You see an ad for a two-man saw for sale. Write a story about the people who have used
it.
Approx 3,075 words
A Two-Man Saw
©2005 by Mae Ondracek
“Boy, did you ever
hear of such a thing?” Mary cried. “A two-man saw. I always thought they were single saws.”
“No, Mary. There used to be two-man saws quite a while
ago,” Jim answered. “Let me tell you
about my experience with them. You know
we used to have one when I was a kid. I
wonder whatever happened to it?”
Jim sat back and tried
remembering the saw but all he could remember was it being there, at the farm,
when he left for college.
“Well, come on,
Jim, let’s hear about those saws,” Mary said.
“What did they look like?”
“Well, let me
see,” Jim said. “They were between four
and six feet in length and believe me, they sure could cut through logs or
trees.
“I remember the
one we had. It was six feet long and my
dad kept it really sharp. Him on one end
and me at the other. Why we could cut
down a tree in nothing flat.
“It was fun going
out in the woods with dad. We had our
pick-up loaded in no time.
“The saw was six
feet long and had a handle at each end,” Jim remarked. “That was the only difference in how they
were made. The handle at each end provided
for two men to use it at once.”
He stopped
talking, thinking about that saw. He
even had his initials on one end, J. R.
Yep, that would be good to see that old saw once again.
“Jim, would you
please tell me about the saw?” Mary asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Mary. I got to thinking about the initials I had
put on my end of the saw, J.R. That way,
I always got to use that end,” and he laughed, remembering.
“Just about every
weekend, Dad and I, piled into the pick-up and headed out to the woods. It was a fun time, because Dad always thought
he could use the saw faster than I could.
“”Gosh, I remember
once, we cut down four trees and had them all trimmed and cut into stove
lengths before
“That must have
been hard work, Jim,” Mary said. “How
could you two use a saw like that?”
“Oh, Mary, it was
easy. I’d take one end and Dad would
take the other end and we would go up to a tree and start sawing. Just like that,” Jim said. “Say, what’s the address on the saw?”
Mary looked back
through the paper and found the ad and said, “It says
“
Mary phoned the number in the paper but it
was busy. She walked over to where Jim
was looking at the street maps and said, “But Jim, it can’t be that far
away. Did you look closer to home?”
“Yes, I did, but
it must be further then we thought. Did
you get them on the phone?” Jim asked.
“No, it was
busy. I’ll try again,” Mary said.
Mary dialed the
number and just as she was going to hang up, a voice said, “Hello, the
Jamison’s.”
“Hello, this is
Mary Rutherford. We live on
The lady answered
her and she thanked her after she said they would be there tomorrow. Then she walked in by Jim and said, “Well,
Jim, you better hope it isn’t gone.
Someone else is looking at it tomorrow morning.”
“Oh, come
on. Where is
“Oh, I almost
forgot. She said to go past Junction 25
and turn right. They are the only ones
living on the road, so we won’t miss it,” Mary said.
Neither one could
sleep, so they were up at
“Well, Jim, I hope
it’s as great as you make it out to be,” Mary said as they carried everything
out to the car. Mary had to take
inventory, to make sure everything was in the car and then she said, “Well, gee
wiz. I think I had better go to the
bathroom again,” and off she ran to the house.
When she got back,
Jim asked her what she had in the bag and Mary said, “Just some cookies for
Mrs. Jamison. All right, let’s go,” and
she settled into her side of the car.
“This is so
exciting,” she said. “I hope we get
there first this morning.”
“We probably will,
leaving this early,” Jim said.
“Oh, before I
forget. Please do not say anything if
you see my initials on the saw. We don’t
want to pay a big price for that thing,” Jim said as he reached over and
squeezed her hand.
He was so excited
that he did everything double times. He
had already squeezed her hands two times.
“Oops, Jim, you just went past Junction 25. That sure was a very small sign,” she said.
They stopped and
Jim backed up to where the little sign was.
“You are right, Mary,” he said.
“You know, it looks like they put the sign up themselves.”
Mary became
nervous as they traveled down Junction 25.
They had been going for three miles when Mary stated, “G…Gee, is that
the place?”
“Well, they did
say, it was the only place on the road, so let’s go up to the door. Boy, I don’t know, it looks awful lonely, doesn’t
it?” he asked.
Mary gulped and
asked, “A….are you sure you want to go up there?”
