fbhjr

Our historical show we usually start by cutting some sort of melon in half with a sword to prove they are real.
There are folks that just refuse to believe the swords are real if they are less than lightsaber sharp. I’m not sure the fruit proves it to them or not. But, I am well aware of how much they can hurt even if not razor sharp.

Over the many years of doing this show, there has been a great debate as to what is the best fruit to use.
Watermelon? Pumpkin? Honeydew melon?

There are a few we know are bad:
Cantaloupe just won’t cut and trying will knock it like a hockey puck into the audience.
Gourds, other than pumpkin, have too tough a rind and won’t cut.
Citrus fruit just launches into the air.

So, when at the grocery store the morning of the show, I considered all of this before buying a papaya.
We had never used a papaya before, but I envisioned it standing up and being cut sideways.

Because of my hurt arms, I couldn’t do the cutting. Tom did it in my place. I’ve let Tom do it a few times before and didn’t think anything of it this time.

I made all of the announcements about what we were doing and how we’d show the sword was real by cutting the papaya.

Instead of standing it up on its end, Tom lay it down flat and then swung straight down at it.
On the cement stage.

There was a “tink!” sound and the front end of Tom’s sword bounced and came to rest next to the unharmed papaya. The rest of the sword remained in his hand.

Although I blamed the papaya on facebook, it was the cement stage that broke the sword. The top of the sword hit that and broke off before the edge even reached the fruit.

The sword was 10 years old and had been used in hundreds of shows. So, it certainly earned some rest.

Tom broke it. But, he originally bought it and then donated it to the troupe when he bought a better one. (The better one broke and hit me with the end several years ago…)
So, too bad, but there you go.

All in all, we’ve had worse breaks:
http://www.fbhjr.livejournal.com/455169.html