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."Ed Piazza overheard."Sounds like she has a lot on her plate.I know exactly how she mustfeel."Hecate was now dancing with her followers, who had been joined by the cheerleaders."It looks like Amber is enjoying herself," said Victor approvingly.Amber Higham, highschool drama teacher in two universes, and former star of the Minneapolis community theatercircuit, was indeed having a blast.* * *Princess Kristina entered, stage left, preceded by her attendants.These were CatherineMatzinger and Lady Ulrike, each holding one end of a long bolt of bright yellow cloth, withwhich they swept across the stage.The worshippers of Selene and Hecate scattered before them,even as night retreats from the light of day.Princess Kristina followed, but stopped at stagecenter.She was wearing a dress, tie-dyed in blues, yellows and reds.Wings were attached to herback.In one hand she carried a golden wand with a silver star on top.She, too, had received the"glitter dust" treatment.That, of course, only increased the intensity of interest in certain quarters.It was now an imperial cosmetic.Thomas Jefferson Johnson turned to his wife."Sybill, isn't that the little princess? Myeyesight isn't what it used to be.""Let me check the program, dear.Yes, indeed.It says 'Eos, the Dawn.Lieutenant GeneralKristina Vasa.'"The musicians played a galliard tune.Kristina performed several galliard variations, short andlong, including one inspired by a Charleston step.The silver disk was lowered, and a golden oneslowly raised in its place.Kristina danced off stage.* * *The high school JROTC drill team marched onto the stage, and formed a double file.Theypresented arms.Now Federico emerged from the stage left tent.He was definitely no longer ashepherd.On his head he wore an elaborate headdress, made of some gold fabric which had beenfolded over and over, accordion fashion, and secured so it would fan out.His shoes had goldenbuckles, sunburst-shaped."There's Federico!" said TJ."Yes, he makes a very handsome Sun God, don't you think?" Sybill replied.Federico's attire had some more secular aspects, too.Specifically, he was wearing a bluesurcoat with a gold cross upon it the Swedish flag.Federico capered halfway down the line, turned to face the king, and bowed.The drill teamseparated into two groups, flanking him, and began executing show moves, such as rifle spinsand exchange tosses.There was quiet murmuring in the VIP section, which had the keenest interest in, andappreciation of, the political ramifications of the production."So this confirms that Gustav is the'Golden King,'" Fletcher Wendell, USE Secretary of the Treasury whispered.Arnold Bellamy, of the USE State Department, laughed."Oh, you don't realize how deviousFederico is.He told His Majesty, who told me." Arnold stopped to admire a particularlyspectacular spin-kick.Federico's fellow dancing masters would have recognized it as a "kick thetassles" move, but to the up-timers it looked like karate."Have you ever wondered why Louis the Fourteenth was called the Sun King?" Fletchershook his head, and Arnold continued."Louis XIV was born, in our time line, in 1638, and ascended to the throne after CardinalRichelieu's death.The young king loved to dance, even more than his father Louis XIII, andMazarin was delighted to take advantage of it for political purposes."In 1653, the French court, and the attendant professional dancers, put on Ballet Royal de laNuit.It showed Paris from sunset to sunrise.Louis XIV, then fourteen years old, appeared in thefinal act as Apollo, the Sun."Fletcher chuckled."So Federico has taken a piece of French propaganda and turned it into'Gustaviana.' I like it.Especially if Richelieu, when he reads his spies' reports, recognizes exactlywhere this idea came from."Perhaps we should tell him, so he doesn't miss out?""Anyway," Arnold concluded, "thanks to Federico and Adriane, in this time line, Gustav IIAdolf of Sweden is, and will forever be, the Sun King."RECYCLINGby Philip C.Schillawski and John Rigby"Hey! Watch it with that broom." Officer Preston Richards hastily pulled his feet back awayfrom the stiff bristles that threatened the shine of his newly polished shoes.He glanced up fromthe night sheets he was going over, and looked over the unprepossessing figure before him.Thesmall gray-haired woman in dumpy clothes, with her flesh hanging from her thin frame, was a farcry from the well dressed matron he had met the day of the Ring of Fire.Then she had been ahard-bodied exercise maven.Now the only thing hard about her was her eyes.But he'd kept hiseyes on her for too long."Don't you look at me like I'm some kind of white trash, Mr.Officer Preston Richards," thewoman spat."If I happen to be down on my luck, it's the damned Ring of Fire that took awayJoseph and my boys."Richards recalled the frantic figure he had tried to help on that day the world had been splitapart.She had been in town checking out retirement homes, and had been left with only her carand the clothes she had with her.She was desperately attempting to contact her family.Now hetried for a soothing reply."I've never thought you were trash, Mrs.Sanderlin.I just keep hopingthat you'll stop staying with us on such a regular basis."He glanced back down at the night sheets.He hadn't made it through to the petty crimessection yet, but if LeeAnn was sweeping floors in the station this morning, he knew he'd find herusual entry: "Public Drunkenness, LeeAnn Sanderlin, Drunk Tank." Sentencing for nonviolentpublic drunkenness had become so routine by now that most of the regulars and semiregularsdidn't even go before the associate judge any more.Not unless they demanded a hearing, andmost were smart enough to realize that they wouldn't get a lighter sentence by going that route.Instead they were allowed to sleep it off on the thin foam-rubber mats in the drunk tank.The nextmorning they were given a good breakfast by Carolyn Atkins, then put to work at odd jobsaround the station or downtown until released.LeeAnn, like most of the regulars andsemiregulars, didn't even need much supervision on her morning's work."Well, if a person needs to take a drink or two sometimes to warm the coldness inside, anddoesn't hurt anybody by it, then there's no harm done, Preston Richards." LeeAnn pushed harderwith the broom."I don't mind sweeping your floors or cleaning out your cells to repay yourhospitality when you bring me in, so we're square there.I don't need charity from anybody.I paymy debts
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