Richard, the paperboy, from The Red Scarf, June, 1944, #15
It wouldn’t hurt none if some of y’all believed me and John Clayton, when we tell you a lot of the stuff that happens ain’t our fault. You see, sometimes we just happen to be around when it starts to happen. Now, listen up and you’ll see what I mean.
It was just last week when we decided to pick some blackberries and sell em downtown. Well, we picked a little bucket full…course the chiggers, mesquitoes, and ticks nealy bout ate us alive and a then I came within an inch of stepping on a big copperhead snake. Gosh, we should have got $15.00 for that bucket of blackberries, but of course nobody would buy them at that price. So we stood there on the corner and held the bucket for to let folks see what we was selling. Heck, it weren’t five minutes until a big Buick pulled up and this man hollered at us: “How much for them berries, kid!” We had decided a dollar was a good price so I yelled back, “One dollar, sir.” He was shaking his head like we had called him something bad, and he said, “They’s selling ‘em in El Dorado for 30 cents a bucket. I’ll give you 40 cents.” After a whole mornings work and that sorry man was gonna give us 40 cents? Not on your life. Well, I said, real nice, “Uh, sir, we worked all morning to pick these and we gotta have a dollar.” “A dollar? Listen kid, I’ll give you 50 cents take it or leave it.” Boy, now listen up. I was really getting mad and John Clayton was about to bust he was so mad. “Whata you say, kid? Here’s $5.00, give me $4.50 change.” Shoot, I couldn’t change $5.00 if my life depended on it, but that smart talking man really had me upset now so I walked over to his car and said, “Here sir, hold my bucket while I change your $5.00.” I put the bucket on his car door where he had rolled down the window, and he gave me the $5.00 to change. I looked at John Clayton and whispered, “Get ready to run.” Then I reached up and gave the bucket a push and a whole bucket of blackberries dumped in his lap. Heck, I stuck that $5.00 in my pocket, and we took off like the devil was chasing us.
Now, see that weren’t my fault a-tall. If that sorry man hadn’t tried to cheat us nothing would have happened.
