Little Lost Leon: Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Alfred really hated the thought of calling for the search parties to stop, 

but he felt like it was grossly unfair to keep asking people to put their own lives on hold when nary a trace of Ruby had been found after over a year of intense searching.  After all, their own families had to be suffering the effects of their absences—especially if they had small children at home.

Alfred had grown closer to Graham and Edgar, and he asked them what they thought.  They agreed that the searching had been a strain on many, but they did not doubt that most would keep looking until Ruby was finally found.  They came up with hosting a big thank-you gathering at Rainbow’s End, where Alfred would ask as many as would to just not forget about Ruby and keep their eyes and ears open if they made a trip out of the area.

Alfred then asked the house staff if they would make arrangements for the gathering, and dozens of suggestions were offered concerning what to do about this and that.  Alfred had proven to be every bit as humble and kind as his grandfather, and the house staff dearly loved doing all they could for him.

Almost a thousand people attended the gathering, and the head chef really outdid himself.  Not that every meal he prepared was not of the highest quality, but putting on such a large spread and maintaining his standards was truly an extraordinary feat.

Guests dined on beef, pork and venison that had been smoked, fried and roasted.  It was the same for chicken, turkey, duck and quail, as well as catfish, bass, trout, crappie and perch.  As if all of that might not be enough, there were also fried frog legs, boiled crawdads/crayfish and calf fries.

Dozens of side-dishes of tossed greens, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, squash and mushrooms rounded out the entrees.  Desserts were a wide variety of cakes and pies.  It was all washed down with coffee, tea, milk, lemonade, beer, wine and whiskey.  Needless to say, no one went home hungry, and most were groaning from stuffing themselves too much.

Some brought their guitars, fiddles and banjos, and quite a few left their seats to dance to the lively tunes.  Alfred teared up while thinking just how much Ruby would have enjoyed being there.

Graham came over to tell Alfred that a mother wanted Alfred to ask her daughter to dance.  Alfred tried to beg out of the situation by admitting that he had never tried dancing before, but Edgar would not let him off of the hook so easily.  For he quipped, “Never knowing just what I was doing never stopped me from making a fool out of myself before!”  Alfred dropped his head in defeat and went over to ask the young lady if she wanted to dance.

Her name was Miranda, and she was a very lovely lass a couple of years younger than Alfred.  Her face lit up when Alfred asked her if she would like to dance, and he danced like he had been doing it for years.  Miranda was also very good, and they danced together until it was time for her and her family to go home.

Alfred asked if he could see her again, and Miranda said she would welcome that.  Alfred promised to seek permission from her father, who worked for Shire in the barrel works division.

The plan was already in place for Alfred to start working as a regular employee in every division of Shire so that he could learn as much as possible about every aspect of the company after he scaled-back on searching for Ruby.  He vowed to never really stop looking as long as she was still missing, but he understood that the business would eventually start suffering if he did not become directly involved in the management of it.  This would not be good for most, if not all, of the people who worked for the company and their dependents—not to mention many who did direct business with Shire and the town of Blue Valley itself.  No, that was not something Alfred wanted on his conscience.

Of course, Alfred could always sell Shire to someone else or the employees themselves, but he really wanted to see what he could do with it to be of greater benefit to others.  He already had several ideas marinating in his head.

Alfred was to start with working under Edgar in the equine subdivision, but it now seemed prudent to start with working in the barrel works division.  For he had already spent a great deal of time helping Edgar provide horses for searchers to ride while out looking for Ruby.  Needless to say, the Morgans they raised to match with their carriages were just as suitable for riding as pulling a carriage.

Alfred and Edgar had grown very close to one another, and Alfred worried about disappointing him.  Therefore, he certainly did not look forward to telling Edgar about the change of plan.

Alfred’s concerns proved unfounded.  For when he told Edgar that he now wanted to start working in the barrel works division, Edgar had to fight hard to stifle a snicker.  His efforts proved unsuccessful.

