The 7:10 Spot
Two cars met at the end spots of the park-and-ride every weekday for fifteen years. One arrived from the east. The other arrived from the west. The drivers never learned …
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The Cashier Who Paid the Layaways
Every December, a stranger paid off random layaway accounts at the same Kmart. The tradition had lasted thirty years. I knew because one of the accounts had been mine in …
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The Hay Wagon Route
The Anderson farm ran one hay wagon every fall. For thirty years, neighbors called it decoration. The wagon had bench seats, wooden rails, and a route through the fields that …
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The Whistle That Taught the Town to Keep Watch
The town wanted one part of the USS Kestrel when the ship was decommissioned. The whistle. The Navy said no. Artifacts went to the museum. The town asked the museum. …
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The Funnies He Kept Sending
For six years of college and afterward, my father mailed me one comic strip every Sunday. The funnies were clipped neatly from the newspaper. There was no note. He did …
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The Receipts on the School Wall
The cashier at Bagley’s Market drew on every child’s receipt. For thirty-one years, Mr. Bagley added a frog, a spaceship, a dog, or whatever picture a child could describe well …
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The Amens Everyone Meant
Miss Odessa signed her amens during service for thirty years. They were whole-face, whole-heart amens. Her eyebrows lifted. Her hands opened. Her shoulders leaned into the word. The congregation could …
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The Peach Pit Treaty
The peach-pit contest had run for thirty-one years. Its trophy was a bronzed pit on a walnut base. The founders had been neighbors feuding over a peach tree that straddled …
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Miss Wilma’s Lifetime Call
The fair board placed Miss Wilma’s gavel in a display case. It had been turned by her father on the family lathe. She had used it for fifty years of …
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Walt’s Second Price List
Walt’s TV & Radio repaired sets for fifty-one years. For thirty of those years, anyone over seventy-five paid nothing. The second price list was kept beneath the counter. Walt told …
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