Grantville Gazette, Volume 84 by Bjorn Hasseler

Author:Bjorn Hasseler [Hasseler, Bjorn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: 1632
Published: 2019-07-01T04:00:00+00:00

Dirck entered Cora's restaurant slowly, almost diffidently. He'd been here before with some of the fellows from Struve-Reardon Gunworks, but this was for a different purpose. He looked around. He didn't know what Johann Meisner looked like, but there was only one table with an older down-timer sitting at it, so he headed that direction.

"Master Meisner?"

The older man looked up from the pamphlet he was reading. "Ja. You are . . ."

"Dirck Gendt." He gave a short bow.

Meisner waved a hand at the chair across the table from him. "Be seated, young man. Do you drink coffee?"

Dirck limited himself to, "Ja."

Meisner raised a hand to catch Cora's attention, then lifted two fingers when she looked his way. A moment later two heavy pottery mugs were set in front of them. Meisner picked up his and blew across the cup before taking his first sip.

"Ah." A smile crossed his face. "I've decided I like coffee," he said with a small smile. "Of course, I can't afford it very often, so when I do get some, that makes it seem even more special."

Dirck nodded politely, raised his own cup and took a matching sip.

Meisner set his cup down and wrapped his hands around it. "I imagine you're wondering why I asked you here. First, let me be clear that I'm not here as a messenger for your sister. Marike does not know about this, and I don’t intend to tell her about it any time soon."

Dirck looked down at his own cup. "How . . . is Marike doing?"

"Mostly well," the older man said. "Her bruises have faded, and the patch of scalp where the hair was ripped out has almost finished healing." Dirck winced at that. After a moment, Meisner said evenly, "The nightmares are becoming less frequent."

Dirck closed his eyes and hung his head.

There was a long moment of silence before Meisner said quietly, "What were you thinking, boy?"

Dirck didn't move for a long time. He could feel the older man looking at him, and at length he raised his head and opened his eyes. It took everything he had to stare into Meisner's eyes, but he managed it.

"I was a fool. Probably still am a fool. We had lost so much that when we got here, I . . . was lost. I wanted something . . . someone . . . to belong to. I knew we should have looked for our own kind, but before I could get myself started, they . . . the followers of Caspar . . . they approached me. They gave us things we needed desperately, like clothing and some food and a little money, and they welcomed us warmly. I knew their teachings were a little different, but I didn't see any harm in it. And then they started giving Marike special things, and they asked me to be one of their Mighty Men, and . . ." he swallowed, "it made me feel good to think that I was special, and that they recognized that.

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