Alfred admitted to himself that he should have expected such a reaction from Edgar.  For he had seen Edgar and Graham keeping a close eye on him with big grins on their faces as he was up dancing with Miranda.

“How long will it be before we get you hitched?”

The question caught Alfred completely off-guard, and he did not really understand what Edgar was asking him.  So, Alfred stammered a little when he asked, “What?  What do you mean?”

“Well, Miranda is indeed a very lovely lass, who will undoubtedly become even more attractive as her body matures and her figure develops.  Furthermore, I hear that she is even more appealing on the inside.”  Edgar had his patented stoic look on his face, but the twinkle in his eye gave away his true feelings.

“What are you talking about?  I am just sixteen years-old, and I think Miranda is just fourteen!”

“Yeah, I suppose you are wise to want to wait.  After all, with you being the richest boy for miles and miles, there will be girls of all ages, sizes and shapes  coming out of the hills and hollers in the hope of catching your eye.  You might even do better than Miranda.  In any event, a handsome lad with more money than a whole herd of accountants can keep track off like yourself could have a lot of fun before deciding to finally settle down.”

Alfred tried to offer a dignified scoff in reply, but all he managed was a snort.  They both busted out in laughter, and that was that for that discussion.

Alfred would have much preferred starting to work at Shire as a regular employee with his identity concealed in the hope of avoiding any awkwardness interacting with the other workers, but it was way too late for that.  For his face quickly became well-known all over the region after he moved into the main house at Rainbow’s End, and almost everyone working at Shire had been talking about when he would become more actively involved in the daily operations of the company since the gathering.

Granted, it was not commonly known that Alfred intended to get his hands actually dirty.  For it was assumed by most that he would stick to management and maybe sales, but there was no way to keep that semi-secret kept for very long at all.  In fact, everyone in the building knew that he was there within just a few minutes of him starting to work in the barrel works division, and Alfred was embarrassed over just how much his presence was disrupting the normal flow of the work.  Everything settled down soon enough, though.

The way Shire was organized was most impressive.  For each division operated independently of the others and could have been located many miles apart—despite basically being all part of the same huge complex.

There was central oversight, of course.  For there was a director at the head of each division, and they served together on a board, with the chairman of the board being the head of Shire itself.

It is arguable that there were a couple of other exceptions to the independence of the divisions.  For the materials division supplied what was needed for all of the other divisions, and all of the Shire products were sold by the sales division.  Nonetheless, since each material request and sales transaction was handled like each division was its own separate company, independence was maintained.

The barrel works division had its own set of buildings for each step of the process.  Cured lumber was provided by the central sawmill and warehoused until it could be shaped into staves and ends.  The brass for the rings came from the central foundry already sized and were staged in another building.

The vast majority of the barrels manufactured by Shire had a capacity of thirty gallons, but they made barrels of other sizes for this or that, which were made to order.  Those special orders were put together in a separate building apart from the really big one for the regular size, but workers would transfer between the two when needed.

All of the barrels were fired in the same building and staged for shipping in another building.  It all usually went very smoothly, and even fairly large special orders could be shipped within a week.

Alfred made a point to go see Miranda’s father, whose name was Kenneth, the first day.  For he was a warehouse foreman, and Alfred anticipated that it would be at least a week before he would actually work under him.

Kenneth was very happy to see Alfred, and complimented him on being so willing to learn by doing.  He also welcomed Alfred to come by his house to see Miranda whenever he had the time after work or on days off.

The stave shaping process was simple.  For all it comprised of was three steps.  The first step was cutting the boards down to the right width and angle for the size of the barrel.  The next step was curving the staves.  The last step was sanding them as smooth of glass to insure a watertight fit.

The stave foreman was genuinely impressed with Alfred for how easily he learned what to do and how hard he worked at it.  By the end of the week, Alfred had designed an adjustable fixture that greatly decreased how long it took to correctly size a stave, as well as make it much easier to do.  The stave foreman was not the only one genuinely impressed with that.

