'Not that radio, the radio net. There's a bunch of us amateurs with our own transceivers, and the net's full of news about the invasion. Apparently the Spanish destroyed the Dutch navy.'
'You should take your story to the papers. I'm sure they'd be interested,' Catrin said.
Veronika shot Catrin a glance. She was looking at Andreas with her dreamy 'isn't he cute' look. Then what Catrin had suggested hit home. Newspapers. And newspapers needed paper. Gottfried had to be told about this. She shot to her feet and ran for the coat hangars. 'Catrin, you look after the office.'
'What? Where are you going?'
'To see Gottfried. The newspapers are going to be printing special editions, and he needs all the forewarning he can get to ramp up production for the extra demand.'
'But what about your job here? Nikolaus is sure to complain.'
Veronika barely paused as she put on her jacket and grabbed her hat and gloves. 'Let him do his worst. This could be important for Gottfried.'
****
Gottfried was happily watching the two-foot length of one-inch diameter wood disappear down the chute into his hand-operated chipper as he wound the handle when he thought he heard someone bellowing his name. He stopped winding, and there it was again. A familiar feminine voice was calling out for him. He hurried over to the shed door and opened it, to see Veronika running towards him. 'Veronika, shouldn't you be at work?'
'This is more important. Andreas says the Spanish have invaded the United Provinces. The papers are going to want to print special editions as soon as possible, and we have to make sure they have enough paper.'
Gottfried was struggling to understand what had Veronika so excited. 'Who is Andreas?'
'Andreas Rottenberger.'
Gottfried shook his head to indicate he was still none the wiser.
'Andreas has a transceiver, and he's in contact with other amateur transceiver operators. He says the net is full of the story. We have to act fast.'
'Net?' Gottfried was still lost. 'And why do we have to react fast? Actually, who is 'we'?'
'The mill has to act fast. The papers are going to want extra paper on top of their regular order to print the extra editions.'
'How do you know the papers are going to print extra editions?'
'Do you want to be able to read the full story about the disaster in the United Provinces?'
Gottfried nodded.
'Right, and so will everyone else. Show me the store room. I want an idea of what we have in stock.'
Gottfried was swept along to the storeroom where he stood and watched while Veronika checked out the piles of paper all ready for collection.
'Schmucker and Schwentzel? Since when have they been buying our newsprint?'
'That's their first order. They're planning a line of cheap fiction.'
'Right, well, they can probably afford to wait a couple of days for their order. So that's another twenty reams we have uncommitted.'
'Uncommitted!' Gottfried protested. 'They have a contract for that paper, to be collected tomorrow.'
'Yes, but what time tomorrow?'
'Noon.' Suddenly it dawned on Gottfried what Veronika was proposing. 'We can't sell Schmucker and Schwentzel's order to someone else and make it up tomorrow. There is not enough slack in the system to produce an extra twenty reams by noon tomorrow.'
'You're wrong, there's a whole fourteen hours a day of unused capacity.'
She had a point. The mill was only working a standard ten hour day, but Gottfried could see plenty of problems. 'The workers will never stand for it.'
'So pay them extra. Just make sure we have enough paper to meet the demand, otherwise they might move to another supplier.'
Gottfried had been the first papermaker in the area to use coppice wood, but others had followed his lead, and his was no longer the only mill making paper from wood pulp. It was just the best located one. 'We won't have enough wood ready to be ground.'
'Stop thinking of obstacles and just get to work. If you need more wood, go and get it. Meanwhile I've got some letters to write. Do you have someone who can run the letters to the printers in Rudolstadt and Grantville?'
'Caspar's son can run your letters, but why do you want to send any out?'
'To let people know we're ramping up production to meet the expected need, and to tell Schmucker and Schwentzel what we're doing, why, and reassure them that their order will be available on schedule.'
Gottfried was impressed, he was also aware that time was passing. He dropped a kiss onto Veronika's lips and hurried off to get things organized.
Gottfried was busy checking the quality of the latest batch of pulp when Friedrich slithered up beside him.
'You'll never guess who I found sitting at your desk in the office.'
Gottfried turned. 'Nobody's supposed to be in the office but me. Go and tell them to get out and back to work.' He expected Friedrich to immediately do as he was told, but instead he got a gentle shaking of his head in reply. Then the significance of what Friedrich had said started to penetrate. 'But she should have gone back to work hours ago.'
'Maybe she should have, but she didn't. Not that she hasn't been busy. You can actually see your desk now.'
Horrified, Gottfried dropped the paper mold he was holding, not even noticing as it sank into the Hollander tank. 'I'll never be able to find anything now.'
'But I'm sure your Veronika could. She seemed real happy working away at your desk.'
'Happy? Doing paper work?' Gottfried shook his head in disbelief. 'Impossible.'
Friedrich shrugged. 'It takes all sorts to make a world. Some of them have to like paperwork. It's just your good luck Veronika is one of them.'
'Yeah, maybe I should offer her a job.'
Friedrich let out a sigh heavy with frustration. 'I never should have told you that Catrin told me Veronika had turned down some guy in the office's offer of marriage.'
'But you did tell me.'
'And now you're scared that she'll say no if you ever get the nerve up to ask her.'
Gottfried buried his hands in his work jacket pockets, where Friedrich couldn't see the tight fists he was making with them, and stared belligerently at his friend. 'Wouldn't you be scared?'
'So what are you going to do?'
'I'm going to take my time and do it right. First I'm going to ask Veronika if she'd like a permanent job at the mill, then, when the time's right, I'll ask her to marry me.'
'I wash my hands of you,' Friedrich said before stalking off.
Gottfried stared after Friedrich long after he'd disappeared into the far reaches of the mill. He couldn't help it that he was scared that Veronika wouldn't want to marry him. She had been trained at the Grantville Vo Tech, and was doing a Grantville GED part-time. The GED was almost the same as having a degree from a university like Jena or Erfurt. What did he have to offer a woman with her prospects? Just a mill, and not a very big one at that. With those thoughts running through his head, he headed for the office.
****
Veronika was a sight to behold, sitting comfortably in his chair, at his desk, calmly making entries in his accounts book. He waited until she put the pen she was using down-ink blots would have made a mess of all her good work, and Gottfried wasn't suicidal. Eventually she put down the pen, and looked up.
'How would you like to do that permanently?'
'Do what?'
'Would you like to come and work for me? Doing what you've been doing, but full time, on a salary.'
For a bare moment the light went out of her eyes, to return almost as quickly as it disappeared. 'Why are you offering me a job now?'
