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Let me tell you a story, possibly a
Christmas story since involves buying a Christmas present, but not
just any Christmas present. Now before you from your esteemed
position of age and education dismiss the concept of nick-knacks
imagine yourself an eight-year-old with an allowance of 25 ¢
a week and the magic of shiny objects. Now I don't expect you to see
Rembrandt and Blue Mountain Pottery as objects of equal value but
then you are not an eight-year-old with an allowance of 25 ¢
a week and no the difference between Pictures in books and a
glorious green dolphin in a store window.
Nick knack patty wack give a dog a
bone? What does that actually mean?
It's the Saturday before Christmas
and... let's call him Joe, who has been saving 5 ¢
a week for what seems forever has counted his money and put it in his
purple velvet marble bag and has his older brother's last years
winter coat on because his doesn't fit any more. But that's just the
same old story, not this one. It's winter but not that cold but I
guess you already guested this since I said it was a story about a
Christmas present. Now its Saturday and Joe has saved 52 nickels and
knew that was how much he needed but didn't really about taxes other
then that they were extra, he hopes a dime a nickel and three pennies was
enough extra.
The trick about keeping a secret in a house full of people but if if you can save 52 nickels in your marble
bag (under the marbles) you can do most things. For example fry and
egg for breakfast and clean up after before anybody else was out of
bed. Stores don't open until 9 o clock and its only 7:30, seven-year-olds know how to tell time, save nickels fry eggs and. That what he
did while waiting to leave for the store. He cut the middle button
off his new hand me down winter coat and sewed it back on an inch
away from where it had been. There is a tape measure in his mother's
sewing box and he knew how to measure things and sew. This wasn't
bragging and boasting ( that was a sin or he least he thought it was
in the bible so must be) it was just telling it like it was.
Have you seen Flipper on TV, if so you
know what a dolphin is, but do you know what a Blue Mountain is? He
didn't he just knew that dolphin was beautiful and he knew his mother
would like it. It would have to be dusted but since he did the
dusting he didn't mind. Last year he and his sister bought a cut
glass butter dish, it took some convincing since he knew if you broke
glass you could be cut so the idea of buying broken glass seemed
stupid, but he got to pick the prettiest. Yes, seven-year-old boys did
know pretty and eight-year-old boys knew beautiful. Don't even think
it, sissy is just a pointless word and you know what they say about
Sticks and Stones and I am rubber you are glue. Enough about that.
(Oct 29, 2021. Before they connected our septic tank to the new sewer system there was a shallow dip in the road in front of our house that would fill and overflow high up into our front yard during heavy rain fall. Since the storm sewers got blocked up we had a giant puddle to play in for quite awhile until a grown up came and raked the leaves, cut grass and garbage that had washed down the hill to block our drain. I liked to play in water and once I could have a bath by myself I could go deep sea diving if I wanted to. There were a little pool and big pool in the Lions Park to go swimming in but the outside tap didn't require a life guard and you could chase your younger and older brothers around with the hose. Unfortunately even if my friends from across the street added their hose to our's we couldn't fill up the dip in the road in front of our house, but we tried. Later we had an above ground pool that our directly across the street neighbours gave us when they moved to their new house with an in ground pool. It didn't last long it got broke because of rough housing. I told the story behind the GI Joe Sea Sled in my drawing of fishing down behind the dump. As you might have guessed I had a crush on Luke Halpin on Flipper Did you want to move to the Florida Everglades and hang out with Luke and Flipper. I did when i was 6 I had a picture or two in my scrapbook, Jesus, Mary and Winnie the Pooh were in that scrapbook also.)
Now Joe like going into Stewart's to
look a the cut glass, figurines and silverware and since he was “Well
behaved” the people that worked there talked to him about the
different things in the store like he was a grown-up. He stood slack-jawed in front of the dolphin when he saw it. The lady showing it to
him smiled and he remembered his manners and said: “thank you”. He
saw the price and quietly counted the money in his pocket rattled the
coins in his pocket. He hated math but knew his Five Times Table and
Christmas was last year so the next one was a long time away. He asked
the woman who was showing it to him how much he should pay her to
keep it for him. ( he had heard grown-ups say that so he thought he
might as well give it a try)
In response to that, she walked over to
the counter and brought out a small note and said “ I have to ask
you a few questions, how much is your allowance?” “Twenty-five
cents a week, That's a dollar a month,” “ Thank you” then she
wrote something down, the asked “How much money do you have now”
Joe reached in his pocket and brought out one quarter, one nickel and
four pennies (the pennies he had found down behind a pillow on the
couch) She counted out the nickel and for pennies and wrote something
down then showed Joe the paper. And told him he would have to save a
nickel a week and he could bring it in the week before Christmas.
Then she took a sticker and wrote “On Hold” on it and walked back
to the window where the dolphin was on display and picked it up. She
put the sticker on the bottom and placed it back in the window. She
smiled and said that way other people could still see it, but it
would not be sold.
Canada was going to be One Hundred
years old the next year and many of Joe's friends were talking about
EXPO, which sounded exciting but not as exciting as Joe thought
Christmas was going to be. It was the Saturday before Christmas and
it was now time to go pick up the dolphin. He had made his own
wrapping paper at school the week before and it was folded it up in
his coat pocket. It was getting late and nobody was up yet. He knew
he wasn't to go downtown without some older, a brother, a sister but
he didn't want them to know about the dolphin and he knew if he
walked along the tracks (something else he knew he wasn't supposed to
do but did all the time) he could take the short cut and be downtown
fast enough to be at Stewart's when it opened, faster if there was
ice on the hill. So he set off with his wrapping paper in one pocket
and his purple velvet marble bag full of nickels (minus the marbles, they were in a
sock) under his pillow) in the other.
