Last evening I was watching the TV, after the forced labor of washing the evening dishes. Yes, I wash the dishes each evening and occasionally during the day. My favorite spouse suggested that I could accomplish two things by washing the dishes. First the dishes will be clean and ready for the next meal. Second I would also be washing my hands which is good for everyone. Was she saying I am not clean?
Anyway, the TV show was about a birthday party for a 7 year old boy. The TV parents of this 7 year old boy were telling everyone to give him presents that were not gender specific, and basically boring things for a kid of 7 years. To make a short story longer, an adult bought the boy a pocket knife. That started me thinking.
I know what you are thinking, here we go again, another memory of the senior Ford. If you don’t what to read about this interesting memory, stop reading now!
I have a memory of my nephew and I (he is 3 months younger than me) going to the store and buying pocket knives. We were in the 3rd grade when we purchased these knives. Our parents knew we were getting the knives.
Yes it was different times back in the 50s. I have carried a knife in or on my pocket since I was 7 years old. The last 10 years I have carried two knives. No one has ever asked why I carry two knives, so I will tell you.
I had carried a knife in or on my right pocket for years. One day when I was mowing I found a knife in my yard. I now carry the found knife on my left pocket. Why carry both? With two knives I can reach a knife with either hand. If I have something in one hand that needs to be cut, I can reach a knife with the other hand. I don’t care if you think that is silly or not, I do it.
As you now know, from the time I was a kid I have carried a knife, I never got in trouble because I had a pocket knife. Although I never got into trouble, I can’t say I never did anything stupid with the pocket knife. There was a so-called game we played as kids. The name of the game was, “Stretch”.
This is how the game went. Two boys would face each other about a foot between them, with their feet together at the start of the game. They had their knives in hand. One boy would toss his knife at the ground, it the blade stuck in the ground boy two would move his foot to where the knife was stuck. Boy two would then toss his knife at the ground and if it stuck boy one would move his foot to where the knife was. This continued until one boy could not stretch to where the knife was sticking. No one that I know of was ever hurt doing this, but as I think about it, stupid, childish, and unsafe are the words that come to mind.
I did carry a knife in school every day. Probably if a kid carried a knife to school now days, and they found out, he would be in big trouble.
Stretch not as a game, you might get stuck!
Knife connoisseur; Don Ford
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