Grantville Gazette Vol 23 by Eric Flint

Author:Eric Flint [Flint, Eric]
Format: epub
Published: 2009-09-30T03:00:00+00:00

Arch listened to the children playing stickball in the street. Motor traffic was picking up since petroleum was beginning to trickle into the gas stations but traffic was still light. So it was safe to play in the street. Arch sat and stared at the bottom line and listened to the children play outside. "At least we don't have to put up with a damned ice cream truck playing the same dumb tune over and over."

Then it clicked. August. Ice cream. Trucks. The ice cream parlor had a line out the door every evening. The grocery stores with an ice cream counter had a line in the afternoon. Arch rushed out the door with eureka written on his face in a grin. He felt like Archimedes running through the streets of Syracuse. But at least he had his clothes on.

When he got to the restaurant, he couldn't help himself. He stepped through the door and shouted, "I've got it," first in Greek then in English and finally in German.

* * *

Janos Tamas, Arch Pennock's chief cook and business partner, was in dishwater up to his elbows and just about jumped out of his skin. The young Hungarian was as tense with worry as an over-wound spring. He could see things were not going well as easily as Arch could. He was used to having money now, and did not want to go back to plucking chickens twelve hours a day for three dollars an hour.

Worse, he had written home about his good fortune and been reminded in a return letter of the girl the family had arranged for him to marry years ago. She was waiting for him to come home.

Grantville was a strange and wonderful place. If the women here could marry anyone they chose, so could a man. Janos thought about it and realized he had never stopped assuming he would marry the lass from back home. With further thought, he figured out she was who he wanted raise children with. Now she was on her way—expecting a house, maybe even a servant, since she would be marrying a wealthy business owner. She was not going to be happy plucking chickens when she got here.

"John Ose, I've got it!"

"What have you got, Mister Pennock?"

"The answer to our problem! Nobody wants hot food in this weather. That's why sales are off. It'll pick back up come fall. What we need to be selling right now is what people want to be buying right now and that is ice cream bars and popsicles."

Janos looked at the man he tried to remember to address as Arch. He was sure the man was speaking English. Janos thought he understood English but, once again, Arch had lost him completely. "Mister Pennock, they sell ice cream downtown."

"Yes, but not at the market, or the train station, or the ball park, or the play grounds, or at lunch time outside of the factories. We can clean up."

"But, Mister Pennock . . ."

"There you go again, John.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.