Bang, Clang, and lots of Dang.

based on a dream i had, and a twist of imagination. I end up going from hobbiest to blacksmith, to a 'just how the hell am i here?' moment.

Bang, Clang, and lots of Dang.

 

Based on a very vivid dream I had recently. Places and names are fake, so no worries there.

 

 

 

Chapter 1

                A little preparation, and expected perspiration.

 

 

                I backed the trailer that my friend was loaning me up next to his barn, where we had previously set it all up. It would take a while to break it all down, but it would be worth it. It sure seemed like a long way to go for an experimental medieval fair concept… but since they were paying me good, and helping me with supplies, I had decided to take the whole month plus off. The contract I signed, like that which every other performer had to agree to, had me paid far more than my regular gig as a security officer, even with my side jobs.  I was to be a blacksmith in this village that a rather wealthy fella had decided to build and see if he could run. The locals at least had done a lot of the construction, and I had spent the last two months on the internet looking at designs and adding my two cents when his group sent me pictures and notes. It was not exactly what I would have designed, but the good news was that while they had the basics there, including a supply of coal and bellows style blowers, he was going to bend the rules of strictly adhering to historical accuracy so I could also have an electric blower and access to grinders and such. The building also had a second story which was where I was going to bed down for the month or so that I was supposed to be there. I say or so, because I was required to show up almost a week before almost everyone else, so I could help make props and other ‘tools’ for some of the other shops. It really sounded like an amazing opportunity. Especially when I had started this just as a casual hobby for s***s and giggle. Now I was being brought in as a ground level part of the community. We were to have weavers, tailors, restaurants, and just about everything a mid to dark ages community would have creamed their jeans for. All I had to do was twice a day give a demonstration, and other than that, I was likely to keep busy making things for the ‘village’. Little did I know how much work that would really be, or how entertaining it would turn out to be.

                “…so he built a forge, but couldn’t find an anvil? How is that possible?” Eric asked as we carried my anvil deep into the trailer, so that it would be centered and not cause it to be off at an angle.

                “Well, the way I understand it, he had people out shopping not just the local scenes, but even on the internet, and had no luck. Either people wanted way too much, or it was some crap cast piece not meant for real use.” I huffed as we slowly set it down. “And besides… we spent so much time redoing this one… I have gotten used to it. I am taking the whole set up, just in case. If something goes wrong with the built in forge, I can fall back on the old one we built here. I mean, ya… it might not be period, being as it was built out of a Colman grill, but hell… look at all the stuff we did with it.”

                He wiped the sweat off his head and nodded, also huffing. A couple of us fat boys used to use messing around on the forge as an excuse for socializing and drinking. Was it the most responsible thing? Hell no. And we knew it. We knew we got lucky that no one had ever gotten hurt or anything gone wrong. Usually all that happened was at some point, someone would accidentally unplug the blower, and suddenly we would all become engineers, trying to find the problem. Most of the time, it was just me, while they stood by drinking as I made one thing or another. I had sold a few small pieces, mostly neck knives, and a few candle holders. Most of what I made was recycling old pieces of scrap metal we found, and using charcoal from the store. It was amazing that I ever ended up with any product of quality of any kind. Now it would have real coal, and a real forge. I spent the last month and a half getting lists together of projects to work on, and supplies I needed. Most of the tools I would be bringing myself, but I was being supplied with iron rod, and even a list of projects they wanted as well.

                “Ok, now… don’t forget, we will be down to visit with the kids in three weeks, and we do expect you to come out to dinner with us at least once while we are there.” Eric added as we were loading the last of the tools, as well as several boxes of other supplies that had recently been delivered for me to look over before I headed down.

                “Yep, I already let them know about it, and they said it was fine. Oh… hey, did I tell you? He suggested a couple of local teens that are supposed to act as my apprentices for the demonstrations… well, if I understand correctly, they are actors and are likely just gonna stand around and maybe act as hawkers and pass the hat for me.”

                “Right on… you get your own little gophers… nice man.”

                I just nodded as we moved a few totes around that had my costumes and work clothes in them. I was so glad he had this spare trailer for me to use for a while. It would be parked along with my jeep behind the fence right there in the village. Most of us who had agreed to stay on grounds got fenced off areas to relax in, as well as park in. I managed to pull a second spot just for me because I had explained that if I needed to I might need to take the trailer out to pick up supplies. It was a bullshit excuse, but it worked.

               

                Several hours later, we had loaded everything I could think of ever needing, and several things that Eric and several others had suggested. I even was bringing some hunting gear, since I was told there might be some good deer not far away. A couple of other firearms were going to come with me, as well as toys and electronics. After all, the village was basically open after sun up, and ran till sun down. No set particular hours. As someone who had done many Ren fairs, and other fairs as well, it was weird not to have set hours. But as I would find out, this was just the beginning of the things that would set it apart from anything else I had done in the past.

 

Chapter 2

 

                As many of us in this world know, billionaires have a tendency to be a bit eccentric. This was no less true when it came to Mr. McMillian. The difference was one of how he choose to be eccentric. In his case, he liked to follow dreams, and see where those lead him. He had plenty of failures to his name, but so many more successes. These successes included investing in medical research, buying property, and even both educational and entertaining resources. His family often complained that he spent so much time with each new project that he did for fun. At one point he had decided to learn all about Egypt and its history, in another case he thought he might be the next Dali llama, until he met the current one, and got bored. He was a producer of many shows, and owned production companies in seven countries.

                To say the least, he was diverse in his interests. It was one such adventure that drew him into our story. While in town for several meetings with the lead of his holdings in the town, he was talked into checking out the local scene and familiarizing himself with the area. He dressed down, rented a minivan, and decided it was a good idea. He found a building that was over a hundred years old, and was once the old courthouse. He stumbled into one of the best little dive bars he had the pleasure to experience (even though he almost needed stitches when it got a little rowdy). But the diamond in the rough that he found was the annual Medieval Festival that he found out at the county fairgrounds. There were performers from around the region doing what they do. At first he shrugged it off as just another carnival, but soon he was cheering at a stage show which was a comedy spoof on Hamlet. While wandering about, he examined the handmade crafts that varied from the most gentile silk scarves and garments to the toughest armor he had ever seen. There were singers, food, and an energy of amazement that emanated from both the patrons and the performers both.

                “This… how long does it last?” he asked a lady that was busy braiding a little girl’s hair with ribbons and flowers, while motioning all about them.

                “The hair or the fair my liege?”

                “Oh… the fair.” He nodded. Then with a lilt in his voice he changed his answer.”Well, both come to think of it…”

                “The fair haired patron will get a week out of a good artistic braid. But the hair of the fair only lasts two days.” She said with a cadence and a smile.

                “Then what?” he said never letting his eyes leave her talented hand as she wove and braided the girls hair.

                “Not to be crass, nor myself make an a*s… but whatever do you mean, sir?”

                “Do you just go home, or to another fair?”

                “Personally speaking, I go home, to my family, but in a few weeks, I do return to the road, and find my fingers busy again with warp an weft at another site. But there are many who make a living on the road from one fair to another. Personally, this is just a hobby that makes me a little extra cash.” She had left the cadence and prose behind, but not her smile.

                “Interesting. How long does the longest fair go?” he pried.

                “I hear there is one in Texas that goes for eight weekends.” She nodded.

                “Nothing through the week though?”

                “There might be, I’m afraid I don’t know though.” She offered a mirror to the little girl so she could see the complexness of her handiwork. The little girl bounced up and down in her seat and thanked the hair mistress as they went to the front to pay. She then turned and looked him in the eyes. “Are you a recruiter or something?”

                “Definitely ‘or something’ only for now, but I am getting ideas.” They swapped business cards and hearty handshakes.

 

                Conversations like that continued, and McMillan was rapidly collecting information as several ideas coalesced in his mind. It would be a week later that he would set down with several of his friends, his adopted brother, and a handful of others that he would bring in on a project the size of what he had in mind.

 

                “I would like to propose a new idea to you folks. And let me re-iterate what I often have before. I welcome input, but all decisions will ultimately be mine…” and he proceeded to tell of his time at the fair, and how he was so impressed with the knowledge of some of the vendors as well as performers. He barely skimmed across the memories still fresh in his mind, as well as the research he had done since on his own. “As you can see, there are other groups who have built real sites and a few who operate various times of the year, but none who are year round without break. I of course am not suggesting anything that would rival Disney or anything like that, but something like SilverDollarCity or DollyLand. The difference being the time that we are aiming for. I want to do late dark ages to early or medieval times. A time where honor of the knights and before the creativity of the renaissance and the Tudors. I am envisioning it as a large village, maybe even an early city. We will have everything from an old style church, to a blacksmith, a stable, and everything that would go with it. I would like to aim for about a month straight, so that at the end of it, the people can go home and we will evaluate if it would be worth extending it to a longer time. We have a great location in Missouri, not far from one of the college towns, and that will be good for cheap labor as well as performers and hired hands for the booths. We should be able to bring in performers at a top end price, and I foresee that due to the amount of time we will be open, and with very low entrance fees, we will get more repeat business than normal fairs. Plus I want to build an inn that we can have people emersed in the culture and they will be privy to an inside look at the village after it closes. I know insurance on something like this will be very prohibitive, and I offer to cover that with my own finances. We will need a medical team or two, plus security. We can use local construction companies, as well as our own in house groups. Have the architect’s research and draw up the plans with my help. What do you say?”

                The room was unusually silent.

                “Nothing? No questions? No problems?” he sat down after talking for the better part of an hour straight.

                “Well sir, we know that you like to do things kinda spur of the moment, and find inspiration where we never would have even known to look… but this is kind of out there.” One of his assistants offered. “I mean, you are wanting to build a town… sort of out in the middle of nowhere, and what? ‘if you build it they might come’ the whole thing?”

 

Chapter 3

 

                One day while searching the help wanted ads, I came across an ad for Armed Security at a long term Medieval fair that was going to be sort of nearby. The pay rate sounded good and I decided to apply. Upon following the instructions, I found myself at a site that was very professionally done, to the point of wondering if it was part of some larger site. After nosing around and reading the job description in detail, it was clear that I would make more in three months with this job than I would in nearly five at the unarmed that I was currently at. And I wouldn’t have to keep working side jobs or spend my time making things for random people as part of one of my many hobbies. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my hobbies, but I seldom had spare cash, and what I did usually went back into supplies. The supplies for Leatherworking, Blacksmithing, Knife making, and a few other favorites were a bit more costly than I had figured, but I was lucky to have friends who helped support me, and would often by my stuff, as well as tell their other friends and family about me, and would help line up orders for me to fill in my free time. One thing I prided myself on was that while my products were seldom pretty, they were very sturdy.

                The application online was one that was very detailed. It was not a surprise, since I had put in many such applications for security, which I had been doing now for the better part of 13 years. When it got down to the section that I had gotten used to being the end, it actually asked about hobbies, which I enjoyed filling in so much. It was rare these days to find a company who was curious what it’s people did outside of work.

                Having killed almost two hours filling it out, and then filling out the 200 plus questions that I believed to be some sort of a personality test, I had decided it was time to play some World of Warcrack. I got on and spent some time running around with my friends. It was sort of a daily thing for me at this point. It was my way to relax if I didn’t have any projects that needed to get done.

                I wouldn’t hear back from them for several days, which when I did ever hear back on any of my applications, I was surprised as it was.

                “Good afternoon, I was calling for…” and he listed off my full name and address, which told me it was likely a response from one of my applications I had out. “Is he available?”

                “Yes sir. That would be me. How may I help you?”

                “My name is McMillian of McMillian international, and I see that you applied for the security position at the Medieval fair, is that right?” he asked.

                Needless to say, the fact that the owner was actually calling me himself was a bit intimidating. “Yes, I was looking forward to an opportunity to get out of town for a bit, make some good money, and hopefully make some good connections…”

                “Ya, listen… about your hobbies… do you really do Blacksmithing?” he asked while cutting me off.

                “Um… yes sir. But only as a hobby. Mostly small stuff like knives and stuff that size since my little forge is not really set up for anything larger.” I answered, completely thrown from my usual calm phone interview discussions.

