Johnny Sunshine

It was a hot, dusty afternoon at the end of August when Johnny Sunshine rolled into town. He was a good-looking man of twenty-seven, and it showed in the way he carried himself. He walked with confidence, wore nice clothes, spoke with sincerity and humility, and had the calm demeanor of trustworthiness. The sun was hot on the dashboard as he drove slowly down a main street he’d never seen before, in a town a long way from home.

Gutenberg was a town of 100,000 and had a nice little downtown of four or five blocks. He drove passed the Allen Hardware Store and the Allen Grocery Store, passed the Allen Hotel, the Allen High School, and then drove along the Allen Waterfront Park. The town had a long, proud history and many of the buildings were historic landmarks. But like so many American towns, its glory days had slowly faded, after peaking in the 1960s. Now there were empty storefronts and a general feeling of neglect. For the residents, the decline had been nearly imperceptible over the decades, but looking at old photos of downtown was like looking into the past of some other town.

The Allan family owned just about everything in town, but most of their wealth had come from Allen Press, a large complex of industrial buildings at the edge of town. Allen Press was a printing and publishing company that printed half a dozen daily newspapers, dozens of national and international magazines, and was the largest book publisher in five states.  Allen Press had a long and noble history that dated back to the early 1800s, and was by far the largest and most important company in town, with over 200 employees.

Johnny knew nothing of Gutenberg’s history, but he knew printing, and had heard of Allen Press. He came from two states away when the printing company he worked for, suddenly shut down. Their largest client had been the university in town, which sent them a wide variety of books, brochures, reports, scholarly journals, class materials, and all manner of posters and flyers. But under cost-cutting pressure from the school board, and a handful of vocal residents, the university made the decision to give all of its large projects to a printing company in China. Within weeks, Johnny’s old company went out of business.

Johnny had pretty much grown up in that printing company. His dad worked there his whole life, and so did his dad’s buddies. Johnny spent a lot of time hanging around there as a kid, and then started working there when he was old enough. Even though he grew up in a college town, college was not on his agenda. He did, however, seem to have a great way with machines. From an early age he was fascinated by them and spent as much time as he could around them, absorbing the fantastic engineering that went into making them. Nothing thrilled him more than learning how to make them go. The machines inside large printing companies are some of the most amazing machines in the world, so it was completely natural that Johnny would take to them the way he did.

The other thing about Johnny, was that he had a little something extra that his friends didn’t have – his cleverness. He was particularly good at navigating within an organization and climbing the ladder. By the time he was twenty-four years old, he was already the plant manager.

It was no surprise to Johnny that the university took their business to China, because he had been passionately warning about that danger for months, even years.

Johnny was not short on ambition and drive either. It really ate at him that the rest of management wouldn’t listen to his warnings, because his plan was to one day run the whole company. Downplaying this Chinese threat, was putting his future kingdom at risk. But the others continued blindly on – then poof went the whole company, and everyone lost their jobs. Now Johnny was in Gutenberg hoping to find a new job and a new kingdom of glorious machines.

At the end of Main Street, Allen Press had a grand entrance into a large half-full parking lot. Beyond that, was a historic brick building with terra cotta arches, and beyond that, newer industrial structures rose up. Johnny drove to the front of the lot, and pulled his car into a reserved spot next to a Ferrari just outside the main entrance.

He turned off the car and sat for a minute. He was a long way from home, a long way from the people who knew him. This, in front of him, he hoped, was going to be his new future. He knew everything there was to know about the giant machines and equipment that filled those buildings, and he just needed to convince Allen Press that they needed him.

Even though he had driven all night, Johnny still looked fresh. He opened the door and set his suede boot on the pavement. Standing, he adjusted his blazer and then walked to the entrance. Inside the door was an opulent lobby with a receptionist off to the side. She smiled at him and motioned for him to wait while she got off the phone. All printing companies have the same smell, and he loved it: a mixture of inks and solvents and darkroom chemicals and paper. He took a deep breath and felt right at home. The lobby, while ornate, was the grandeur from a distant past when large printing companies were the titans of a small town’s industry, when the people who owned them and managed them were like local royalty. They had all the prestige and money, and their leaders held all the power in the community. Allen Press had been one of those companies and its lobby was like a perfectly preserved museum of an earlier era, an era that had been gone for decades, but an era that Johnny still hoped to be a king. The lobby also smelled of stale percolated coffee, like that of a church basement after Sunday services when coffee was served out of five gallon chrome percolators. Not much had happened to this lobby in years, and the tired opulence was a little depressing. On one wall was a collection of awards the company had won over the years, but the most recent one was nearly thirty years old. If you looked closely, you could see a thin layer of dust on everything.

