Happy Birthday to my father Judge Hunt who was born on August 25, 1903.
Our father adored children. Every kid who remembers him has a story. (If you do, please leave one as a comment.) My dad would often engage one sitting at a nearby table. You can’t do this any more, but many times he handed a stick of gum to a passing tyke. His love of children and playing cards would sometimes lead him to engage older ones in a round of poker or gin rummy.
One of his favorite pastimes was leading a kid on with a card trick, a joke or a story. My favorite was his tale about kissing his elbow. I watched him do this with dozens of two or three-year-olds. Here’s how it went:
Dad would sidle up to the child who was in the middle of say… eating pancakes.
“When I was a little girl,” he would say. “I put honey on my pancakes.”
The kid would freeze mid-bite, squint up at him and state the obvious with utter conviction. “You weren’t a girl,” she would say.
Dad would nod and continue. “When I was a little girl, I would pour so much honey on my pancakes there wouldn’t be any left for anybody else.”
The kid would roll her eyes, heave a heavy sigh and say, “You were a boy, not a girl.”
Dad would nod again and march on with his pancake story.
Exasperated, the victim would invariably pose the obvious question, “If you were a girl, how come you’re a boy now?”
“I kissed my elbow and turned into a boy,” he would say as though everyone knew this is how gender was redetermined. He would then complete his pancake elaboration and turn away.
Onlookers following the ruse would then observe the child scowl as if deeply in thought. After a moment’s contemplation she would seize her elbow and try to draw it to her lips, then stop and shake her head.
As to whether she chose not to kiss her elbow because she couldn’t or shouldn’t was left to question.