                “Ok, well, I think we might be in a position to help each other out then. I need a Smith for my village, and I can pay you well. We will need to hash out some more details, but I need to know if you would be amenable to further discussions about this.” He said directly.

                “Would this be in addition to the position as security?” I asked, still more than slightly confused by the whole event.

                “Grizzly… may I call you that? It says here on your application that is a known nickname…”

                “Uh… yes, you may.”

                “Good. Grizzly… you will make more money being my village blacksmith, and will likely be an integral part of the whole project. Do you have experience with fairs like this?” he asked.

                I found I was rather enjoying the idea of working for someone who didn’t sit behind fancy speeches and got straight to the point like this guy did. There was not room in his conversation so far for fluff. And he wasn’t relying on fancy jargon or behind double talk like most corporate folks that I had dealt with in the past. “Yes sir, I started at the kc ren fest when I was six years old, and have participated in many aspects of fairs across much of the mid west. From Minnesota to Texas, from phoenix to Michigan. I have done everything from calligraphy, sword fighting, run games, street performance, and even was a magician for a while. I studied Tech Theater, and was planning on a major in theater, minor in teaching at one point.”

                “Well, sounds like I found my man to help me out. I have my management staff all picked out, but I would like to pay you to consult with us as we set up and build the site, and then you will have a building on site yourself to be the village blacksmith. How does a minimum of two demonstrations a day, with a couple of assistants and at least an opinion on the way we do much of the daily things in the village sound to you?” he asked.

                “Well, it sounds awesome to be honest. If I didn’t know better, I would say you were pulling my leg. It kinda sounds too good to be true.”

                “Oh don’t get me wrong, there will be a lot of work I will expect from you. But if someone works hard for me, I take care of them. That’s how I built all my companies. In fact I was rated as second in the nation for benefits and pay among privately owned companies. If you would be interested, I will have my people work up a contract, and get it sent overnight to you. Would that work for you?” McMillian asked.

                “Yes sir.” I said grinning from ear to ear. I was sure he could hear my smile through the phone.

                “Good, I will have one of my assistants get on the line, and confirm all your info, and we will get it right out to you. Let me say, this is a huge relief on my part, and I can’t wait to get this thing going.” He added “Did you have any other questions at this time?”

                “Well, this is all kind of the sudden, so I don’t have much, but I’m sure I will have quite a few shortly as this all sinks in. I do have one though...”

                “By all means, please ask”

                “I applied for security. My background, professionally speaking, is in security. What made you think to ask me about blacksmithing? I mean, there are plenty of guys out there that have much more experience than me, and even some making a real living at it. So, why me?”

                “A very good question, and I believe you deserve the honest truth. We would likely have hired or at least looked into you as an officer. But the truth is this. We did talk to quite a few professional Smiths, and even a handful of hobbyists. The difference is simply. They have other jobs, and or family obligations that prevented them from stepping away for a couple months at a time. Most of the part timers, and yes we thought about have several with staggered schedules, just could not dedicate enough time to really make it work. We considered going without one entirely, but when I envision the village, I could not without the classic crafters. And I wanted authenticity. So having someone that can basically live on site for the duration… I am willing to put a little more into that type of person.  I know that it will make the whole thing more unique, more genuine, and more believable. And in the end, it is a fantasy we are selling to the visitors, and even though it is my version of the fantasy, I still want what I want. After all, it was the fantasy that had me create all this. I want children to be in a state of wonder. I want adults to be in a state of joy. Oh, and of course, I want the opportunity to milk our fair share out of their wallet. It is after all a business.” He had an absolute lilt to his voice. You could hear how excited just thinking about it made him. He was clearly one of those people, where others fell into his personality and drive, making the better into the best.

                “I like that.” I know, ridicules… but that was all I could come up with.

                “Very good. I will put you on hold then, and my assistant will be on to get the details sorted.” And there was a click, then some hold music which was soon replaced by a young man’s voice. We chatted for a several minutes, just as he had said. We went over basic expectations, addresses, names and that info. I was to get the package, fill out the papers, and there was to be a second copy for my personal files, as well as a return envelope so I could overnight it back to the office. As the assistant was talking, he had informed me that there would likely be additional info in the packet that would help me as a consultant. Everything from a new email address, access and security information so I could reach Mr. McMillian, and he could reach me as well.  There was even talk of a private blackberry or laptop that might be included, so that we could hold virtual meetings, and share other info. Nothing confirmed yet, since the assistant wanted to talk with him first to establish what packet of supplies and other papers were to be sent.

                “…and I think that is all I need, thank you sir. The package will be in the mail overnighted inside of the hour, and I would expect that you should see it if not tomorrow, then the next day.” The young mans voice came back.

                “Alrighty, thanks again.” I was still smiling.

                I put down the phone, having less than a quarter of a charge left on it. Still unable to believe that I had such an opportunity fall in my lap.

                “Better not f**k this up!” I told myself.

 

Chapter 4

 

                I was sitting around my buddies kitchen table with him while the kids ran around, chasing the kittens, and being chased by the months old dogs he had just gotten. I sipped on some coffee his wife had made up for us, as he read the packet that I had gotten earlier that day. I was normally pretty on it when it came to Fair participant contracts, and even for employment agreements. This one was at least four times thicker than any I had seen before. And along with that I had received a tablet pc, with dedicated internet capabilities built in. There was also a temporary employee ID, and a PayCard. They way I had understood it from initially reading the packet, I would have to call a certain local building here in town that he owned and operated, confirm my employment with them as they were expecting, and then go in with my ID and card to start my health benefits as well as get everything else started. The tablet PC was for me to look over what they had planned for the forge, the villiage, and even the over all designs and to start putting in my suggestions. It turned out to have floorplans to every building they had planned, and some extra ones that were still being discussed. It even had a program on it that I could edit them in if I had some ideas. It was looking at the building I was going to be in on it, while Rig was going over the contract.

                “Looks legit to me. I mean, it’s wordy, and heavily protects them from indemnity and liability… but seems like just what I would expect. Near as I can tell, you got a good thing here.” Rig said as he finished the last page and set it down, rubbing his eyes.

                “So, if you were in my situation… you would be making the call first thing tomorrow as well?” I asked.

                “From what I read there, you could call that eight hundred number right now, get your stuff activated, and make your way to the office tomorrow first thing.” He said while yawning.

                “And nothing caught your eye to be aware of?!” I said smiling.

                He simply shook his head, and got up and refilled his mug. I still thought it was immensely funny that his wife had found a coffee mug with ‘Worlds Second best Dad’ on it as a gag a couple of Christmas’s ago and that he was still using it. We all knew it was just a lark. Sitting back down he rubbed his eyes again and nodded quietly. “Dude, if you don’t take advantage of a situation like this, I will beat your a*s. Get me?”

                “Ya… beat yo a*s…” his daughter parroted from the other room. A short moment later we heard “But daddy says it…why can’t I?” then “Sorry daddy. I won’t say that again…” she was almost sobbing. 

                To say the least I was on the boarder of breaking out laughing. “Her… vocabulary… is surely expanding. Bet the teachers are loving that…”

                Rig looked over his shoulder at the doorway to the living room and nodded, slowly looking back at me.

                “I will head outside and make the call, I guess I should give my two weeks notice, since by that schedule, I should be heading out in less than a month.” I said happily. I got up, picked up the packet, the ID, and stepped out the back door to make the call.

                It wasn’t a long call, and was basically just confirming several things that they already had pulled from my application, and read back the ID numbers. Within minutes I heard “Welcome to the McMillan family sir. We will be expecting you between 8 and 9 am, to activate your cards, and to do the fingerprinting and indoctrination procedures. We will contact Mr. McMillans assistant and let them know that you are on board.” I thanked her, and hung up the phone.

                “You know, you could probably wait another week or so before putting in your notice. Get double pay, and save up for your trip. Might not be a bad idea man.” Rig added as he was finishing off his coffee.

                I nodded in agreement. It was actually a very good idea. I still had a lot to do. I would make spare copies of my apartment keys so Rig and a couple others could get in and check things while I was gone. I was going to check on local hunting regulations, and start a supply list, as well as having to figure out what I was taking with me. In the packet it talked about dorm like area being built for those staying on site. I would have to ask about why my building had a second story then if I wasn’t using it.

 

                My time at the corporate office downtown was short and sweet. I basically showed up, had my fingerprints taken, and just a quick signature or two, and I was on my way back out. I received a message as I was leaving, that Mr. McMillan was wanting to do a conference call on the tablet. Since I was unsure of how, I asked the lady I was dealing with at the office. She pointed out that it was simple, and printed off instructions for me. Looking at it, it was actually fairly easy to do with the software that was preloaded on it. Basically I just had to open one, and adjust the setting for local service. No big deal. I also saw that I had my first email on the new account. It was nothing special, but a greeting and welcoming me to the family. As soon as I got home, I logged onto the program, and soon enough I was looking at the face of my new employer.

                He was a younger man than I had envisioned, and was wearing a casual t-shirt and seemed to be on an elliptical work out machine. I was guessing that he was having someone hold the camera or tablet on his side. Mine was set up on a stand that I cobbled together out of stuff around the house.

                “Just about done, Grizzly… one sec.” he smiled as he finished and toweled off. The camera followed him around the room. It looked like his office was the size of my apartment or even bigger. With the shades drawn, I couldn’t see where he was, but it looked brighter than it was at my place, so I figured he might be out east. “Ok, I received everything on my end, and my people are content that you are with us. Did you need a few days to settle things with your current employer? I don’t want to rush you too much.” He said as he kicked his feet up on the desk, and was signing some papers that a set of hands had handed him as he looked away from the camera.

                “Well sir, if it’s ok with you, I was going to put in my two or three weeks notice today, so I can help train my replacement, and get things settled on my end. I figure a lot of what I read in the packet, as scheduled would be things I could do while sitting at my post, or from home before or after work.”

                “First off, no need to call me sir. Christopher or Chris is fine. And yes, I would like you to not burn bridges, since this is at least a seasonal job at best for right now. If we decide to expand it, or extend your contract, we can cross that bridge later. For now, I agree with you.  Now, let’s look over what we have so far… Mike…” he motioned and soon the camera switched and we were both watching a fully 3d rendering of the village, spinning and moving on several axis. It was zooming in and out to different features and buildings as we watched. “Ok, now as you can see, my plan is to basically rebuild the town of Sherwood England as it was in about the mid 1500’s or so according to my research. We will of course make a few changes, like the roads will be wider, to accommodate both the idea of customers, as well as if there is an emergency, we can get fire trucks and such in. This will also serve to make construction, and security patrols easier. Make sense so far?”

                I simply nodded, then realizing he may not be able to see that, I added. “Absolutely. What about for resupplying the food shops and letting the vendors drive right up to their shops as well?”

                “See, that’s what I was thinking too. We are going with cobblestone roads, to keep things period. But it will be over a layer of asphalt to keep it from forming troughs and furrows. As for customer parking, we are leaving that grass and gravel for now. If this works out, we may pave or gravel the whole area. The employee parking will be behind the whole village…” he added as the 3d spun to show a more modern building splayed lower than the fence and gate at the rear of the area. “This will be the local office, as well as housing the first aid and security offices. Behind the main duty building will be the Dorms, and the employee parking.”

                “So no parking on site?” I asked.

                “Why would anyone need to?”

                “Well, in the past, many fairs would fence off or otherwise visually hide areas for vendor and boothrats to hide their vehicles on site. It would act as secondary storage, as well as those who use their vehicles as campers. In my experience, this was a good idea, because it would keep more eyes close to the booths to deter theft and if they needed to make a run to town for supplies, it would be easier than having to hike hells half acre and then drive the supplies in, then back out to park and hike back in. See what I mean?” I asked.

                “I hadn’t thought about that. Good idea. I will get with our people and see what they can work up. Maybe some gated off areas for those vendors, like yourself who will be staying on site, others who are coming in and out at different times will just have to settle for parking out in employee area.” There was a pause as he was spinning the image again. Soon enough he was zooming it in to the center of the village, and was turning it back and forth. “Ya, I can see it. We may lose a couple of shops, but we could build zones behind certain areas that would also serve to store supplies. Things like coolers and smokers. Things like that.”

