The only part I don’t quite believe/understand is that the Guamanian woman would give such a knife away, and that it didn’t become a treasured heirloom in her own family. But I can imagine a variety of reasons why it might be that she’d give it away.
True story: Years ago when picnicking with a bunch of people at a remote beach, my friend asked me for my Swiss Army knife, to cut up an apple. She apparently had no lived experience with sharp knives. And I kept my knife sharp. She held the apple in one hand and cut through the apple toward her hand. (I know!!!) Yup, she cut into all four fingers. She said she never expected the knife to cut through the apple so easily. We were miles from the cabin we were all staying at, which itself was miles from anywhere…
I was wearing a muslin shirt/blouse I had designed and made myself, with pearl buttons from my grandmother’s button box; it was a favorite thing. We tore strips off the bottom of the shirt in the back, and bandaged her hand. Later on I pieced some other, similar fabric onto the shirt to make it whole again and continued to wear it, but it’s long worn out and gone. I still have the knife, but I don’t carry it, and it isn’t quite as sharp these days.
