Would the customer hang himself with that length of rope? Or was it for less gruesome purposes? Such questions keep Willie Kohlmann’s imagination busy as he serves behind the counter of his Dad’s general store in the Victorian town of Bullawollock: the focal point for all gossip, discussions and confrontations. “How to handle customers is something you learn from experience,” his Dad said. “Get all the experience you can.” But some of Willie’s experiences were more than he bargained for. How was he to know what would happen when he sold Albie Greschke a tin of tar?  Set between the two World Wars, this is a wryly humorous portrait of life in a country town where the high spots of life were the dances, football matches and obligatory church attendances; a way of life that has now vanished.  All characters are allegedly fictitious – but instantly recognisable: the brash young men and the local girls, the hardworking farmers and their families, the Chairman of the Football Club and the patient, fatherly Lutheran pastor. The author did in fact work in a country general store and was proprietor of a small mixed business.