Country Editor's Boy by Borland Hal

Author:Borland, Hal [Borland, Hal]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781453232392
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2014-01-13T16:00:00+00:00

14

THAT WAS THE SUMMER of the beans. It was a wheat summer too, but I didn’t have much to do with the wheat. It really began the last week in April, when Mr. Hall brought down the copy for his advertisement late one afternoon and stayed to talk a little while. It was after school and I was at the case setting type, so I could hear everything that was said. Father and Mr. Hall talked about business, and finally Mr. Hall said he needed extra help for the summer.

“What I really need,” he said, “is a boy to take up the slack on Saturdays. Help with the chores, stock the shelves, put up orders, run errands. If you hear of a reliable boy who’d like to make some pocket money, let me know.”

After he had left I said to Father, “You don’t really need me on Saturdays, do you?”

“So,” Father said, “you want to work for Bill Hall.”

“Well, I thought—” I wasn’t sure what I thought, but working in a store seemed, from there at least, more fun than being a printer.

“You didn’t work here very much on Saturdays last summer,” Father said. “You were out playing baseball or prowling the flats with Justin Williams most Saturdays.” Then he said, “No, son, I don’t really need you on Saturdays. I had figured you would be playing baseball or something else most of the time. So if you would rather work for Bill Hall than do that, go ahead.

“What do you think he would pay me?”

“I haven’t any idea. I figured on paying you a dollar and a half a day, but only for five days a week. That’s all I can afford this summer. Why don’t you ask him and see what he says, see if it’s enough to make it worth while?”

I went to the store the next afternoon and found Mr. Hall. I told him I might be interested in that Saturday job he was talking about. He looked at me with a smile and said, “I thought I saw your ears prick up when your dad and I were talking. That’s fine. How about starting day after tomorrow?”

“Well, I guess I could.”

“Good! You know John. He opens the store at seven o’clock. You can help him sweep out and stock shelves. He’ll tell you what to do. The morning won’t be too busy, but we’ll all be kept hopping in the afternoon. It usually isn’t very busy after supper, though, and we close at nine o’clock.”

I hadn’t thought about the store being open after supper on Saturday nights. But I wasn’t going to back out now, even before I started. “All right,” I said. “I’ll be here Saturday morning.” Then I mustered my courage and asked, “How about pay?”

“Oh,” he put a hand on my shoulder, “don’t worry about that. You’ll get paid every Saturday night, like everyone else.”

And that was that. I just couldn’t say, Yes, I know I’ll get paid, but I want to know how much.

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