The receptionist finished her phone call and turned her attention to Johnny.

“You must be Johnny?” she asked.

Yes, ma’am.”

“Mr. Allen is waiting for you. His office is on the right at the top of the stairs.

“Thank you,” he said, and walked up the marble steps to the open door on the right. Johnny knocked lightly on the wooden door.

“Come in, come in,” said a large man in a suit standing up from behind an intricately carved oak desk. Facing the desk were a couple of fancy high-back cushion chairs where another man, a thin man, who was also in a suit, stood up.

“You must be Johnny,” the large man said. “I’m Edgar and this is James. Have a seat.”

Mr. Allen, stayed behind his desk and sat back down. Johnny shook hands with James and they both sat down. Mr. Allen was a man in his sixties or seventies, was tall and wide, and had inherited the family fortune from seven generations of Allens. His personality was as out-sized as he was, and he gave off a gentle, jovial air. James was tall and thin, and even though he was in his thirties, he had an odd, boyish face, too-soft pale skin, and there was something vaguely creepy about him. When they shook hands, his hand seemed weak, and it melted into nothing in Johnny’s hand. His suit, though obviously expensive, didn’t really fit, but loosely hung on his body like it was on a hanger in the closet.

Mr. Allen spoke, “We’ve been looking over your resume and we’re very impressed. You must be crushed about your old company. But I hope there will be a silver lining for all of us here at Allen Press.”

“Thank you, sir. Yes, it was heart-breaking,” Johnny said.

“We’ve seen your resume, now what do you think you can bring to Allen Press?” Mr. Allen asked.

“Thank you sir, I’ll be brief,” Johnny said. “As you well know, our industry is in a long, slow death spiral. Newspapers are failing, magazines have declined dramatically, books are falling victim to the ravages of technology, and the Chinese are taking millions and millions of dollars’ worth of business every year by undercutting prices. You, yourself, know this is true. Without someone like me to guide you, the long noble history of Allan Press will crumble, and you will be presiding over the last fateful years of this grand company. The ruin of generations will be on your shoulders, Mr. Allen, if you let this company fail. The livelihoods of all your employees, and everyone in this town, are in your hands. But with me here to help guide you, I can promise you that Allan Press will not only survive the next few years, it will thrive, and Gutenberg will have a long prosperous future ahead. My experience speaks for itself – but what you can’t see is the understanding and vision I have. I am dedicated to keeping this industry alive, and I have the expertise to make Allen Press one of the triumphant survivors.”

Mr. Allen and James exchanged knowing glances. “Yes, you certainly seem to be a great fit. And I think James agrees.”

James nodded.

“Why don’t you come back tomorrow morning and we’ll give you a tour of the place and we can talk some more.”

“That sounds fantastic,” Johnny said, and stood up to leave.

Just then a beautiful woman in her early thirties, with a wavy red bob, pale green eyes, bold red lipstick, and dressed in an expensive-looking blouse and slacks outfit, burst in. “Some fucking asshole parked in my spot,” she said.

Johnny stood up. “Hello ma’am, that was probably me.” He turned to her and held out his hand. “I’m Johnny,” he said, and gave her a smile.

She turned toward Johnny, ready to tear him a new one. But she was caught a little off guard by his good looks as he smiled at her. She smiled back. “It’s ok, just don’t do it again.” She held out her hand and shook his. “I’m Jessica.”

Mr. Allen spoke up, “Johnny, this is my daughter, and she is married to James.”

