From the Meat Counter

[This story comes to us from David Pennington, who heard Lee Edmonds share it with Ed Pennington, David’s dad while the two were in the rafters wiring the second story of the Pennington’s house.  David was listening from below.]

One day, Lee’s father asked him to mind the meat counter while he ran an errand.  (Lee’s father worked in a grocery story.)  A woman who was a regular customer came in and asked for a chicken. Lee picked one out of the case and showed it to her. When she said she would take it, he asked her if she wanted it whole or cut up. He'd heard his father ask that question, but he'd never been taught anything about butchering. When the woman asked to have it cut up, he put it on the block and cut it into four pieces with a cleaver--two cuts, like a cross. Then he weighed and wrapped it for her.

A few weeks later, his father asked him to mind the meat counter again. Wouldn't you know it, the same woman came to the counter and asked for a chicken. When he asked her if she wanted it whole or cut up, she said she'd take it whole.