Get change for a dime and spend it a penny at the time? That's how chillum spent their money at the store.

The episode would begin when one of the six children living in one of Daddy's houses behind the store got a nickel or a dime from somewhere. I never could figure out where these chillum got so many nickels and dimes from nearly every day?

One of the chillum, usually Elvenia, would come in and ask for change for a dime. Of course, the request was always to get pennies as change. Elvenia would return outside where you could watch the division of pennies among the brothers and sisters. They would return to their house and stay just long enough for Mamma to return to her rocking chair in the rear of the store.

It wasn't a fast pace in the store except on Friday, which was pay day for most of the mines and the cotton mills in Macon. Friday afternoon required the whole family to be on duty plus a couple of helpers to carry out groceries and pump gas.

Just about the time Mamma settled into something she was reading, the squeaky screen door would open and one of Elvenia's brothers or sisters would appear with a penny. "Wanna strabry BB ba-a-a!" That's slang for "I want a strawberry BB bat". Remember BB bats……..the chewy taffy like candy that come on a stick and cost a penny?

Except for the giant penny-wheel cookies, a BB bat was the best deal a penny could buy. A BB bat would last about twice as long as a sucker and it could be licked or chewed when it became soft enough, so it was twice as much fun as a sucker. Along with Kits and Mary Janes, both chewy, taffy-like candy to pull your fillings loose, it was the most popular penny candy. All the candy was displayed in a candy case made up of trays of loose penny candy, each residing in its own tray and restocked daily.

Mamma returned to her rocking chair, picked up her book and began reading. By now, Spike has spent his penny and returned home. Then another one of the 6 chillun would begin the 200 foot trek from house to the store. The door squeaked and another voice could be heard at the front counter………. Oliver appears in front of the candy case. "Uh wanna bana bb ba-a-a". (That's short for I want a banana BB bat.) Spike get his candy, leaves the store and returns home. Mamma returns to her rocking chair and picks up her book, reads a few lines when again the screen door squeaks. The scene is repeated until, penny by penny, the entire dime is spent, one cent at a time.

Jumping up and down from her rocking chair and going to candy case in the front of the store for a 1 cent sale, umpteen times in an hour wasn't making Mamma happy. Things could get tense. I had nothing to do with this, but quickly learned to leave the store and go over to the mill house, or to the pond to talk to a fisherman….anything to get out of ear shot of Mamma.

Mamma has a solution. After this routine repeated itself for several weeks, Mamma decided that once Elvenia appeared with a dime wanting change, she would summon all of Elvenia's brothers and sisters and require them to each pick their candy and pay for it with the dime, all at one time. That worked pretty well until they just started showing up with pennies. Apparently, they learned to get their change from someone outside the store, then come one by one, separately to spend the dime. Mamma lost the battle on this one.

Then comes the sales tax which began as a 1 cent tax on a purchase of at least 13 cents. Any purchase less than 13 cents was not subject to the sales tax. After the sales tax begins the chilluns' mamma, Odessa gets in on the change act. Odessa now sends Elvenia to the store with instructions to bring home change for a dollar. Each of Odessa's chillun is sent to the store to get some groceries with a nickel or dime in hand. One would buy a bag of rice for a dime; Another would buy a bottle of kool-aid for a nickel, another buys a dimes worth of cheese, and so it went until the dollar was fully spent, all without a cent of tax because no purchase exceeded the 13 cent threshold for triggering the obligation to pay sales tax. As with penny candy purchases, frequent trips were sometimes necessary, all orchestrated to avoid the payment of sales tax.

Getting change for a dollar and spending a little at a time made sense. Odessa was making every penny count….for Odessa and the family by legally avoiding taxes.

Growing up around a country store teaches one a lot about people and their abilities. I can only smile with amusement when I hear some well-intentioned high-brow make remarks about poor, uneducated, and ignorant country folk?

©2003 - William C. Humphries, Jr.