I’ve said it before, but it seems to always resurface: it’s funny who remains in your life. It’s never the ones you would think.
Take, for instance, John Alan. I would have bet you a dollar to a doughnut that I would have stayed friends with his ex wife much longer than I would have him. That’s just how life works, right?
The other example, and what was proven again this morning, was some of my customers for whom I still serve as go-to. One called me just after eight, for his neighbor, who is having issues with destructive beavers. I couldn’t help him, but I was able to refer him to TWRA.
The other customer I’m referring to is Wayne Loveday. Allow me to tell you the history.

So, first of all, I’m talking about “little Wayne”, the schoolteacher, not my former chairman. Since I attended Seymour, and our FFA chapter wasn’t very active, I didn’t know who he was when I went to work at Co-op. He’d come tromping through in his faded Carhartt coveralls, faded to fawn, with the insulation puffing out from barbed wire tears in the duck fabric. They’d also be splattered in cow excrement and mud. This was before Muck brand boots, we all just had those rubber ones that came halfway up your shin and kept your toes frosty cold. He’d be bent at the waist, he was walking so fast. I tried to greet customers if I was working the front counter, and most would simply acknowledge me by looking my way. But not Wayne. It was like he was actively avoiding any kind of contact.
In my naivety, I would think, “He must be a really busy man!”
Hazel could occasionally be depended on to give me an honest appraisal of whoever was being a snot that day. She didn’t have much use for him. But Hazel was a pretty slow cashier if it came to cattle feed, so he was probably short with her.
After a time, I started working the back counter some, also known as the “farm” counter. And this is where I would have my first interaction with Mr. Loveday.
It did not go well. I don’t remember the particulars, but I think I wasn’t fast enough to suit him. But I’d rather be slow and get it right than rush to suit him and the order be wrong and then he really have something to complain about.
He preferred to deal with Tuletta, and after just once or twice in his presence, I learned to prefer that, too.
And so it went.
But as it goes, one day he had no choice. I was the only one there. This happens to all of them eventually. You get stuck with the new girl.
It also happened that I was dating one of his former students, one he actually liked, because he helped him in hay. So I was suddenly everywhere he looked, like it or not. And would you know, that between my sparkling personality and eagerness to please, I eventually won him over? So much so that I became his requested salesperson. He called me about new products, sales, and with general questions. Such a turnaround from the sourpuss I started with. Eventually he began asking if I was coming to watch this cattle show or that. He would occasionally send Merry Christmas and Happy Easter texts.
Funny.
So me and Mr. Loveday have stayed close all these years. He even brought his beloved Australian Shepherd, Adele, by Stanley Fencing one summer day just to visit. We’ve stayed in touch by sharing cow and dog pictures. I have two heifers named after me: Amelia and Amy. He drops by the office sometimes unexpectedly, and usually needs help with his phone. I am the last person who needs to be technical support, but here we are. I guess I’m the handiest one.
Which brings us to today. A few months ago, he swung by needing help on ordering a sandwich from the Subway app. He said I needed to get the app, they run specials all the time. I told him I didn’t much care for Subway after having Publix. But he was not to be swayed.
Every time I’ve talked to him since, he’s always sure to inform me of the latest deal from Subway. I can’t get him to branch out. He’s been offering to take me to lunch for some time. Yesterday we were all set when the Xerox guy showed up. But it worked out better for today, anyway. After a glitch on how to best order it (again, Wayne isn’t great on the way apps work), we designated a time to meet.

And you know what? It was fun! Turns out they were running the in-store special at $6.99, same as the app, so all that aggravation for nothing. That’s ok, though. It makes for a good story. He got the sweet onion chicken teriyaki, which I like, too, but didn’t want to be a copycat, and I got the new garlic roast beef. It was very delicious. I updated him on Emily, whom he’d had in school- she ADORED him. From our messages: “I gave him a buffalo bills coat for Christmas my freshman year. Not because he liked the team but because I got such a good deal I knew he would appreciate the bargain lol. Plus it was real plush and warm and thought he’d like that when he was out in the cold feeding cattle” me: “I REMEMBER THAT COAT!!!!!!!! He wore it into the Co-op sometimes!!!” Em: “It was bought in 1990. 🤣 He was my very favorite teacher in high school but he wasn’t very organized. I had 5 different classes under him and there would be YEARS go by that he didn’t even put any grades down in his grade book. Then again, some of his classes we didn’t open a book or write anything down. He was the best to teach ya how to grow stuff though” And that right there, that is a TEACHER. Focused on the importance of what mattered. I guess he awarded grades on attitude and aptitude. “Looking back, I don’t see how he had time to run his cattle empire, teach, do all the greenhouse sales, keep up with basketball, and flip houses. That’s a lot for one person.”

As the day wore on, the weather got a lot more spooky. I left my windows down when I got back from lunch, but when I went to the mailbox, I about froze. I was glad I had my sweater and scarf to bundle up in. Some chick called at nearly four o’clock, and have you ever instantly hated someone just by the way they talk? She wasn’t even a Yankee. It was just that high pitched put-on wannabe Valley girl voice. GAG. Just talk NORMAL, you’re dealing with rednecks down here.

Emily and I always talk about books. I think that’s one of the things that initially cemented our friendship, after the talk of dogs and goats wore thin. (Her dog and my goat had the same exact collar, purple and green with daisies; my goat was named Daisy). So she tells me that when her cousin was little she bought her books from a used bookstore. She’d lay a cherry blossom sachet on them for a few days before she gave them to her so they always smelled nice. She wants to do that for her kids now. Isn’t that the sweetest?? Her sister liked to read too so in her books she used the orange clove scent as a variation. It’s the little things in life, truly. I’ll never be extra. And I like the smell of old books, but that really was the nicest thing. She said she discovered it by accident when she was working at Kirklands. She always had a book laying around and invariably it would wind up with a sachet on top of it. Books take on scents very easily, she told me. I guess my books here probably smell like bacon…or maybe vanilla.

I so wish I had gotten a picture of this blamed dog a minute ago.
I washed the sheets, pillowcases, and fleece blanket together. I wanted to wash the quilt by itself. I brought up that first load, dumped it all on the rug, and pulled out the fitted sheet to wrestle it onto the matress. I hear Chess clicking down the hall; I pay no attention.
I go to get the top sheet and I’ll have you know he’s curled up like a house cat on top of that pile of freshly laundered linens!!!
TURD.
And wouldn’t budge for love or money!!! I had to pull everything out from under him as I needed it and he laid there giving me dirty looks!!!!

Such a brat. So much for fresh sheets. 🙄

Love from Appalachia,

~Amy and the 80# brat