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store paper. When it came time to sell or trade the butter, some customers would request butter specifically from certain farms, but others were fine with the generic kind. Frank always tried to be accommodating when he could, but when a certain butter became popular, he might increase what he paid or traded for it, and in turn charge a little higher margin in order to balance supply and demand. Frank had an ice house where he stored the things that needed to be kept cold. It was on the back of the store, and he had a sign telling what he offered that he couldn’t keep out front. When someone requested an item, he would step to the back to get it, and his young teenage son, who worked as his assistant, would watch over things until he returned. That day, when Ellen came into the store, Frank was busy stocking shelves, and his son was sweeping. Ellen’s family only owned one milk cow, and what butter their cow had produced they had always used for themselves. Ellen had never brought any in to trade before, and thus, Frank was surprised when she handed him the package of butter. But he was even more surprised when she asked to trade her butter and receive butter in exchange. No one 29