In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Cheap by Jim Wayne Miller When Clavern Redmon came to me needing hay, I told him what I had to have for it-a dollar and a quarter a bale. You'd think I'd hit him with a hoe handle! He'd squinted his right eve when I said a dollar and a quarter, like a sharp pain had hit him. The way he rocked back on his heels, you'd think 30 I'd coldcocked him with a fencepost. How many bales would he be interested in? I asked. Well, he said-and his voice was thin and weak, like he'd been sick-he needed about a hundred and twenty-five bales, he reckoned, but at that price. . . . I ought to have had better sense than to deal with Clavern. He was a Redmon. All the Redmons was tight as the bark on a hickory. My Daddy told me Clavern's daddy was the same way-right cheap. A dollar and a quarter a bale wasn't high, and Clavern knew it. There was a time when hay sold for seventy-five cents a bale, but everything had gone up, and we'd had dry growing seasons for two years running. Clavern said he'd study on it. All he did was study how he could get me to come down on the price of my hay. Down at the Trading Post a day or two later, he came up to me, put his hand on the back of his neck and drew his head over, like he was afflicted, somehow , and said his cattle never would make it through to grass unless he had hay. I said I didn't doubt he needed hay. Just about everybody with cattle was falling short here toward the end of winter. It had been so dry all last spring and summer. I was lucky; my hay had done right well in my bottomland fields. Clavern drew his neck way over-it was a sight how he could bend his neck like that. I figured he could touch his elbow with his ear if he put his mind to it. Said his cattle were beginning to bawl and carry on. Would I take a dollar a bale? I studied on it. I reckon I felt sorry for Clavern's cattle. Like a fool, I said he could have a hundred and twenty-five bales at a dollar a bale. That's delivered, is it? I said I'd haul the hay to him. Clavern took his hand off his neck and it straightened right up. I hauled him a hundred and twentyfive bales the next day. Had to make two trips, loading it on at my barn and off-loading it at Clavern's. By myself. Clavern wasn't at home to help. He'd left word with his wife that he'd see me down at the Trading Post about my money. The next time I saw him down there, I waited around, thinking he would offer to pay me. Ha! He never come close to offering. I was a fool to think he would. Buddy, it hurt Clavern to run loose of a penny! My daddy said Clavern's daddy was the same way. Clavern's daddy had money in the bank at Franklin. My daddy said when old man Clavern would go to Franklin he'd check his money out and carry it around in his pocket all day. Then, just before the bank closed, he d deposit it again. How come? I asked my daddy once. Why, he said, just to make sure the money was still there, is all I can figure. After I hauled the hay down to him, I saw Clavern two or three times in the Trading Post. Still he never offered to settle up with me. The way he sat there and talked, like he was free and clear with everybody, you'd have thought I hadn't hauled him any hay. I even brought up the subject of hay, and still he never offered to settle with me. Finally one day I followed him out of the Trading Post and...

pdf

Share