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Garage-sale gaffe By MARK FREEMAN Halfway through her Aug. 25 garage sale in east Medford, Pam Bock noticed a box of four fishing reels left behind by her son and placed them on a for-sale table without a price. A man asked how much for two. Bock said a buck apiece, and off the man went with the single-most important artifact of her son's cache of fishing and hunting equipment. The vintage 1970s Shimano Bantum 201 that Bock let go for a song is worth more than the estimated $50 to $70 value that this item can fetch from a fisherman or a collector. It's son Andy Wilkins' prized gift from his father, who left it to Wilkins with explicit instructions about its safekeeping. "When my dad gave it to me, he said don't lose it, don't break it and don't ever sell it," says Wilkins, 21, of Medford. "My dad once caught a 19-pound steelhead in the Illinois River with it. "That one reel," he says, "means everything to me." So the mother now is trying to get the reel back for her son. Bock is offering the unknown purchaser $50 if he brings the reel back. Bock hopes it's a tender heart, if not the 5,000 percent profit, that reunite a boy and his reel. "I'm hoping to appeal to some sport-fisherman with a sense of sympathy," Bock says. "This is my son's reel, and it's so sentimental." The saga starts much like all great family garage-sale stories - with the sale of the family home on the 100 block of Oxford Place off Hillcrest Road in east Medford. An avid hunter and fisherman, Wilkins was charged with cleaning out his rod-and-gun room the night before, taking all his valuables and leaving the junk worthy for sale. He left behind the box of four precious reels - three Abu-Garcia level-wind reels and the Shimano, which were all gifts from his father four months ago - expecting to return that night. "But I got sidetracked," Wilkins says, "and didn't make it." About 11 a.m. Aug. 25, Bock noticed the box, wondering why Wilkins would part with such nice-looking silver fishing reels. But they hit the sale table, and the rest is steal-of-the-year history. "It was just one mistake after another," she says. Wilkins didn't realize it was gone until late last week after ransacking his house in search of the reel. Mother and son compared notes, and realized the garage sale snafu. Wilkins blames himself for not taking the box; Bock blames herself for several reasons. "As the mom," she says, "I feel totally responsible." Both hope the buyer telephones 541-944-7239. Oh, and the sooner the better. Wilkins' father returns from Bozeman in two weeks for four days of salmon fishing here, and Wilkins says he can't keep the reel's demise a secret. "When my dad gets wind of this, I'll be in deep crap," Wilkins says. "You'll see my name in the obituaries." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.