John Royal Armstrong was the end of a long line of blacksmiths going back to his great-great-great-grandfather Andrew Armstrong, a blacksmith from England who followed the whaling trade to the New World to provide iron tools and implements for ships and even harpoons for their bloodied hunting of whales.

Long gone was whaling and so was his family, except for his uncle Andrew Armstrong IV, who resided in a mansion on the hill overlooking town. Andrew told the young JR early on that he was giving all of his money to various philanthropic enterprises. Also told him to earn his money the hard way, something that Andrew hadn't, simply inheriting Armstrong Industries from his father Andrew Armstrong III. Whose painting was prominent among the rest of the family in the mansion that was going to the Anglican Church for a retreat center upon his death.

That was okay with JR, as he was known in Bay Bend, at a bend in the river one mile from the Atlantic where the whaling ships used to safely anchor. He was an only son who began working with his father at 7. Had inherited the shop from his father when he died at 51 from a heart attack with advanced arthritis and lungs damaged from breathing smoke.

When his mother died at 55, JR inherited the Victorian mansion he had grown up in. He found the place too big and empty, full of memories, and in disrepair. So, he sold it to a young couple, eager to restore it to its over 100-year -old former grandeur. He used the money to pay off debts that his parents had acquired and that fell on him.

JR spent what was left on new shop equipment and to build a two-bedroom, one bath, addition to the shop where he could keep a better eye on it because the whole of Main Street, including the industrial end where his shop was, had declined from its vigorous heyday. The whole town was subject to burglary and vandalism more often. It was better for him to live on the premises. With a loaded shotgun at hand just in case.

As a result, and being an average student, JR was stuck with his occupation. High school counselors had advised him not to go to college where he might fail, but to continue to be a blacksmith like his family always had been. Mrs. Jones telling him, "Young man, you are on the right track according to your tests to remain in your father's occupation. You are not college material."

But he was changing with the times. The new digital equipment he put in enabled him to do more metalworking and he even thought about acquiring a 3D printer like he had heard about but hadn't done yet, wondering about what he would do with it. Always practical with what he purchased. Only buying what he would use. Waste not, want not.

The business had always changed with the times from being a hardware provider for shipping, the horse and buggy trade, construction and farming. But when a Walmart opened and provided foreign-made tools and hardware items that his father had produced back fifty years ago, the business had declined to the point his father had borrowed on the business and done foolish things like buy a new car that they never really drove anywhere while it rusted out so close to the sea.

JR was more frugal, like his mother, and began to do new things for customers in the new millennium, like create ornamental gates and fence post toppings. Even venturing into wrought-iron, aluminum, brass, and other ornamental art pieces that came into his creative thought processes that never seemed to end. He put in long hours, seven days a week, so he never was able to socialize even with his customers because they weren't, generally, single ladies. Besides, who would want a bearded, 40-year-old, over muscular, blonde haired with gray streaks average looking guy. With no real future prospects?

Nobody, so far. Working in his father's shop he didn't participate in school and church activities where he would have possibly met a young woman earlier. Although he had a few awkward dates during and after high school, JR just couldn't seem to fit in and stopped dating altogether as another useless and unproductive effort; only resulting in heartbreak when these young ladies seemed to reject him.

JR's only reprieve from the monotonous life was to do those artistic pieces that people liked to buy and put in their houses. To set on the table, by the fireplace or on the mantle and even hang on the walls as reminders of old New England and the simple utilitarian implements that were hand wrought by blacksmiths.

His uncle grew interested in JR's artistic ability and asked him, five years before, when he was 89 and becoming quite frail, to bring some of his creations along and help him on one last month-long trip to Europe. Though reluctant, JR agreed to close the shop for a month when a neighbor agreed to watch it for him and collect his meager mail every day.

This was a totally new adventure for JR, having never left the area except for some springtime and fall drives that his father had taken his mother and him into the New England countryside on Sundays with his new car before he grew disinterested in taking them driving anymore. For some reason, JR, unlike other kids, wasn't eager to drive, drink and go crazy, crashing their parent's cars in such a wasteful way. Why he sold the rusted hulk of the old Oldsmobile to a junkyard for scrap. Where he often picked up interesting metal pieces for his artwork.