                “And performer rest areas. Plenty of water and shade for them to take breaks in. if you put at least one per ‘block’ you can keep them on the streets longer and they won’t have to make a run for the back employee dorm just for a break. That’s how many of the fairs I’ve worked had it set up.” I touched the pad, and quickly noticed a dot where my finger was. “Oh… sorry. Was just looking at it.”

                “That’s ok. What was on your mind? Please feel free to speak.”

                As I swiped my finger I noticed that the image spun as well. It was interactive. Very cool. “Well, if I might ask, where is the forge going to be?”

                “Right here….” He zoomed in the image, and as it turned out, I was not far from the very center of the village, right across from the main town building and the church near it. He zoomed in further and showed how it was a two story with a very open lower floor. So open that I didn’t see the forge at all.

                “I see the building, but where is the forge itself?”

                “Ahhh.. I was getting to that. Like minds it seems. I have yet to find a suitable design for a period forge, and was going to ask for your input on this. There should be an editing program on your tablet, in the next day or two, if you could work up a supply list, and edit the floor plan for us, that would be great. You and the guy I got for the stable are going to have free reign to design. Speaking of which, do you know anything about making horse shoes and installing them?”

                “I’m afraid not. I can learn, but never had an option for that.”

                “Fair enough. Well, I need to cut this short for now. If you would get me that design, at least an initial version, and a supply list, that will be great.”

                “Very good, Chris. I will get right to work on that. One question though…” I started.

                “Only one, I expect there will be many more, but shoot.”

                “By supply list, what do you mean? I mean, I have some tools, and my halfassed forge. If I am to build one on site, that would be awesome. And I only have so much scrap metal and charcoal right now. Is that something you can provide me cheaply? Or should I shop around and bring that with me?” I asked.

                “Just as I had expected, many questions. For now lets just say… imagine how you want the building, and what supplies you would see as a minimum, and lets go with also a supply sheet that would be what you would expect to go through in say… a two months time, working steady sun up to just before sun down. Not busting your a*s, but putting on a good show. Plus a variety of projects for the village like decorations, tools, and other ideas like that. In fact, you might wish to start putting a list together of projects you would like to do, and that you might expect would have actually been done back then. Make sense now?” the picture of the village had disappeared, and now he was fully dressed in a nice suit.

                “Yeppers. I will get right on it, and get it to you. I see I can just save it to the tablet, and ‘send packet’… is that right?”

                He threw a big smile and two thumbs up. “That would be the way we work. Have a good day, and can’t wait to see your work.” And the screen went blank.

                I was a bit intimidated, but also so very excited. As the minutes passed, the excitement took over, as did the feeling of being back in school. Back when I put together big projects like set designs, light designs and such for my Tech Theater classes.

 

                After several hours of looking for supplies online, and thumbing through my books on smithing and knife making… I had a preliminary list ready. And yes… it was much longer than I thought it would be. I also made a list of what I had already that I could bring with me, and even a third list of projects that I could think about making. Among the latter list was a list of tools that would also fit one the first list. It seemed very circular in thinking, and then somewhere in the back of my mind it occurred to me why it seemed so. It was because many of the tools that a professional blacksmith (especially a historical one) would have he would have made himself. I did put a few things on the first list that I had to consider due to being used in front of the public. Things like a treadle powered grinding stone instead of a 8” table top grinder. Some things I just didn’t know how to do in a traditional way (I had hoped that there might be an area behind the shop that I could have some power tools like a drill press and several others. Then I also included several that I thought would be fun to mess around with… like color case hardening with oil, and etching with vinegar. It was fun, but I didn’t want to get over my head in projects. I did laugh about how many nails a regular smith would have made back in the day, so I knew that it should make some of those as well. The usual fair sales stuff like spoons and split tine forks, and things like that. I even prepared a short note on how many of the same products could be used in a civil war/cowboy/or other reenactment situation as well.

 

                I hit send on the packet, just as I was getting ready to time out from my shift. I had told my supervisor that I was going up to the office after that to put in my notice, and that she should plan on training my replacement soon. When she asked what I was going to do, I just smiled and said “Well, all I can say at this point… is that a dream opportunity has fallen into my lap, and I am gonna do my best to grab it with both hands and run with it.”

                “That’s rather vague….” She added.

                “Well, you have me on FB… I will post something about it when I am able. For now… just wish me luck, ok?” I ask

                She just nodded and waved me on out of the shack.

               

Chapter 5

 

                “Ok, so I see here that you had a good time making the list. Is it bare bones, or is this like the deluxe version?” McMillan asked.

                “Somewhere in the middle. As you may have noted, I do have some of the stuff from the first list already, and can come up some of the rest fairly easily.” I added.

                “We noticed that as well. What would you need right now to prep before heading to the villiage?” he asked.

                “Well, I suppose travel expenses… just kidding. I have a friend who said that I could borrow his trailer to bring up my tools and such. If you were serious about setting up parking behind the shop, that would be awesome if I could have room for one or the other. Aside from that, I guess the only other thing I see right now to answer that would be… where am I going to sleep?” I asked the question, hoping that he would not say the barracks style dorms, but instead the shop so I could keep an eye on tools and other supplies.

                “Good question. I like the way you think. The second story will act as both a workshop and apartment. I see also that you did a rough draft of the layout… are you comfortable with it as a working space?”

                “Well, on paper at least, yes. I would have to give it a try. I am heading out to my buddies farm, and we were talking about doing a layout with string and sticks to see if the measurements are feasible. I’d like to try that first, if that’s ok.” I crossed my fingers under the table, hoping for good results.

                “If that is what would work best for you, then go for it. Just get back to me as soon as you can.” He waved and logged off.

 

                My buddy and I were out back by the barn, trying not to trip over the string and such that we had laid out. There were several times that we had moved things around and around just to finally have things the way that I was comfortable with.  The lay out would be both effective in terms of use as well as putting on displays. Since the digital layout that I had seen was one of the smithy had it open on the face, as well as one corner. The opposite corner was actually closed in, and from what I could tell, it was for shade. I had imagined where the anvil was to be, and all the other tools. Some would be permanently mounted to stumps and others would be mobile so we could move them around as needed by project. Soon enough I was also thinking about the fact that I would likely not be the only one staying overnight, and how back when I was a kid, the smithy was always a social center for those of us that stayed on site at different fairs. I decided that I would plan ahead for this, and that we would have a table, and several benches planned into the design, so after hours we could gather around the forge for warmth, light, and good conversations. I also included that I would want a trashcan out back that could be emptied as we needed it. I also planned for a large sealed metal container for the spare coal out back so I would have fuel on site, and that we would only need deliveries about once a week or two weeks. Things were looking good for the overall plan. I took pictures of the layout with the tablet, and sent them off along with notes about the coal bin, trash can, and everything else we figured out. I had made plans to bring some basic woodworking tools with me as well, for making handles for tools and whatever else my little mind found fit. I figured I might have to make the benches and things like that.

               

               

 

Chapter 6

 

                After a nearly eight hour drive, which wasn’t bad if you count the fact that I had to stop for fuel a few more times than I had planned for. Turns out his truck was fine for pulling cars, or horses… but the fuel effeciancy dropped like a rock with anvils, hammers, coal, and all the other metal that was crammed in the trailer. Luckily there were no tire/suspension issues.

                As I pulled down the wooded drive, I noticed that the route was paved, and showed signs of recent use. It was a very interesting effect. It felt like you were driving into Sherwood forrest or something like that. The foliage gave way to professional looking parking and roads clearly marked for directions. There was a sign that pointed to the employee entrance that was far around back. I noticed several service entrances with security points as I went. The guard shacks were already manned, and they looked good. As I approached the last gate on the side, I was flagged down by the guard in the last shack. I stopped and shut off the truck. He was already headed my way with a clipboard and a radio.

 

                “Excuse me… Excuse me… Sir…” he came huffing up. “Sir. This is a closed area. We are currently in construction and will be opening…”

                I held up my hand, and pulled out my photo ID from the office with a casual smile.

                He took my ID, and compared it to his clipboard. Soon he smiled and returned the card. “Well, says here you are one of the early entrance personel. And I have you down as using gate Samuel. That is two back the direction you came from. I will radio them, and they will give you directions to your building. You will have a representative pay you a visit in about an hour or so. Any questions sir?”

                “Nope… sounds like I’m in the right place at least.” I smiled and hopped back in the truck, getting turned around was easy in such a wide area. It looked to me like the design was for semi trucks and delivery vans to get through here and do their jobs without to much hassle. Soon enough I was pulling up to the gate with the large name Samuel painted across it with a big flourishing scroll behind it, and each side of the gate had a red painting of a knight in armor with a shield in his hand and a standard in the other. It was a nice touch.

                “Sir, if you will follow me, I will lead you to your shop.” He waved to the other guard in the shack, who flipped a switch and the gate opened. I looked over, and he jumped on an ATV that was painted to match his uniform, and had security logo’s over it.

                I was again impressed. We putted along slowly, and I was taking in the sights of beautifully made shops and vendor stall, many painted and looked ready to open. Most had some sort of shutters or other way to secure them down. Some looked very rudementry, while others looked like they were near works of art. When we passed the church, I knew we had to be close, based on what we had discussed with Chris. Sure enough, we took a left just after it. I recognized it instantly. My new home was right on the corner. He lead me back and around another corner, and motioned for me to stop. He opened the gate that was well concealed, and motioned for me to back into it. I did so. It took me a little longer than I hoped, but I had very little experience with backing a trailer, and he was helping me the best he could. He had me back the trailer into the marked parking space that was in the corner, with a large door right behind it, that lead directly into the shop. He them told me that I could park right next to it in the adjoining parking space. Once I got the trailer pulled in right, and got the footings down, I parked the truck. He opened the door for me, and handed me the key.

                “Here ya go man. Welcome.” He said with a smile and a wave as he headed back out, and closed the gate behind him. I could hear his engine wheeling down the roads on their way out.

I took out my flashlight, expecting it to be very very dark inside. I was again pleasantly surprised. There was a light switch, although I had almost missed it, as it was made to blend into the wooden wall. The lighting was not all that bright, and that was ok by me. The LED bulbs were tucked away into the spaces in between the logs that made the walls and joices. I knew it would likely be morning before I could get settled in. I headed upstairs to find a matching design, and the area was much well more lit. the bed and small restroom area was even functioning. I had expected the bed and work area, but having my own restroom was unexpected, let alone that they were separated off from the work area. I liked the idea, since the kids they got to help me may have to come up here to do work and I was hoping for a place where I could lock up personal belongings.

I had decided to go ahead and unpack the necessities. It was during this time that I got a knock on the steel shutter downstairs.

“Hey… Anyone home?” a voice came from outside.

“Ya… be right there.” I answered.

A few minutes later I had figured out how to open the shutter, and was looking face to face with a man who introduced himself as Mandrake, the ferrier. He was a short man with an old style about him. His dirty golf cap and rough mustache made him look like he was at least a hundred years out of time with where he should have been. I opened the small gate at the front of the shop, and motioned him in. He had a palatable jolliness to him, and we pulled up the table and two folding camp chairs I had already unpack. As we chatted and got to know one another, I had brought out my old boombox and we were relaxing and listening to a local country music station. He busted out a bottle of schnapps, and offered me some. I had politely turned it down, being as I am diabetic, I didn’t want to chance getting my sugar off. He acknowledged that he too should be watching it, but didn’t seem to care.

“… and then the horse bucked and off she went… right into the giant mud puddle. Was one of the funniest things I ever saw.” He chuckled on, stopping to take a sip of his bottle. “I was wondering, Mr. McMillian told me that you don’t have any experience shoeing horses, is that right?”

I nodded. “Afraid not. I have been around horses off and on for many years, but that is one skill I never had a chance to learn. My buddy even has several horses, being a breeder. He always just brings in someone to take care of the hoofs and all that. unfortunately, I just have never been there at the time.”