It was still kind of dark and the street
lights were still on. There are no street lights along the tracks or
on the back road, but the sun was coming up so that was OK. Using
the top button on his coat made it fit funny but made it warmer and with scarf mitts ( still on a string through his sleeves) and toque on
he went out the backdoor. Scamppy and Clancy (dog and cat) just
looked at him without getting out of the basket. (they knew better
then to go out in the snow if they didn't have to) it was cold and
the snow crunched as he walked around the house to the street. Its
beginning to look a lot like Christmas was running through his head,
then Frosty the Snowman, then Adeste Fideles which he was singing
out loud and didn't realize it, He knew all the words in whatever
language it was in. He knew lots of songs from being in the church
choir in languages he didn't know he just liked singing them.
A car slowed down and honked, the window rolled down and Mrs. MacDonald asked if I, I mean he wanted a
ride. He said “No Thanks, but maybe on the way home” He knew they
were going to the A and P because that's what they did every
Saturday morning, “Does your mother know where you are going?”
“Yes,” he lied. A white lie he could confess next Friday. He
turned the corner the car continued going straight. This was a
complication he would deal with later. Now since he had walked this way he
was going to have to stop on the bridge and wait for the 8:20 train
to come under the bridge because it was that time and that's what you
did “Good King Went sis loss looked down on the feast of Steven”
and here it comes. Years later looking back he was amazed he had
spent a fifth of his annual income on a gift for his mother and
income she provided. He also realized the woman in the store must
have made up the difference, but now all that was on Joe's mind was
when he should spit so it would land on the porch of the caboose.
That's what you did when you stood on the bridge watching trains go
under it.
Onward down the hill and it was ice,
sliding down on your back was always the safest way to slide down any
hill and nobody ever shovelled their side walks on the hill simply
because they had kids and every kid in town went there to slide. But
that's... You buy your dad a tie, you buy your mom a butter dish,
salt and pepper shakers, handkerchiefs or some ghastly Eau de
toilette. When your five or six and your dad took you shopping for a gift for your mom and vice versa. But when you are seven you should
take responsibility for buying your mom a gift. That is what Joe was
doing did.
While some may consider Blue Mountain
Pottery a joke many thought it not One-Fifth of a kid's yearly income
would not be spent on a joke. A kid might buy sea monkeys, X-ray
Specs yes but for themselves. Itching and sneezing powder and Mexican
jumping beans, even a Venus Fly Trap for a pet, but not for their
mothers. As the Open sign was being turned at Stewart's a proudly
grinning Joe was standing in the doorway. They greeted him with Good
Mornings and welcome, Joe turned to the window and with surprise saw
a bowl where the dolphin had been. Hearing “We have your package
here” brought a wave of relief preventing the water rising to his
eyes from spilling over. With dignity, he went to the counter seeing
open box. Inside it was tissue paper on top of the glistening green
running into black dolphin lay on its side he stroked its cool
smoothness. He smiled. He reached into one pocket bringing out the
purple velvet marble bag and gently set it on the counter. Then he
reached in his pocket and brought out a dime nickel and three
pennies, then opened the bag and began to count the fifty-two nickels
into stacks of five ( ten might fall over and break the glass counter top.)
The paper from last year was brought out and the cash was counted again and the box closed. “That is
right, this is how much we wrote down You have been very prompt”
As she started to put the box in a bag Joe brought out the wrapping
paper and said “I made this” “Oh would you like me to wrap the
box?” “yes please” within minutes it was wrapped and she asked
if I wanted a ribbon it comes with the purchase” “Yes Please”
the smile in his voice growing. At that moment. the door opened and
Mrs. MacDonald stepped in. She smiled and asked if Joe if he was
ready. This was a bit too much of a coincident for an eight-year-old
to figure out, he was just happy he didn't have to walk home. It was
alright sliding down the high hill, but walking up the long hill
took days. Well an hour at least so a ride in the MacDonald's
Studebaker was always useful and something that he got to do every
Sunday after church. While they were driving up the hill Mrs
MacDonald asked Joe if he would like her to keep the dolphin at their
house until Christmas eve?
(There was a well dressed elderly couple with a mid 1950s Studebaker in immaculate condition who's named i can't remember but they lived at the foot of Jane Street on Baird St. (not sure why i thought it was Broadway) who gave me a ride home from church if it was raining or snowing or to their house if the weather was nice. From there to our house it was only 4 blocks. I am not sure why but they always had a box of leftover "Bridge Party" sandwiches (cut in the shape of the different suits in a deck of cards) for me to take home. It was tied with string , i think to prevent me from eating them all before i got them home to share. The selection was Egg Salad, Tuna Salad, Ham Salad and Pimento Loaf with cream cheese I still get cravings attached to good memories of these nice people. Their next door neighbours where also a Lewis family but no relation to us. I loved that car the back seat was like a couch. I think there was a lace Antimacassar across the top of the back seat which was a good thing considering the Brylcreem in my going to church hair.)
You could have knocked him over with a
feather. She noticed his surprise and went on to say “I thought I
would buy it but Barbara said you were buying it on time for your
mother. We were watching for you this morning I didn't want you
catching a cold this close to Christmas.” The MacDonald's had taken
a liking to Joe when he joined the church choir and took it upon
themselves to drive him to or from Church and always had “a treat”
for him on Sundays, usually a box full of finger sandwiches enough
for the family for lunch (or Joe's lunches for a week. Ham, chicken.
Tuna and egg salad sandwiches, some times in the shape of the
different suits in a deck of cards Hearts, Diamond, Club and Spades
and sometimes with different coloured bread. Strange but delicious
and seldom appreciated except by him. Lunch was often grilled cheese. But that is
not what this story was about
the end … to be continued.
