ALL KEYED UP: FOR LOCKSMITHS, CALLS CAN BE INTERESTIING, HARROWING

An assortment of keys in Dan's mobile unit.

Faced with a van that the owner couldn't open, Dan tried one of several ways he uses to gain entry.

When the owner of Dan's Key and Lock Shop gets a call for emergency service from a customer in distress, the first thing he asks is "What's going on there?"

"I want to know if this is a divorce, a separation, or maybe a domestic dispute," said Dan, a locksmith who doesn't care to reveal his last name. "If it's a tough neighborhood, I want to know that, too."

Asked why he wanted his last name kept secret, Dan replied: "It's for my own protection. I don't want people knowing where I live, either. Every now and then it gets real hairy. I'm the bad guy who gets in the middle of people's lives; I'm the terminator."

His 22 years as a locksmith have been both interesting and harrowing. He has stared into the barrel of a loaded gun on at least one occasion. "I never got shot, but it made me realize how dangerous this job really is," he said.

Fred Hicks, a locksmith who operates a company called Mr. Locksmith out of his home in Jackson, said he too has been in the middle of a few sticky situations. "I didn't get shot at or anything, but I was told to duck to avoid being hit," Hicks said.

"I make sure that the owner is there when I'm changing a lock because it can get pretty rowdy if the tenant is being evicted," Hicks said. "If it's a situation I'm not comfortable with, I just leave it alone."

Not all locksmiths engage in the rough-and-tumble world that involves disputes and bad blood between two parties. Dennis Lorch of D'Lorch Locks and Alarms of Cape Girardeau prefers to stick to retail-lock and alarm sales.

"Very little of my business involves emergency service," Lorch said. "I would just as soon not even mess with it."

Lorch got started as a locksmith when he worked part time while attending Southeast Missouri State.

Asked why there were only a few locksmiths in the area, Lorch replied, "Not many people like to eat hot dogs and beans."

The more extensive the business, however, the greater the profit.

Dan pointed to two boards on the walls of his office on Independence. "This side is for American keys and that board has nothing but foreign keys," he said.

Dan operates a 24-hour service and travels as far as to Terre Haute, Ind., and Little Rock, Ark. "I got a call from someone at 4 a.m. today," he said. "I asked the man if he had an emergency. He said, `No, I'm just checking prices.' Then the man called me up at 8 a.m. and asked me the same thing. You just never know what's going to happen next in this business. It takes all kinds."

A native of upstate New York, Dan moved to the Midwest to find work some 24 years ago. He decided to forsake his job making pistons for automobiles in Kennett when he saw how much a locksmith made in just 10 minutes. "I was making $95 a week, and this locksmith made $20 in just 10 minutes," he said. "I knew I needed to look into that business."

He spent eight months working as an apprentice in Kennett. "I realized the first day when I got involved in this business that I knew nothing about what a locksmith does," he said. "After 22 years I'm still learning. Anybody in this business who says he knows it all is either lying or dead."

Dan often opens locks that stand between some interesting characters. "I remember one time I was called to unlock a car," Dan said. "There was a boa constrictor snake inside the car. I told the owner I don't much care for snakes. I opened the lock and let the owner take care of the rest."

A locksmith has to be aware of more than just which key fits a particular lock. "You have to know the laws," Dan said. "I never walk into a business or house without the owner. If an owner doesn't want me to record the information on keys for future reference, I let it go at that. The thing they don't know is that it will save them a lot of money if they lose their keys when they're out of town."

Dan said when he enters code information about keys on his computer he can provide the same data to a customer who has lost his or her keys while out of town. "It could be the difference of paying an out-of-town locksmith $200, or $40 to $50," Dan said.

A former policeman and judge, Dan said he understands the legal ramifications of his profession. He also knows that there are unsavory characters working as locksmiths.

Dan cited the case of a locksmith in California whose business involved providing keys and repairing locks for car dealers. "He used to go to the lots at night and steal cars," Dan said. "Now he's doing time. It makes no sense to cheat in this business because sooner or later you're going to get caught."