“I get that. I might need your help at some point taking care of the ride horses and the ponies. If we get any special needs. Sound good?” he smiled

“I would need ya to tell me in detail what you would need, and then sure, I would do what I could to help.” I took a sip out of my bottled water.

“Are you doing any work for the jousters he hired?”

“Didn’t even know he got any. So I suppose if they need nails or something simple, sure. But I’m no armorer. How about you? They putting their horses in your stables? Things like that?”

“Nope. They are housing them in some makeshift stables back in the camping area with them. I’m supposed to be hands off. Supposedly one of the riders is a student veterinarian as well. That could be handy for me if we have any real issues.” He took another sip. “Have you had a chance to wander around yet?”

Before I could answer, there was another man at the entrance to the building, who cleared his throat and knocked on the post that was the corner. “Excuse me… Mr. Grizzly?”

I motioned for him to come in and join us. “It’s just Grizzly. How can I help you?”

The man in casual dress for the area introduced himself. “My name is Paul Anderson. I am the site manager, and I will liason for you to local vendors and supplies. I have the information on your apprentices and your coal delivery will be in tomorrow so you can get started on several projects ASAP. I see Mr. Mandrake has introduced himself already. That’s good. I was actually supposed to wait until tomorrow to talk to you both about an idea Mr.McMillian had, but since we are all here…” he cleared his throat again. “He had the idea that we have the day light deliveries of the coal come in via horse and buggy that you have Mr.Mandrake… and as trying to make it sort of educational/entertainment… we are going to mock up some sort of bag of coins for you to hand over for the delivery. So to the patrons it would come off as a period transaction. How does that strike you gents?”

I just shrugged, and Mandrake wiped his lips on his sleeve and held up one hand like back in school. “Well, I don’t mind bringing the wagon through here, and mocking this up… but with my bad back… how are you planning on doing the actual delivery?”

“We were planning on 50# bags, and that we would have them loaded on for you at one of the delivery gates for you. Probably over at Gate George. Then you could have some signage on the sides that we could make up for you. Pull it right up here, and we will have the apprentices unload it. It seems they are both used to hauling some freight and other heavier weights, and we can bring in some hand trucks for their safety.”

“An anachronism?”

“We can find some period style carts or something I’m sure. And the big weekly delivery will be done afterhours and they will just back up to the bin in the rear and will dump it straight in for you. “

With a grin, I threw the thumbs up.

Mandrake tipped his dirty hat, and agreed.

“Very good. We will get that all set up then. Now, have you made your way upstairs yet?”

I nodded. “Yes, I was very pleased. The private quarters was a nice touch.”

“Good to hear. That was partially my idea when we were building it. Did you see your closet too? It’s kind of hidden, and has a small refrigerator in it along with a small electric stovetop. If you wish, I can probably get a microwave as well, but wasn’t sure if you would use one.” He smiled.

I shook my head and said “No, don’t think I noticed that yet. And if you don’t mind, a microwave would be excellent.”

“I will see to it. Also, we will need any list of supplies you will need once you get settled in. We will have the metal rods and such that you requested delivered tomorrow and hope to get you going. Is there anything else I can help you with tonight?” he smiled.

“A pizza? Other than that… I can’t think of anything.” I smiled and chuckeled.

“I can try. What kind would you like?” He took out a pen and looked down at his clipboard.

“I was just kidding, but if you actually can… maybe something with pepperoni and beef. That would be awesome.”

“Well, we do have a commissary back in the dorms area, I will see if they can make one. No promises though.” He stopped and pulled out a sticky note pad, and wrote a few things on it. “Here is my cell and office number. Give me about half an hour, and give me a call. I will let you know how it went. My office is in the front area of the dorms and offices. In that folder I gave you, is a map of the area, including the gates and commissary. Your Cell should be fully functional here, and you should have several hidden areas you can keep you phone in and charged. I need to get going now. I’ll chat with ya in a while. Mr. Mandrake, have a nice night.” He smiled and turned and left.

“He’s a nice guy… but a little stuffy.” Mandrake snickered.

We continued to share stories of Ren Fairs, and other things of the like. Turns out the was a third generation horseman, and had even competed in several events until one day he was helping a young lady train for show jumping, and she and the horse had both fallen on him. He did recooperate but with a severly messed up back. It was only after years of therapy that he could ride a horse again, and that was why his buggy and wagon both had much more modern shocks and springs for super smooth rides. He went on to inform me that it was actually an Amish family that made them for him. He had helped with several of their horses, and took the wagon first in pay. He went on to pay for the buggy after being so impressed with their work.

When it was my turn, I told him about my early childhood, and how I used to work the bellows for the smithy when I was five or six years old. It must have had an early influence on me. Back then he helped me learn to make basic things out of iron, and I made a spoon and knife to eat with at fairs. I got up and dug through a box, offering them to him to examine.

“…of course, as just a hobbiest… I have raised my skill level, but I really enjoy that I made something so usefull with my own hands.” I said as I took them back, and memories flooded back in as I looked them over.

A couple more hours passed, and the sun had well set. Mandrake had stumbled back to his stables. I had locked down the building and found my small bed to be comfortable. It was only then that I remembered about the pizza. I shrugged and passed out.

 

Pizza delivered for breakfast… it was time for hard work getting everything set up and unloaded. That was a good way to start the day though.

 

Chapter 7

 

                It’s funny, when two or three people help you load a trailer, how easy it seems. Especially when compared to the hours and hours of heavy labor the same trailer seems to take to unload it. Within half a dozen hours after sun rise, I had the anvil chained down to my stump, and had all the blowers and accessories set up on the forge. All the air leaks had been secured, and even the bellows appeared to be working just fine. I knew I had about 25#’s of coal on the trailer still, but I could hear that there was a truck unloading something that sounded like my coal in the rather large bin in the back. The bin looked like it was most likely capable of several hundreds if not a full ton. It had a shute on one side that would allow for filling of large pails of coal at one time, and a door high the same side, that we could shovel out from. I felt confident that I would have a fire in the tuyere soon enough. I was getting my hammers and tongs and other tools out and ready when a knock at the gate caught my attention.

“Excuse me… Mr.Grizzly?!” a kids voice came. I looked up and it was the two kids from the folder that was to be my apprentices. I searched my memory and recalled their names.

“Mike and Jill I assume?” I smiled best that I could while hauling some fifty pounds of tools and eased them to the floor near the workbench opposite the forge.

“Yes sir. We are here to help out and learn a thing or two.” The girl added.

“Alright… come on in. Take a seat over there and we will have a chat. Get to know each other, and expectations.” I motioned for the bench that was along the back of the shop.

 

“…and since they don’t know that this was just a hobby for you, I want you to establish quickly with them that you are the expert and that they are to do as you ask. I’m not saying to hide your lack of experience from them, but I would suggest against throwing it out there right off. Do you understand what I’m saying Grizz?” Mr.McMillian was spinning a pen around in his fingers, feet up on his desk.

“I believe so. Its all about the psychology of keeping them focused and on task.” I nodded.

“Basically. At their age, it will be easy for them to get distracted, so I would plan on regular tasks for them to do several times a day and when we open, they can take turns talking about the shop, projects, and other stuff like that.”

“Yep. Establish the alpha… and the rest falls in place easier.”

Chris nodded. “Just don’t go overboard. Remember, they are employees and kids. Granted… twins and will be 18 by the time we open, but still. Reign in their energies.”

 

As I got finished putting chisels and hardytools in my usual places, I dusted off myself and grabbed my drink, heading over to the back of the shop, I had placed my camping chair facing the pair, and smiled as I settled in. “Ok. First off, just call me Grizzly, please. Ok?”

Both nodded.

“Now, I’ve got some info on ya, but I prefer to actually get to know ya both, and if you have questions, I want you to feel free to ask them. If we are in front of people that don’t need to know the answer, I might tell you ‘later’ or something like that. Please don’t continue to harp on that subject, and we will get back to it ‘later’. I bring this up based on previous experiences. It’s not that I am trying to be rude, please understand that.”

Both nodded. Mike held up his hand.

I motioned for him to speak his mind.

“My main question is this, Are we to get some time pounding metal during all this? I mean, it was made clear that we would be doing a lot of different things like interfacing with the patrons and such, but never understood what else we would be doing.” Mike asked confidently.

“Good question. There is a very good chance that once I feel you are safe enough, yes, I will likely have you helping on the forge itself. For now, like today, we will be going over the basics. Some safety, tools, guidelines, organization of the shoppe, and things like that. I know that they had you and your parents sign waivers, but I want to make it clear… you can get maimed, harmed, burnt, and much more if you do not act in a safe and intelligent manner. Do you both understand that?” I waited for both to acknowledge my question. “Very good. I know that there will be a steep learning curve over the next day or two as we get started. I may be asking you to hand me things, refill quench barrels, fetch more coal and things like that. Let’s get up and walk around the shoppe and give you the tour. Sound like a plan?”

Both nodded, and with a grunt we got up and around…at a casual pace, we started with the forge itself , and I described the basics of forge construction, function, fuel, temps, and showed them how they would work the bellows, as well as our hidden blowers and moved around the shoppe to the anvil, and other benches and tools. I could see that Mike was understanding the set up, and that Jill seemed to be better at the nomenclature. I was forming a plan in my mind, where he would be inside working with me, as we let her do most of the Hawking and dealing with the patrons. She was quiet though… and we would have to get her some confidence in her knowledge, as well as a little louder. I was going to have to teach her to talk from the diaphragm for volume without the wear and tear of yelling. By the time our walk got upstairs, I showed them were they could keep their personal gear (a couple of chests that were provided in lieu of lockers) and described how we would have some power tools up here, and that I doubted it would be an area we would use commonly.

We made our way back downstairs just in time for the metal delivery, as well as another truck that was backing up to our back door. He was unloading with two hands an old foot treadle powered grinding wheel. I motioned for the kids to see if they could help as I looked over the metal supplies. I informed them to put the wheel inside the shop, at the end of the workbench. I was looking over the metal as I noticed that there was some plate and less larger round rod than I was expecting.

“Ya… we had an order come in that took it all so I will be bringing more out in a few days when my resupply comes in. I threw in the plate so you could have some scrap and I will continue to bring scrap when I get it as per our contract with McMillian. Here is my contact info, call me if you need anything specific, ok?” the driver offered his card with several numbers hand written on the back. He had a heavy handshake, and got back out the gate with no issues.

I was just turning to head back in, as the delivery guys were leaving with a wave. I met their wave and turned in through the doorway. I looked over and realized that clearly none of them knew how to use the grinder. It was facing parallel with the wall, and I grabbed it and scooted one corner out. Soon without being told too, both Mike and Jill were helping me turn it the right side out. When we got that done, I wiped the sweat off my brow and thanked them with a nod.

“Do you know what this is?” I asked as I patted the wheel.

Jill spoke up “I think it looks a lot like my great grandmothers old sewing machine, but if that is what it is, it’s missing quite a bit. So maybe part of a early hammer machine?”

I shook my head. “Mike… what do you think?”

He paced around from one side to the other and back. “I’m not sure… maybe a early generator or something?”

Again I shook my head. “Mike, go get me a pail of water from the spigot out back, and Jill, would you please fetch me a short piece of that plate from the metal pile out back? I will show you both what it is, and how it works.”

As they got out the door, I chuckled and looked over the device. I had never actually used one, but I remembered reading about it and watched several YouTube videos. I worked the treadle and found that I had to hand turn it the right direction to get it started. Jill was back first with a piece of round rod and Mike was right behind her with the water. I had already stopped the wheel before their entrance. Pouring the water into the trough that the wheel ran in, it was clear that regular use of this would require topping it off regularly as well. Good. Another project for them to take part in. I then took the rod from Jill and nodded. “Ok. First off, let me share with you that this is called round rod. There is also square rod, flat rod, and a lot more. The plate I asked for was below this, it would be flat and comes in a wide variety of sizes. But that’s ok. Still learning and I’m ok with this. Now… watch this…” I got the wheel started and upped the speed with the treadle. Once it seemed to be up to the right speed, I asked… “OK, now what do you think it is?”

