My son spent his middle school and high school years reading and delighting in your tales of Mr. Van, the Liar's Club, the Rankins, trapper Bill, the school witch, the hermit on the swamp, and your other fine characters and stories. I've seen him tense up and then laugh out loud as Mr. Van shot the cigarette, or stropped his Remington Scout knife quietly on his boot tip in preparation for the fuzzy-stick making-contest. It would be an honor to keep this hatchet on his behalf (he's in college now), and pass it along to him when he graduates and gets a place of his own.
At the GEC Rendezvous, I thanked Charlie again for generously giving my son a small S&M Scout knife several years ago. It is a beautiful knife, which my son used camping in Scouts. He also whittled ball & cages and chains with it. He did earn Eagle a couple of years after that. This hatchet would make a fine companion piece for that knife--and would be priceless to us both because it was used by the legendary jackknife, and possibly even handled by Mr. Van himself