Corner Store Theology (Version 3)

Intro

Bell on the door hit different at six a.m.

Ray behind the glass counting quarters again

Marble notebook open, names in pencil, not pen

'Cause pencil means forgiveness when you pay him back then

Verse 1

Fourth grade, no lunch money, mama stretched to the bone

Ray slid me a sandwich, said pay me when you're grown

Wrote my name in that notebook, "D" for the debt

Never asked for interest, just asked I don't forget

Loosies for the uncles, lottery for the aunts

Quarter waters sweating next to peppermint plants

Bulletproof glass with a hole shaped like a moon

Enough to pass a five through, not enough for a wound

He knew whose check bounced, knew whose lights got cut

Knew which kid was hungry by the way his hands would touch

The candy rack too slow, too careful, too polite

Ray'd just nod and bag it, say we'll square it up tonight

Learned more behind that counter than I did in class

Learned the weight of a promise, learned it's built to last

Every name in that notebook was a soul on a string

Corner store was a church and the register would sing

Chorus

Pay me when you can, that's corner store theology

Keep the tab, keep the faith, that's corner store theology

Everybody owe somebody, that's how the block agree

Corner store theology, only school that raised me

Verse 2

Sixteen, I got desperate, slid a candy in my coat

Ray ain't call the sirens, ain't write it, ain't no note

Just handed me a broom, said sweep it till it's paid

Three weeks of Saturdays, dust where my pride was made

Watched him carry Miss Odessa on a running tab three years

Watched him cry at Pop Willis's funeral, hide it in his beard

He said debt ain't about money, it's about who stays

Said the block remembers kindness longer than delays

I started stacking mine up straight, paid every dime I'd borrowed

Traded corners for a ledger, traded fear for tomorrow

Some boys I grew up with never learned that math

Chose the fast lane over patience, chose the shorter path

I don't judge the ones who fell, I just know where I stood

Ray's notebook taught me currency was made of doing good

Scars ain't the only tender that this neighborhood accepts

Loyalty's the interest that a good man never lets collect

Chorus

Pay me when you can, that's corner store theology

Keep the tab, keep the faith, that's corner store theology

Everybody owe somebody, that's how the block agree

Corner store theology, only school that raised me

Bridge

Ray's gone now, store's a phone shop, glass replaced with glass that's clean

No more notebook, no more pencil, no more in-between

I kept his ledger in a drawer, forgave every name inside

Figured debts like that get settled when you carry them with pride

Outro

Still hear that bell some mornings, still smell the peppermint plant

Still owe that man a lesson I ain't never gonna pay back

Pencil, not pen, forgiveness written in the lead

That's corner store theology, that's all a man needs