The Tinker of Petros

By Shelley Ballard

An Allegory For The Ages

Shelley Ballard’s debut novella is reminiscent of the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis.

It will strike a chord in readers’ hearts. The confrontation between Carl and Clovis will sear into their minds for a long time.

Readers will never forget how Clovis collects his fee. Or the surprising sacrifice Carl makes to free people’s hearts from the clutches of the evil tinker.

Every time readers touch the skin covering their own hearts they will remember. Scenes of betrayal and the consequences of that betrayal will flash before their eyes. And they will think about the forgiveness available to all who seek it.

The Tinker of Petros is that powerful.

And this is only where the adventure begins. It escalates in Book Two: The Tinker’s Apprentice, and reaches a crescendo in the final book of The Tinker Trilogy: The Tinkers’ War.

• Language: English
• Publisher: UCS PRESS
• Release date: Mar 2, 2011
• ISBN: 9780943247885

Shelley Ballard

The creativity of this Flagstaff, Arizona denizen is ever evident, even in the name she chose for her day job—actually, a paperhanging business known as My Hang Up.The Tinker of Petros marks Shelley Ballard's debut as an author. This is the first of three books in this series, Book Two being The Tinker’s Apprentice, and Book Three, The Tinkers’ War.For Ballard this allegorical trilogy is a labor of love, presenting the ageless theme of good vs. evil in a way that readers will never forget.Novels in progress include The Eden Virus and Nazi Gold.

Book preview

All had gone well.

Or had it?

He couldn’t exactly remember. Such a strange feeling he had. You might be wondering what it feels like to a person who has just had a tiny piece of his heart plucked from his chest. For the baker, it was like a cold emptiness coming from some intangible place deep inside. He couldn’t quite locate it, but when he rubbed his hand over his chest, he could feel the tiny cut left by the blade Clovis had used to open his chest. That’s when the night’s events came back to him clearly and an involuntary shudder passed through him.

A short distance away, a pair of compassionate eyes had been watching the baker, noting all that had happened. They saw the confusion in the eyes of the baker and also the shudder that went through the man’s body. Tears rolled slowly and silently down the kind face of the tinker of Petros.

****

The Tinker of Petros

Shelley Ballard

Published by UCS PRESS at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 by Shelley Ballard

UCS PRESS is an imprint of MarJim Books

PO Box 13025

Tucson, AZ 85732-3025

Cover design by Marty Dobkins

ISBN 978-0-943247-88-5

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

****

This book is dedicated to Stephanie, my daughter. Thanks for your unwavering faith in me and for being my mirror. And to Jurden, my son the dreamer. God gives us the dream, but it’s up to us to give the dream feet. Thanks to my family and friends who encouraged me and helped me believe that I can be more than I am.

****

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter One: The place with no name

Chapter Two: The almost accident

Chapter Three: The tinker of Petros

Chapter Four: Seeds of doubt

Chapter Five: Troubles grow

Chapter Six: The betrayal

Chapter Seven: The dark stranger

Chapter Eight: The strange city and its tinker

Chapter Nine: Clovis collects his fee

Chapter Ten: That large gray horse

Chapter Eleven: Hearts turn cold

Chapter Twelve: The sacrifice

Chapter Thirteen: The awakening

Epilogue

****

Prologue

My name is Paison Clark and I have a most remarkable story to tell you. It’s a story of love and hate; success and failure; good and evil. After hearing this story, though you may not remember all the details, I assure you, you will never forget the message.

When I was a young boy my parents moved to a very special village hidden high up in a beautiful mountain range. The friendly people of this town welcomed us warmly and soon we felt not like strangers or newcomers at all, but more like we had come home to the arms of a loving family. There were so many special and unique qualities about this secluded town that I can’t begin to tell you all of them, but the most wonderful thing about this town was its kind and talented tinker.

The tinker’s name was Carl and, like the town itself, Carl was unique and very mysterious. As I got older, I grew to love and respect Carl and appreciate his gift for fixing the broken items of the town’s folks.

On countless afternoons as I rode my pony home from school I would see Carl busily working at a neighbor’s house. Sometimes I would walk up the steep path to his cottage and watch his weathered hands working skillfully and with what seemed lightening speed to repair some broken item for a distraught villager.

What has stayed with me over the years was how happy the people were when Carl finished the repair and their item was fixed as good as new.

More valuable than gold, I hid those lessons in my heart and still apply them to my life today.

The story you are about to read touches on life in every town and every people, wherever they live.

We have all failed at various times in our lives, only to be encouraged by those around us. We have all gotten ourselves into trouble unintentionally and needed someone to help us out. We all have fallen from grace and are in need of restoration.

There are simple yet profound lessons to be learned from reading this story and watching as the people of this friendly town make one foolish decision after another. Deeper and deeper they fall into trouble. The only steadfast person in the town is Carl. He can be counted on to be there whenever anyone needs him. He never loses his patience with the people, or becomes angry at their foolishness. His love endures throughout the story and is expressed by the sacrifice he chooses to make in order to save his beloved townspeople, even though they don’t realize at the time that they need to be saved.

I know all that I am about to tell you is true. You see, about midway through my high school studies, I asked Carl if I could become his apprentice and was thrilled and honored when he agreed. What I didn’t know then was that Carl had been observing me for a long time and had in fact chosen me to be his apprentice before I realized that is what I wanted to do.

It was to be a five-year apprenticeship, overlapping some of the years I was in school. However, something unexpected