Walking Home From School Break

Many days after school I would walk home, but I would stop many days at the store before going on home.

This way I got to spend some "special time" with my dad and get some money for a snack before walking on home.

Every evening whenever I went to the store after school, my dad would ask me how school was that day. Some days he would be sitting at a floor model dinette table with a factory sales representative who was trying to sell him some new merchandise. I believe sometimes he was looking for a way to get out of being hassled to buy more than he wanted to buy from them and by talking to me it broke the tension. I would always take this time to ask for a quarter so I could buy a coke and some candy to eat on my way home.

The Sales Representative would usually give me fifty cents and sometimes a dollar just so he could get back to making a sale. I loved this because I usually got more than my dad would ever give me.

I would take the money and go quickly to Charlie Beard's Grocery just around the corner from the store and get me some candy and a coke and then get a coke for my dad and the Sales Rep. before continuing my walk home.

I guess the moral to this story was: You never know what you'll get until you ask.

Palmer Waters