May 10
We don’t have mail delivery out here in the valley, so every day or so, we go in to the nearest town to check the mail and gossip with Lindsey, the postmistress. She and her husband moved up here fifteen years ago, so she understands the adjustment of city folk to rural ways. She’s helped us with gardening questions, chicken illnesses, and trimming goat hooves. She’s got the buck we breed our does with. And she also lets us sell our eggs at the post office, where people in town pay $1.50 a dozen for cage-free, farm-fresh eggs. We don’t make a lot of money that way, but at least it pays for the chicken feed.
“Where’s all the checks?” I asked Lindsay, when I’d retrieved the mail from my box. I always ask her that, as if she’s the one responsible for my clients paying me. Usually she apologizes and promises to do better tomorrow, then we both laugh. It’s our standard routine. But something else was on her mind today.
“I think there’s a check shortage,” she replied. “A lot of people are waiting on them, but not many are showing up.”
I thought about that for a moment. “Your husband’s business slow?” I asked her.
“There’s plenty of work,” she said, “but not enough people paying their bills.”
I shook my head. “That’s not very nice,” I observed.
“It’s not,” she said. “But I know some of them are having trouble getting paid, too.”
“I guess,” I said. “I’ve noticed my clients are paying slower, too. It doesn’t make things any easier.”
“No, it doesn’t” she agreed. “But a person can’t pay what they haven’t got. I guess we’re just going to have to ride it out for a while until things get better.”
“I guess so,” I said. "Maybe we ought to be a little more careful with our spending.”
Lindsey shrugged. “Or maybe put those useless dogs to work earning some money,” she joked.
When I got home, I called some of my slower-paying clients. That’s not something I enjoy doing, but I’ve learned that a polite phone call often speeds the payment process. All of them told me they’d get a check out right away. I’ll believe that when I see it.
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