David's Hat

It was a marvelous hat, and David was its destiny. It became a part of him the moment it landed upon his head. It was leather -- thick, supple brown leather, with a style which might have been a cross between the sophisticated black satin top hat of Fred Astaire and the exaggerated glory of the Mad Hatter. Its brim turned up at a rakish angle on the sides, and down in the front. It was tall, flaring outward at its crown and laced with the leather stitches of its craftsman.

I had a Halloween party at my house that year, and of course David would wear the hat, for it was new and thus inseparable from him. Their group staged a wonderful entrance, one at a time. David's wife, JoAn, wearing a white leotard and a fuzzy tail, ran up the stairs into the party shouting to all who would listen, and hid in the crowd. David was next, wearing the hat and wonderful, elegant, vested Mad Hatter costume, shouting for the rabbit. Where did that rabbit go? David's friend Tony charged up dressed as the King of Hearts and Tony's wife, with her long blond hair, finished the scene by chasing up the stairs behind the others dressed as a demure, bewildered Alice. Of course, by then everyone was in thrall and in hysterics. David played his part to the hilt all evening, sipping his wine from his china teacup and glowing under his hat.

Afterwards, the hat simply became a necessity for David. He wore it everywhere, and picked up a vibrancy from its presence which radiated to all who were around him. David now has a large collection of outrageous hats; they have become a trademark, an expected part of his personality. This old leather mad hatter holds its special place among the newcomers, however, for it was the first.