CASH POOR

 

Son Murray is moving from the tiny duplex where he’s lived for the last four years to a lovely little 1920’s house on the brow of the hill overlooking the Snake River. Two trips with his brother Clint’s utility trailer and one or two with his car was all it took, and Clint also helped with the lift and carry. Murray didn’t allow us to help him much, but Mike put together his new bed frame, and I served sandwiches for Friday’s lunch. Otherwise, Murray asked us to pick up some used outdoor chairs he bought from an individual who lives near us, and since he had yet to pay for them, he asked us to give the seller $35.00 in cash. This proved to be a challenge.

“I have a twenty, two fives, and two ones. What do you have?” asked Mike.

“I have a one and a fifty,” I replied. “And some quarters.”

“Don’t you have a twenty? How about tens or fives?”

“No! I have a fifty and a one,” I reiterated.

So, we stopped by to pay the seller, hoping she would have change for the fifty. No, she had given all her cash to her granddaughter, she said. “We’ll get cash at the grocery store and come back,” I offered.

So, I asked for “cash back” with our grocery purchase. Yes, he could give me a twenty, said the cashier. “We need two tens,” Mike stated.

“We don’t keep tens in the morning,” said the cashier. (Does that seem strange to you? Whyever not?) I accepted a twenty-dollar bill, but that didn’t help us. We still didn’t have the needed ten or fives.

Seller was a glass artist

Our cash situation had not improved in the afternoon as we prepared to go get the chairs. Mike counted out $32, and I tossed my one into the pile to make it $33.

“I wasn’t kidding about the quarters,” I said.

“Well, how many quarters do you have?” asked Mike.

I opened my wallet and counted out the needful two dollars in quarters, and we went to get the chairs. 

What?!! There are banks, you say, and ATM machines? Apparently we don't use them. KW