Jim said, “I’ll go
alone, if you don’t want to go.”
“Oh, no, you don’t
leave me in the car alone. I’ll go up
with you,” Mary yelled.
As they
approached the house, it was very quiet and Mary said, “Jim, it is only
“Boy, this is
really something. The place looks
deserted,” Jim said softly and he stepped up on the porch to knock on the
door. At the first knock the door opened
by itself. Jim looked at Mary and said,
“Golly, do you think there’s anyone here?”
Then he called
out softly, “Hello.” There was no
answer, so he called out a little louder, “Hello.” There was still no answer and as the door
swung further inwards, they noticed nothing was in the house except the old saw
lying on the table.
“N….Now why do you
suppose they just left it here like this?” Jim asked.
“Oh, boy, I don’t
know. Call out once more, Jim, please,”
Mary whispered.
“Hello, is
anybody here?” Jim called out. “Let’s go
in and look around, Mary.”
“Oh, no you
don’t. I’ll stay right here, thank you,”
Mary said.
Jim walked into
the house, being careful not to stub his toe because the boards were very
uneven. “He…He…Hello,” Jim called out as
he reached the table.
He couldn’t
believe it, for there on the saw was a sign that said, “I belong to Jim
Rutherford.” It was just as clean as the
house was dirty. There was no telephone
anywhere, but Mary had called here yesterday and a lady had answered. He turned to look at Mary and said, “This saw
has my name on it as big as day.”
“Well, come on,
get it and let’s go. I can’t stand being
out here alone,” Mary said nervously.
Jim picked up the
saw and found a string attached to it, leading to another door. “Hey, Mary, there’s a string attached to it
leading to that door over there,” he said.
“What should I do, cut the string or open that door?”
“Oh, Jim, I don’t
know. But something is certainly
wrong. Why would anyone leave the saw
here and what could be behind that door?” Mary asked. “Oh, Jim, please don’t go,” Mary pleaded.
But Jim was already
holding the string and walking towards the door. He put his hand on the door knob and was
about to open it, when it felt hot. He
yelled, “Mary, the place is on fire.
That knob was very hot,” and he grabbed the saw and was out of there in
nothing flat.
When he got
outside, Mary was just standing there wondering why he had yelled about a fire;
there wasn’t anything wrong. “Get in the
car, quick,” Jim yelled as he threw the saw in the back seat and jumped
in. He revved up the motor as Mary got
in and they took off.
“Whatever is wrong
with you?” Mary asked.
“Nothing. But that door handle was very hot. I thought for sure there was a fire
there. What the heck is going on?” Jim
asked.
They were soon
out to the highway where Jim turned left and drove as fast as he dared until
they came to
“What do you
mean? They are all back there,” Jim
said.
“No…No they are
all gone. They just went up, like as
smoke,” Mary answered.
Mary sat forward
again as Jim revved up the car to go as fast as they dared. They didn’t need a ticket at this time of
day. It was almost
“No, Mary. I just want to get home to make sure
everything is all right,” Jim answered.
After they were a
mile down the road, Jim had recovered somewhat and asked Mary for a sandwich. She started to ask him if he really wanted a
sandwich or was he just talking, but she saw his smile and knew he was all
right again. She turned around to get
the sandwich when she asked, “Jim, what’s tapped to the saw?”
“Nothing that I
know of. Why?” he asked.
“Nothing. He…Here is your sandwich,” she said.
“Oh, boy, is this
ever good, Mary. You should have one,”
Jim said.
They were coming
to Cloverdale, as Jim asked, “Well, we’ll be home in about an hour. Can you wait that long to eat?”
“I don’t think I
could eat right now,” Mary said.
Soon they were in
Spooner and Jim said they better stop for gas as they were close on empty. They pulled into a gas station and Jim started
filling the tank. He surmised that this
had been a very funny day indeed. When
he had filled the tank, Mary was finished in the bathroom and stood waiting for
Jim in the store. He came in and paid
the clerk the $27.50 he owed and asked Mary if there was anything she’d
like. “Oh, Jim, I can’t really
understand all this, but I know there is something taped to the saw.”
“That’s all right,
Mary,” Jim said, “It will just have to wait until we get home,” and they soon
on the road again.
Jim asked Mary if
she wanted to stop anyplace, bit she kept her eyes straight ahead and said,
“No, Jim. Please, just get home safely.”
