Invisible Mending
BY AN ANONYMOUS SUBMITTER
My father, Kenny the tailor, is speaking:
I was working at the salmon fishing at the Craggan Dubh at the time. We were sitting in the bothy one day when a spark flew out of the fire and landed on Dodie's trouser.
"Oh my good trooser!", he says.
'"Never mind", says Alec, "Kenny's a dab hand at the invisible mending. Isn't that right?"
"Aye."
"Where did you learn that?" asks Dodie.
"In Dundee", says I.
"Do you think you could fix it?" he asks.
"No bother. Take it in tomorrow and I'll mend it in no time."
But I was a bit short o' time the next night because we ended up in Benzie's bar, wi' Christie the shoemaker and a few other characters. What a night! Wi' drink and yarns. I took a few swings on the bike going home that night. By the time I had my supper and took in a few sticks for the fire, there wasn't much time for the repair.
I took a look at the trouser. Big wide legs!
"Ach", I said to myself, "He'll no miss a bit o' wan leg!"
So I took my big scissor and sliced off about an inch right up the side o' the leg that was burnt and threw the bittie I cut off into the fire. It only took a minute to run up a seam on the machine. I pressed it. Good as new! I parcelled it up.
The next morning I handed the parcel to Dodie whenever he came in. "There's your trouser, boy."
"That didn't take you long", he says.
"Och it doesn't take long with a professional on the job", I says.
"I canna see the hole at all."
The trouser was passed round and examined. "Invisible mending, right enough!" they all agreed.
Later when it was just the two us, Dodie says, "You did a grand job, Kenny. No sign of the hole. Where is it?"
"The hole is in the fire!" I said.