Mike spoke up first this time. “Looks like a grinding wheel now, just way bigger!”

I nodded and put the rod to the wheel, throwing sparks and splashing water. I put a bevel around the edge of the rod end. Taking my foot off the treadle, I let it spin down and eventually stop on its own.

Jill voiced up “I always wondered how they did that before benchgrinders like dads.”

“We can use this for grinding edges, sharpening, and much more. Of course… for polishing details, we will use the buffer upstairs.” I added.

Again, Mike seemed to get the idea better than Jill, but I figured it was too early to make judgments like that.

“Do you two have costumes yet?” I asked.

“I’m almost done with my bodice, and he is mostly done with all his. The Designs were approved by the staff here.” Jill smiled.

“Ok, Tomorrow, please bring them, or at least what you have… I am more worried about safety here in this shop than I am exact historical accuracy. I already discussed this with Mr. McMillian, and he agreed.” I said as I turned to get my itenererary of known projects for the fair. There were a few smaller projects that I thought would make good practice and training projects.

“We were told to be aware of flammability. That’s why our gloves, aprons, and head gear are all out of deer hide, and the rest is cotton. So it won’t melt to us.” Mike added in.

“Well, that’s good. I like that you are prepared. But we are gonna work on some projects for the fair, and we need to find out if they need tailored for movement, or to much heat retention. After all, if you are working the bellows, and you keep having to adjust how something fits, it’s going to get old really quickly. Or if you don’t have enough coverage… that too is important.”

“No problem. We will bring them tomorrow. What else can we do today?” Mike asked.

“Well, how about we light this puppy up and make sure everything is safe and functional here. Maybe we will make a few things. Sound good?” I smiled.

They both smiled and nodded.

“Good. Mike grab that large pail next to you, you will get the coal. Jill, lets walk back there, and select some metal to bang on.” And with that we got to our first job. It was really a simple project, being as all we had to do was make the two of them some period eating utensils. Nothing fancy, but a split tine fork, a basic knife and a spoon each. I had them take turns working the bellows once the fire was going nicely. Both commented on how much harder it was than they thought it might have been when they talked about it before. We still had to work on consistency of the airflow from them, but after the first spoon and knife were cranked out… we kicked on the electric blower, and I started to teach them about the art of the fire, how to hold a hammer, and more. They soaked up the knowledge like sponges. I was rather proud that they seemed to have good solid heads on their shoulders.

Chapter 8

 

                Awaking to the sounds of construction finishing, and vehicles rolling about made it hard to sleep in. It was a pleasant surprise to see the two kids standing at the front door in full garb, and actually looking like the apprentice smithies that they were supposed to be. She was still in a dress, but with a wide apron that wrapped cleanly around her figure. His apron went nearly to the top of his sleeves, the length of which were rolled up as far as he could get them. Both were wearing leather boots. While he had a rag over his hair, dewrag style… she had her hair braided back, and a few small flowers stuck in here and there.

                “Merry met my young thralls…” I said in a decent English accent, tossing a nod to each of them.

                First he bowed, then she curtsied.

                “Good morning, master smithy.” Jill said with a smile.

                “Fair the well this morrow?” Mike asked tossing an elbow on his sisters shoulder.

                All I could do was snicker. “Alright kiddo’s, lets get to work.” I held the door open while they retrieved their bags and drinks. We had them settle their things into the hidden area behind the staircase. “The plan for today is to prep a bunch of nails, and I will be working on a horseshoe based sign for the ferrier in between everything else. So what is the first thing for us to do guys?”

                Jill smiled and said “Check supplies and tools.”

                “Right, and what are we going to need?” I prodded on.

                “Coal, water, and any special tools for the job right?” Mike asked.

                “And?”

                They looked at one another quizzically.

                “Metal to work?... it’s kinda what we do…” I chuckled.

                They both nodded and laughed lightly.

                “Ok, Jill, if you would be so kind as to get us two pails of coal, and Mike, you come with me and we will get some rod that we will start making the nails with. We are going to have to make a ‘Header’ for the nails first, since I didn’t seem to bring mine with me. Guess its sitting at home.” I added.

                “What is a ‘header’?” Jill asked.

                “It’s a basic tool, that allows us to put a head on the nail cleanly and evenly… at least if we do it right. There are other ways to do it, but this is the easiest. And it is also one of the oldest projects that apprentices start with. I will make the first one, since it will be mine. After that we will have each of you make one of your own so that when you are doing nothing else, you can always make nails.” I smiled.

 

                We each went to do our own thing as we gathered meterials and supplies. A few minutes later, we had everything together, and we again lit up the first of the coal and got our coke started. Starting with a piece of suffecently thick enough rebar, I tapered out the handle of the tool, and shaped the rounder of the head and face of it. Positioning the head over the hardy hole, I had Jill hold the punch steady as I brought the red hot piece over and knocked the tapered hole through to the right depth and width. I quickly faced one side up to the wider piece, and was quickly knocking it off the chisel and dunking it in the half barrel of water next to us.

                “A little finish work, and its just that easy. Next I will show you how to make the nail. It will teach you how to taper and how to judge your hammer strikes.” I showed off the simple tool. Soon enough we had a small pile of nails, and the kids felt that they were ready to try a few for themselves.

                Mikes first nail was pretty good, even if it was a little short.

                “Well, I might call that more of a roofing style nail, a nice wide head, and short leg. Not bad though.” I looked it over with a smile. He happily tucked it in his pouch.

                Jill’s first nail was much longer, nicely tapered but the head was nearly mangled. I stopped her mid swing at one point.

                “Ok… wait… you are fighting it. Look at the tool. Notice how there are four bevels? Match your hammer angle and strike to the bevel. Work the opposing sides…” I watched as she did so. “Ya.. that’s better.” And her nail started looking much better. “Heat it back up, and smooth it out. Lighter hammer strikes, and then flatten the top off.”

                A few minutes later, she also happily placed her trouphy in her pouch.

                The rest of the day we spent going through the basics of safety again, and I gave them tips on things they could talk about with the patrons. These ranged from the mondain, like how important the blacksmith would have been due to making everything from tools to toys, supplies to surprises, and everything inbetween. About half way through the day, we stopped for lunch, and I was pleased to see them break out their utinsiles we made. Each from a leather pouch I later found out that Mike had whipped up for each of them. I broke out my old castiron kit, and taught them how to cook over the fire on the forge. Granted though, it was just a few cans of pasta. And they ended up eating out of the cans. I had discussed with them that if they felt like it, we could probably arranges a trade with some crafters for some turned wooden bowls or maybe even some ceramic or porciline ones. Showed off the handmade soup cup I had from back in the day when I was a performer, and had baught it. It was basically a root ball that had been carved out and finished. It held about a can and a half of liquid. I also showed off my hand made drinking horn and wooden pirate mug that held the equivalent of two bottles of beer and had a nice lid. When they asked why that one was so important to me, I laughed and pointed out that I didn’t like things like dust and bugs in my drinks, and that the way this one was sealed, I didn’t have to worry about alchohol or hot drinks ruining it. It was fun showing off some of the tools and props that I had accumulated. They were asking very good questions about everything. They asked not just my personaly history with the items, but the historical backgrounds if I knew it, if it was ‘period’ for this festivals settings. They asked about metarials and alternate processes. It was refreshing to see kids with such an interest in details as well as the general ideas.

                After lunch we continued with our projects. I had them make a few more nails, while I hovered over them like a hawk on field mice. I was glad to see that Jill had made and adjustment to her sleeves that allowed her to tie back the fluff of her fancy blouse. Mike had asked if I would recommend bracers or something like that made of leather. I didn’t have a good answer for him other than the same one I had for choices of gloves.

                “Well, some smith’s don’t believe in gloves. Here are a few reasons. Often they say it effects their ability to hold their stock in a way that they feel confident in. There are also those that say the temperature of the piece can be felt better through an un-protected hand. At the same time, there are many who believe that the protection of the hand outweighs the other issues. I started with no gloves, went to welding gloves many years later. I had an ember go down into the glove, and scalded me badly. Second degree burns.” I turned the back of my hands to show the scar. “If you choose gloves, much like your clothes, I suggest leather, or at worse… cotton.” We then went over the basics of burnt treatment, because as we all know… it’s not if, it’s when.

                I showed them some of the designs for the ferriers sign that I had scribbled down the night before. We had decided on the simplest one. It was a horseshoe with a hammer hanging from a couple of links. It would be an easy hour’s worth of work, if nothing went wrong. I had them prep the forge area, and I went back quickly grabbing the stock we were to work. I had decided that Mike would work the bellows, and Jill would stand at the counter, describing best that she could what it was we were doing.

                As we brought the roundstock to heat, we heard her discussing the importance of getting to the right color or glow. She was doing well. I had mike continue, and had Jill take my place as I demonstrated how she was talking, and then I showed how important it was for them to talk from the diaphragm so as to not hurt themselves trying to yell over the noise of the fair. We switched back and I could clearly and easily hear her now as she described the act of putting the bar of the horn of the anvil, and how my strikes were coming at particular angles so as to control the curve. By the time I got the mock shoe done, I had them switch. I began working on the flat bar, and split the width of it, driving it flat to a T. I could hear Mike trying to explain that this would likely be head of the would be hammer. And he was right, I tapered one end slightly to show a peen like end, and using the horn again, I was concaving the rest of the shape of the hammer head. Then tapering down the handle and drawing it out to a silhouette that matched at least one of my hammers. All the while, Mike was going on about how I would now have to hot punch the holes in both pieces and bring some thin rod to temp and make chain links. I was impressed by his knowledge, and his deeper voice certain carried. We took a short break, where I proceded to tell them of their next project to practice.

                With our break done, I had each of them head out the front, and further down each side of the street. They could be heard proudly using their new skills in stage speaking barking out “Live demonstrations, items for sale and questions answered. Thine Smithy be right this way….” Along with many other phrases we made up for them. I could tell that they were having a good time with it, and I had the quiet little motor running as I whipped out the chain links I needed and tossed the sign together. I could hear that there were several other vendors coming in and getting unloaded in the area. It would be good practice for them to try to talk over the noise.

 

                It was about then that a knock at the shutters rang out, and I looked up to see the ever smiling Mandrake, with a thermos in one hand, and pair of coffee cups in the other.

                “So, what did they do wrong?” he asked.

                “Nothing… gotta train them to be hawkers as well as performers and such.” I said happily as I quenched the last bit of his sign. “You seem to have great timing.” I said as I held aloft his new sign.

                “Not bad kiddo…” he said with a smile back. He set the cups down and poured out the coffee, sitting on the counter.

                I sat the sign on the counter between us, and picked up the remaining cup. It was easily some of the best java I had ever had. No sugar, no cream, but ever so smooth and refreshing. I nodded and smiled.

                “The secret is getting the water right, and not overheating it. Well, that and having some really good beans sent in from a friend. Glad to see that you appreciate that.” he smiled and took another sip.

                “I have an idea… are you in for a innocent joke on the kids?” He nodded. “Ok, lets finish this off, then we will refill it with dunk tank water. It wont hurt them, but it does taste like crap. Sound good?” Again he nodded and emptied out the thermos to our cups.

                I stepped out and let out a loud whistle to get their attentions. I motioned for both to return and they did so diligently.

                They both were clearly parched, and were eyeballing our coffee cups.

                “What? Take a rest…” I motioned for them to have a seat on the other wall. “So, how do you felt that you did?” I asked. Taking a loud sip we eyed them over.

                Sounding a little horse, Mike smiled and said “I think we rocked it sir. But I would say, that if we are going to do that on a regular basis, that we take drinks with us.”

                “Oh? Get a little thirsty did ya? Well, come get some coffee then…” Mandrake smiled and tapped his thermos.

                I nodded my head back towards the back and said. “Go get some cups. Its good stuff. I will warn you though, after stressing your self like you were, it might taste a little funny…”

                Jill hopped up and said “I don’t care… I need a drink!”

