Trees

Christmas tree stands are the work of the devil and they want you dead.

~ Bill Bryson

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Old Mr. McRady would sit next to the Christmas trees until the very last one was sold. It didn't matter if they sold out on December 14th or December 24th, McRady would be there. "That's a good one," he'd say to every customer until the last tree. When someone bought the last tree he'd say, "Why you think no one bought that tree before now?" Then he'd laugh and laugh and laugh.

When that finally happened each year, the owners of the tree lot would ask him to go home. See Old Mr. McRady didn't have anything to do with the selling of the trees. He just found a chair and decided to start sitting there.

But then one year, Old Mr. McRady didn't come back to the tree lot. His old wooden green chair sat empty. People talked about where he had gone. There were whispers he had died, but Gerania Milsum had seen him to the Piggly Wiggly right before Thanksgiving and he seemed to be in fine health. Delancy Delacroix said he had moved out of town to live with his daughter in Birmingham, but Julia Loudanfelder said he wasn't on speaking terms with his daughter. 

Finally, Phillip Allyson shared that he had seen McRady at a different tree lot on the other side of town. When people asked why he moved, Phillip shrugged and said, "Maybe because he found a recliner near the other place," Phillip said.