Flint, Eric Ring of Fire 00 Grantville Gazette Vol 1

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accomplishment. She wasn't really fooling anyone, but the hillbilly version of the stiff upper lip had its
rules. Liesel didn't make any such attempt. Liesel was not completely sure she trusted electricity. This
could be used anywhere. All the guests had tried it, with Brent and Trent hovering nervously over them.
The Schmidt girls were entranced. Had they had their way, Higgins sewing machine model A serial
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number One would have been sold then and there. They did not have their way, however. Higgins A1
would never be sold though in future years, some collectors would offer truly exorbitant sums trying to
buy it.
Karl was, in his staid stolid way, rather entranced himself. He had seen the Singer work. He had known
this was coming, but he had not seen the look on his youngest daughter's face when something that would
have taken her hours and would still not be done to her sisters' satisfaction was done neatly and evenly, in
less than a minute.
There was definitely a market, but how were the tailors going to react? There were none present today.
There were guild rules and there were laws about who could make clothes, but no rules about using
machines to make clothing. Not yet, anyway. Karl got to meet several people he had wanted to meet for
some time. The Wendells, and Dave Marcantonio especially. He needed to know things before he
decided what to do.
Food had been cooked, and brought by guests. There was not nearly enough Coca-Cola for all the
guests, so it stayed in the fridge. Beer and Kool-Aid were available though. Conversation flowed.
Problems were brought up. The cost of the sewing machines was still very high. The value of the
company had jumped sharply from what it had been just the day before. Legal questions about children
running a company, that had seemed less important when it was a hobby in all but name, were asked.
Where would sewing machines be sold? How would they be sold? Sarah Wendell held forth on the
subjects of dealerships and "rent with an option to buy."
David Bartley wandered around the party, getting more and more worried as time went on. Aside from
Mr. and Mrs. Wendell, there were some other members of the finance committee, and they were busy
questioning whether children should be allowed to manage such a potentially valuable export. Mr.
Schmidt was asking about the possibility of buying production machines from Mr. Marcantonio. Was he
planning on going into competition with them? With the completion of the first working sewing machine,
they had reappeared on adult radar, and were in real danger of being shot out of the sky. For their own
good, of course.
David didn't trust the motives of those that expressed doubts children could run a company. It seemed to
him that many of them were searching for ways to jump onto the gravy train now it looked like it was
going to pull out of the station and actually go somewhere. Others appeared to resent their success in the
face of adult wisdom.
October 12, 1631: Grantville High School
Sarah had bad news. "I've been checking into the laws regarding corporations. It is illegal in West
Virginia for minors to be on the board of a corporation."
"But we're not in West Virginia," insisted Brent. "We're in Germany." He knew better, he was just upset.
"It doesn't matter." Sarah shook her head. "Grantville corporate law is West Virginia corporate law
without so much as a period changed. Maybe we should forget about incorporating."
"Maybe not," said David. That moved everyone's stares from Sarah to him. "I was listening to some of
the people at the party yesterday. They were worried about leaving the Higgins Sewing Machine
Company in our hands. When we actually built a sewing machine, some of the grownups that were never
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too keen on the kids running a company started paying attention again. Incorporation may be a way to
satisfy them, without having them take over. Sarah, are there any other jobs in a corporation that a minor
can't hold, like say Chief Engineer, CEO, CFO, any of that stuff?"
"I don't think so. In fact there almost can't be. What jobs there are in a corporation changes from
corporation to corporation. How could they make it illegal when all the corporation had to do to get
around the law is change the name of the job?"
"Is there a law against a minor owning stock or voting stock?"
"Not owning, I'm pretty sure. Voting I don't know. I think it would be like other stuff kids own. Their
parents could probably veto their selling it, and vote the stock for them, or maybe not. It could be
something determined in the corporation's bylaws. I can probably find out."
"We can incorporate and select the people on the board of directors, and the people that don't like the
idea of kids running a company can look and see that the board of directors is made up of responsible
grownups. 'We ain't running things, just doing our jobs the way the board tells us to'." David grinned. "Of
course, since the four of us and Grandma hold the biggest chunk of stock, we elect the board. Which will
be Grandma, and a few other people. Maybe Mr. Marcantonio, and maybe your parents?"
"I don't know," mused Trent, a bit dubiously. "Mom and Dad are all right, but they take their
responsibilities really seriously. So far, they have looked at this as your Grandma's company, with us
helping out. We get the occasional lecture about listening to Mrs. Higgins, and the great opportunity she
is giving us. I think they have sort of assumed she has been making the decisions right along."
"It's the same with my parents," said Sarah. "There may even be some truth to it. She lets us make the
decisions, but she is sorta there. You do the same thing, David. When we get into a fight, you start
bringing up stuff that we've forgotten then. I don't know, we're agreeing again, and we have a plan."
This came as a revelation to David. He hadn't realized the others knew what he was doing, and he hadn't
realized that Grandma was doing the same thing. He wasn't sure he liked it.
Brent looked at David and started laughing. Then Trent and Sarah joined him. All this time, David had
thought he was getting away with something, and all the time, the others had been letting him do it.
"Anyway," David said as much to change the subject as anything, "now that we have a sewing machine,
what do we do with it? And the next one, and the one after that. How do we sell them?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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