This article was written over a decade ago, back when I was a younger old coot. It never made it to the Pennysaver, but I\u2019m submitting it now, a little late, but better late than never.<\/p>\n
June, 2006 <\/b><\/p>\n
I\u2019m walking around with a fifty-cent piece in my pocket. I got it in change at Everybody\u2019s Country Store. It\u2019s the first one I\u2019ve seen in years. When Kathy Phelps, the owner, handed it to me I thought I\u2019d stepped back in time, to the era when a half-dollar was a treasured possession. Cathy\u2019s store is like going back in time anyhow. The fixtures, cabinets and racks are vintage. The door sticks on cold mornings, like an old door should. The display cases are awash in fresh baked goods. The deli section is famous for its sandwiches. If you pass by in the wee hours of the morning you can glimpse the shadowy movement of the baking crew toiling away on today\u2019s goodies. It gives the same respectful feeling as when you pass a barn at dawn and spot a lanky silhouette moving down a line of cows. <\/p>\n
The half-dollar got me thinking, \u201cWhere did they go?\u201d You never see them anymore. Ours is a society fueled by quarters. When I was a twelve-year-old with a paper route, a lot of half-dollars passed through my fingers. Unfortunately, not many stayed with me. Newspapers retailed for a nickel in those days; fifteen cents on Sunday. Every Monday night after supper, I went back over my route to collect. The transaction went like this – I\u2019d say, \u201cPress.\u201d The customer would grumble, \u201cHow much?\u201d I\u2019d respond, \u201cForty-five cents\u201d. And, under my breath \u2013 \u201cJust like last week; just like every week\u201d Several customers would claim they had already paid, but I had proof they hadn\u2019t. I had the postage stamp sized receipt still in my collection book, with their name at the top of the page. <\/p>\n
It was somewhat of a hassle to get paid, but the circulation manager didn\u2019t care. He was on my doorstep every Saturday morning with the bill – three cents per paper for Monday through Saturday, ten cents for Sunday, times sixty customers. My profit for delivering the paper every day and then collecting from those 60 customers was about ten bucks. If everyone paid! Which never happened. Tips were a rarity back then. You would think that a customer or two might say, \u201cKeep the change, kid,\u201d when they handed you a fifty-cent piece for a forty-five-cent debt. It would be a small thank-you for getting a dry paper, on time, every day of the week. A paper that was carefully folded and tossed onto the porch or put inside the door if they didn\u2019t have a porch. <\/p>\n
But, it wasn\u2019t the case. Of the sixty customers on my route, only three told me to keep the nickel, and that was only every now and then. But, I wasn\u2019t disappointed; I was happy to just get paid without hearing: \u201cCome back tomorrow\u201d – or – \u201cMy husband isn\u2019t here and he pays the bills\u201d – or – \u201cI paid you last week for two weeks!\u201d (Yes, you did, because you owed for the previous week). I was also happy to get through the week without one of the \u201cguard\u201d dogs on the route taking out their hostility on me when I hurried by and tossed the paper on their doorstep. I wasn\u2019t always quick enough and I got nipped now and then. The owner usually blamed it on me. \u201cIt\u2019s your fault; you scared him!\u201d It still didn\u2019t get me a tip. <\/p>\n
No, I didn\u2019t resent the skimpy number of tips. I loved walking home with a pocket full of half-dollars too much to let anything bother me. It was how I measured \u201ca job well done.\u201d It\u2019s why the fifty-cent piece that Kathy Phelps gave me in change was such a shock. I\u2019d forgotten how much I missed it. I started asking around, \u201cDo you ever get any half-dollars?\u201d John Spencer at Riverow Books said, \u201cHardly ever.\u201d Darci at Awakenings Coffeehouse said, \u201cOnce a month or so. The kids that work for me don\u2019t know what they are.\u201d Everybody I asked had a similar answer. The half-dollar \u201cpassed away\u201d and nobody went to the funeral. It didn\u2019t even make the obituaries. Too bad. It makes me kind of sad.<\/p>\n