Out of the Frying Pan

Something Old, Something New

My brothers and I opened our first gifts and each of us found a new pair of dungarees. Lanny picked up one of Grandpa’s presents and brought it to him. He opened it and inside was a new pair of bib overalls. We all laughed at the similarity of the gifts.

Our next packages contained flannel shirts, different colors for each of us. This time Lenny brought a gift over for Grandpa. He opened the box and in it was a pair of long johns. Grandpa smiled and said, “I sure needed these.”

We all had two boxes left. The next one we opened had five pairs of socks each. I brought Grandpa his next gift. He opened it and inside was a cake of Old Oak Rosin for his fiddle, amber color.

“Wait before you open the last one,” Grandpa said, “do any of you have any pennies on you?”

We looked at one another. Pennies? All three of us nodded.

“Well,” Grandpa said, “it’ll cost each of ya one penny to open those last gifts.”

We looked at one another again and reached into our pockets. When we had each handed over a penny, Grandpa stuck the coins in his pocket and said, “Good, go ahead and open them.”

We opened our gifts and inside were two smaller boxes, a wooden box containing a Norton Arkansas whetstone with honing oil and in the other box was a Case Stockman pocket knife. I looked over at my brothers’ knives and then back down at mine, and realized right away what he had done.

Grandpa told me once that it takes time to get a pocket knife broke in just right, with sharpening and such. My brothers’ knives were brand-new, but mine was not. I knew Grandpa had given me his old broken-in knife. That meant a lot to me.

I placed the knife in my pocket and didn’t say a word.

We each thanked Grandpa and I just had to ask him, “What was the reason for giving you a penny?”

“As far back as I can remember, anytime someone gave away a knife, the person they gave it to had to give them something in return. I collected a penny from you so the knife belongs to you as the owner, so that way it won’t turn on you and cut you. I’d rather do that than take my chances,” Grandpa said. The reasoning sounded good to me (and I still follow that tradition, to this day).

“Grandpa, you still have one more gift,” I said as I reached to hand it to him. Grandpa opened it and inside was a set of D’Addario violin strings and a heavy hank unbleached white horsehair for his fiddle bow.

“I haven’t had Christmas gifts this nice in a long time, all things I need and can use,” Grandpa said. “We’ll save the stockings for when your parents get here and open their gifts. In the meantime, let’s get all this cleaned up and put on our new Christmas outfits, shall we?”

We cleaned up the debris from unwrapping our gifts and then each waited for our turn in the bathroom to put on our new Christmas clothes. Grandpa and I were last, so I told him how Mom and Dad gave us the money to buy him something for Christmas and that we had added more with money we had worked for by doing odd jobs.

“How did you know what I use on the fiddle?” he asked.

“Mom called Mr. Massey and asked him,” I said.

“That figures. I always order my strings and stuff through him.” Grandpa paused as if he was thinking, then laughed. “Those Masseys sure can keep a secret,” he said. “Last night when we were at Dewy’s, I asked him if he had gotten those knives in. His wife put them behind the seat of the truck while you all were paying attention to the music.”

Lenny and Lanny came back in. “Those clothes fit you pretty good, I see,” Grandpa said.

“They’re real nice, Grandpa,” Lenny said.

“Thanks again,” said Lanny.

“It’s our turn now. You go ahead first, Mike.”

I hurried to put on my new clothes and then came back into the front room. “Good fit, who did you ask, Grandpa?” I asked.

He chuckled and said, “Your mom.”

“We asked Uncle Hayes,” Lanny chimed in.

Grandpa laughed and got up to head for the bathroom when the phone rang. He walked to the hall to answer it and when he came back he said, “Your mom and dad just called and said they would be here in about an hour or so.”

My Knife from Grandpa

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