waldopaper

Another Z axis in FlatLand

Wireless room, SS Dart off Savannah Ga., foul weather- 1893 

I will tell you that I’m leaving my financial interest in the farm, right here where it is. As of today, freeze my portion and hold the addition of any profits during my absence until my return and I once again begin to work my way back into earning them. You can donate my land to being a teaching field and split any profits amongst you, pending my possible return. Can you think of anything else you’d like to ask before I can clean up after my mess in the kitchen and get ready to go as far as Eatonton?  Daisy would go to Xanadu for her beloved Georgia Soviet Union.  Fortunately, the railroad was at her service.  

Unfortunately, the state of Georgia was no longer at the service of Maggie or any other Southron belle.  In December 1864, a large swath of the state from Atlanta to Savannah was destroyed during General William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea. 18,253 Georgian soldiers died in service, roughly one of every five who served.  In 1870, following the Reconstruction era, Georgia became the last Confederate state to be restored to the Union.  They had to let her in.  They were grumpy about it too- but the war pigs were busy grunting out another war as usual… turning rivers into toilets and rails to hobo highways. 

A Change (of Course)

Coins melted into ingots lose their face and identity… but not their weight.  Paper is lighter… but more volatile.  Like swamp gas.  Thirty years after the war- and as far as Henry was concerned- the Battle of Gettysburg WAS the war- melted into bars, blooming costumed dancers in fractal patterns on a two-dimensional chessboard.  The value of paper was not the commodity it was supposed to represent- but for the information it could contain.  Now Tom turned Dart hard to the lee and Henry felt a bit woozy.  Nine foot waves could do that, and Henry concentrated on the words.  Change.  Small change.  Indeed… 

Henry was nearly 80 years old when he purchased a Baker Electric for Daisy’s theatre girls.  The Aristocrats of Motordom says the advertising.  Laughed so hard he spilled his beer.  That was a rare day for the crew.  However, this is in the future… more than 40 years after the war.  Henry had citizenship papers from other nation-states by then.  That is another story as well.  This is the gay 90s.  Gibson Girls and such.  The craftsmanship was outstanding.  In the Baker Electric that is.  Every bump and jar… every bullet and cut since the battle comes back now like a bad debt the Dutchman could not pay.  Want to go home.  Not today. Pipe them little red shoes.

To Say Nothing of the Dog.