The trip involved many firsts. JR's first passport. His first time taking a limousine with complementary cordials to the international airport. His first flight, first class, to England. His first time staying in a restored Middle-Age, five-star castle hotel with exotic food he had never tasted and a luxurious suite where he learned how to take care of his uncle's unmentionable needs at old age. Something he didn't relish but knew was his duty.

JR's first time taking extensive tourist bus tours throughout the United Kingdom with his uncle explaining the relationship of their family to various historic places and shipyards. His first trip on a train through the English Channel to France, and from there, many more other train and bus tours throughout Europe until they finally arrived at Paris during the last week of what turned into a month at an art show of medieval artwork that was both shown and sold.

When they arrived at the show, Andrew took JR to the show officials who were on a first name basis with him because he had often come there in the past and bought items at auction. Introducing JR to one of the officials, Pierre, Andrew said,

"JR, would you please take out those pieces from your luggage that I had you bring here and show them to Pierre?"

JR was a bit reluctant having seen what was on display already and very unsure that his pieces would be of any interest. But he opened up the suitcase and started taking each piece out. The first was a brass door knocker with a lion's head. The second was a set of iron instruments for tending a fireplace. The third was a whimsical hanging sculpture of the style of Calder. The fourth was a crest to be placed on the front of the gate for entering a property. And, the last was an aluminum wall piece with highly reflective characteristics, polished to perfection.

Pierre took a look at the objects, one by one, very carefully, and said, "From what I see here, I would be most happy to put these up for auction. But first, we will put them on display for a couple of days with an estimated opening bid so that potential buyers will get to know them. Is that satisfactory with you?" He looked directly at JR.

JR was shocked. All he could mutter was… "… Okay,… Sounds okay with me."

Andrew patted him on the back and said, "Don't worry, lad, they'll bring a good price at auction. I saw that in them at your shop."

The next two days they came to the show and looked at all the, some ancient, pieces that were being sold from castles and estates. JR saw many people looking at his items under glass and wondered why his work could ever be as valuable as these old world pieces.

The auction day arrived and it was late in the day, about 4:30 PM when the initial crowd of bidders in the morning had thinned, that JRs pieces came up for auction.

To JR's surprise, there was vigorous bidding by architects and designers and others interested in using them in new construction or remodeling, but reflecting an older style. At the end of the day, after auction fees were paid, the five items sold for $135,630! JR was flabbergasted, but his uncle just smiled.

As they left the cashier, the show and the building with the American Express cheque in the full amount clutched in J JR's hand, he blurted, "Uncle Andrew, you must take some of this money to help pay for this fabulous trip. I don't know what to do with all of this money."

"You keep it, JR. I have no need for any more money. If it is too much, you might consider giving some of it to some of the charities I have lined up in my will. I don't think I have to give you anything if you can make money like that simply by traveling here with your work."

JR was happy on the flight home but also worried about having so much money in his possession on a single piece of paper. As soon as he got back to Bay Bend he went to the local bank and surprised the cashier with the check. The man immediately called the bank manager and he asked JR to join him in his office.

"JR, we've known each other a long time and you have some very nice savings and CDs here. But this is extraordinary. I shouldn't ask, but did you win the money or get an inheritance?"

"No, I sold some of my art pieces in Paris with Uncle Andrew."

"Well, I wouldn't just put it in savings. Maybe you should invest it. We are affiliated with a National Bank in Boston. I can arrange for the money to be invested for you. Your gain would be, on the average around 10% per year, much higher than the going CD rate that you have now. What do you say? We'll manage it for you for a small fee."

JR had no knowledge of investing. Andrew had not told him what to do with the money. So, he agreed with the manager and got a contract that he signed but didn't pay any attention to except that the fee was something like 1% of the fund amount per year.

One hundred miles upriver along the winding highway that followed the river to the foothills leading to Mount Washington, was the little town of Mill City, named after the colonial mill that now was a quaint gift shop for the touristy little town.

Mildred Stewart was borderline autistic and didn't fit in well in a town where everyone knew everyone else. Through school she didn't do well and was bullied a bit. She ended up following her mother to work in a small alteration shop that barely made enough money, since her dad died, to keep them alive. Still a spinster with no dates in sight at 27, she expected never to marry and wasn't sure how she would support herself when her mother died.

