embroidered onto his wedding outfit. Karl's and mine aren't going to be gold, but they might as
well be considering how much dyed thread costs. Anyway, we're both going to have our outfits
embroidered up the kazoo. Mine'll be bad enough, but on Karl's you mostly won't be able to see the
cloth for all the embroidery: trees, flowers, coins, even sewing machines, in every color he can get from
Mr. Stone's dye shops."
Fletcher laughed. "I must be sure to bring my digital camera."
David rolled his eyes. "If you don't, someone else will, probably the newspapers. Karl is making a big
deal of the wedding. It's Badenburg politics."
Badenburg had joined the new littleUnited States , but mostly it was politics as usual in the city council.
The new elections were scheduled for some months in the future. Karl Schmidt was the foundry guild
master in Badenburg, but that was because he had the only foundry in town. He wasn't, or hadn't been,
one of the major players. Those were mostly the large property owners. With the merger between the
foundry and the HSMC, he had rapidly become the biggest employer in Badenburg. A lot more money
was flowing through his hands. More people looked to him. There were also more voters, since the
property owner restriction had been dispensed with. And, just to add the icing to the cake, Karl's
upcoming marriage to David's mother, Ramona, would give Karl a prestigious close personal tie to the
up-timers from Grantville.
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"He's planning a try for either a seat on the Badenburg council, or perhaps becoming the first Senator
from Badenburg. The wedding is going to be a sort of promotional show to demonstrate how important
he's become. He definitely wants the press there. I think he's caught on to what expanding the franchise
means better than most of the others."
"Let me guess. He wants to show off his up-timer connections?"
"Yeah.He's hoping Jeff and Gretchen will attend.Especially Gretchen. She's become something of a saint
to the refugees. In regard to status, up-timers are like the jokers in a deck of cards. Whatever status you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]