                A few moments later they were gulping down the dirty water, while Mandrake and I could barely hold back our laughter.

                As they finished the little bit we put in each cup, only a swig or two’s worth, they were holding their cups up for more.

                “Still thirsty I see…” they both nodded. Taking Mikes cup… I dipped it in the water and handed it to him.

                They both looked back and forth at the cup and us, unable to connect what just happened.

                “Don’t worry, you just drank that water…” The old man and I laughed so hard we about fell off the counter. “Don’t worry about it. Its still very fresh, just tastes nasty. My friend did it to me, just passing on a tradition. The coffee was gone before you got back, or I would have shared that too. Why don’t you guys take a break, and go down to the commissary and see if they have something nice and cold for you to drink.” I said while patting on Jills shoulder with a smile.

               

                A few moments later, Mandrake offered up “You know they are going to want to get you back for that…”

                I nodded. “Ya, I’m curious how far they will go for that. As long as no one gets hurt, I don’t see any harm in it.”

 

Chapter 9

 

                As Thursday rolled through, the rest of the vendors started showing up, and we were knocking out projects for the fair, as well as the vendors themselves. We found that we were right next to a woodcarver on one side, and a food vendor of some sort on the other. I shared stories of my local fair, and many of the others that I had worked at over the years, and joked about how I was certain that it would either be something on a stick, or burnt turkey legs. Turns out I was wrong. The owner came over and introduced himself.

                “Hello neighbor…” a heavily accented dark skinned man with a genuine smile waved from outside the counter.

                “Ahhh… Greetings back at ya.” I said between heating and beating on the current project, which were a pair of sign holders for the front admissions sign. “Give me one moment and I will be right with you, ok?”

                He nodded.

                “Ok, Mike… bellows… Jill… just work the taper out on this” I motioned on the piece as it cooled. “Just match it like the one sitting in the bucket, ok? You two got this?”

                Both gave thumbs up as we had been training. It was for safety. A ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ could be misheard or misunderstood. A visual answer with ringing in your ears was better. I thumbed back… and wandered over to introduce myself to the neighbor.

                I walked out the half door, and positioned myself to keep watching them as they worked. I was happy to see that Jill was familiar enough with her work now to know that she preferred a lighter hammer and had swapped out. It would take her a little longer, but her work would be smoother. “Howdy, everyone calls me Grizzly or Griz. You run the shoppe here?” I motioned to it with my elbow.

                “Yes, I am Shamir. My wife and I make mostly greek foods, and a little of a few others. For this show though, mostly pocketbread sandwiches and gyro’s. Are you staying on site here?”

                “Yes sir, I am. The kids live in town, and will likely be driving in or staying at the dorms.”

                “Well, we like to cook a big dinner, you and your children are welcome to join us tonight if you wish…”

                I looked him over and laughed as I recognized the mistake. “Oh… these are my apprentices, not my children. But if that is ok, I will still pass on the invite to them…”

                Shamir had a look of utter shame on his face and covered his mouth. Then he smiled again and said. It would be an honor.” He bowed his head and took a breath. “I meant no insult of it, if that is what you meant…”

                “Nope, none taken. I guess, I am old enough that they could be my kids, and as well behaved as these two seem to be, I would be glad for it. But again, thank you.” I stroked my short beard that was coming along nicely. “I have to be getting back to them. If you need anything, let me know. We are always looking for projects for training and demonstrations.” We shook hands and I headed back in.

 

                “So… you two hungry yet?” I then told them about our new neighbor, his offer, and his confusing them for my offspring. We had a few good laughs. Just as I had expected, they had finished the hangers and with just a few small tweaks, we had Jill walk them down to the gate to be installed.

                “Can I ask you a personal question boss?” Mike asked as he toweled off his hands and head.

                “Sure. Feel free to.”

                “Do you have any kids? Are you married, anything like that?” he asked in a quiet voice.

                “Nope. Was close once… almost enguaged. No accidents that lead to kids so far.” I responded with a shrug.

                Mike just nodded. “That explains how you can uproot and head over this far. Our parents are divorced, but still live together. Its kinda weird. Jill has handled it pretty good so far. Occasionally I have issues with it, but over all its ok. Next weekend Dad and I are planning on going hunting after fair on Saturday. Do you hunt?”

                I chortled and nodded. “Ya. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I even brought a rifle with me so if I got a chance, I might go look for some deer or what ever is in season.”

                “Well, around here we don’t have a season on wild boar, and if you would like to join us, I can ask him. Sound fair?”

                “Sure. I would like that. Never hunted a hog before. But the old .308 should do the job just fine.” I said with a smile.

               

                Several minutes later, Jill had returned with a note that described another project. This time it was some different hangers, and even had some sketches along with some measurements. When I looked at the work order, I realized it was for the main cross in the church across the road from us. I added it to the small pile that was forming on the small desk at the back of the shop.

                “Ok guys… lets take a break, and relax a bit. I would like ya to watch the shop. I am going to wander around the shire for a bit, hand out some of those cards that we had made up, and introduce myself. Ok?” I asked.

                “Sounds good. What should we work on while you are out?” Mike asked.

                I thought for a moment, stroking my beard. “I know… restock the coal, refill the buckets, and just kinda tidy up for us. ‘A clean shop is a Safer shop.’”

                I grabbed up a handful of the cards and made my way out the door.

                “Hey boss, might wanna clean up first… you have coal dust and other smudges on ya.” Jill motioned to her face to show me where.

                I smiled. “Nah… a clean smithy? No one would take me seriously…”

 

 

Chapter 10

 

                Opening day came with much fanfare and jubilation. We were wrangled into making a banner and had to have at least one of us in the daily parade that was arranged. I have to admit, I got a little lucky, and due to a trade of a few re-hardening of some chisles for the woodworker next door, we quickly had a rather nice hand carved sign that we mounted to a large limb that Mike had found in his backyard. Jill demonstrated that she had some artistic skills and painted up our logo on both signs. The kids reveled in the idea of swapping days for who was in the parade.

                “…are you sure you don’t want to do the parade boss?” Mike asked.

                “Yeppers. I will hold down the fort, and let you guys do that.” I replied between blows on the anvil.

                “Well… if you insist…” Jill replied with a kidding tone in her voice.

                “It’s all you… I’d rather not. I guess it’s to many other parades under the belt.” I said miming with my belt.

 

                It must have been around noon when Jill was tapping on my shoulder, nearly horse from the day so far, she pointed up to the front of the shop where a knight was wearing most of his armor.  I say most, because with my history of learning and not just wearing armor, but building and fixing… I noticed his missing shoulder pauldron easily. It was then that I noticed it was in his hand.

                “Greeting m’lorde… how goes the day?” I offered up in best accent I could muster.

                “While the fair boasts well, I boast fair at best…” he said with a smile and a sly nod.

                “Well met indeed..” I looked around and the small crowd that had been nearby had gone now so switching back to my normal lingo I asked. “So bub, what can I do ya for?”

                “Cracked pauldron. Any chance you have experience with armor?” he asked in return, also dropping the act.

                “Yeppers. Looks like mild steel, do you want it to look good or be sturdy? I’m afraid with the tools on hand, I can only do one or the other.” I offered up as I inspected it.

                “Well, I’m learning from the jousters, so I would prefer sturdy. I know it’s a little light, being only 20 gauge steel. If you can make it so it wont bust when I fall off like it did today, I don’t care how it looks.” He said watching as I looked over the mounting straps.

                “I will have to drill these out, and re-mount the straps, and I can whip up some rivets for it, I have some experience with leather as well, so this wont be a problem. I can have it done in about an hour or so if it’s a rush.”

                “Sounds like a plan to me.” He said with a smile. “How much are we looking at?”

                “Cover supplies, and I will use it as a teaching aid for my apprentices, and demonstration. Call it… I think about $10 should do. Sound fair to you?”

                With a smile, we shook on it. Jill proceeded to get the info from him for the ticket, and we got started a few minutes later.

                Having stripped the plate from all it’s componants, I was bringing it up to welding temp, having already prepped the anvil area for the job. Glowing brightly even in our shop, the plates were fluxed and the weld took cleanly. Only having done a hard weld like this a handful of times before, I was pleased that it took so easily. Talking about making it look easy. Even the kids seemed impressed. Hell, I was impressed. There was some obvious discoloration where it was heated so highly, and I had to heat treat the whole piece. It may not have been the exact way that it would have been done back in the day… but once I used the torch out back of the shop and got it all even… I dumped most of a sack of sand on it to slow the cooling and let the temper even out. I only had Jill back there with me, as Mike was watching the shop. I was very glad to have the help. It dawned on me why stories of huge work forces at armories in the old days made more sense now.

 

                Later that day, I decided that I was going to go out for dinner after the fair closed, and checked my account by phone. Turns out there was a larger deposit than I had expected. I also had received an email from McMillian. In it I learned that the jouster I had helped was actually his little brother, and had wanted to thank me for stepping up to the plate. I sent back a short note thanking him for the opportunity, and for all the assistance I had received. It was a short drive to town, and I was pleased that dinner was at a sit down nationwide company, since I was prepared to have what ever the gas station had prepared an unknown length of time beforehand. I was equally pleased to see that the grocery store was one that was open late as well. Having stocked back up on canned goods, veggies, snacks, and drink mixes; it was time to return to the shop. It was during this time that I recalled that the neighbors had invited us to dinner. Trying to keep from being rude, I decided to take them up on it. It was interesting to say the least. I believe it was some kind of spiced goat meat, along with a veriaty of veggies and flat bread. We discussed the how’s and why’s of the difference of this and American style bbq’s. I even got to tell them about how traditional smithy’s often cooked over the coals of their forges, trying to conserve fuel, and not start another fire in the hearth like most families. By the time I politely made my way out of there, I was stuffed beyond belief. I made my way to my shop, and headed upstairs to bed.

 

                Chapter 12

 

                We’ve all heard the term ‘A day unlike any other day’ but few truly experience what that can really mean. After all… families happen, births happen, death happens. It is the truly obscure moments in life that are seldom experienced by one person, let alone a group. Why do I bring this up? Well now… wouldn’t be much of a story teller if I just belted out the surprise part of the story. Tell us now! Well, if you insist, but let me share some of the details that happened as best as I can recall.

 

                Altogether, the day started like any other day at the festival. I woke up to my seven alarms, between the wind up, the digital, and several on my cell phone. Stumbled over to some clothes, and my glasses. Off to the head, and down to some coffee to be made along with the starting of the coals for the forge. While the kettle was warming up over the coals, I got a cold chill down my back. I shook it and the morning dew off my shoulders and buttoned up the fleece hoodie I had on. The sounds of a few other shops getting up and about were audible. I could hear the horses from the livery clomping about and chatting with one another. Crickets, bubbling water, and subtle voices were the stock of the mornings at the fair. I opened the top of the half door just in time to see a couple in track suits go jogging by. Returning the wave they gave, I took another sip of the mediocre coffee, suddenly remembering that I had picked up some flavored creamer and sweetner. That was the trick. What was passing for coffee was now enjoyable. Setting one of the folding chairs against the wall next to the door, relaxation came easily with the dawns light.

                “Not a morning person I take?” Shamir’s wife smiled as she started to sweep in front of the booth.

                “Not really. But this helps…” I smiled holding aloft my coffee cup with the motto ‘Blacksmiths know how to get hammered’ across it. “Would you like some?”

                She shook her head and said with a smile “No thank you, I have tea inside.” She returned to her sweeping and hummed a song I didn’t recognize.

 

                Getting ready for business included the idea of cleaning up, and getting a few other project supplies out and ready.

                “Heeeyyy bosss…. Are you up?” Jill’s voice came fluttering in from outside the front door.

                “Yep, come on in guys. Just getting our paperwork started. I have some coffee made on the forge if you’re thirsty. And don’t worry. Its real.” I said with a smile on my face. Even if they messed with it, at least I had some already.

                “Nah, we stopped by starsmucks. Nothing personal… just don’t trust your coffee anymore.” Mike added.