Johnny nodded, then turned to Mr. Allen, “Thank you, sir. I’ll see you in the morning.” Then turning to Jessica again, their eyes locked, and he gave her a rather suggestive grin. He couldn’t help himself, she was stunning. “It was a great pleasure to meet you, Jessica,” he said. He let his gaze linger, and she couldn’t look away. Then he turned and walked out the door. She watched. Realizing she was staring a little too much, like she had been caught spying on something delicious, looked back and saw that both of them, her father and her husband, had noticed.

Johnny’s heels echoed as he walked down the marble stairs in the lobby, and then he walked out the front door into the blazing sunshine. A few feet out he stopped, closed his eyes, and lifted his face towards the sun. That was much easier than he had expected.

The heat soaked into his skin. He could feel the late summer sun heating the blood in his face, and feel that heat spreading through his whole body – like he was slipping into a hot tub, or sauna. In his mind he went far away, back to his hometown. He thought about all of the people he had left behind – good people, some of which he had known his whole life. He thought about how the sudden closing of the printing company had been like a bomb in the community, how the shock had reverberated and sent his friends and co-workers, and their families, scattering in every direction, and how devastating it was to the other shops and business in town. He thought about all the people, just like him, who were suddenly cast out like refugees looking for work and a new home. The sunshine bathed him. For a couple of minutes he just stood there, eyes closed, transported. But the sound of a car pulling into the lot brought him back.

He got into his car and a few minutes later pulled into the parking lot of the Allen Hotel, a six story historic building in the center of downtown built in the late 1800s. At that time, the Allen family had become the predominate family in the area, and the hotel was a testament to the stately grace they wanted to bestow upon the growing town. The lobby was luxurious with Victorian pillars in a central light-filled atrium. There were elaborate brass chandeliers originally made for gas flame, and palm and banana trees were tastefully arranged with beautiful, plush furniture. Besides the Allen Mansion, which Johnny had not yet seen, it was the most spectacular structure in Gutenberg. Together with the Carnegie Library, which was built around the same time, this little town by the river felt itself becoming an important cultural center in the region, and the townspeople at the time had a palpable sense of excitement and destiny.

He got a room on the top floor with a nice view over downtown. The sunlight flooded the room from west-facing windows. The room had two beds and the threw his bags on one bed and stretched out in a patch of sunshine on the other. A minute later he was asleep.

Hours later, it was dark and he was awakened by the sound of sirens pulling up outside. Red and blue strobe lights flashed in his room through the windows. Peering out he could see that an ambulance had pulled up to the main entrance and paramedics were rushing inside. Johnny closed the curtains and turned on a light. He was disoriented from the sleep and everything that had happened, and he had anxiety about being in a new place where he knew no one.  He went to the desk, pulled out the chair, and sat down. Crossing his hands he put his chin down on them. He began thinking about his opportunity at Allen Press. If he really had landed a position in upper-level management, he would move right into being an important person in this town. The Allen family was the first family of Gutenberg, they had the biggest business, the most money, and what was good for the Allen’s was good for Gutenberg. Johnny knew that the most powerful place to be was at Mr. Allen’s side. The son-in-law, James, was creepy, and gave him an odd feeling, but Johnny could pretty much get along with anybody.   

Tomorrow was going to be a big day. He took off his clothes, and went to bed.

The next morning he woke up early, showered, and dressed in a freshly ironed shirt and slacks. He slipped on a nice blazer and made sure his hair was perfect in the mirror. This was it, his new life was about to start.

When he arrived, Mr. Allen and James, both wearing suits and ties, came down the marble stairs and met Johnny in the lobby of Allen Press. They exchanged greetings and then Mr. Allen led them back into the production areas. To start, they were in the historic building that dated back to the company’s early years. This is where the administration offices, the offices of the editorial staff, and graphic designers were located. It seemed unusually quiet and there were a few empty offices.

Next, they went through a passage into a newer building. This is where the engineering wizards of pre-press worked. They were the people who processed the artwork and content from the graphic designers and editors, and created the actual printing plates that were used in the printing presses. Johnny was surprised at how big it was – probably the biggest pre-press department he’s ever seen, but there was hardly anyone around. The three talked as they walked, though James, barely said a word, and at times didn’t really seem to know much about what they were seeing. Johnny made sure to get across that he knew all of this intimately. He talked with authority and obviously had a deep well of knowledge. His experience shone through and Mr. Allen grew more and more impressed as they went.