Within a half
hour, they were home and slowly they took everything into the house. Jim carried the saw, and then saw the papers
tapped to the underside. He really
couldn’t understand why he hadn’t seen them before, but he’d find out
soon. Once in the house, he had set the
saw on the kitchen table and stood there looking at it.
Mary asked, “Are
you going to take that envelope off now?”
“Well..ll..ll,” Jim answered,
“I suppose we should,” and he slowly picked up one corner of the
envelope. It felt heavy and he didn’t
know if he wanted to take it off or not, but curiosity got the better of him
and he ripped it off and stood there amazed.
“Would you look at that,” he said.
“Those are my initials,” and he rubbed his hand over them, saying, “Mary,
my initials are on this saw!”
Mary was too
surprised to say anything and she motioned to the envelope in Jim’s hand. He slowly ripped open the envelope and out
fell money. They both gasped as they
grabbed for it. “Is it real?” Mary
questioned.
“I’m darned if I
know,” Jim said, “but it looks real.”
There was too
much money to count as they shoved it back into the envelope and Jim said,
“Holly cow, Mary! Now what do we do with
all this?”
“I don’t know,
Jim,” Mary whispered. “Let’s put it away
until tomorrow when we can think better, okay?”
“That’s a good
idea, Mary. Where should we put it?” Jim
asked. He had a silly look on his face
and she was sure he didn’t know where to put it.
“Why don’t we put
it in the microwave?” Mary asked
Jim stood there
with that silly grin on his face and Mary again said to put it in the
microwave. Suddenly Jim said, “I know,
I’ll put it in the microwave. No one
will look in there,” and he put the envelope of money in the microwave.
He walked back to
the table and said to Mary, “This has been a hard day’s work, Mary. I can’t believe that first gas station we
stopped at, can you? That guy sure was
strange.”
“Yes, but I told
you the whole town just up and disappeared after we left,” Mary said.
“I know, that is
why I don’t understand it happening,” Jim said.
He walked back to the saw and rubbed his hand over his initials. “You know, Mary. This is just too good to be true,” Jim said.
“I’ll bet when we wake up tomorrow morning, nothing will be here. This is just something to laugh about,” and
he took the saw and stood it in the corner, behind the door, where it couldn’t be
seen and they ate supper. Not much, but
it would have to do because neither one felt like cooking. After awhile they went to bed.
At
Mary dressed first
and sat on the bed waiting for Jim to finish dressing. She said, “Jim, how do you think they found
out where you were?”
“Jeeze, Mary, I don’t
know. Who talked with you the day before
yesterday?”
“I don’t know,
Jim. A lady said the name ‘Jamison’ was
on the house, and we had better come right away because another man was going
to look at it,” Mary said. “But I can’t
understand another man going to that place.”
“I can’t either,”
Jim said. “Shall we?” and he held out his
arm to Mary.
Mary took his arm
and they walked out of the bedroom together and took the envelope out of the
microwave. They sat down at the table
and carefully removed the money. There
were 10’s, 20’s and even some 50’s, but the 100 dollar bills looked
better. They made different piles out of
the money and Jim spied a paper hidden between them. He pulled it out and carefully unfolded it,
it said, Dear Son, I sure hope you got
this o.k. I didn’t know how else to get
this to you, after you moved away. First
your Mother dying and then me, well, I just didn’t know. I left this with friends at their old place
and I hope they found you. Your loving
Dad.
Jim took out his
handkerchief and blew his nose and wiped his eyes, saying, “Gosh, Dad’s been
gone for a year and a half now. Why did
those people keep this saw for me? I
mean, it’s just like new, as if he left it a week ago.”
Mary was holding
him and finally she pushed him back and said, “Oh, Jim. The poor old man never knew where to find you
after you left college. Didn’t you write
to him?”
“Yes, I wrote once
but didn’t get a reply. I thought they
had moved off the farm and gone someplace else.
Oh, God! Why didn’t I try harder
to find him? I guess I was just to busy
trying to do my own thing,” Jim cried.
Afterwards, we
counted the money agaom and Jim said, “Well, what do you think we should do
with it? Should we put it in the bank or
just keep it here for awhile?”
Mary said, “Well,
I don’t think we can put it in this bank.
People would wonder about it. Why
don’t we just hide it someplace until we need to spend it for something?”
They hid the money
and then they both cried until no more tears came, thankful for the money and
thankful that now they could look for a better place to live.