Luck or Lore?

I sat teetering on a thick phone book, the booster chairs of the fifties at my Grandma's kitchen table while Mom and Grandma sorted through a dusty old hat box.

As I drank milk and ate a cookie, Grandma pulled something from the box and placed it in front of me. I was so horrified that I jumped and ended up shooting milk from my nose and spilling the rest up the sleeve of my dress and onto the table. Mom sprang up and saved me from sliding off the phone book. My cookie fell, and Spam, Grandma's dog of many colors, caught it.

"What was that?" I asked, "Is it dead?"

Mom and Grandma sighed and shook their heads. While Mom cleaned the milk mess up. Grandma said, "I'm sorry, Holly, haven't you ever seen a rabbit's foot?"

"A what?!"

"A rabbit's foot" Grandma patted my arm and put another cookie on my plate.

" From a real rabbit?"

"Yes," Mom said, it's for good luck. And this one is very special."

"Not for the rabbit," I said, picturing poor Peter Rabbit limping through Mr. McGregor's garden on crutches.

"Oh, it's okay. The rabbit is usually dead before they cut it off, and then it's cleaned, and they do whatever they do to preserve it," said Grandma.

Usually? This did not make me feel any better.

"Do you want to see it again?" Mom asked.

"I don't know. Are you sure it's dead? It looks like a mouse?"

She continued, "Yes. That rabbit's foot kept your great-great Grandfather safe during WWI, and his father, your great-grandfather, safe through WWII, and both returned healthy in mind and body.

"Oh. I guess so." I said.

Grandma lifted it out of the box again, but this time put it in the center of the kitchen table.

I leaned forward and eyed it with suspicion., "I still don't know. How is that thing giving anybody good luck?"

"It's an ancient belief or superstition that goes back hundreds or thousands of years," Mom said. "We can go to the library and learn about it."

Grandma handed it to me and said, "Keep it with you. Put it in your pocket. You're the first grandchild, so it's handed down to you."

"Sorry, Grandma, but girls' clothes don't have pockets." I thought I was off the hook.

"True she said, "That's why I wear my apron. We'll figure something out, and maybe we can put it on a necklace?"

Oh, heck no. I imagined that worn in school. I'd have no friends at all.

As Mom and I got into the car, Mom said, "Here, you forgot this," and handed me the 'thing' as I started calling it. I placed it on the seat next to me.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not a frilly sissy. Dad taught me how to bait a fish hook with a live worm and a minnow. He also taught me how to cut the head off and gut fish. I didn't like it, but I learned. But this rabbit's foot thing just gave me the willies. You cut a fish's head off, but you don't wear it around your neck. Geeze.

Mom bought me two pairs of girl's overalls with pockets; they were corduroy, one pink and one red. So I always wore one to visit Grandma, with the Thing in my pocket to please her. 

Grandma was really a fan of superstition. Mom said it was because she was Irish. Sometimes she'd throw a pinch of salt over her shoulder or 'knock wood' on the kitchen table, even though it wasn't wood.

One summer, we were invited to a pool party at a neighbor's house. Most of our neighbors were there, and it was great fun! Of course, I didn't wear the Thing, and no, I didn't drown.

But when we got home, the front door was open, and our house had been burgled! They took our tv set, stereo, Dad's coin collection, and Mom's jewelry box! She let me keep the rabbit's boot in there, so I figured it wasn't a total tragedy.

As it turns out, several of our neighbors were robbed as well. So, we figured it had to be someone who knew we'd all be away from home.

I was sad about the other stuff they took, especially the tv set. But it and the stereo and some other stuff were replaced.

A few years later, Mom and I went to the Farmer's/Flea Market in the town's square. While Mom was shopping for veggies, I wandered through the flea market stalls. I had two dollars, so I was eager to find something really cool.

I walked past one of the vendor's tables and noticed something that looked familiar. It was Mom's jewelry box!! I knew it was hers because Grampa made it for her! Then I saw a few other things of ours, including the rabbit's foot.

I was thirteen by now, had read every Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys book, and thought about what they would do. They certainly wouldn't run for their mother. The police department was across from the town square, so I nonchalantly walked to it and went inside. 

One of the officers knew my Dad and was a neighbor, so I asked for him. I was surprised when a lady at the desk said, "Sure, follow me."

I explained to Officer Ferranti what I'd seen. He told me to stay in his office, he'd let Mom know I was okay, and check out the Jewelry box situation. I wasn't sure he believed me, but I was glad he at least tried.

As he was crossing the street, another person said they saw one of their stolen items on that table. So, long story short, the burglar was arrested, and we eventually got some of our stuff back, including the rabbit's foot! By now, I'd come to terms with the whole rabbit's foot thing when I noticed a couple of the boys at school had them.

I grew up, married, and had two little girls of my own. I loved my husband very much, so I was proud of him but worried when he joined the Air National Guard. He was sent to serve in the Middle East, and I gave him the rabbit's foot for luck. And maybe it truly did work because he arrived home 'healthy in body and mind.'