They crossed through another passage into a vast industrial building. Lined up along one side were ten enormous Heidelberg SpeedMaster printing presses, each the size of a locomotive. They were all identical; each had a series of eight color stacks, fifteen feet tall and filled with dozens of ink rollers. Each press could print full color on both sides of a 23 x 35 inch sheet of paper at 15,000 sheets per hour, and stack them neatly onto wooden pallets at the tail end. Each press was surrounded by metal steps to allow workers to climb up and around all parts of the massive machines. Johnny had actually operated a Heidelberg SpeedMaster and knew all about them, and he made sure Mr. Allen was fully aware of it.

Johnny felt like he was doing pretty well, and that Mr. Allen was warming to him. Increasingly, Mr. Allen introduced workers to Johnny as they walked.

Johnny noticed that only half of the Heidelbergs were in operation. The others had boxes stacked on and around them, and they looked dusty, like they hadn’t been used in some time.

Next, they went through another passage and into another huge industrial building. But this one was filled with just one machine – a German KBA machine known as Big Blue.  This was their newspaper press, and it stood 25 feet tall, 30 feet wide, and was as long as a football field. There were ladders and steps and catwalks all over, and workers climbed up and around and among the pulsating industrial steel. Paper was fed in at one end from giant rolls brought in with forklifts, and this unfathomably complex monster of a machine printed, trimmed, and folded 30,000 newspapers an hour – assisted by a small army of workers. Off to the side was the control center where all of the electronics came together. There were ink density scanners and color-corrected light benches to constantly monitor the print quality, and a set of computer screens that controlled every aspect of the machine’s operation. Mr. Allen told of how they had poured the concrete floor to a depth of six feet before they could put the machine in place. It arrived on seven railroad cars and took four months to assemble. After it was assembled under an enormous tent, the building was constructed around it. It was a thirty million dollar printing press and Mr. Allen was bursting with pride as he talked about it. Johnny, who knew all about the KBA, but had never actually seen one in real life, stood in awe. He had a special respect for the people who operated such magnificent machines, and he understood exactly the expression on Mr. Allen’s face as he showed it off. And Johnny was honestly humbled and honored to be introduced the foreman of the KBA crew.

Mr. Allen turned to Johnny. “I love this thing. When we first got it, it ran 24 hours a day and had three whole crews for three shifts a day. Now, we barely have the work for one shift. In recent years we’ve had to lay off 30 people just from this one machine.” Mr. Allen fell silent and gazed at the behemoth. “Unfortunately, it turned out to be a big mistake. This was supposed to be my crowning achievement, my big contribution to Allen Press, but then the world changed.” Johnny could see that Mr. Allen was getting emotional, and really could appreciate what Mr. Allen was saying.

At the back of the room were some windows where Mr. Allen pointed out more of the buildings. “Those three warehouses along the railroad tracks are where paper is loaded off train cars, and that building in the middle is where all of the customer fulfillment happens. That smaller building by the tracks is for flammable solvents and other hazardous materials.”

“It’d be terrible if that ever caught on fire, ha ha.” James joked. No one found that amusing.

Then they turned back and walked through the bookbinding sections making their way eventually back to Mr. Allen’s office. “I like you, Johnny.” Mr. Allen said. “I have a good feeling about you, and you certainly know the business. I was thinking I’d like to give you a try and see how it goes. What would you think about being senior advisor? I’d like you to work side by side with James, here, and take this company into the next era. As you can see, there’s a lot of work to do.”

“Sir!” interrupted James.

Mr. Allen held up his hand, “No, I think this would be a good match. James, you mean well, and you’re good at a lot of things, but Johnny here, has some good ideas. I think together you could do some great things, and get this company turned around.” Mr. Allen turned to Johnny. “Let’s start you out at $200,000 a year as see how it goes.”

Thank you, sir, that’s very generous, and I’d be delighted.” Then glancing at James, “I think James and I will work well together.”

