That sounds plausible to me. I know that Arkansas, in particular, had gone through some pretty hard scrabble times after the war, and well into the 20th century. In my old home town -- population then about 150 -- a second cousin of mine ran the general store. I recall that well into the 1950's he was still selling much of his produce and merchandise on credit. He knew who had money and who didn't, and he didn't embarrass anyone by asking for cash. If people couldn't pay cash, he'd just quietly write down the transaction in his ledger. He carried a lot of people through some hard times. I also recall that his store is where government commodities were distributed once a month. Do you remember commodities? Cheese, peanut butter, beans, etc., in plain, generic cans.