Ernie

Ernie is another one of those characters that I knew over the years here in Frederick. It happened that he was stuck in New York City during his teenage years on a trip from his native Europe when World War One broke out and, liking it in the States, stayed after the war was over. It seems that he learned the art of spaghetti-making while he was in New York and, over the years, developed it into a craft – and along the way, he learned the tricks of magic as well. All kinds of things struck his fancy as he grew from a child to a grown man to an increasingly old man, from the look of those tenements lining the streets to how to pull a nickel from a child’s ear.

I do not know when and how Ernie made his way to my town of Frederick, Maryland. Still, by the time my family and I arrived in the 1970s, he was already well established in business with his Ernie’s Italian Kitchen with the best Italian meatballs all around (never mind that he wasn’t Italian – he hailed from Austria) and a habit of pulling a quarter from a child’s ear (well, by that time, inflation had taken its toll and nickel was now a quarter). “Look what I found!” Ernie would hoot as he pulled that coin from the side of my head. “Two bits!” We all smiled and enjoyed the meatballs, and my father would leave an extra tip behind when we were done.

In time, the years took their toll on Ernie. First, he turned 90 and then 100 and then he entered the new century. And then he died. But still, folks will swear that he made the best Italian meatballs around. “And he pulled a quarter from my ear!” another will exclaim. “A quarter?” still another will say. “Why, in my day, it was a nickel!” And so it goes.