Featured Article » Fiction
Water Conservation
The content of articles is available only to logged in members.
You can either Log In or subscribe.
In the mean time, a preview of this story is shown below. It's about the first half.
It might be said truthfully that in those days the young limbs of two branches of that great tree that is the House of Hapsburg were joyfully entwined.
—from The Flowering of a New Kingdom: The early reign of Ferdinand and Marianne in the Netherlandsby Carolus van Loon, University of Antwerp Press, 1702.
Queen Marianna strode quickly and triumphantly through the hallways in her home at Brussels. As they approached her suite in the royal apartments, she waved off her escorts, and bestowed a particularly warm smile on the young guardsman who opened the door to her suite for her.
When the door closed behind her, she spied a lone maid curtseying before her, and said, "Oh get up, Annette, and congratulate me. It was a fabulous victory! And in straight sets, too! You should have seen me fly across the court. I was magnificent today!" She carefully placed her tennis racket on the bench near the door and began dancing around the room.
Annette rose and replied, "Indeed, your majesty. That is marvelous, but I wondered why you were gone so long."
"Not so long as all that."
"But, you and his majesty do have a state luncheon today with the burghers, guild masters, and university rectors. The cardinal and his sister will be there as well. I am sure you must remember."
Looking around, the young queen saw the formal court dress lying on the bed, and asked, "And Susanna is . . . ?"
"Waiting for your command. I am to fetch her and the others at your return."
"I don't suppose I have time for a bath before I need to dress?"
"I think not, Your Majesty."
"Oh well," she sighed, "before you go, please help me out of my tennis costume and into a robe. I am quite warm and need to cool off before I get into all that." She pointed toward the elaborate gown and its attendant layers of clothing.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
****
As Annette knelt to begin untying her tennis shoes, Maria Anna removed her hat and let her mind wander. She thought again about missing the bath she'd been hoping for.
When Fernando saw the way the improved sanitation edicts inspired by the up-timers had saved lives inside the city during the siege of Amsterdam, he had issued decrees governing cleanliness and sanitation throughout the whole of his new kingdom. He had also thought to lead by example, and brought a team of up-timers from Grantville to install a very modern bathing chamber in the royal apartments while improving the plumbing in the palace.
She remembered the seemingly endless weeks of workmen moving walls, laying in pipes and drains, the nuisance of finding new quarters for some of the servants as the boiler and cisterns were inserted into the attics, and the construction of the very clever pump house. There was, however, the very rather peculiar suggestion of Herr Swiger's that their "Dutch mansion" would look "cute" with a windmill to run the pumps while they waited for the steam engine to be delivered and installed. Even she knew that a good team of oxen would be more dependable than the wind.
Her times relaxing in the very regal bathtub that had been installed had only been made more pleasurable by the gift of some scented "bubble bath" solution from one of the ladies in the Essen trade delegation some weeks back. Court gossips insisted that they "knew" she bathed for hours each day. In truth, she only indulged herself once or twice a week, if her schedule permitted, and she nearly felt like confessing to a sin, but she couldn't think of one that applied. Besides, she did get clean in body and relaxed in mind each time.
****
As she mused on the wonders of the finished bathing chamber, another thought occurred. Of course, the showering cabinet that Fernando somehow preferred to the bathtub.
"Annette, I would have time to take a shower, wouldn't I?"
"I suspect so, Your Majesty, if you didn't take too long."
"Excellent! Fetch my showering cap and help me cover my hair."
Quickly opening a wardrobe, Annette returned with a rather large, plain bonnet whose only benefit to the wearer was the fact that it was waterproof. Working together, the two soon covered the queen's hair and tied the several tapes and ribbons to close the cap close to her head.
"This will be the perfect solution," the queen said, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror.
Seeing her court dress reflected in ...
That ends the preview. Probably in the middle of a sentence. Sorry.