Chapter 22

11:45, August 28, 1983

School Shopping

We left not long after that, and the girls had asked if they could leave their car in the bank’s lot while we continued to Lexington. They decided they wanted to help me shop for clothes, just like I knew they would. Mr. Dowdswell told them he’d let security know he’d allowed them to park there for the day. They thanked him and we all went out. Granny got into Joseph’s Mercedes again and Pap-pap did one of the most outrageous things I’ve ever seen him do. He handed me the truck keys. “You drive us, Harrison. Consider it practice for your driving test. Just don’t speed or wreck us.”

I walked over to the Mercedes, and Joseph rolled down the window. “What do you need, Harrison?”

“Pap-pap told me to drive so I can practice for my hardship driving test. I am going to do it, but we’ll hit Lexington about lunch time right?”

Joseph nodded. “There’s a Ponderosa Steakhouse just off the Lexing exit. Let’s pull in there and eat.”

I smiled, “Sounds good, see you and Granny there.”

As we pulled into the Ponderosa parking lot, I saw that there was a Kmart beside them. I looked at Pap-pap and the girls. I wanted something. Plus, it would be an excellent test for my new credit card.

“I’ll be right in. I need to grab something from Kmart real fast. If they ask for drink orders, get me an ice water with lemon wedges in it, please.”

“Don’t you dare buy any clothes without us, Harrison. You can’t be wearing clothes from Kmart, your girlfriends would be mortified.” May yelled after me.

“I’m not getting clothes here.”

I entered the Kmart and went straight to the electronics section. There was what I was looking for, a Polaroid one-step camera and film. So I grabbed it and a pack of AA batteries. I headed for the checkout lanes. When I passed by the sporting goods section, I looked to the left and halted suddenly. I saw something I had been meaning to look for at the Army/Navy surplus. Not a K-bar knife, but it was the same size and shape, only instead of a cord-wrapped steel handleit had what looked like either a wood handle or maybe even an antler handle.

Now, I would prefer to find an actual Kbar dive knife. But I knew the chances of that were slim. Kbar had been smart, they made a different Kbar for each service. The Kbar Navy dive knife was double-edged. They had designed one side to be slightly serrated, like it was for scaling a fish. What it was really for was to rip through skin and bone like a saw. The opposite side had a smooth finish, which could be honed to a razor sharpness.

This knife wasn’t a Kbar, but it was under seven inches, which meant that I could buy it. They could only sell anything over seven to an adult. The guy at the sporting goods register looked bored. “Hi, can I see the knife right there?” I pointed at the knife. It was the only fixed-blade knife in the store, everything else was folding or too long. The guy grunted and handed it to me. With a little work, this would be what I wanted. I held it and the balance was a little off in the handle, but I wanted to change it anyway and Pap-pap had the tools to do so. “Can you hold it back for me? I need to grab a couple of things and I’ll be ready to check out.”

The guy shrugged. “Sure, you want the optional leather carrying case?” He held up a dyed black leather belt or boot sheath. I nodded and then headed back to the toy section. To the model kit aisle. I grabbed a can of flat black spray paint and then rushed to the craft/sewing section and picked up a roll of leather cord. Then hurried back to the register. I asked for whetstones in 400, 1000, 3000, 8000, and 10,000 grits, a leather strop, a razor strop, and honing oil. The cashier looked at me like I was crazy. “Look, kid, this is Kmart, not a knife store. I have one whetstone, just one, and I don’t know what grit it is. I don’t have any honing oil either. Most guys just buy the 3in1 oil that I have.”

I asked to see the one stone he carried, and he pulled one out of the knife-locking case and laid the box on the table. It was pretty basic and not suited for what I wanted. I told him to put it back. I’d find a better stone than that in the farm’s creek bed. The guy rang me up and told me the total. It wasn’t bad. I held out my spanking new credit card to him, and he sighed. “To use this card, I have to make a call.” I had the cash. I just wanted to see if the card worked. He sighed again and called the number on the back of the card for authorization. Then he read off the card number and his eyes got wide. “They asked me what’s your name, kid?”

“Harrison Parker.”

He repeated it and gave them the total and then ran the card through the credit card machine and gave me my copy of the charge slip and the register receipt after I’d signed the slip. After the clerk had bagged my items, I left the store. I put the bag with everything but the camera under the front seat and opened the camera box, inserted the two AA batteries and then the film cartridge. Flipped up the flash and heard the camera power up and the black slide push out.

I ran inside and asked Joseph for the newspaper he’d shown Mr. Dowdswell. He handed it to me and I had Granny hold the paper in one hand and the ticket in the other and took her picture. Then I took the ticket and laid it just under the headline and took a picture of that, before telling her to put the ticket back in her purse, and gave the paper back to Joseph. I sat the photos on the back corner of the table and watched them develop. Then I hid them. “What was that for, Harrison?”

“Mom. She’s supposed to come to visit tomorrow.”

Just then, the waiter came, and we ordered. Everyone got a steak and potatoes except for me. I asked for two chef salads, minus the ham, with Italian dressing. The only healthy thing on the menu.

After lunch, Granny and Joseph left to go to the Lottery office. I asked Pap-pap to take me to the Army/Navy surplus. “You can’t buy school clothes there, Harrison. This is even worse than Kmart!” May told me.

“I won’t buy school clothes, but there are a couple of things I’m looking for that aren’t for school.”