                “Fair enough.” I came around the corner with the daily till and our to-do list. I set it all down on the counter, and motioned for them to set up the samples and stuff for sale. I went and retrieved my breakfast bagels and some flavored cream cheese. I set the grill up over the coals and went to toast my noms.

                “Aren’t you worried about the coal being toxic?” Jill asked.

                I tapped my foot on the bag of bbq charcoal at the backside of the forge. “Easy to cook over, and makes starting the forge easy too. Good question though.”

                “Ok, well…” Jill smiled and shrugged.

                After my breakfast, I walked out to the road again while sipping my coffee and looked up. It was sprinkling even with a clear sky. “Hey, either of you catch what the weather was supposed to be like today? I forgot to check earlier.”

                “60% chance of rain, high of about 80.” Mikes voice chimed back.

                Looking down into my cup I smiled and chuckled.

                “What’s so funny?” Jill asked.

                Watching the ripples in my coffee from the light rain that was falling, I responded “So much for the percentages…” I then covered my cup and headed back in.

                The rain started to come faster and harder, as the sky darkened. We could hear the sound of small hail on the rooftops, as well as the nervous knickering of the horses in the stable. The winds grew from a whisper to a steady lopping howl. The green skies above started to spin. Being a boy born and raised in the Midwest, I knew what was likely to be happening. Tornado. The fair was fairly low, but not to low. We were likely to see some damage, but mostly from the straight line winds. I motioned for the kids to get back under the stairwell until it all passed. The thing was… we didn’t hear any warning sirens. I was used to hearing them, even if it was only a slight chance.  The storm seemed centered on the fair, and appeared rather fast.

 

                I couldn’t help but wonder how the tribesmen on the road were doing right now. On my way back from town, I had noticed that they had set up a small camp on the edge of the field  across the road from the entrance to the fair. They were protesting the fair for some reason that I didn’t quite get over all. It had something to do with that they believed the fair was being built and ran on some sacred grounds. Being partially tribal my self, I did feel bad for them, but I also understood that the traditional would see basically any place as sacred, and that they see everything as sharing some part of the circle of life. I had been shrugging it off, thinking that the old saying about bad PR is still PR. They stood out there with signs and in traditional garb all day. I had wanted to go out and chat with them a couple of times, but I had decided against it. Didn’t want to be seen as a conflict of interest.

 

                Jill and Mike were wrapped in a blanket, huddled under the stairs. I was up stairs, looking for leaks. I was pleased to see that there was not only no leaks, but not even a heavy draft. I closed my door up there, and headed back down to find the shutters dancing about violently and the half doors trying to pull and push themselves open. There was no way they would, I had latched the heavy latches and put the chair up against it. The back door was even sturdier and was just rattling. The storm raged on for several minutes, and then slowly tapered off. The shutters held fast, and everything seemed secure. I could hear that it was just spitting a little outside, so I decided to check. Throwing the latches, and opening the top of the half door, I was glad to see that not much had changed. Some signs knocked down. Some plants without flowers or leaves. A couple of shingles and the trashcans strewn about. Not bad compared to some storms I had weathered at fairs before. My first thought was how the folks were who had been in tents, like the fella’s across the street in their teepee’s and tents. Poking my head out the back door, with the kids now at my heels, I saw nothing to be alarmed about. Just a limb down from one of the trees back there. The trailer and everything else seemed unharmed. I hopped in the truck, and turned it on. I could find no signal on the radio. Shutting it off, I returned inside and found that there was no power on. The forge electric blower was not kicking on, nor was any of the lights or powertools.

                “Is everything ok?” I heard one of the woodcarvers talking to another. “Dave?... Dave… where are you?”

                “Hold down the fort, I’m going to check on the neighbors. We seem fine here, just now power. I’m sure they will get that fixed soon. Good thing is we don’t need it.”I chuckled pointing at the bellows and the forge.

               

                I headed out the front door, and saw Shamir and his family looking around. He just shrugged. It took my flashlight and knocked on the door to the woodcutters shop. “Hey… this is Grizzly from next door… the forge. Is everyone ok?”

                “We lost power, and I can’t see in here.” Came a womans voice from earlier.

                “Is the door locked? I have a flashlight and can help.” I offered.

                “No, we didn’t get a chance to lock it, come on in. I can’t find my boyfriend. He’s not responding.”

                I opened the door and shined the light about. I saw her in one corner, covering her eyes from the light and she was half smiling half crying. I motioned for her to come to me. Shamir and his wife called out to her as she came out. It was clear that the wind had done a number on their shop. Things were strewn all about. It was less than a minute into this that I figured out how to open their counter shutters. With more light inside it was seconds of adjusting my eyes to the brighter light. It was then that I could hear the young lady scream.

                “Behind you Grizzly. Be carefull.” Shamir said to me, while his wife was holding on to the girl trying to keep her outside.

                Turning about I saw why he had not responded. It was a carving chisel into his torso. Upper chest. I leaned in and looked for a pulse, since I saw no clear sign of breath. I simply shook my head and stood back up. “Is there supposed to be anyone else in here ma’am?”

                We could barely make out her response through the tears and sobs. “No, the other couple is in the dorms. It’s his brother and his wife. Someone needs to tell him. Can you save him? Is he going to be ok?”

                “Time to be strong ma’am.” I shook my head. By now a small crowd was gathering. I motioned for one of the other shopkeepers that I had chatted with in the week to come close. “If you could, go get security, and have them report this ASAP. I will cover the body to keep it out of sight. Take her with you, so she is not just standing here, ok?”

                He nodded in agreement. Shamir, his wife, the lady and Mark (who sold leather products as I recalled.) made their way quickly. I found a tartan blanket not far away and quickly covered him up, leaving everything I could untouched. I shut the counters and closed the door behind me to keep gawkers to a minimum. It couldn’t have been more than a handful of moments later that Shamir showed back up, as pale as I had ever seen a man of such dark skin.

                “Mr. Grizzly… I think we need to talk. Privetly.” Shamir said quietly.

 

Chapter 13

 

                “…say that again?” I nearly stuttered.

                “Like I had told you, the gaurdshack was crushed, two dead inside it. But that wasn’t even the bad part. Everything is gone.” Shamir was shaking his head.

                “Now when you say gone… as in tornado damage? Things shredded, two by fours through trees and s**t like that? Cars flipped over?” I asked still a little confused.

                He shook his head. “No my friend… I mean gone. As if it was just not there. The road around the walls are only about half there, and the field that was parking for vendors is gone. It is now trees. Yes. Trees. And I didn’t even see the dormitory.”

                My jaw fell slack.

                “My wife is keeping the girl in our shop so she doesn’t have to see her boyfriend.” Shamir put his hand on my shoulder.

                I could tell that his smile was less than genuine. “That’s a good idea. If you can keep these people stable, I will grab my truck and check the other guard shacks and see what happened. With the 4wheel drive, I can get around easier and over things like fallen limbs. There is a CB in it too, I can try to get someone that way as well. Let me grab my phone and I will get going.”

                Shamir nodded.

                “It won’t work. The cell tower was on the dorm roof. No internet, no cell’s. We already tried it.” Mike said quietly from behind me, sitting on the steps to our upstairs.

                “Well, that is even weirder.” I nodded again. Pulled my keys out, and headed out the back door.

               

                Shamir wasn’t kidding. Half the roads were trashed and gone, not one guard post looked sustainable, some didn’t even seem to exist. It got weirder still. The parking lots were all gone, and not a single trace of the dormitory. I didn’t even get static on the CB, let alone the phone, nor the GPS. It was the latter that truly put me in a state of concern. No satalites. At all. Not weak signals, but no signal. There was no sound outside the wall. Not the highway that should be less than half a mile a way. Not the generators that helped to run the place. Not even the hum of general electic noise coming from the overhead power lines, that were no longer overhead. Well, let me be more specific… part of two of the towers were still standing, but no longer in use, as no cables were going between them and they were creaking as ready to fall. Large girders ready to fall on trees that were supporting them. As I sat in the truck, with a cold chill down my back, I could see through the trees in front of the front gate, a large hill that was not there the day before. I decided to return to my shop, and that we needed to figure out what to do next.           

               

                When I pulled up in front of the shop, I was greeted and questioned by a lot more people who had gathered. There was a lot of chatter as I got out and walked up to the group.

                “So, what happened? Where is the security people? The management? Are the police coming?” questions fluttered by like butterflies on the brisk breeze.

                Holding my hands aloft, I waited for the crowd to quiet down. “Ok folks. The rumors are true. Something weird had happened. I couldn’t find any security people, nor management, let alone anyone else. From what I can see, even the roads and dorms are gone. And even the lay of the land has changed a bit. Now don’t freak out… but I couldn’t even get a signal for the satalites. If they are out there, I have no clue how to find them. The GPS is fragged. I…” I paused to consider my next words. “I… I don’t know exactly what happened. It’s not like anything I’ve seen before.”

                Shamir patted my shoulder and said loudly. “Ok, lets organize a bit. One person from each shop, will conviene here at the blacksmith shop in ten minutes. Everyone else, please return to your shops and we will figure out something. Lets try to keep the calm and friendly, shall we?”

                In the next few minutes, many of the family and friends of the keepers had indeed returned to their shops, and several new faces showed up. I was pleased to see Mandrake sipping on a flask, seemingly safe and sound. Among the faces that showed up was the jouster who’s armor I had fixed. He introduced himself as Sir Edward Martingood. We chatted for about a minute as he was making the rounds. It was just after that what one of the other cooks told me he was someone important to the company.

                I hopped up in the bed of the truck and waved my arms around as to get everyones attention. As everyone finally settled down, I started in. “Ok, so needless to say. With the occurrence that has happened, and our lack of understanding, I suggest we get all our ducks in a row. First off, aside from the management and security people… is anyone else missing or injured?”

                There was some subtle chatting, but none came forth.

                “Ok, so one is in a bad way. The Blacksmith here…” Martingood motioned at me. “Has scouted around us, and has informed us that we may not even be in the same area. When I looked around from the Jousting stables, I noticed that a creek that was nearby seemed to have moved. It is still flowing the same direction, just further away. I suspect we are in the same area… but not sure what has happened otherwise. I suggest we organize a search party, and check our resources. If it is ok with you folks, I will lead the scouts, and we will take the horses from our games. We can cover ground more effectively and not have to waste fuel.”

                And so it was agreed. He would scout with the help of two of the other jousters. We assigned a few of the more useful folks to baracade  most of the gates. We figured, better to be careful and not take chances since we had no idea what was going on.

                Mandrake and I had been chatting, and decided to take a walk around the area. As we crossed the walkway on top of the front gate that was made to look like a castle front, he came to a dead stop in front of me.

                “Hey… what’s the big deal, ya drunk limey?!” I kinda geered at him.

                He simply pointed at the top of the hill that once the tribal incampment area across the street. “First it was the whisp of smoke that caught these old eyes… then it was the two gents there on horseback…”

                I looked through the tops of the trees and caught his meaning. Sure enough, there were two men sitting on horses. And they were NOT our jousters. These men were dressed in buckskins and not so much as a saddle from what I could see. “Don’t suppose those are the same guys that were picketing the fair, do ya?”

                Mandrake shook his head.

                In the blink of an eye, the two had rode down and out of site. Their long hair flowing in the breeze, it was then that I noticed that the horses seemed something akin to some that I had seen in history books. And even what glimps I had of their gear seemed awfully period and matching. “I must be tripping. Stress. Must be stress.”

                Mandrake started nodding his head. “Right. Because those two seemed a might bit more confused than we are.”

Chapter 14

 

                “…and I don’t know quite what to say folks. The geek in me says we are on a different dimension, or maybe a different reality. But the simple fact is that we are not where we were. Something is drastically different. I suggest we organize, and make some plans.” One of the other shop keepers was saying. “Now, my suggestion is that we set up like an old settlement. We already have our homestead here, there may be locals that we could trade with, and maybe some farming could be done..”             

                As he rambled on, several of us were clearly just nodding our heads more out of boredom and confusion than anything else. The scouting party had come back, reporting nothing. No sign of other people, nor any clues as to where we were. The horses were tired, and the riders were justifiedly confused.