The finished staves were staged in a warehouse until they were needed at the barrel assembly building.  Alfred also worked in the warehouse before moving onto the assembly building, himself.

Alfred had worked on the stave line a week before moving onto the warehouse, where the finished staves were staged.  He also spent a week working in that warehouse, but this was only because of its foreman being Kenneth.  For there was not much there to learn or improve.

Kenneth felt even better about Alfred by the end of that week.  For he could easily see how incredibly intelligent Alfred was while not making others feel dumb.  It was indeed a very endearing quality that Kenneth had no doubt his daughter would come to dearly love.

At the end of that week, Alfred followed Kenneth home from work to eat supper with his family.  Miranda and her mother, whose name was Lucille, were out on the front porch as Alfred and Kenneth headed for the house after unsaddling their horses.  Both had rode Shire Morgans, which Alfred had being doing more and more of instead of taking a wagon when one was not needed.  Miranda’s face beamed as Alfred greeted her and her mother.  Lucille kept her countenance better hidden, but she was just as thrilled as her daughter on the inside.

Lucille was worried about Alfred not liking what she had prepared to eat because of him being used to the fabulous fare always served at Rainbow’s End, but Alfred hungrily devouring what was on his plate put her mind at ease immediately.  About halfway through the meal, Alfred looked up to see everyone else at the table having their eyes trained on him.  Alfred's face turned beet-red, and he quickly lowered his eyes.  Then everyone busted out laughing, and all that could be heard from then on was groans of pleasure and profuse compliments to the chef.  Lucille could not help but outwardly beam then.

After the meal was over, Alfred insisted on helping Miranda clear the table and wash the dishes.  Kenneth and Lucille watched with big grins on their faces and thoughts in their heads of this maybe being the first of seeing that happening for years to come.

After putting the dishes away, Miranda and Alfred went out onto the front porch to sit in the swinging bench and talk.  Alfred quickly shifted the conversation off of him and Shire to what dreams Miranda had for her future, which caught Miranda somewhat off-guard.  For she understood the prevailing attitude in polite society being that a woman’s place was as a loving wife and mother at home.  Miranda was not at all opposed to that, but she also dreamed of exploring a higher education and where it could take her first.

Alfred told Miranda that he also wanted to pursue a more formal higher education after getting some first-hand experience with every aspect of Shire, with both working hand in hand with the other.  He went on to add that he planned on talking to Graham about it and would include her in the discussion.  Oh yes, Miranda was falling deeply in love with the boy.

“I sure hope Ruby likes me.”  Miranda was horrified when she realized that she had said that out-loud.

Alfred quickly put her mind at ease, though.  “I am quite sure that she will dearly love you.  I plan on getting back to being more seriously involved in the search for Ruby after I finish this first round of working in all of the divisions of Shire.  I do not know what else can be done that has not been thoroughly explored already, but we must come up with something.”

Miranda nodded her head in acknowledgement of what Alfred had said about continuing the search.  However, at the forefront of her thoughts was wondering if Alfred’s use of love instead of like to assure her of Ruby’s approval was an indication of just how he really felt about her.  No, she had no doubt of him really liking her, but like was a pale substitute for love in her mind.

Shire’s production lines normally ran Monday through Friday, and only on Saturdays when a large order needed to be completed.  Never on a Sunday, however.

So, Alfred had nothing pressing to do for the next two days, and he was having a hard time thinking of anything but what a wonderful life he and Miranda could live in blissful matrimony.  Nonetheless, those thoughts actually troubled him somewhat.  For Alfred considered such thinking as being almost a betrayal of Ruby, with her still missing.

Alfred conceded to himself that everything had been done besides launching a massive nationwide search, but there was no evidence of her still being in the country.  For she could be anywhere in the world by now.  That is, unless she fell into a deep abandoned well soon after disappearing.  That thought made him shudder.  Alfred escaped back into his thoughts of Miranda, and drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.

