Dad is in a standoff with the hardware store. He brought the mower in a month ago, but he refuses to pick it up. It’s been ready for weeks. He won’t pay what they’re asking.

     “Your father is so mad about it,” my mother told me, “that he took the SHOP SMALL sticker off his truck.”

     This was big news. “What about the one from Mount Washington?”

     “That’s still there,” she said.

     My poor mother had to hire a landscaping company to take care of the yard. The bill was half the price of a new mower.

     “That should end the standoff,” I said.

     Mom disagreed. “Your father has too muc...

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