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couldn’t carry $5 worth of groceries then. I could pack three of those large brown paper
bags full of groceries for just $5.

This salesman put out flyers and ads for special items for the store opening. As time
wentaby, the business'did well, but the partnership went sour. Eric was doing all of the work
in the store in the daytime; then he stayed half the night doing the bookkeeping. He did all of
the stock ordering, opened the stock, priced and displayed the stock, and answered the
store’s telephone.

What was his partner doing? Whemhe was at the store, he was the host and glad-hand
shaker. I was complaining, fussing, and threatening. Eric finally got fed up and told Wafford
he’d like to sell his half of the business to him. Wafford told Eric he’d buy him out and

offered a ridiculous price.
Eric quipped back real quick, “Alli right, I’ll buy you out at that price!”
Wafford knew he couldn’t run a hardware store, so he accepted Eric’s offer.
After Pearl Harbor, the government built a Navy base in Lake City, and our business

thrived. So many people strolled down the sidewalks in downtown Lake City that we had to
zigzag to walk down the street. We saw lots of Navy men in their uniforms—white bell­
bottom pants in the summer and dark blues in the winter.
Everybody’s business was booming. I didn’t especially like working in a hardware

store, but I learned the stock and where it was. I became as efficient as any of the other help.
Of course, I already knew fiiost of the tools—plows, kitchen utensils, nails, etc. since I had
been raised on a farm. But I was no good on nuts, bolts, washers, and screws. I’>11 bet there
are a million sizes.

C^Lteen

After all our brothers and sisters moved out into their own apartments, we were still
struggling to make ends meet. Eric found a fishing partner, Julius Hall, who had married one

of his distant relatives. Eric and Julius often fished at night. The owner of a fish market in
Lake City told them he’d buy all of their fish. That set Eric and Julius on fire to go fishing
every night! At that time our house was the last house on this street with a big cornfield
across the street.

I was scared to be by myself late at night. Eric got a wild hair to buy a German police
puppy for protection. I didn’t have much faith in dog protection; I wasn’t too fond of dogs
anyway, and I wasn’t used to having a dog or cat in the house because Ma didn’t allow

animals in our home.

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