HONOR BOX PRODUCE
by David Cecelski
This is a produce stand on the back road from my family’s old farmhouse and the little community of Mill Creek. It’s just a stone’s throw from an old cemetery that marks the former site of my great-great-great grandfather’s home. The cemetery is in a thick pine forest now, but we still visit it now and then.
A lot of the local farmers have wonderful produce stands, and many of them are quite a bit bigger than this. I like them all, but I’m especially fond of the little country produce stands where the farmer or his wife don’t lock up when they’re not there. Instead they leave their produce bins open and put out a little box or a straw basket for you to leave your money. I find them on back roads all over North Carolina.
On our way home today, my daughter and I picked up a watermelon and a few tomatoes and cucumbers there on the way to Mill Creek and left our six dollars and 50 cents in the box. They had some other good-looking produce, too, including especially fine cantaloupe and okra. The produce was all fresh, right out of the garden, and the little stand always lifts my spirits just because I love to see their reckless faith in their customers’ honesty.
Copyright 2012