                “… and that is my suggestion. Does anyone else have any input on our situation?”

                One of the jousters held his hand up.

                “Look. After our looking around, I tend to agree to the fact that we are not exactly where we were, but I suspect there is something else. The terrain is familiar. Like we are in the same place, but there are details that have changed. I mean… there are creeks basically in the same areas, but if I had to guess, I would say that erosion and time have drifted them. And that hill over there, I imagine that maybe that was cropped up by some landshift or something like that.” he shrugged for a moment “I dunno about the how’s and when’s… but I studied land nav when I served, and I bet if we took a topo map and compared it to our locality… it would be the same.”

                There was a murmur amidst the crowd.

                Mandrake spoke up “Hey… Grizzly here and I saw something while we were looking around.”

                A silence of sorts fell.

                “We saw two men on horseback not more than a mile away. They were dressed in buckskins and looked seriously accurate if they were reinactors. Like seriously. I have worked many wild west shows and the like, and the only people I have seen with gear like that are the seriously old school tribal elders.” He took a sip and waited for questions or comments.

                There were none.

                Shamir cleared his throat and asked “So… we went back in time? That is not physically possible.”

                “Well, can you explain it then?”

                I looked around at all the people in the pews of the fake church, now mumbling to one another. It was an odd moment. The oldest amoung us sat in the front, yet it seemed that most of the real conversations were back where I was, near Shamir and Mandrake, just behind the jousters. I had chose to sit in the back, much like I had in school… so as not to be noticed. My mind wandered back to the kids back at the shop. They had projects that were meant for the fair to do, but would they be sitting there bored? Scared? Hell, I would expect at least confusion. All of us seemed at least moderately confused.

                There was a lot of chatter now, and I elblowed Mandrake, and got up to leave.

                “Hey… where are you going smith?” a womans voice asked from near the front.

                “Well, we don’t know where or when we are, and we have no idea about the wildlife let alone the native people. Thinking back to my history classes… the new people were usually not welcomed with open arms, so I plan on arming myself, and making sure the kids that work for me have some sort of way to defend themselves. I suggest you do the same.” I said as casually as I could muster, waving one hand to dismiss the question.

                “But we were told in the contract that no guns were allowed on site.” She cried back. “This is a gunfree zone. It should stay that way!”

                I chuckled. “Ya… you do that.” I turned and walked out.

                As I walked through the door, I could hear one of the jousters add “He didn’t say he was getting a gun, you f*****g retard… but I hope he is, cause I’m going to our area, and getting mine out of my truck. Jeez. You will be the first to die, thinking like that.” and I could hear footsteps not far behind me. Then many more.

                I didn’t have the heart to tell them that I was already packing heat, just keeping the 1911 hidden on my hip so as not to offend any liberal anti-gun nazi’s. He was right though, I was planning on whipping up some blades and other easy to use tools. My plan was to turn the Smithy to the Armory.

 

                As I opened the door to our place, I found both kids side by side on the stairs. As soon as the saw me, they hopped up and walked up.

                “So?! What is going on boss?” Mike asked.

                “Ya! What is the plan?” Jill prodded.

                “First off, we need to get you two some weapons. We are not expecting any trouble, but better to be safe than sorry, agreed?”

                Both nodded.

 

                Later that night, at the forge…

                “…depends on how we want to do this. I mean, its not like most of these people have any experience, let alone the fact that we don’t know our surroundings that well.” Shamir said quietly while rubbing his temples.

                There was the sound of several other men in agreement.

                “So? What do you want to do? Just make a new settlement, and hope that those riders we saw want to be our friends?! That’s an aweful lot of wishful thinking. I know I tend to see the negative side to most people, I prefer to think of it as trying to be prepared for whatever might come along.” I had responded equally as quiet. We knew that many of the rest of the fairgrounds were long asleep by now, and didn’t want to worry them about our little meeting of elders if you will. Several of the jousters, as well as several other familiar faces.

                “We can do more scouting, maybe set out a plan to enlarge the sweeps as we go. You said you wanted to make some weapons. What did you have in mind?” Martingood asked.

                “With the kids help, and some reporpousing of materials, we could probably crank out some blades, and I could teach them to make some field point style arrow heads. It was a basic sustenance product back in the day, and it would keep them busy. The only problem is that we were expecting our coal replenishment later this week. We only have a limited supply. I have a whetstone wheel as well, so we could hone existing blades. I was thinking along the lines of your stage weapons. I’m sure you guys didn’t scrimp on the materials when you baught them, right?”

                One of the other jousters piped up. “Each of us have purchased our own gear, so some of them are better than others. One of the guys that was to show up later this week was also our main armorer. I know that mine were amoung the better of our gear, and of course Martingoods is top of the line, so maybe ours could be spread around. Is it possible to use anything other than coal for your forge?”

                I nodded. “Sure, we could use charcoal, that would get up to welding heats, but that would also require we set up a char booth to make it. Aside from that we could use hardwood chunks, but that won’t get quiet as high a temp, and is a mite bit more unpredictable. The good news is we have bellows, so air supply is easy enough. And I might suggest, if those are really primitive tribesmen that we saw, be aware that flint tipped arrows can be very deadly. Not so much so as if we made up some with the metal tips. Plus, if they are friendly, we could trade a lot of goods like that.”

                “Ok, lets set up defences first, then worry about the locals.” I suggested.

                “We have other issues we need to confront. Things like food, water, sanitation… does anyone here know anything about these?”

                “Well, as for food, we could probably scavange from the other shops, and there is the option of farming and hunting….” Shamir suggested.

                “As for sanitation… one of the reinactors that are crashed out in the church, I heard he was all sorts of into how s**t like that worked back in the day. We can ask him tomorrow.” Martingood commented. “And as for water, we have a large water reserve, plus there is a few sources of water like creeks and such we can use.”

                And so it was decided, we would prepare. That was all good, but I still decided that I was going to try to make sure what was going on around us.

 

Chapter 15

               

                About an hour after the kids had fallen asleep, and the rest of the lights went out in the fair that I could see, I made my way to the truck, and pulled the folding benchseat forward. I gathered my things I had hidden there and back in. Digging through my hunting rucksack and a couple of hardcases, I had made up my mind. I would put my equipment and old skill to use to keep an eye on the area and see what was creeping around checking us out. I did a quick check on all my gear and silently made my way out the one gate that I knew I could sneak in and out of. Under the glow of a feignt sliver of a moon through the clouds I made my way across the small field and into the woodline.

                Sitting there in the near dark, I pulled up the binoculars and quietly sighed, wishing that I had brought my NVG with me. How the hell could I have guessed I would be here doing this though?! Many minutes had passed, and I felt confident that I had not been seen by anyone or anything. I chose to begin my scouting. Taking my time, and moving as silently as possible, I started counterclockwise around the fair. I calculated that it should take somewhere in the ball park of several hours at a slow pace stopping as needed. Stepping over twigs and branches… avoiding muddy areas, and looking for signs of wildlife as well as any two legged visitors in the near dark was less profitable than I had hoped. I had become certain that there were some sort of hoofed critters, and several paw prints that looked like raccoon and some other rodents. No sign of canine nor feline that I could see evidently. I recognized the sounds of some night birds and for certain some owls.

                Several hours had passed and I had returned nearly to my starting area when I did hear something. I was sitting with my bag at my side, back to a large tree, rifle across my lap as I was sipping from my canteen. What ever it was, was certainly behind me and the tree, and sounded a ways away. With the way sound bounces around in the woods, I was trying to make a direction to look. I ever so slowly set the canteen down and took the safety off my rifle. I bent at the waist, and arched around the trunk of the tree to look through the suplimental ironsights that I had added to my AR just months before all this. As my eyes focused in the dark, it was sillouette that caught my attention not a hundred yards away. Then there was another just yards past that. I couldn’t make out if they were critters browsing the local forage or a couple of people out there creeping about. I choose to keep my gun aimed on the closest one and see what happened. And I’m glad I did.

 

                What happened next? Glad you asked.

                I heard a squeal and  the sound of a hog browsing as it grew closer. It was taking its time, completely unaware of me, and seemingly ignoring what ever was behind it.

                Minutes passed by, and the hog passed through a beam of dim moonlight, and I felt my heart jump into my throat. I was careful to focus on my breathing and keeping calm. Knowing what a hog could do to a man on the ground, I was concerned about the fact that this thing was zig-zagging it’s way towards my location, and there was something else behind it. It was making so much noise in the near silence that I could not make out noises from what was behind it. It was as I was thinking about that, that I noticed that the other shadow was not moving erratically like the hog was. It was moving from shadow to shadow itself. It was clearly making its way to the beast, and I was expecting it to pounce shortly. This idea crossed my mind. If something was going to attack something that could kill me, which should I be more concered about.

                The hog was nearly by me when the shadow stood up. I could make out the shape of a person, and a bow. With a quiet snap and a squeal the hog fell over. As silent as the woods itself, the second shadow made its way to the hog. I could only see a sense of motion, and watch as someone was prepping the hog for transport. A male voice chanted something. It grabbed a couple of limbs, and quietly thatched together a sled to pull the beast back where ever it was going. Strapping the longbow across its back, it tossed the other end of the limbs down on its shoulders and started to walk away. He looked around for a moment then started walking away from our fair.

                A few paces away, he suddenly dropped the sled and went prone.

                I wondered what spooked him. I had been so silent that I was sure it wasn’t me. If I hadn’t even spooked the hog, then I didn’t believe that I had made enough noise for this hunter to hear me. I was in full Gillie and I there was no way in the dark he would see me. It suddenly occurred to me that with the wind shifted, he might smell me. I doubted it, but he might smell the gun oil, or something like that. just as I thought this he stood up and ran nearly silently away.

                ‘Discrection is the better part of valor’ came to mind. I chose to continue to sit silently for a little while as he may have had friends. That went away as sun came up. Just before full dawn, I packed up the Gillie, and made my way back to the gate and to the shop. While I was packing up, still in the woodline… I had noticed that there was still the sled.

               

 

Chapter 16

 

                I sat at the forge, warming myself by the charcoal fire sipping on some coffee. I clearly had much on my mind. Should I tell anyone about my foyer into the woods, what I found, what happened with the other hunter, and the fact that there should still be a hog in there that we could salvage.

                On one hand, much of this would be good info. On the other, I could not confirm that other person wasn’t one of ours, sneaking out much like I did. It’s not like we had agreed NOT to venture out, but doing so solo, in the dark, and without telling anyone… not my wisest idea I ever had. On the other hand…

 

                Mike came down from to find me and Mandrake chatting.

                “,and you have no idea who it was?” Mandrake asked sipping on his drink.

                “Well, I was sort of more worried about..” I stopped to greet the kid coming up to us. I motioned for him to grab one of the cups and join us with our coffee. “It’s kinda weak this morning Mike, trying to ration it out a bit to make it last longer.”

                With a sip and a nod of his head, mike asked. “What was it your were worried about? Sorry, wasn’t meaning to listen in, but I couldn’t help it a little bit.” He took another sip.

                “How much exactly did you hear kiddo?” Mandrake asked in typical accent and attitude.

                “Just that there was an excursion of some sort, and that the boss here was concerned about something.” Taking another sip he looked around as both of us looked him over. “Oh… goin hunting today?!” he sat down next to the AR and kit I had along the wall. He was eyeballing it and clearly curious.

                “Watch it. It’s still loaded and just the safety on.” I nodded.

                “Gotcha boss.”

                “Well, since you will likely hear about it somewhere soon anyways… I went scouting last night and had a run in with what I tend to believe was a local, as well as a large feral hog at almost face to face level. And If I can sneak out, surely someone could sneak in. so today, we become armorers, and at least the three or four” pointing at Mandrake with my elbow “of us are going to be a little extra carefull, even if the rest of the people choose not to.”

                I was glad to see Mike seemed on board with our choice. I was also surprised when Jill piped up. “Sounds like a good idea to me too. How can we help?”

Author's Note

still writing, but welcome input and opinions.