Hanks & Hammers has been around a long time. Polly McFeeters opened it back in 1952, right after her husband was killed in a freak accident.
Elrod McFeeters had been one of the best dyers in Quip County, and by the time of his early demise had given Milpower Yarns 24 years of his life. Nobody knows to this day why, while stirring a large vat of his special formula "Autumn Rose" (a beautiful rosy gold)-- destined to soak the Shetland wool fiber which would later be spun into skeins of the celebrated Milpower "Kelmscott" jumperweight-- Elrod was suddenly overcome by a powerful urge to scratch his ankle.
As he stood on his left leg with his back to the dyepot (having taken his right shoe off) and rolled his handknit Estonian socks (nylon-reinforced, dutch-heel) down to expose the itchy skin, he was overwhelmed by a powerful desire to sneeze. Perched precariously on one foot and not completely understanding the impending velocity of his sneeze nor the principle that every action causes an equal and opposite reaction, Elrod propelled himself backwards with a powerful expellation of air, drowning himself in 55 gallons of Autumn Rose. Sadly, nobody was there to even say "Gesundheit".
Those who attended Elrod's funeral recall that the satin lining of his coffin was chosen to coordinate perfectly with his newly dyed complexion. Autumn Rose was subsequently removed from the Kelmscott line out of respect for Polly.
So it was that Polly, seeking to replace Elrod's income, formed a partnership with Bobby Boneshell, owner of a small hardware shop located in a space far too big for the meager collection of tools and supplies that he sold. It was actually Bobby's idea. He liked to sit and knit while waiting for someone to need a pair of pliers, and although there were plenty of yarn stores in Farinough, he liked the notion that there would be yarn right there any time he needed it. Truth be told, he'd always had an eye on the pretty Polly, too, and hadn't noticed the few extra pounds, gray hairs or fine lines that had been added over the years. However, Bobby was contented just to be Polly's business partner, and so they started a longstanding and satisfying business as Hanks & Hammers.
Polly stocked all 479 remaining colors of 2-ply Kelmscott (always leaving one empty space for the departed Autumn Rose). Her half of the back wall was comprised of floor-to-ceiling pulley mechanisms that rolled the yarn around in tall ovals so that customers could get to the color they desired without needing a ladder or having to sit on the floor. She prided herself on her vast stock (it didn't hurt that Milpower Yarns gave her a deep wholesale discount because of the Autumn Rose Accident) and everyone in Farinough knew that if it was color they were after, Hanks & Hammers was the place to go.
When Bobby came in to the store late that cloudy afternoon in October, Polly knew something was dreadfully wrong. He held in his hands a small orange bag labeled "Oxymoreyarn, For Paradoxical Fibers", a shop on the opposite side of the square from Hanks & Hammers, next to the Victoria Milpower National Bank. She looked at it, then back at Bobby with a quizzical look on her face. Bobby gently led her by the hand to a chair at the knitting able and pressed her into it. He popped behind his own counter and pulled out a bottle of Milpower Still's Finest 50 Year Old, and poured two shots, downing one and handing the other to Polly, refusing to say anything until she had dispensed with the contents. Then and only then did he open up the bag without a word and pull out a skein of white-- no, pink-- no, green-- no, blue-- yarn! I kid you not, that yarn changed colors right before the bright baby-blue eyes of Polly McFeeters!
Polly took the skein of yarn and silently read the ballband: "Chameleon Mills MOOD YARN". "No!" she whimpered as she fainted dead away.
Posted by Sheila at February 4, 2003 05:19 PM Posted to Stories | TrackBack