Daily Shake
When I was about seven or eight my
parents started giving me a weekly allowance of 35 cents, a
nickel a day. I made it last all week.
Each day in the summer time, around 3:00 in the afternoon,
I would clean up and walk up town to Seawright’s Drug Store
where I enjoyed a chocolate milk shake. Shakes cost five
cents, so I had enough to have one every day of the week.
They were delicious...a very special taste, like nothing
I’ve had since. My favorite person at the drug store was
Hugh Garrison. He made the milk shakes. He would mix the
shake and hand me the metal mixing container with a large
Coke glass which I could fill one and a half times.
I’d hang around the drug store slowly sipping my shake,
watching Mr. Stanley Morgan and Mr. Paul Kerlin play
checkers. They played a very serious game while a group
stood around watching.
Some real important people often came in while I was there,
like Mr. Malt Sams, the county sheriff, his deputy Mr.
William Ballard (who later became sheriff), Mr. Ferrol
Sams, the school superintendent, and Mr. Crawford Hewell,
the head of Farmers and Merchants Bank, located next door.
I was told that Mr. Hewell came in twice each day at the
very same time and drank a Coca Cola. I remember figuring
that he spent about twice as much on Coca Colas as I spent
on shakes.
Sometimes I’d sit at the tables with swinging, rotating
seats and listen to teenagers who were often hanging out
there. They didn’t seem to mind me.
Mr. Garrison said I should try an ice cream soda sometime,
but they cost a dime.