The Grantville Gazette - Volume 4 Part 17

Public Notices: Grantville Gazette. Deaths.

Glenna Sue Haggerty-On May 28, 1634, at Grantville Hospital. In her 18th year. Dearly loved daughter of Gary and Laurie, and beloved sister of Cameron, Duane, Marcie, and Blake. Dearly loved member of the Grantville Ballet Company. Glenna Sue will be sadly missed.

Tina Logsden-On May 25, 1634, at Grantville Hospital. In only her 18th year. Tina will be badly

missed by her sister Susan and her grandfather. We will miss you x.x.x.

Kevin Simmons-Loving son of Mickey and Lorraine, loving brother of Andrea. Died in his 18th year in a riding accident.

Magdeburg Marines: The Few And The Proud

by Jose J. Clavell.

The Hudson Residence City of Grantville Thuringia Region, Germany Monday, 6 December 1632 AD 1600 hours local "Well, can you repair it?"

Charles "Duke" Hudson asked the question to the pair of legs sticking out from under his sink. He was a tall, no-nonsense middle-aged man whose brown buzz cut hair had gone mostly to gray, especially in the last two years. The response was garbled, so he bent over and repeated his question. The response come back garbled again. This time, recognizing the futility of answering while under the sink, the owner of the legs slid out from under it and stood. The blonde woman was almost as tall as Duke was. She was

also muscular and in her thirties. For some reason, the term Valkyrie came to mind every time Duke looked at her.

"Yes, Duke. I can repair it. But it's going to cost you," Margaret "Lulu" O'Keefe replied. In addition to

being the General Manager of O'Keefe Plumbing and Heating, she was also a close friend of both Duke and his wife, Claire.

"How much, Lu?"

Lulu grimaced before replying, not a good sign in a plumber, " But let's wait for Claire. That way I only have to be subjected to verbal abuse one time."

"That much?" Duke exclaimed, surprised.

"Duke, it's not like I can get in my truck and drive to Fairmont for parts anymore," Lulu said as she cleaned her hands with a kitchen rag.

Duke didn't need the reminder. Over a year ago the life of everyone in the West Virginia town of

Grantville-and history itself-had changed forever. In a brief instant, on a Sunday afternoon. When, under unexplained circ.u.mstances, in what everyone now called the Ring of Fire, the whole town and its inhabitants were transported back in time to 1631 Germany. They'd wound up in the middle of the period that historians knew as The Thirty Years' War. Since that day, daily life had become a struggle for survival. Bits and pieces of the past-or future, depending on how you looked at it-ground to a halt, just like Duke's broken trash compactor.

Lulu sat at the kitchen table and pushed her toolbox next to her chair with her foot. "Maybe you need to retire the beast and accept the inevitable. Who knows, maybe one of these days someone will reinvent it.

Anyway, it's just a labor saving device. And I know you're as well aware as I am that we have plenty of cheap manual labor available. In fact, I don't understand why Claire hasn't hired a maid. Think of all her responsibilities, working for the government yet. Where is she, by the way?"

"She's helping a German family that just moved down the block, the Hoffman's," Duke answered. "The man used to be a mercenary officer of sorts, I'm told. But now he wants to join our Military Police unit.

He seems like a dependable sort and his wife, Ilse, is pregnant with their fourth child. So, Claire went to lend a hand with the kids and the house. You know how she likes to keep busy."

"Yes, I know. We all like to keep busy." Lulu sighed as she found a more comfortable position in her

chair.

Unsaid between the two friends was that in Grantville everyone kept busy to forget. There wasn't a family in town that had not been affected by the event. In the case of the Duke and Claire, their two grown kids and grandkids were left behind. Lulu had lost her fiance and older brother the same way.

"Well, while we wait, would you care for a beer?" Duke asked.

"Don't mind if I do. This is my last call before heading for home and another exciting night of educational TV and movies repeated for the umpteenth time."

Duke opened his refrigerator, took out two beer bottles and pa.s.sed one to Lulu. The bottles were

recycled but the labels announcing the latest product line from the Thuringen Gardens were new. He pulled a chair and sat across from Lulu.

She took a long sip before smacking her lips. "Wow, I think this batch is the best one yet."

"I think you're right," Duke replied, after doing his own tasting. "So, Lu, how's business?"

