Pretty sure. Almost certain. However... there's a tiny bit of doubt lingering at the back of my mind.
Saturday night, Farmer H announced that he had a quantity of twenties that he would trade me for $100 bills. It's not MY money he's trading out. It's OUR money that I set aside every week, to save for unexpected expenses like T-Hoe repairs, or loads of gravel for the road, or things that go wrong with the flip houses. Plus Christmas and insurance expenditures, and taxes.
Anyhoo... Farmer H was counting up his money while I warmed his supper. He laid it on the kitchen counter when he got his plate, and I went to count it myself before setting out the hundreds.
Sweet Gummi Mary! Farmer H was $20 short. I counted that money three times! Same result. I don't think he deliberately set out to scam $20 from us. No. Surely not.
Here's the deal. When I count out money like this, I put the bills in stacks of $100. It's easy to see how much you have as you go along.
When Farmer H counts his money, he holds it in his hands and thumbs through it. He carries his "store" money in a big wad, wrapped with a rubber band. It's like the pile of bills is folded in half, and he peels back one at a time while counting: "Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, a hundred. Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, TWO hundred..." etc.
I told him he was short $20. At first he didn't answer me. Then he brought his plate back.
"I counted three times. I had it all set out in stacks of hundreds. Do you want me to show you?"
"No. I counted it three times."
"Well, somehow there's a twenty missing. I can show you."
"No. You don't have to show me. I believe you. But you want to argue with me."
"I'm not arguing! I'm only offering to show you that it's short."
"Then just give me one less hundred, and them four twenties."
Alrighty then! That's what I did. I'm sure Farmer H wasn't trying to make a quick twenty. But it's funny how this has happened once before...
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