Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Mr. Miller

One of my friends sent me this true story from timburt.org. Granted this is not in the same genre, as my usual “Sunday hero” piece, but because I liked it, and it reminded me of the ending of one of my books (Charles Hyde and  the #7),  I thought what the heck.

The story involves Mr. Miller, an  Idahoan fruit and vegetable stand peddler during the Depression. Not infrequently local poor boys would wander over to his fruit and vegetable stand, not so much to buy, but to gaze longingly at some of Mr. Miller’s produce. During the Depression bartering was frequent as many had no money, and obvious to Mr. Miller, these boys had no money. Mr. Miller’s usual modus operandi was to ask the hungry lads if they had any marbles at home. When they nodded yes, he would offer to give them some produce in exchange for a red marble, because he said that red was his favorite color. In a few days when each boy would individually return with a red marble, Mr. Miller would tell him that his favorite color was now green, and to bring a green marble back to him the next time. The next time he would tell the boy that his favorite had changed again … it was now blue! Et cetera. Each time when Mr. Miller “changed his mind” as to his favorite color,  a little more produce was given to each boy. Mr. Miller explained that the additional produce was to make sure that the boy would not forget Mr. Miller’s new “favorite” color!

Twenty years later Mr. Miller died,and many many locals attended his wake. Standing in the long line were three young men, each in distinctly different attire than the other country folk that were there. One was in an Army uniform, and two were dressed in suits and ties. After expressing their individual condolences to Mrs. Miller, each young man individually approached the open casket, placed his right hand on top of Mr. Miller’s cold hands, and said a prayer. It was apparent to all that these three young men all had tears in their eyes.

It was only later that the undertaker found the three red marbles that had been placed beneath Mr. Miller’s folded hands.

5/14/

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