But Christmas time was always something that Mildred looked forward to because she had a knack for origami. From the age of 6 she had made Christmas ornaments of paper, sprinkles of silver and gold the decorated her mother's tree. There was no celebration for a father she never knew and her mother never told her. Probably a lot of shame because she was raped, and disgraced in town because of it. An autistic child her curse.

When Mildred found a computer and a printer that could print paper in the shapes and colors that she could dream up she started creating lifelike ornaments that not only shined, but some of them were also so lifelike and iridescent that they seemed to move.

When she placed them in the window of the alteration shop, people inquired whether they could buy them. She offered them for 5 or $10, but generous townspeople, feeling magnificent in the holiday season, often paid her $50 for one. Of course, to her delight.

But it was in June when the traveling salesman that came by with sewing products her mother needed that changed everything.

"Hi Mildred! Where's your mother, I’ve got a

roll of thread I'd like to show her?" Harvey Ward was in his usual jovial mood. It was good for business.

"I'm sorry, but she died in April, I am having to struggle along here alone since then."

"Well then, young lady, I'll just have to deal with you."

While they were discussing some of his fabrics and threads, Harvey's eye caught a hummingbird ornament hanging in the window of the shop shimmering in the sunlight as though it were flying.

"Is that hummingbird for sale?" He asked.

"I didn't sell it last Christmas, so you can have it cheap."

"Cheap, how cheap?"

Trying to think like her mother would, Mildred replied, "Oh, half price. They were originally $50 but I'll give you that one for $25."

"Well, young lady… you've got a deal. All I've got is three 10s so I guess I'll have to give you a $5 tip." With the big smile and a wink.

Mildred was overjoyed and thanked him profusely. Harvey was on his way stopping in town downriver. When he arrived in Bay Bend, he spotted some of JR's ornamentals and stopped to take a closer look.

JR saw him coming and recognized him from before. "Hi Harvey, have you come by to buy one of my pieces? I'm sorry but the prices have increased since I went to Europe last year.

"Europe? That's fancy, pantsy. I thought you never left your shop."

"I don't. But Uncle Andrew took me along on his last trip there and some of these pieces sold for a princely sum. But I'll sell them to you a mite cheaper since you're a repeat customer."

"Your prices are now a mite too high for the likes of me, so I'll just keep the two pieces I already have with the thought of making a profit if I ever want to part with them. But I came to show you something else."

Harvey was carrying a small cardboard box that he opened up where the origami was resting in cotton and held it up for JR to see.

JR was impressed. "Where did you get it? It's beautiful! Such craftsmanship I haven't seen around here ever. It would sell in Europe."

"I bought it off a spinster lady In Mill City, upriver. Paid $50 for it and it's worth every penny. I'll sell it to you for $100." Harvey lied with a smile.

"No thank you, but thanks for the offer. If you give me some particulars, I might look up the lady myself. Labor Day is coming up and I should close the shop.”

Labor Day came and Harvey took the bus up the river admiring the beginning fall color, the entire two hours it took to get to Mill City and the Fall Festival held there every year at that time.

Arriving in town, JR quickly found the alteration shop, but it was closed. Everyone seemed to be going to the festival, so he hid his overnight case behind a bush on the side of the building and wandered off into the festival grounds.

There were all kinds of crafts and produce on display for sale that was interesting, but he was looking for something in particular. Up ahead, he saw something that resembled a butterfly in-flight catching the sunlight and he knew he was at the right place.

Shyly, JR approached the young lady sitting in a booth at a table with some of her creations displayed on it and hung above it.

"Mildred… Are you Mildred Stewart? Harvey Ward came by and showed me an exquisite hummingbird that you made and I just had to come here from Bay Bend, downriver."

"Yes, I am. That was nice of you to come all that way just to see what I have made for sale here. Not many sales today. People don't have Christmas on their mind yet."

"I don't see these pieces for Christmas. I see a lot more. And, some of these that you have are really stunning."

"Stunning? Now that's a nice word. Everyone says they like them, but what did you say your name was, mister?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm John Royal Armstrong, but call me JR. I'm a blacksmith that has recently turned into an artist when I found out that the things I make can make big money. I think your stuff can make big money, too."

"Really? I wouldn't know anything about that. It's getting late in the day and you look like the last person I'm going to talk to. Would you mind coming over to my house and I’ll feed you some of my cooking while we're talking it over?" Mildred sensed she shouldn't let this interesting guy get away.

