"Bandershanks, just hush about that! We're not gonna talk about it any more!" After dinner, Papa and I rode Jake back to the store. "Papa, my bonnet's choking me! It won't come undone!" "I'll untie it for you soon as I hitch Jake. Where'd you get that fancy bonnet, anyhow?" "Grandma Ming made it." "It's so blessed hot this evening I think I need a sun bonnet! I know Jake ought'a have one! Look how he's sweating!" "Do horses wear bonnets?" "I was just talking. Now, here we are. Jake, boy, I'm gonna put you on the East Side of the store, and in about an hour you'll have yourself a good shade." As soon as Papa had looped Jake's bridle over the hitching rail, he lifted me straight from the saddle to the store porch, without my feet even touching the ground. "Lemme see if I can help you with that bonnet, Bandershanks. Shucks, these little strings tied under your chin are plumb wet. There you go! Now, if I can just find my key, we'll unlock the doors and be ready for business." "Lemme twist it!" "All right. No, Bandershanks, turn it the other way." The lock clicked. Papa turned the knob and gave the thick double doors a shove. Inside, it was much cooler, but I could hardly see a thing. I rubbed my eyes good, and still the room was black and I couldn't half see. I could smell plenty of stuff: hoop cheese, chewing tobacco, coffee beans, musty sacks of chicken feed, and Papa's coal-oil drum with its old pump that always squeaked so loud. All those smells were mixed up with the good smell of the leather harness and the big pretty saddles hanging across the back wall. "Papa, let's light the lamp." "Your eyes will get used to the dark. I'll go open up the back door. That'll help." I followed Papa around behind the counters and down the aisle as far as the candy showcase. I stopped to see the candy, but he kept going—and talking. "If we don't have any customers this evening, Bandershanks, I tell you what we can do: we can sweep and clean up and start taking inventory. It's a good day for that." "Take what, Papa?" "Inventory. We'll count things. Go from shelf to shelf to see how much flour and salt and all such as that we've got on hand. Then, next week when I'm in town, I'll know what all to buy. That's taking inventory." "Oh." "For one thing, I've got to lay in a good stock of sardines and soda crackers. Lots more cheese, too, 'cause when cotton ginning starts, men will be flocking in here at dinner time—'specially on days when they have to line up their wagons to wait their turn at the gin. That's when I make my money, Bandershanks." I wasn't half listening to Papa. I had already lifted the lid of the candy showcase and poked my head inside so I could see all the boxes of good candy.