“Great,” said Mr. Allen as he reached out to shake Johnny’s hand. “Tomorrow morning, stop by Karen down the hall, and she’ll get all the paperwork out of the way. Welcome aboard, son.” They shook hands and Johnny turned to leave. “Oh, one more thing,” Mr. Allen said. “I’m having a dinner party this evening, please join us. The mayor and some of the city council members will be there, and it’d be good for you to meet them.”

“I’d love to, sir. Thank you,” Johnny said.

Out in the hallway, Johnny and James exchanged a few words, shook hands, then James walked away. Johnny looked around a little bit and walked down the hall along the offices. As he passed one open door he glanced in and saw Jessica at her desk. He lightly knocked on the door, then walked in.

“Hello Johnny,” she said standing up, smiling.

“I didn’t know you worked here too,” he said.

“Yes, I’m in charge of sales and marketing. And besides, someday this will be my inheritance, and I want to keep a good eye on it.”

Johnny told her that her father had just hired him to work with her husband in senior management. He walked closer to her. “I think I’m really going to enjoy working with you,” he said with a slightly mischievous grin.

She walked a little closer to him, and in a hushed tone she said, “I think I’m going to enjoy it too.” For a moment, they got lost in each other’s eyes, and the world beyond them vanished. “Come on,” she said, “let’s find you an office.”

She led him down the hallway passed several empty offices to the last one. “I’ve always been partial to this one,” she said, and led him in. They walked into an office that had turned into sort of a dumping ground for old boxes and miscellaneous stuff. The light streaming in the windows was wonderful. “This one has a nice view.” she said. Johnny thought she was referring to the windows, but she closed the door and locked it, and putting her finger to her lips she whispered, “ssshh...” Then she wrapped her arms around Johnny and they began kissing – lightly at first, then intensely passionate. Jessica rubbed her hands through Johnny’s hair while they kissed, then, as she leaned back against the wall, gently pushed his head down. He caressed her breasts and kissed her cleavage, and then went down to his knees, lifting her skirt. Jessica quietly sighed and moaned, her fingers toying with his hair. After a moment he stood up, and while kissing her, took her in his arms, lifting her gently and carrying to a nearby desk, where he laid her onto her back, clearing away a few boxes which fell to the floor. He dropped his pants and entered, and it was divine. She looked so happy, he thought, and looked at him like she had found a new treasure, and he thought she was beautiful.

Moments later they were both exhausted and happy, and fumbled with their clothes, trying to make themselves presentable.

“I think this office will do nicely,” Johnny said smiling.

“Yes,” she said smiling back. “Tomorrow we’ll get some of the guys to clear out the junk and you can move in. I just love the way the sun shines in here in the afternoons.”

They started picking up the boxes that were knocked to the floor and setting them back on the desk.

Jessica went silent, then talking to herself she said, “What’s this?” She was looking at a bunch of papers that had spilled out of a box on the floor. They knelt together over the papers. “These are invoices.” She ruffled through them. “But none of them are real. These aren’t real clients, and these are for printing jobs we never did.”

“What?” Johnny said.

“Why would there be all of these fake invoices?” She ruffled through them. “There are hundreds of them! What on earth?” After a few seconds she said, “Well, I’ll have to look into this later,” and started quickly putting them back in the box.

As they finished getting everything put back, Johnny said, “I’ve been invited to a dinner party at your father’s place tonight. Will you be there?”

“Oh, you’re going to love seeing the Allen Mansion. Yes, I’ll be there,” she said. Then quietly she opened the door and peeked into the hallway. “It’s clear.”

