The "A Story Titled 'Clockwork'" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  That was until I opened my morning newspaper to the "Senior Living" section of the Wednesday LNP edition.  Staring back at me was a familiar sight I had grown used to seeing when I was still living at home and my dad was still working at Meiskey's Jewelry Store in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Dad worked on time pieces of all sizes at Meiskey's Wholesale Jewelry and I often had the chance to see many in person when he would bring them home with him after work to spend a few extra hours on them during the evening.  Dad had taken courses at Bowman's Technical School in Lancaster after getting out of the Army in the early 1940s.  It was here that he learned his watchmaking skills.  The large color photograph which featured watchmaker Robert Desrochers showed the workings of a grandfather clock on the timekeepers workbench in Lititz, Pennsylvania.  Bob is a marvelous craftsman, according to the Lancaster newspaper, much as my father was when he did the same job about 70 years ago.  The newspaper described the watchmaker in the story as a knowledgeable craftsman, much like my father was when he was performing the same type of restoration work as Robert was doing.  Timekeeping has become a forgotten skill, but for the craftsman who still has the knowledge to complete the skill, it is a thrill to watch them at work.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.