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.He had risked the war to come to Badenburg for reasons he preferred not to discuss.He had arrivedweeks after the Ring of Fire, and he was desperate to be the first merchant to sell products fromGrantville in Venice, so he wanted to buy quickly, and be on his way.Best of all, Vespucci did not speakEnglish.The up-timers were wizards at any number of things, but bargaining, in Johan's view, was notamong them.Well, not his up-timers anyway.Johan was starting to take a somewhat proprietary view of MistressDelia, Mistress Ramona, and young Masters David and Donny.They knew a tremendous amount to besure, but they weren't really, well, worldly.Which, he thought, made quite a bit of sense, since theyweren't from the world.Having come from a magical future.Thus, they lacked the simple understanding that all merchants are thieves.It was purely certain that anymerchant that had an opportunity to talk directly to them would rob them blind, talking them into sellingtheir valuables for a pittance.While it might not have been true of all up-timers, Johan was right about his up-timers.They rented theirstorage containers for a set monthly fee.Bought their groceries at the store where you either bought, orGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmldidn't, but didn't haggle over the price.They hadn't even haggled much when buying their car.All in all,they had virtually no experience in the art of the haggle, and haggling is not one of those things you canlearn from a book.Federico had come to dinner to discuss the possibility of buying some of the items that might be hadfrom the storage lot.Then he had seen the dolls.Dolls everywhere.In the living room there was a set ofshelves covering an entire wall full of dolls, and they weren't the only ones.The dolls were unique, with their poseable limbs and inset hair, and made of something called "plastic"which Federico was sure could not be duplicated, even in far off China.Even to approximate them wouldbe the work of a skilled artist working for months using ivory or the finest porcelain."And unfortunately, not for sale.Now about the furniture in the storage containers." So Johan said.Federico was no fool.He knew full well that the storage containers with their furniture, even the fancycomfortable mattresses, were little more than a come-on, a way to get him here to see the dolls.Heknew that the scoundrel who had attached himself to these up-timers was a cad and a thief.That he wasgoing to be robbed blind.Federico knew all that, and it didn't matter a bit.Federico fought the good fight.He was a merchant after all, and a good one.How did he know that plastic was so hard to make?They brought out the encyclopedia and read him the passages about the industrial processes involved inmaking plastic.Which didn't matter, since the dolls were not for sale.He would need proof that they were authentic up-time dolls.They could provide certificates of authentication, proof that they not only came from Grantville, but fromthe personal collection of Delia Ruggles Higgins.Of course, the dolls weren't for sale.All in all, with Johan's deliberate mistranslations and Delia's enthusiastic discussion of her dolls, it had themaking of a remarkably shrewd sales technique.All of which wouldn't have worked at all, except Federico knew perfectly well what would happen whenhe reached Venice with the dolls.There would be a bidding war, and the dolls would be shipped to royalcourts, wealthy merchants, and everything in between, from one end of the world to the other.All atexorbitant prices.Some, a very few, would actually end up as the prized toy of a very wealthy child.Most would end up in various collectors' collections of rare and valuable knickknacks.It wasn't quite enough.Federico left that night with no commitments made.July 16-18, 1631That might have been the end of it.Not hardly.Johan would have found something.If nothing else, theywould have offered a few more dolls.That was what Federico was expecting.Or failing that, Federicowould have gone back and made the deal anyway.In spite of the urgent letters he had for delivery inVenice, he was not leaving Grantville without those dolls.But a deal under the current conditions wouldGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlhave meant bad blood.Real resentment, the kind of anger that means the person you're dealing withnever wants to deal with you again, and warns their friends away.Says words like "thief" and "miser," notwith a half-joking half-respectful tone, but with real intent.In any event it wasn't necessary.Two weeks earlier, David had given Johan an oldPlayboy.It hadhappened at the end of a discussion of the fairer sex, in which young lad and old man had agreed thatgirls were complex and confusing, but sure nice to look at.He figured that the old guy would use it for thesame thing he did; to read the articles, of course.This was still the age when the quality of art was determined primarily by how closely it reflected reality.The photographs in aPlayboy magazine looked quite real indeed, just somewhat, ah, more, than natureusually provides.This gave the pictures a certain amount of added artistic value.Johan had noted this,and on the morning of the sixteenth, had shown thePlayboy to Master Vespucci, with the explanationthat there were some forms of art that proper Christian ladies didn't appreciate.It was a deal closer.Itsaved everyone's pride.Several additional images were agreed on and things were settled.MasterVespucci would get his dolls and get to keep his pride.Lady Higgins would be spoken of with respect,and even her scoundrel of a servant, as someone who knew how things worked.Little did they know, but with Delia's full knowledge, Ray Higgins had been a long time subscriber toPlayboy.She had been no more upset about Ray'sPlayboys than he had been about her dolls.Well,she didn't buy himPlayboys , but she did no more than shake her head [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]