"I'll be needing to find a place to stay. Any suggestions?"

"Everything is full because of the festival. But you're in luck. My mother's room is vacant with her gone."

"How much do you charge?"

Mildred thought for a moment… "I'm not a bed-and-breakfast. I guess it's okay for you just to stay. No need to charge you anything. You seem like a nice guy."

"Well then, let me help you close up your booth."

JR and Mildred walked back to her house and their conversation flowed quite freely. Something that JR had never experienced with a woman before. Likewise, for Mildred, it was the same. Both were lonely. Perhaps it was the loneliness that brought them together.

The simple cooking that Mildred did, reminded JR of the way he cooked. They watched the movie on TV in the evening and JR went politely to bed in Mildred's mother's room.

In the morning, he smelled bacon and when he came into the kitchen, Mildred had made blueberry pancakes, and was ready to fry any number of eggs that JR wanted. To show her how he liked them, JR fried his own. Domestically, they were getting along famously. JR really liked this girl and wished he had met her in high school.

JR stayed two more days and helped Mildred with talking to customers at her festival booth. With him doing the talking, she sold a lot more, for more, than she was originally asking.

That last night, JR knew he had to return home and catch the bus in the morning. But, he wanted to stay as he was enjoying Mildred so much. He kept trying to think of a way to be with her more.

"Mildred," he said as they walked to her house, "The show in Paris is in early October. I'd like you to go with me and bring some of your creations."

Mildred could not conceive of ever going to Paris.

"I wouldn't know what to do. I don't even know a word of French even though we vacationed one time in Québec. But that was a long time ago."

"Don't worry, people come there from all over the world and most speak English. Besides, I learned from my uncle how to book transportation and hotels."

JR was surprised at how worldly he seemed to have become. Making Mildred less fearful of engaging in such an enterprise with someone she was just getting to know. But she wasn't getting any younger, and time to do something like this on her own was impossible.

They cooked together that last night and enjoyed a bottle of wine after. Things got a little out of hand and JR found himself in Mildred's bed in the morning.

At the bus station they hugged each other and cried.

"Don't worry," JR assured Mildred, "We'll be together again in a month."

They had exchanged emails and telephone numbers so the next month was a flurry of communication between the two lovers. Mildred closed her shop a week before the trip and took the bus to Bay Bend with some of her finest creations she hadn’t put up for sale.

Mildred spent the next week making JR's home a little less bachelor and a little bit more, domestic couple, while she picked out the clothes they would wear on the trip and packed. JR spent the same time making travel arrangements and finishing the work he was going to take. They worked together well and both liked that.

The day came and Mildred was aflutter with all of the firsts that JR had encountered the year before. It seemed like no time and they were in Paris and he was showing her around town… Taking her to the Louvre and to the Eiffel Tower.

When they signed into the show and auction, the auctioneers and appraisers had never seen anything like her sparkling creations. They reminded them of the quality of craftsmanship of the Faberge eggs. But of course, without the historic provenance of the eggs, her creations were estimated to bring only $30-$40,000 each. A figure that stunned Mildred when she heard the appraiser tell her.

Their pieces were placed on exhibit for a couple of days and then went to auction. This time, at 11 AM for Mildred's work and 2 PM for JR's.

When Mildred's ornaments were blown up on a large screen, the bidding was very brisk and she couldn't believe it. After fees, Mildred had earned $625,000 and JR, $463,000. They felt rich.

The money was wire transferred to the bank in Boston and the happy couple returned home.

In the months that followed, Mildred decided to give her shop and home to a needy family, a mother and daughter who had helped her mother with her alterations during busy times like before holidays and when school started. The town needed an alteration shop and she didn't know of anyone who would want to take it over and pay for the business.

They took a 21-day Christmas cruise to the Caribbean and were married by the captain on the ship. When they returned, both spent their time making their creations and selling them to the locals for much less than they got in Europe.

Each year when they returned to the show in Paris, the value of their pieces grew. Before long, they were being sold at Christie's and other auctions in the United States.

With so much wealth and no children, they started an endowment for a trade school in Bay Bend they called Armstrong-Stewart Academy and watched it flourish until they grew old and died with their statues placed at the school to honor them.

Copyright 2024 © Ronald W. Hull

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