Like most nickname stories, this one is both short and only moderately interesting, but it has put a grin on a few faces over the years, so here it is.
I was a dinner guest of Matt and Martha Sharp during the preparatory stage of the National Narrow Gauge Convention at the Holiday Inn on the Bay in Portland, Maine in 2007. I had given the server an only slightly hard time when taking my order and she was quite good about it- little did I expect what was to come.
After delivering meals to all seven at the table she returned a few minutes later for the customary verification all was well. Before she uttered a word of the usual "Everything okay so far?" that passes for server interest in North America today, my empty plate caught her attention and without missing beat she loudly blurted "Whoa, Buck-O; Haven't you eaten your way to the head of the table!"
I was speechless, to say the least. Others probably didn't have a clue what she was talking about, but Martha picked up right away that she was getting me back- so to speak- and befriending me with a "Buck-O". Martha hinted at the departure from the usual cordial yet conservative Maine manner. The rest of the meal passed normally.
When I repeated the story the next day to my good friend Christopher Creighton, he modified the moniker to Buck-S, noting that my modeling scale of choice was not O scale but S scale (all a bit tongue-in-cheek) but any time my local train group identified me on a list I was assigned the Buck-S handle (everyone in the Narrow Gauge Madness Gang goes by a nick name).
That's it. Stupid, Eh!?
