Cash Only

We got this store here in Harper where you gotta have cash to buy anything. They don't take checks, credit cards, or IOU's. The store sells lots of things, everything from personal grooming items to books. You can even get an ice cream sundae or milk shake from their soda fountain. They don't sell tobacco or alcohol, so you can't get lung cancer or drunk from their products, but you sure can get fat. It may or may not be a coincidence that the owner's given name is Cash, Cash Simpkins. Cash told me one day when we were discussing things in general that he felt his life was simpler not having to keep us with charge accounts, lay aways, or credit card companies. You can see Cash or his wife, who works in the store, walk next door to Harper Bank and Trust several time a day to make a deposit. Cash says he don't like to keep more than a hundred dollars in the store. He was held up, not here in Harper, but in the last town he lived in. That was over forty years ago, but he has never forgotten that experience. So if you happen to come to Harper and want a real good milk shake or malted milk, you gotta bring at least a dollar. The milk shakes sell for seventy-nine cents and the malted will set you back eighty-four cents unless you want an egg. In that case, you need twenty-five more cents. Cash gets the eggs from his own chickens, but he says he needs to cover a gathering expense for his efforts.

Tales of Harper, short stories and poems about the fictional town of Harper, Mississippi is available on Amazon Kindle

Coming soon: More Tales of Harper (an ebook on Amazon)