at the pig and a Pop story

I was in Piggly Wiggly getting a few things this morning, and as I was checking out, George Nix was walking in. George Nix lives across the Highway from the farm. He’s the one with all the goats. If you are ever at the farm and you hear a goat, it’s most likely George’s.
“How’s it goin’?” I said as he walked over to shake my hand in the check out line.
“Jus’ fine, jus’ fine. Hey, what were ya’ll doin’ over there at the farm yesterday?” he asked me.
“Yesterday?” I said as I scanned my memory.
“Well, mighta been the day before.”
I was worried for a moment because we’d been out of town, and I couldn’t think what he was talking about. We haven’t had a pig roast in weeks, so it couldn’t be that.
“Yeah, down by the lake…”
“Oh yeah!” it hit me. “Brooks and I were planting a weeping willow,” I told him and noticed the girl checking me out start to smile.
“Well I seen you over there, I was running back and forth, and I couldn’t tell if ya’ll needed help or anything. We just had 24 baby goats and so we were all over the place or I’da been over.”
“Oh yeah, thanks but we were fine. We were just planting a tree.”
“Yeah? Where’d you get that? I’ve been looking to plant a willow out behind my catfish pond, ya know?”
“That would be a great place,” I said, and finished paying for my groceries. “Brooks ordered it from the national arbor day foundation or something. I’ll find out for ya and let you know. Nothin’ better then planting a tree,.”
“Ain’t that the truth. Good to see ya, neighbor. Tell Jim and your grandmother I say hello.”
“Will do, take care.”
*

I’ve been going through some old journals, and in one from ’02 I wrote down a story Pop told me. Here it is…

There were three boys.
The first one bragged that his Dad wrote a few words on paper and got paid $100 for it. The second bragged that his Dad wrote a few word on paper, then sang it in a song, and got paid a $1000 for it. The third boy said he had them all beat because his Dad wrote a few words on paper, called it a sermon, and then it took 8 men to collect all the money he got for it!