They looked like something a witch doctor would wear around his neck; a dozen or more bones on a wire.

I was about six years old and was out in the garage with my dad when I first noticed them.

"What are those, daddy?" I asked.

"What's that, son?" dad asked in turn, looking up from whatever it was he was doing.

"Those bones on the wall there." I replied, pointing to them.

I remember my dad smiling as he paused; I waited on him as he thought about his answer.

"That's the business end of a gentleman coon." he said after a few seconds, grinning as if there was some private joke in his answer.

I frowned as I thought about his answer. "Business end?" Hmmm.... I knew the barrel of a gun was the "business end", so maybe this too was something dangerous, maybe it was some sort of claw the raccoon had. Whatever it was, they certainly looked cool, almost like ivory.

"Can I have one?" I asked my pop.

"Sure." he said, and reached up and got the set off of the garage wall. "You can have 'em all." and handed them to me.

I was thrilled. I didn't know exactly what I had, but I didn't much care.

"What are they good for?" I asked.

"Well.." dad considered the question, with another small grin on his face. Snickering a little bit, he went on: "They're not much good for a coon now, but some guys make keychains, even whittle them down and make toothpicks out of 'em. "

"They polish up real good." he told me. "I'll get'cha a little steel wool and you'll see."

By now you've figured out just exactly what the thing is, I expect, and if you haven't, your mother and/or father should have explained the birds and the bees to you a little bit better, I think.