That evening Johnny pulled up to the security gate, and being on the list, the guard let him drive in. The driveway wound through magnificently sculpted landscape gardens and picturesque lawns on its way up a hill toward the mansion, a Neo-Renaissance masterpiece from the late 1800s surrounded by fountains, marble terraces, and Italian gardens. Johnny was amazed. He had never seen anything like it. He followed the drive up and under a portico where a valet was waiting. Walking up the few steps leading to the front, he admired the twenty-four bedroom mansion. The windows of the entire second floor, arranged in rows, each had ornate baroque arches and leaded glass. There were turrets and towers, and the whole thing had red terracotta shingles on the multifaceted roof. It looked like it came straight from a 1500s Tuscan palace, and as he turned around at the front entrance, the view beyond the fountains and statue-lined travertine terraces, formal gardens stair-stepped down the hill, flanked by large manicured lawns. Beyond the trees at the far side, there was an expansive view out over the river and the distant river valley. It was breathtaking. Inside the fifteen foot intricately-carved oak doors, the entrance opened into a column-lined, two-story atrium. The columns bloomed at the top with Tuscan tile mosaics which extended out over the entire ceiling. Johnny was flabbergasted and stood in the middle of the room with his jaw hanging open. This was far beyond anything he’d ever encountered.

Just then, Jessica and James came from a side room where people had gathered and they walked over to Johnny.

“Do you like it?” Jessica asked as they approached.

“It’s incredible,” he said.

“I love it here,” she said, looking around with a smile. “It’s my favorite place on Earth – and not just because I grew up here.”

Johnny held out his hand to James. “Hello James.” They shook hands. Besides giving Johnny the creeps with his weirdly boyish looks and unnaturally milky skin, his hand was again clammy and weak as they shook. Outwardly, Johnny was pleasant, but inside he was repulsed. Even beyond all of that, there was just something about James that Johnny didn’t like.

“Come on, we’re over here,” Jessica said and led the way to a side room, a large, lavish drawing room with portraits on the walls in gold frames, priceless antique furniture, and about twenty well-dressed people standing in groups of two or three with cocktails in their hands.

Mr. Allen saw Johnny, excused himself from the conversation he was in, and came over. “Hello son,” he said. “I’m glad you came.”

“Me too, this place is amazing. Thank you for inviting me.”

“Let me introduce you,” Jessica said and then led Johnny around introducing him to each person. The room was mostly filled with city council members and business leaders, but also the chief of police and the mayor were there.

Johnny enjoyed meeting everyone, and Jessica enjoyed showing him off as the man who was going to turn Allen Press around. Johnny made a good impression on everyone and he genuinely liked everyone he met. This was the top crust of Gutenberg society and he seemed to fit right in. A little later, as they sat around a long formal dining table eating wild boar and potatoes, Johnny entertained everyone with funny stories. Jessica just smiled and watched him. Mr. Allen sat at the head of the table and was delighted. Johnny saw  Jessica watching him and it made him a happy. Everyone was in great spirits and cheerfully raised a glass when Mr. Allen proposed a toast to Johnny’s arrival in their town.

Later, as everyone was getting ready to leave, Johnny reflected that it was one of the best nights he’d had in a long time.

Then Johnny saw something very curious. In the corner of the room he caught a glimpse of James secretly handing one of the council members an envelope, which was quickly tucked into a jacket pocket. Johnny stood back and spied James secretly handing another envelope to another council member, and it too was whisked into a jacket pocket.

Later that night in his hotel room, Johnny was hopping mad. Corruption and corrupt people destroy everything. He wasn’t certain that’s what he had seen, but it sure looked suspicious to him. James was corrupt, Johnny was convinced of it.

Johnny was really starting to like being in Gutenberg and was feeling that he had a pretty good future here. He was also certain he could do a lot to help Allen Press reverse some of its recent misfortunes. But having someone like James in there at such a high level was putting the entire company at risk.

The next few days Johnny spent most of his time setting up his office and getting to know the employees. He spent a lot of time talking with them to understand the internal functioning of the company, and tried to have as little to do with James as possible. In his conversations he learned that none of the workers really liked James, and just thought he was creepy and weird. They were thankful that James rarely interacted with any of them. It was becoming clear that the only reason James was even there was because he was married to Jessica. What she saw in him was a complete mystery to Johnny, and a mystery to everyone, evidently.

So there was a little shock, but no sadness, when a couple of weeks later James was abruptly fired by Mr. Allen. Even more than that, Jessica let it be known that she had filed for divorce, and James was no longer living at Jessica’s house. No one at that point knew what James had done and rumors floated around among the employees. But the general feeling was one of good-riddance, of cutting out a cancer.