The sun came up early Saturday morning, but Alfred was not up to see it.  For he was actually sleeping in for a change, and that smile on Alfred's face when he drifted off to sleep had been replaced by a sheepish grin by the time he finally stumbled into the kitchen.

“Miranda?”

Alfred could only manage to nod his head in an affirmative motion in answer to the cook’s question.  His face was starting to turn beet-red with embarrassment.

“A man in love should feel no shame if he is not doing anything wrong.  Have you done something wrong with Miranda, Alfred?”

Alfred immediately spun around to see Graham standing there and blurted out an emphatic, “NO!”

Graham just grinned, and the rest in the kitchen burst out laughing.  Alfred slowly shook his head from side to side in feigned disgust.

They all rushed over to give him a hug.  Alfred had them quickly bending over in laughter again, though.  “You had better not let my eggs burn!”

After enjoying another marvelous Rainbow’s End breakfast with Alfred, Graham left the estate still chuckling to himself over what had happened in the kitchen.  Graham had to hand it to the boy that he was very quick with a very funny counterpunch anytime someone poked fun at him.

Alfred decided to spend the rest of the weekend trying his hand at painting another portrait of Ruby as he envisioned her now looking.  He did not need that much time.  For the initial sketch only took a couple of hours to complete on account of it being almost like he could see her actually standing there before him, and the portrait was completed before the sun went down that Saturday.

Ruby’s sapphire-blue eyes were even brighter in the new portrait as they seemed to peer into his soul.  Alfred did not go to sleep with a smile on his face that night, and neither did he do so the next night.

Alfred managed to pull himself out of the emotional quagmire he had fallen into over Ruby’s continued absence from his life by the time he finished saddling his horse to ride over to Shire early Monday morning.  For Alfred could not see how walking around like a zombie would be helping his beloved little sister a bit.  In fact, he could imagine his dour mood as even damaging productivity by damping the usual high spirits of the other workers around him.

Alfred would be working on the main barrel assembly floor that week, and he already had an idea of how to make it easier to keep the staves in place while the hoops and ends were being added.  It would entail an inflatable bladder made out of a steer’s stomach that could be easily removed after the barrel was put together by simply deflating it.  The bladder could be quickly reinflated for another barrel with a bellows, and he thought the extra steps would be well worth taking.

The extra steps did indeed prove to be well worth taking.  For finished barrels were being moved to the shipping warehouse faster than ever without tasking the workers more than usual.  All who saw it in action were amazed over how simply and efficiently it worked.

The steer’s stomach was quickly replaced by a molded rubber bladder covered with leather, and different sizes were made for the assembly of specialty barrels.  The added expense was well justified by how much easier it made it on the workers involved.

Alfred spent a week working on the main barrel assembly floor.  There was a special order being filled in another building but since that assembly process was really no different, Alfred did not see a need for more than him going over to meet to the workers there.

Alfred spent only a day with those cutting barrel ends.  Since he could not see a way to improve on the current process, there was no need to stay any longer.

The next stop on Alfred’s industrial exploration tour was the foundry, where copper and zinc ores were shipped in railroad cars to be smelted in different furnaces to produce the metals in molten form and blended together to produce brass.  Iron ore was also delivered to the foundry and smelted in a different furnace to produce wrought iron and refined steel.  The metals were all sent out shaped and sized in accordance with the need.

The work required very strong men—both physically and mentally.  For the heat needed to produce the metals made the surrounding air almost too hot to breath.  These workers were paid very well, and worked one hour on and one hour off.  Two different crews worked in tandem to keep production flowing continuously throughout the day.

Not surprisingly, the foundry workers did not have a tendency to become hot-headed emotionally.  For the work was dangerous enough without someone losing their cool, all joking aside.

Speaking of joking, most of the foundry workers had a delightful sense of humor, and loved Alfred’s clever comebacks to their playful ribbing.  The week he spent in the foundry went by very fast despite the harsh working conditions.  Alfred came away with a great deal of respect for the foundry workers, and they were quite confident of having a great new leader for their company.

