A story that brought chuckles from everyone centered around Everette Leeper, my landlord and Jimmy PcCorney. Everette was in the rabbit pelt business. He bought rabbits that hunters brought to him. The going price was 50 cents a rabbit.
Jimmy was the town “poor boy.” He was the oldest of twelve children and Lad’s cousin. The father drank a lot and had trouble keeping a job. So the community sort of looked after the family.
One day, Jimmy brought a rabbit to Everette. He received his 50 cents and went on his way. In a little while, he returned with another rabbit and received 50 cents. This went on four or five times that morning. Everette began to ask questions.
“Where are you finding all these rabbits?” Jimmy ducked his head and grinned, but did not answer. Everette decided to watch the boy. He was amazed at what he saw next. Jimmy ran around behind the house to the shed where Everette kept his rabbit pelts. He crawled in the window and soon came out with a rabbit in his hand. It turned out that Everette had been buying his own rabbit from Jimmy all morning. The had earned several dollars before Everette caught on to the scheme. Needless to say, he did not pay for any more rabbits that day!
Later, Everette seemed to really enjoy telling the joke on himself about the day Jimmy PcCorney sold him his own rabbit five times before he caught on! Sand Hills people just love one another.
The PcCorney family later moved to Idaho. I have often wondered if Jimmy and his brothers and sisters found people there who were as kind and tolerant of them as those in Merriman, Nebraska.
Love one another, always, everywhere you go.
Fireside Stories 