But the people at Allen Press seemed to like Johnny, and began confiding in him like a friend. They knew that Johnny, at his core, was one of them, that he had done the work they did and understood them on a deep level. In him, they felt that they had one of their own. Over the next couple of weeks, as summer faded into fall, the overall mood of the company turned into one of excitement and optimism, and that really good things were just on the horizon. Johnny had brought them light and the sun was now shining on Allen Press. Jessica wasn’t sad at all about James. In fact, she never mentioned him at all, and Mr. Allen just turned the page immediately and began putting his trust and confidence into Johnny.

But the optimism came crashing down when federal agents showed up one day, told everyone to leave, locked the doors of Allen Press, and started hauling off boxes of files. Everyone stood in the parking lot in total shock. The air was crisp with an autumn chill, and they loosely huddled together.  No one was more surprised and saddened than Mr. Allen, who just stood there solemnly. No one yet knew what had happened, but they all knew that everything was about to change. Some of the workers openly cried and held onto each other.

Mr. Allen stood in front of the crowd of employees. “Friends, friends,” he said to get their attention. “I’ll be meeting with the federal agents tomorrow morning to find out what this is all about. In the meantime, keep your chins up and we’ll get through this.”

But the next morning it became clear that they were not going to get through this. When Mr. Allen met the next morning, along with Jessica and Johnny, the full scope was made clear. Evidently,  James had been under investigation for a while for some suspicious wire transfers. He had been bribing city council members to vote to strip landmark status from several historic buildings along the central waterfront. He, along with several local investors, were planning to tear down the buildings and build a new riverfront shopping mall. And the whole thing was being financed by the sale of Allen Press to a Chinese corporation with plans to move the whole operation to China. James had been inflating the value of the company dramatically and was secretly engineering a hostile takeover and sale of the company. The Chinese corporation had already paid him millions of dollars, and a lot more was on the way. James had portrayed Mr. Allen as an old, doddering fool so the Chinese would work with James instead. The whole scheme was tied to the assets of Allen Press, and the feds seized the company to eventually auction everything off once the years of litigation had played out. James was going to prison for years and years, but there was no way to save the company. Even if there was a legal path to keep it open, revenue had been in decline for so many years that it just wasn’t worth it financially to invest millions into digging it out of the mess.

Mr. Allen was heartbroken, and spent the rest of the morning calling each of the employees and personally letting them know what had happened.

Two hundred people had lost their jobs, and the town of Gutenberg was suddenly without its largest employer. Mr. Allen was devastated and didn’t leave the mansion for a long time after that day. Jessica decided to move back in to take care of him. Johnny spent a couple of weeks helping Jessica get moved, and consoling Mr. Allen.

The light was slanted in the sky as fall edged toward winter, and Johnny and Jessica sat in the garden in the pale autumn sunshine. “I mostly feel sorry for dad,” she said. “He grew up in that company, and after my mother passed away a few years ago, he put his heart and soul into it. Even more than that,” she said, “it’s that he was the last of seven generations. That’s the part he’s having the hardest time with. The family has a vast fortune, so the mansion and hotel, and the other business will be fine. I’m not so sure about Gutenberg, though,” she said. “This town will never be the same.” She took Johnny’s hand and looked into his eyes. “You know you can stay here, with me.”

“Yes, I know,” Johnny said. “And I know I’d be happy here. But I need printing, I need to be around all of those machines and the people who make them go. It’s who I am and what’s in my blood. It’s what brought me here in the first place.” Johnny thought about the odd circumstance in which he found himself – in a literal palace with the queen of the kingdom. And yet, it rang hollow. If he stayed, there would be no honor in it for him. Perhaps he would return one day when he could learn how to justify it.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“I’ve contacted a large printing company out in Los Angeles – one of last of the giants. I have an appointment set for two weeks, and I’m going to take my time and drive there, and see the country along the way.”

After a long embrace, Johnny got into his car and drove down the winding driveway, along the terraces and now dormant gardens, and out the front gate.

As he drove out of town, the color had already begun to fade from autumn leaves. Soon blustery winter winds would ravage the last of them and the branches would be bare. He pointed his car to the west and set out to follow the sun.