"I can't complain," she answered. "The business is booming, thanks to all the new construction. I've hired six more employees and we may need to hire more. The family is also discussing the possibility of starting our own plumbing fixtures manufacturing. We think there's an untapped market out there for the wonders of indoor plumbing, especially with this weather. And you, how are things with the MPs?"

"The usual," Duke said, relaxing into his chair. "Brawls after payday, fights just for the sake of fighting.

Dan Frost still wants to form a Military Police unit like the Italian carabineers. But he's having problems finding someone to fill in for Elizabeth Pitre now that she's with the toy trains. And I don't want the job.

She originally asked me to be her top kick."

"She made a good choice," Lulu said. "It's a d.a.m.n shame that it didn't work out for you two." Lulu paused a moment and looked thoughtful. "You helped her become the kind of officer she is now. I remember when she was just a wet behind the ears shave-tail, wearing her cowboy boots in utilities."

Duke smiled fondly at the memory. When they were first introduced, Pitre had gone pale as a ghost when someone let her know that her new platoon sergeant was a former Marine DI. "Don't be so harsh, Lu. No one packed for the Ring, remember. She was only supposed to be in town for Mike's sister's wedding. I really didn't have to work too hard with her. There was a lot of good material already there.

Besides, she had her colonel father's example to provide her a good starting point. She is definitely one of the best young officers I ever had the pleasure to train. Heck, I considered her good enough to be in the Marines. If anyone has the wherewithal to get that harebrained transportation scheme off the drawing board, it's going to be her. But, she needed a first sergeant with more transportation experience than I have, so I'm out."

"That's high praise coming from you, Duke." Lulu continued to stare intently at her beer bottle until she suddenly asked. "Do you miss it?"

"Miss what? The Corps?"

"Yes. The green machine, Uncle Sam's misguided children, our Corps."

"Yes," Duke admitted. "Sometimes. But I put in my twenty years and left others to carry on the mission.

No one is irreplaceable, Lu. Besides, I wanted to keep my promise to Claire to return to our hometown."

"Come on, Duke," Lulu said. "You weren't like every other Marine. I did twelve years, you know. After Dad died and I had to request a compa.s.sionate discharge, I only got a pat on the back and a farewell bash at the NCO Club. I hear that you, on the other hand, got a phone call straight from Headquarters, Marine Corps, to try to get you to reconsider your decision. I've never heard of the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps doing that for any other gunnery sergeant."

"So what." Duke shrugged. "Like I said, Lu, I promised Claire and I don't like to break my word. And

just how did you hear about that, anyway?"

"Willie Ray told me one day. It was a while back, one day when we were shooting the breeze at the Gardens. And just in case you want to know, he was happy that you didn't decide to stay in. Otherwise, after the Ring of Fire, he wouldn't have had any family left in town."

"I think," Duke muttered, "that my brother talks too much."

"Maybe so," Lula said, grinning a bit. "But he told me that it wasn't until you accepted the job with Dan and the MPs that you started overcoming your doldrums. Then you took young Pitre under your wing and that helped to finally return you to your usual cheery self. Well, almost." Lulu leaned back in the

chair and took another sip of beer before she went on. "That led me to suspect that you miss the Corps as much as I do."

"So what if I do? The Corps, like the rest of the twenty-first century and my kids are, and pardon the

pun, past history." His bitter reply warned Lulu that she was getting closer to overstepping the line.

"Sorry, I know how much you miss Kathy and James. It was thoughtless of me."

Duke relaxed visibly before replying. "And I know how much you miss Billy and your brother. So why

we don't drop the subject and talk about something else?"

"Fine with me," Lulu agreed, glad that they had managed to avoid a tender subject. "Have you heard the latest scuttleb.u.t.t about John Simpson?"

Duke shook his head and made a shivering motion. "No, I haven't. That's way above my pay grade and

that's the way I like it."

Lulu snorted and plowed on in. She leaned forward with a conspirator's smile. "He's been put in charge of a special project. By Mike Stearns, no less."

Duke snorted and took another sip of beer. He was clearly amused. "Are those two talking again? I'm

kind of surprised. I'd have thought that even after the elections, those two would still have some

irreconcilable differences on most issues."

John Simpson's first attempt to push himself into a leadership position after the Ring of Fire and, later, his party platform during the elections that saw Mike Stearns elected as the new nation's president were generally reviled. That had strained his relationships with most of the town's residents. Most of the up- timers saw him as a representative of the managerial cla.s.s. Considering that the closure of the local mines had condemned Grantville to a slow death, he wasn't a particularly popular man.