My Walking Cane

This is my Walking Cane that I have had for some 30 years. It was cut from a volunteer Pin Oak growing up in the fence line. The Handle was part of the tree trunk and the “stick” part was actually a limb. The twist that is visible was caused by a Grapevine growing around it while still small. We moved soon after I cut it to a neighborhood with several dogs running lose where I did a lot of walking. I used the Cane on my walks as protection against the dogs but also appreciated the additional stabilization.  During the past years, I have used it very sparingly; usually at Auctions where it was necessary to stand for some time. The other day I used it to walk the couple blocks over to the Hospital to see Charley and realized the Cane felt longer than I remembered. I realized that I’m not as tall as I once was which accounts for the change. I remembered reading of a Circus midget who walked with a Cane in his Act. The story told of midgets occasionally growing after their maturity which was a concern of the Circus performer. As a trick, some of his Buddy's secretly cut a small chunk off the end of his cane periodically and  the guy became convinced  he was growing and would probably lose his job. It was a cruel trick. I was back with my Cane again today to see Charley and the Therapist working on him, told me that I need the "extra length" in my Cane to provided for flexibility.