The next stops Alfred made on his industrial exploration tour was with the wagon, stagecoach, carriage and furniture works.  He spent a month with each division because of all of the different steps to the process of building their products.  He was next out in the woods with the timber and sawmill units.

Trees were felled with axes, two-man crosscut saws and wedges to direct the falls.  The trunks were then topped and limbed before being dragged one at a time behind a team of Shire draft horses to the sawmill.  Only dragging one at a time was easier on both the men and the horses.  Two teams or more were hitched together to drag large diameter trunks.

The timber was then cut down to the required widths and lengths at the sawmill.  The last step was to haul the lumber on wagons to the respective divisions.

Several different kinds of timber was utilized to manufacture Shire products.  Most of it grew on land owned by Shire, but some were shipped from other regions.

The work in the woods was every bit as labor-intensive as foundry work, but the conditions were much more pleasant, of course.  Although, the general view was breathtaking.  Alfred came up with that line.

Alfred worked a week out in the woods before being sent to pasture—quite literally.  For this is what he referred to as working under Edgar with the horses.

Alfred spent a month working under Edgar.  Aside from simply enjoying working with him, Alfred loved being around the horses so much.  In fact, Alfred really liked the idea of staying out to pasture for the rest of his life, but he had more than just his own preferences to consider.

So, it was onto the leather works.  Hides were shipped from slaughter houses ready for tanning.  No, horse hides were not utilized.

The resulting leather was fashioned into seat covers, horse tack and whatever else was needed.  Highly-skilled craftsmen carved intricate designs to increase the value of some pieces, and colorful thread was used to stitch together the seat covers.  Some pieces of furniture were covered with leather utilizing both enhancements.

Alfred spent a week at the leather works before moving onto central headquarters.  This is where Alfred discovered something quite shocking.  For sitting behind the so-called big desk was the chairman of the board, Graham.  Needless to say, Graham had a big grin on his face as he looked at Alfred standing there in the doorway to his office completely dumbfounded.

“Why?  Why did you not tell me?” Alfred was stammering somewhat when he asked the question.

“Was it really that important to you?”  Graham kept grinning while waiting on Alfred to answer.

“No, it would not have changed how I feel about you, but it would have been nice to not be the last to know!”  Alfred was starting to regain his wits.

Playing right along, Graham adopted a more subdued composure before asking, “Would you deny an old man having some fun?”

Alfred could only manage to shake his head in feigned disgust as he made his way to a comfortable chair in front of Graham’s desk.  Graham had triumphed.

Graham held nothing else back from then on.  He even talked at length about the specific damage done during Manfred’s reign and the great lengths taken to restore the company’s stellar reputation.

Alfred brought up how much he and Miranda longed for a higher formal education, and asked if it would be possible to establish Blue Valley Academy to bring outstanding teachers and students there, with no subject being ignored.  Graham thought it was a wonderful idea and promised to immediately get the proverbial ball rolling.

Alfred attended several board meeting, where he observed big business being conducted like it should be.  Every matter was addressed as if it was the most important thing before the board, with workforce contentment and customer service being paramount over profitability.  Of course, no business can survive for very long without making some profit, but enough should be enough.

Speaking of such, Alfred spent a month working in the sales and service division.  Several regional offices had been established throughout the country to better address the wants and needs of specific areas.  These offices were generally staffed by qualified locals, with just having a good personality being enough to initially qualify.  All of the regional offices were run by people who had made basically the same industrial exploration tour as Alfred had in order to insure intimate familiarity with Shire products and services.

Shire already had three regional offices in Canada and two in Mexico, and the idea of expanding overseas had been discussed.  No serious plans were on the table for that at the time, though.

It was through the regional offices that the search for Ruby expanded beyond Blue Valley and the surrounding area.  No news of her whereabouts yet, though.