Jigsaw For Mac

Mac had an ulterior motive for wanting me to attend the tourism trade show in Berlin.  He and Son Mitchell had pressed me into going to Germany during March, one of the busiest months at the Pizzeria, and I had reluctantly agreed.  I had been experiencing anxiety attacks and was leery about the long trip ahead of me, a trip which Mac claimed would help me overcome my fears.  What Mac didn’t tell me until I was getting on the ferry was that he wanted me to buy a German tool for him, a Bosch jigsaw.

Mac had started building our home, and wanted a jigsaw to cut the wooden gingerbread trim for the roof peaks.  Our house was going to be made up of four buildings, which meant he would be erecting four roofs, and the gingerbread trim for each would be a nice finishing touch.  I knew little about power tools and was alarmed at the prospect of shopping for a saw by myself.  Mac told me it was easy, all I had to remember was “jigsaw” and “Bosch”.  He stressed that the tool had to be Bosch, the German company out of Stuttgart made the best in the world and nothing but the best would do.

Once in Berlin, I made my way to a hardware store and tried to explain to an employee what I was looking for.  I didn’t speak any German and the man’s English was poor, but Mac had been right – “jigsaw” and “Bosch” were all the man needed to hear.  He took me to a section of the store where the power tools were displayed and showed me the tool I wanted to buy.  I had described pretty much in sign language what the tool was needed for, and he must have understood because he sold me exactly what Mac wanted.

I had flown to Germany with one small suitcase. I flew home burdened with one suitcase filled with pieces of the Berlin wall, a second suitcase with clothing and toiletries, a large handbag and Mac’s Bosch jigsaw.  I was seriously overweight, and dashing through Frankfurt’s huge Rhein-Main airport to catch my connecting flight to Barbados with all that luggage wasn’t easy. I checked the two suitcases, then joined the line of people waiting to enter the departure terminal. The line was moving slowly, and I soon realized that everyone’s hand luggage was being checked by security officers.

In this day and age security at airports is so tight one has to remove their shoes while going through security, liquids are restricted and all hand luggage is closely scrutinized.  Back in the 1980’s such scrutiny was unusual, at least it was to me, until I remembered that Rhein-Main was the Airport where a bomb planted in the departure terminal had killed 3 people and wounded several more.  One of the results of the 1985 terrorist attack in Frankfurt was the slow-moving line of passengers, the airport was taking measures to ensure that bombs were not secreted in the passengers’ hand-luggage.

When I got to the head of the line Mac’s Bosch jigsaw caused alarm, the officials didn’t want to let me through in case it contained a bomb.  They indicated that if I could open the tool and prove that it didn’t contain an explosive device I would be able to keep it, otherwise I would have to fly without it.  Well, I had no way of opening the tool, but suggested plugging it in.  If the motor worked the way it should, it would prove that the jigsaw was just that, a jigsaw.  The security officers nodded their heads, this made sense, and indicated the electrical outlet on the wall.

I opened the plastic case, took the jigsaw out and plugged it into the wall.  As the tool started up I turned to the officers with a smile only to find they were no longer standing in front of me.  They, as well as the passengers behind me, had all dropped to the ground and covered their heads with their arms. Just in case!