“Thank goodness the school year is nearly over. My son will be through with school and ready to help out with haying,” Cliff Murray said  at Mabel’s Grill as the guys settled in the other morning.
    “My kids are younger so the end of school is a little later for them,” Dave Winston said as he set down his menu.
    “I had three teachers in here the other day after work and they were complaining that the end of the year couldn’t get here sooner,” Molly Whiteside said as she prepared to take their orders. “Poor dears, they’re only going to get two months off while I keep working. And I have to figure out what I’m going to do with my kids when they’re going to be home.”
    “Poor Molly,” George MacKenzie mocked her.
    “Yeah well, your kids are all grown up. They have to worry about what they’re going to do with their kids,” Molly replied.
    “Well, we’re planning to have the grandkids for a week, and then they’ll be off to camp for a few weeks,” George said.
    “You want to look after my kids?” Molly ask facetiously. “I’m sure some of the teachers will be going off to Europe or traveling to the east or west coast. I mean they can afford it, making more than twice what I do even when they’re on holiday.”
    “Times are tough,” George said,  imitating sympathy.
    “Well it wouldn’t be so bad if there weren’t so many farmers in here who think tips are over-rated,” Molly said pointedly.
    After Molly took their orders and headed back to Mabel in the kitchen, Cliff picked up the conversation. “I picked an old book of my mother’s off the shelf the other night when I was looking for something to read: Mostly in Clover by Harry J. Boyle,” he said.
 “Boy, that is old, even for me,” George said. “My father had that book back in the 1960s.”
    “It was fascinating to read about country life a hundred years ago,” Cliff said. “Boyle’s uncle owned a store in St. Augustine. There hasn’t been a store there for years. When his family went to town, it was by buggy to Auburn. There hasn’t been a store there for years, either,”
    “The irony is that there’s a big Old Order Amish community in the area Boyle grew up in,” Dave said. “Those people live as if times were even older than in that book.”
    “I couldn’t help chuckling the other day when I was in the Walmart store and I saw Amish people, all in the long dresses and straw hats and coveralls, shopping for bargains,” George chuckled. “On one hand you’ve got a store that didn’t even exist in Canada when I started farming, and on the other you’ve got people who live as if they were still in the 1800s!”
    “It must be hard for those people to hang onto their farms with prices today,” Dave said. “I mean they don’t use most of the services the municipality provides, but they still have to pay the taxes.”
    “And then there’s the cost of food,” Cliff said. “Even when they preserve most of their own food, they still have to buy some stuff. And they can’t get anything frozen because they have no freezers.”
    “And they don’t dare eat in a place like this,” George said.
    “Are you guys talking about the Amish?” Molly asked as she delivered their breakfast. “I’m going out to one of their farms where they grow strawberries later this month. I’m going to pick some for Mabel too, for the restaurant.”
    “Great. I could use some pancakes with nice fresh strawberries on top,” George said.
     “Are you sure you can afford the price?” Molly asked. “I don’t know how much the price will be yet, but it’s sure to be expensive. Those people have to pay their bills too!”
    “Yeah, you’re right on that.” George said. Then he smirked. “I may not be able to afford a tip that day.”◊