You Cut Off My Ear!

               You Cut Off My Ear! 

I’d like to welcome guest contributor, Sarah Hanks. Like me, Sarah loves family stories, so much so that her latest book release, New Creations, centers around her grandfather who filled her life by telling stories. Welcome, Sarah!

My grandpa is a legend. This is the best way I can think of to describe the larger-than-life man so many have come to love. Everywhere he goes, he gathers people and tells his stories. In his long career as a barber, he learned to listen well, but also entertain others by regaling them with his antics.

My recently published novel, New Creations, is a tribute to him. It’s not a memoir, but many of our hilarious family stories are intertwined among fictional components. Most of the 1960s storyline is “mostly true”.  Some details were changed for story flow, but the basics remain.

I’ve shared with others how my grandparents had two weddings (they kept their marriage a secret for months), and how my “Papa” (as I call him) epically bumbled a paint job.  Today, I’ll share his most famous story: cutting someone’s ear off during barber school.

This is how he tells it. He became a barber on a whim and found himself cutting hair in barber school. A man with long, shaggy hair came in, and Papa went to work. The man’s hair was very matted, and Papa had to press down hard on the scissors to cut. After he clamped down again, the man yelped. A piece of ear flew through the air “like a tiddlywink”. How big of a piece? When I was young, he said it was the size of a dime. Later on, he said it was as big as a nickel. Still later, a quarter. Now I believe it’s the size of a half-dollar. I guess we’ll never know for sure.

Having been trained to persevere through minor inconveniences, Papa determined to finish the cut. He remembered being instructed to put talcum powder on any cuts, so he dumped his entire tube on the man’s ear. In his latest telling, blood was spewing up like a fountain higher than the man’s head. When his powder wasn’t enough, he borrowed the tubes of all his friends. A pile of powder extended from the man’s ear. He told the man it was just a scratch, and the powder was “in case it tries to bleed”.

When Papa finished the cut, he spun the man around. The customer exclaimed, “You cut my ear off!”

Papa replied, “Yes, but not all of it.” He reached over and grabbed the portion of ear that had flown off. “I have the rest of it right here!”

For what happened next, including how his instructor responded, you’ll have to read New Creations. It’s also told in my grandpa’s voice, which makes the story even more humorous. Check out the blurb below:

 

Floyd Douglas is a blundering barber who faces retirement wondering if the past sixty years of his life have been a waste. When he’s presented with the opportunity to go on a mission trip, it seems like the answer to his prayers and a way to finally make his life count for something. Now with a series of obstacles standing in the way of his newfound dream, he must decide whether to push through or find contentment in being the faithful family man he’s always been.

Emira has always looked up to her grandpa, especially since her parents’ marriage fractured and left her foundations shaken. Now, she scrambles to assure the man who taught her how to love what a deeply meaningful life he’s lived.

Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/New-Creations-Sarah-Hanks-ebook/dp/B0D5S5MV64

 

Sarah Hanks is an award-winning author of Christian fiction in both the contemporary and historical genres. After spending over a decade mostly writing and teaching Sunday school curricula for churches in her community, she jumped into writing fiction full-time with her split-time novel Mercy Will Follow Me. She and her husband have nine children, a couple of whom seem to have inherited their mother’s love for playing with words and crafting stories. Though Sarah dreams of a cabin by the beach, the family lives jammed together in beautiful chaos near St. Louis, Missouri. She buys earplugs in bulk. You can visit her website for freebies at www.sarah-hanks.com.

From Becky:

You know how I love family stories, so Sarah’s new book is right up my ally. She shared with me that her novel carries a sweet theme of faithful love that lasts generations, promoting the idea that one person can make a difference. To make a comment, open in your browser and scroll down to the bottom. I reply to all comments. As always, please feel free to forward to a friend. And let me know if you have a family story to share. You can write it, I can write it, or we can write it together!   Email: beckyvanvleet9@gmail.com