After
work the next day, Daniel saw
a doll in a pawnshop window
that reminded him of
Catherine. What kind of daddy
would hock his daughter's toy?
Without hesitation, he went
inside and dickered with the
clerk over the price. It was
more than he could spare, so
he left and returned later
that day and showed the man
his outhouse carving.
"Will
you trade me for this hand-carved
walnut privy? I sure would
like that doll for my girl,
but I don't have much money."
"Interesting!"
The clerk laughed. "You
shoulda whittled a little
brown turd in the bottom of
the hole!"
"Well,
now, I never thought to."
"Some
folks pay good money for hobo
carvings," the clerk
said. "What else you got?"
Daniel
threw in his wooden chain
with the swivel on the end
and pointed to a small radio
on a shelf behind the counter.
"How
much for that there radio?"
The
clerk shrugged. "That
old thing? It's got a busted
dial and the plug's got a
short in it. Make me an offer."
Daniel
reached in his bag again.
"How about this little
lamb? It's even got curly
wool, and that took lots of
detail work. I hate to part
with it, but if you want it,
your missus could use it in
her manger scene next
Christmas." He placed it
on the counter and brought
out a small bust of Abe
Lincoln and a buffalo nickel.
He turned the nickel over.
"And here's the Indian
head on the other side of
this five-cent piece."
He grinned. "Now for
sure you can tell folks not
to take any wooden nickels."
He waited for the man to
examine the carvings.
"Very
fine work, mister. Reckon you
can have the radio if you
want it bad enough to give
all your good carvings away."
He looked expectantly at
Daniel, waiting for a reason.
The
reason wasn't long coming.
"I got a boy who wants
to hear the World Series.
Kind of hard to do without a
radio, so I thought I'd
surprise him."
