Snippet: On Fridges and Electricity

-

“Should we have fridges? Or is that the designers being lazy again?” Lynn whispered. She removed the cream and poured some into two old fashioned glasses. “You said that you saw a coffee liquor?”

The grandfather clock in the other room read eleven past midnight. The party had wound down, and as usual, Lynn and I were the last ladies standing. I passed her the liquor. “Well Ben Franklin did his kite thing in the seventeen hundreds. So electricity wouldn’t be impossible. But this feels like they’re stretching things. Still. Still, this is such a relief. I hadn’t been in the kitchen before today. I guess that’s the luxury of being a lady. Where do they keep the vodka?”

“You have gin. I have vodka.” Lynn produced a flask from her bodice.

“Don’t you have a bodice dagger?” I asked as she added the liquor and the vodka to each glass. 

“No. I consider it a show of faith in my bodyguard. Here we go, two white Russians.”

“There’s no Russia here. I say we call it a Thulean Winter.” I said.

“Thulean Winter it is then. Do you think they have batteries? Or generators?”

“I don’t. But I could be wrong. I’ve been wrong a lot of this sort of thing a lot. Like, a lot a lot. And it’s not them, it’s us. We are Yssian now. There is no way back. I think of Ossedei as home. I have a real life here. So do you.”

“No, serious topics when we’re this drunk. That’s against the rules.” Lynn said.

“Sorry, my bad.” Lynn handed me the drink as I finished speaking. I downed the glass.

“You don’t think that we have generators or batteries?” Lynn asked.

“We still have candles. Even oil lamps are lit by hand. If we had generators or batteries, we’d see flashlights and electric lighting and that sort of thing.”

“Are you sure?” Lynn took a slug of her drink.

“I mean, I’m pretty sure. But I don’t know. But no radios. No electric lights. No switches. The refrigerator is the first sign of electricity I’ve seen.”

“We have telegraphs!” Lynn said, raising her index finger. “I got to send some messages by telegraph, that’s electric isn’t it?”

“I think so.” I picked up the coffee liquor and poured roughly an ounce into the old fashioned glass. “That still makes electricity rare. If Castle Octavian only has electricity in the kitchen, and only for the fridge, that says it’s not common.”

“True. True. But this- this opens up so many possibilities. We could introduce so many inventions by giving ideas to smart people. I should start collecting crafts people for projects. I’m Baroness. I can do that.”

“You can.” 

“I feel like I should cackle like a mad scientist or a Bond villain now.”

“Everyone else is asleep.” I said. “Go for it.”


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chapter 1: The Proposal

-
Image
“Explain to me again why you’re marrying him?” I said. “He’s a total creep and raging misogynist to boot.”  I stared at Lynn with set shoulders as I waited for her response. Lynn glared at me over the laptop. I met her gaze and refused to blink. Lynn was my best friend. We had known each other since kindergarten. We shared nearly everything in common, except our taste in boys. Rain pounded on the windows of the girl’s academic dormitory, and I could actually feel the wind shifting the building. Outside, lightning spiderwebbed across the sky, and then the thunder rattled the windows. I hadn’t had time to draw a breath between lightning and thunder.  Lynn shook her head. “I’m marrying him because that’s how it is. That’s who I marry. Period. No way around it.” I picked up my wine glass and paused. Was it my wine glass? It couldn’t be Lynn’s. She was holding hers. But we were the last two girls standing tonight. Lindsay was asleep on the couch. We had held Sophie’s hair out of th...
Read more

Chapter 2: Waking Up

-
Image
I woke up lost in an enormous and luxurious four poster bed. I stretched, enjoying the feel of silk sheets against my skin. I lay, basking in the indulgence of my morning, until the reality of my situation landed on me like an avalanche.   I bolted up to a sitting position. Whose bed was this? This couldn't be my bed. My bed was a dormitory special. It was a single sized bed with a mattress that might as well be cardboard. I looked around. I did not see my dorm room. I did not see the dorm common room where I last remembered sitting next to Lynn.  Instead, I saw an opulent room decorated in a mix of regency and medieval styles. The styles clashed in strange ways. The walls were medieval brickwork overlaid with tapestries. The tops and bottoms of the brickwork were overlaid with crown molding. And the furniture was a mix of Victorian romance and crusader castle. The room looked gorgeous, but it made no sense.  And then I noticed the next thing. I didn’t have a hangove...
Read more

Chapter 3: Getting Dressed

-
Image
Once Amy had brushed my hair out, she helped control my curls by putting them in a waterfall braid. This kept the top of my head under control, but let the rest hang down in loose curls. I’d never had hair this long. It should have felt heavier than it did, I thought. Was that because I was in a game world? I didn’t know.  Next came make-up. Amy helped me apply an anachronistic moisturizer, followed by a primer. She then applied liquid foundation, concealer, and foundation powder. I was getting the whole treatment I realized. I waited as she worked through bronzer, blush, and highlighter. I realized she hadn’t asked for my input. I wondered if the rival had a default make-up or if the rival had instructed Amy on what kind of make-up she should apply? Or maybe the game just provided the rival with a single look. Either way, I let her carry on. She was doing an amazing job, so I wasn’t worried. Eye shadow came next, and Amy applied a dramatic gold eye shadow. I loved it. These weren’...
Read more