Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg Page A
Authors: Fannie Flagg
Ads: Link
same time appealed to me.
“Idgie always said, ‘Ninny, I think you ride that train just to eat’… and she was right, too. I loved that porterhouse steak they used to serve, and you’ve never had a better plate of ham and eggs than what you could get on the train. Whenever the train stopped in those small towns along the way, people wouldsell the cooks fresh eggs and ham and fresh trout. Everything was fresh back then.
“I don’t cook that much anymore … oh, I’ll heat up a can of Campbell’s tomato soup, now and then. Not that I don’t enjoy a good meal. I do. But it’s hard to find one nowadays. One time, Mrs. Otis signed us up for this Meals on Wheels program they got down at the church, but they were so terrible that I just stopped them from coming. They may have been on wheels, but they weren’t anything like the meals you could get on the trains.
“Of course, living so close to the tracks had its bad side. My dishes got all cracked, even that green set I won when we all went to the picture show over in Birmingham during the Depression. I can tell you what was playin’: it was
Hello Everybody
, with Kate Smith.” She looked at Evelyn. “Now, you probably don’t remember her, but she was known as the Songbird of the South. A big fat girl with a good personality. Don’t you think fat people have a good disposition?”
Evelyn smiled weakly, hoping this was true, since she was already on her second bag of Lorna Doones.
“But I wouldn’t take anything for the trains. What would I have done all those years? They didn’t have television yet. I used to try and guess where people were comin’ from and goin’ to. Every once in a while, when Cleo could scrape together a few dollars, he’d take me and the baby on the train and we’d go as far as Memphis and back. Jasper, Big George and Onzell’s son, was a pullman porter at the time, and he’d treat us like we were the king and queen of Rumania. Jasper went on to become the president of the Brotherhood of the Sleeping-Car Porter’s Union. He and his brother Artis moved to Birmingham when they were very young … but Artis wound up in jail two or three times. It’s funny, you never know how a child will turn out.… Take Ruth and Idgie’s little boy, for instance. Having to go through life like that could have ruined some people, but not him. You never know what’s in a person’s heart until they’re tested, do you?”
JUNE 16, 1936
The minute Idgie heard the voices outside by the tracks, she knew that somebody had been hurt. She looked out and saw Biddie Louise Otis running for the cafe.
Sipsey and Onzell had walked out of the kitchen, just as Biddie threw open the door and screamed, “It’s your little boy, he’s been run over by the train!”
Idgie’s heart stopped for a moment.
Sipsey threw her hands up to her mouth, “Oh Lord Jesus!”
Idgie turned to Onzell: “Keep Ruth in the back,” and started running over to the tracks. When she got there, the six-year-old boy was lying on his back with his eyes wide open, staring at the group of people who were looking down on him in horror.
When he saw her, he smiled, and she almost smiled back, thinking he was all right, until she saw his arm lying in a pool of blood three feet away.
Big George, who had been out in the back of the cafe, barbecuing, had come running right up behind her and saw the blood at the same time. He picked him up and started running as fast as he could toward Dr. Hadley’s house.
Onzell was standing in the door, blocking Ruth from leaving the back room.
“No, now, Miz Ruth, you cain’t go. You jus’ stay put right here, sugar.”
Ruth was scared and confused. “What’s the matter? What’s happened? Is it the baby?”
Onzell took her over to the couch and sat her down and held her hands with a death grip.
“Hush, sugar … you jus’ sit here and wait now, honey, it’s gonna be all right.”
Ruth was terrified. “What is it?”
Sipsey was
“Idgie always said, ‘Ninny, I think you ride that train just to eat’… and she was right, too. I loved that porterhouse steak they used to serve, and you’ve never had a better plate of ham and eggs than what you could get on the train. Whenever the train stopped in those small towns along the way, people wouldsell the cooks fresh eggs and ham and fresh trout. Everything was fresh back then.
“I don’t cook that much anymore … oh, I’ll heat up a can of Campbell’s tomato soup, now and then. Not that I don’t enjoy a good meal. I do. But it’s hard to find one nowadays. One time, Mrs. Otis signed us up for this Meals on Wheels program they got down at the church, but they were so terrible that I just stopped them from coming. They may have been on wheels, but they weren’t anything like the meals you could get on the trains.
“Of course, living so close to the tracks had its bad side. My dishes got all cracked, even that green set I won when we all went to the picture show over in Birmingham during the Depression. I can tell you what was playin’: it was
Hello Everybody
, with Kate Smith.” She looked at Evelyn. “Now, you probably don’t remember her, but she was known as the Songbird of the South. A big fat girl with a good personality. Don’t you think fat people have a good disposition?”
Evelyn smiled weakly, hoping this was true, since she was already on her second bag of Lorna Doones.
“But I wouldn’t take anything for the trains. What would I have done all those years? They didn’t have television yet. I used to try and guess where people were comin’ from and goin’ to. Every once in a while, when Cleo could scrape together a few dollars, he’d take me and the baby on the train and we’d go as far as Memphis and back. Jasper, Big George and Onzell’s son, was a pullman porter at the time, and he’d treat us like we were the king and queen of Rumania. Jasper went on to become the president of the Brotherhood of the Sleeping-Car Porter’s Union. He and his brother Artis moved to Birmingham when they were very young … but Artis wound up in jail two or three times. It’s funny, you never know how a child will turn out.… Take Ruth and Idgie’s little boy, for instance. Having to go through life like that could have ruined some people, but not him. You never know what’s in a person’s heart until they’re tested, do you?”
JUNE 16, 1936
The minute Idgie heard the voices outside by the tracks, she knew that somebody had been hurt. She looked out and saw Biddie Louise Otis running for the cafe.
Sipsey and Onzell had walked out of the kitchen, just as Biddie threw open the door and screamed, “It’s your little boy, he’s been run over by the train!”
Idgie’s heart stopped for a moment.
Sipsey threw her hands up to her mouth, “Oh Lord Jesus!”
Idgie turned to Onzell: “Keep Ruth in the back,” and started running over to the tracks. When she got there, the six-year-old boy was lying on his back with his eyes wide open, staring at the group of people who were looking down on him in horror.
When he saw her, he smiled, and she almost smiled back, thinking he was all right, until she saw his arm lying in a pool of blood three feet away.
Big George, who had been out in the back of the cafe, barbecuing, had come running right up behind her and saw the blood at the same time. He picked him up and started running as fast as he could toward Dr. Hadley’s house.
Onzell was standing in the door, blocking Ruth from leaving the back room.
“No, now, Miz Ruth, you cain’t go. You jus’ stay put right here, sugar.”
Ruth was scared and confused. “What’s the matter? What’s happened? Is it the baby?”
Onzell took her over to the couch and sat her down and held her hands with a death grip.
“Hush, sugar … you jus’ sit here and wait now, honey, it’s gonna be all right.”
Ruth was terrified. “What is it?”
Sipsey was
Similar Books
