Page 46 - 2019octnov

Reflections

by Katie Butler Johnson

M y in-laws inherited a section of timberland in East centerpiece, surrounding it with diamonds. He placed the other

pearl half in the vault and left it there. The man was delighted
Texas.
Family stories say my husband’s grandfather won the
Many years later, that same man returned. His wife was
deed to it in a poker game! with it as was his wife. She wore it for years.
Each fall, when the temperature dips, I remember our long-ago distraught. She’d lost the broach. Could Granddad search and
camping trips in those piney woods. October always brought find another pearl to duplicate that broach? That client never
great camping weather and the knew the second half was just resting in the vault. As a result, the
woods offered a whole new woman was overjoyed with an
world for our family to explore. identical copy of her cherished
broach and grandfather made
My father-in-law loved to drive more from that pearl than he
his sedan on the property’s would have had it not been
bumpy roads. The fact he didn’t sliced and just been just a single
have a four-wheel drive never . . . perfect. . . . black. . . . pearl!
deterred him. Enough of those past stories. I
One day, when he and my have a new one I want to add to
mother-in-law were there, alone the family list.
in the middle of the nowhere,
they ran over a large tree stump. About nine years ago, my
It punctured the gas tank. Gas California daughter Norah and I
began leaking onto the red clay. were visiting while her daughter,
They brainstormed how to stem Meghan, about 4 at the time,
the flow. Then it came to them: was playing quietly in the next
MONTEREY JACK CHEESE! room - a little too quietly.
It was right there in their cooler. Norah went to investigate.
They carved a plug out of it, Meghan had found my new
stuffed it in the hole and drove lipstick on the bathroom counter
miles to the nearest gas station. and had taken a piece of copier
I wish I could have seen the auto paper from the printer. She
mechanic’s face when they told made lipstick blots all over that
him the engine needed to be sheet. When Norah asked what
flushed to get the cheese out! she was doing, she immediately
That engine survived the cheese responded that, since they lived
and my in-laws added another so far away, she wanted to give
anecdote to our family’s story. Grandmommy (me) enough kisses to last till she visited again.
We seniors are the keepers of those family stories. Over our And that’s why I treasure a piece ofcopier paper covered with
lifetime, we’ve heard dozens of family anecdotes. With our help random lipstick blots. To me, they are Megan’s thoughtful. . . .
passing them on, they become part of our family lore - adding beautiful. . . . lipstick kisses.
color to our family history while helping the younger members
of our tribe get to know those who came before them.
Did I ever tell you the story about grandfather and the black
pearl? Grandfather McManus passed away long before I was Katie Butler Johnson
born, but I got to know him well through family stories. He was a has written a beautiful
diamond trader and a jeweler. In the early 1900’s, he’d acquired children's book, Amazing
a large black pearl. When he showed it to his fellow jewelers Things Came to Be, with
on West 57th street in NYC, they said it was probably dyed. To proceeds going to various
prove it was real, he sliced the pearl in half. It was black to the charities. Illustrations by
core, but cutting the pearl sliced off much of its value. Amanda E. Wallace. Find it
When a wealthy man came looking to commission a significant on Amazon today!
piece of jewelry to present to his wife to commemorate an
important anniversary, granddad thought of that broken pearl.
He suggested making a unique broach using the half pearl as the

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