The professor and the pocket knife

The story on Facebook by a friend of Ariel, regarding a class running from 5 to 8 PM reminded me of a similar experience. My class was at the same time, 3 days a week. Fortunately, the professor set up a schedule for each of us to bring a snack for the class.  He would supply coffee.  After some initial hesitation, things began to run like clock work as veggie platters and dip, brownies, or a couple of dozen donuts made welcome appearances and were eagerly devoured by starving grad students.

 One memorable occasion, the treat was from the professor's wife in the form of a large Texas sheet cake.  She even supplied a stack of paper plates, napkins, and a box of plastic forks. Alas, she neglected a knife with which to slice the delicacy, which must have weighed several pounds, and was redolent with chocolate.  "Anybody got a knife?" the professor asked.

Immediately every one of us brandished their Swiss army knife. It looked like a scene  from "West Side Story" as played by gangs of biologists. The professor considered the array of cutlery before him and replied "Naw, y'all been cutting weird stuff with those." 

He took out his own pocket knife, a veteran of many a field dissection and geological sampling, and sliced the cake. To his credit, he did sterilize the blade by passing it through a Bic lighter flame. The cake was delicious