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represented by the stuff in the containers was both iffy and short term.
They needed another source of income. There was all the old clothing, quite a bit in the sewing room,
and still more in a storage container. One good thing about owning a storage lot: you generally had a
place to put your stuff.It was the perfect job for a pack rat , Delia thought, grinning reminiscently. She
would look into repairing and selling some of the old clothing.
June 12, 1631: The Wendell House
Dinner that night was venison steaks, well done, with salad, both bought at the grocery store for about
what beef steaks and salad would have cost before the Ring of Fire. The venison was cheaper than the
beef would have been, but the salad was more expensive. Bread for the moment was priced through the
roof. The table was set with a silver plate candelabra and light for dinner was provided by candles rather
then light bulbs, not to make dinner more romantic, but because the Wendells had figured out that light
bulbs were going to be expensive and hard to replace. Still it lent an elegance to the family dinner. At the
head of the table sat Fletcher Wendell, a tall gangly man with dark brown hair and hornrimmed glasses.
He was not a particularly handsome man but his face was rendered charming by animation. Across from
him sat his wife Judy, statuesque rather then gangly, with mahogany hair and blue eyes. Recessive genes
had played in making their daughters. Sarah was a carrot top with rather too many freckles distracting
from the evenness of her features. Which left Judy the Younger twelve and so pretty as to border on the
beautiful. Rich auburn hair and a pale complexion with only the lightest sprinkling of freckles.
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Judy the Younger asked: "Mom, Hayley says that money is worth more now than it was before the Ring
of Fire, but Vicky says it's not worth anything cuz there ain't no United States no more. So who's right?"
Judy the Elder stalled while she thought about her daughter's question. "Because, not 'cuz,' dear. And
'isn't,' not ain't."
Fletcher Wendell came his wife's rescue, sort of. "Back before the Ring of Fire, there was a bank in
Washington that had a bunch of fairies with magic wands. They made new money when they were
happy, and made it disappear when they were sad. Apparently, when the Ring of Fire happened, one of
those fairies was in town, and it now resides in the Grantville bank."
"Daaad!" Judy the Younger complained, while her older sister Sarah smirked.
"I take it," said Daaad, "that you don't believe in Federal Reserve Fairies? That's just the problem, don't
you see? Neither do the down-timers, at least not yet. Part of my new job with the finance subcommittee
is to keep the Federal Reserve Fairies happy. Another part is to convince the Germans and all the other
down-timers that they are real, because they perform a very important function and it only works really
well if most people believe in them."
Judy the Younger looked disgusted. Sarah didn't even try to hide her smirk. Judy the Elder was
moderately successful at disguising her laugh with a cough, then she gave Fletcher the "look." At which
point Fletcher held up his hands in mock surrender.
"All right, I surrender," he said, which no one believed for a moment.
Judy the Elder gave her husband one more severe look then spoke again. "Your father's subcommittee
recommended to the cabinet that they declare that money on deposit in the bank and the credit union is
still there, that debts owed to people or institutions inside the Ring of Fire are still valid, but debts or
accounts in places left up-time are gone. Just common sense, but some people argued about it. Some
wanted accounts in other banks honored. Sort of transferred to the local bank. Others wanted all debts
to the bank erased."
Fletcher grimaced. "Well... pretty much except there's still a big argument about mortgages. People
who owe their mortgage to the local bank are raising a fuss because they think they're being discriminated
against. They think the out-of-area mortgages should be assumed by the new government. Truth to tell,
they've got a point and Lord knows the government could use the money."
Judy the Elder plowed on. "Leave that aside, for the moment. Right now, wages paid by the city
government or the emergency committee are being kept the same as they were before the Ring of Fire.
Dan Frost is still paid the same. The coal miners are getting paid according to their pre-Ring of Fire
contract, as are the people at the power plant. The difference is that now the emergency committee,
which is receiving the income from coal sales and electric bills, is paying them. As will whatever
government follows it. Unless it divests itself of the businesses. What that does is provide a stable point in
the money supply which, hopefully, will help keep the money from increasing or decreasing in value too
quickly, but no one wants wage and price freezes to last any longer or be any more widespread than
absolutely necessary. So the owner of the grocery store sets the prices at the grocery store, with
suggestions by the emergency committee. Now back to your question, how much is a dollar worth? If
you're talking about paying the electric bill, or the house payment, it's worth exactly what it was worth
before the Ring of Fire. If you're talking about buying groceries, it's fairly close to what it was before. For
a Barbie doll, it's worth a lot less, because no one is making Barbie dolls any more, and the down-timers
are buying them up. So take care of your Barbies, they are going to be worth a lot one day."
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"Ah, but the down-timers don't have any money," Fletcher put in with a grin. "At least, not American
money. So right now, everyone is trying to figure out how much of our money their money is worth, and
vici verci. Which is where the Federal Reserve Fair..." Fletcher paused, casting an overdone look of
meek submission at his wife. "Ah, the bank comes in."
"Oh, go ahead Fletcher," Judy the Elder put in, with an equally overdone, long-suffering sigh. "You won't
be satisfied till you've run those poor fairies into the ground."
"Not at all. I'm very fond of the Federal Reserve Fairies. They do the kind of magic we need done." He
smiled cheerfully at his daughters. "The thing about the Fed Fairies is they hate it when prices go up too
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