I couldn't believe what I saw when I got to Oscar's house. He had a whole room full of old medical equipment. Most of it didn't interest me, but the collection of old lancets did. Oscar's grandfather had been a salesman for medical supply house back 80 years ago. Some of these things were samples he was supposed to give to doctors and hospitals, and some of it was things he bought because he thought they were interesting. At any rate, it was a huge collection. I looked at a lancet case that was silver and carved. The lancets were made of tortoise shell. This is a far cry from the plastic ones that I order online or buy from the drugstore. I asked Oscar if any of the items were for sale, and he said of course they were. He wanted to clear things out, and he was going to put the whole collection on e-bay and auction it off together, if he could. I made an offer for the silver case, and he shook his head. It was too high, he said. How much would he take for it. He said five dollars. He knows it might be worth a lot more, but if it made me happy it was better than going to a stranger. And any friend of Mr. Callahan's was a friend of his. I paid him, and promised to come back on another day, when it wasn't so late.