Morning all. This week is just chugging away isn’t it? At least that is the way it feels to me. Perhaps it is because my to do list is longer than usual. But regardless of the reason, we have arrived at the Wednesday prompt. So set the timers for fifteen minutes and lets see what sort of tales the above sentence stirs up.
Not quite where I thought this was going. I’m actually still not quite sure where it is going but I suspect Gavin is in for a disappointment.
Wednesday, April 9th: The theory was sound.
The theory was sound. All he needed was the means to test it. He looked over his notes. Nerves danced in his belly as he reread the lines he so carefully wrote. He double checked all his drawings hoping they were as clear as they could be for the laymen who would be looking them over. He knew that while Sir John liked to be seen as a grand patron and loved having his patronage talked about when the discoveries became known, he was not a scholar himself.
Gavin was fairly certain one of the reasons he funded the endeavors of others was so that he would appear to be more scholarly. Gavin took a deep breath. All was in order. His theory had merit and the testing of it wouldn’t prove too financially draining for Sir John while providing spectacular results.
‘I hope,’ Gavin thought. He shook his head banishing negative thoughts.
“The theory is sound, the testing not onerous and the results well worth bragging about by association,” he repeated to himself.
He carefully gathered his papers, stacking them neatly and putting them into a leather folio to keep them neat and orderly. The time was here. He straightened his tunic and placed his hat on his head. He lifted his folio and realized he was clutching it to his chest like a treasured infant. He relaxed his grip, holding the folio instead by his side as he made his way from his quarters to the receiving room. Or more accurately the line into the receiving room.
Gavin took his place.
There was an order to the line. Those with legal complaints were seen too first. Those with agricultural needs second. Town issues third, religious fourth and those seeking funding for scientific endeavors fifth. Gavin took his place behind a pair of robed monks. They ignored him. Gavin didn’t take it personally. Several years prior there had been a clash or religion and science and Sir John solved it by always making certain to hear out those with religious complaints before those involved in th sciences. They didn’t feel slighted and more importantly could not claim the Sir John was spending excess on scientific research at the expense of those in need throughout his district.
If the priests and monks found a need they could bring it to him well before any funding for scientific endeavors was even proposed. While it settled the arguments, those of a religious bend chose to think their placement made them better and they ignored anyone in line for scientific reasons.
Gavin didn’t mind. If, when, his theory was tested, the results should help them in their endeavors just as much as it would help everyone else. If they needed to ignore him now he was fine with it.
‘Besides I doubt I’d be able to make coherent small talk.’ His nerves were still jumping despite his earlier pep talk and the points he would need to make to ensure funding were swimming though his mind leaving no room for polite commentary on the weather or the latest harvest.
The line proceeded forward slowly. It wasn’t a long line today, but to Gavin’s mind those meeting with Sir John were being unnecessarily wordy. He took a deep breath.
‘I wouldn’t want to shorten my audience wither,’ he told himself. He decided to count the tiles in the floor mosaic as he passed in order to keep his mind calm.
Ten til Midnight 