Marlene placed her left hand over her chest, the expensive looking handbag hanging from her arm.“Shewasmy mother, Pierre.”The diamonds on her fingers sparkled in the sun coming in from the plateglass windows that made up the front of the diner.“I’m only doing whateverychild would do for their mother.I came to pay my respects, grieve, and...well, you know...greet all the people who will be coming to pay their own respects.”She looked at the first table close to her.She looked about ready to set her handbag down before thinking better of it.
Jamie glanced towards the parking lot.Three of the wait staff were getting out of an old Chevy pickup truck.He looked at his mother and snorted.Jamie turned, almost knocking Salzy over.“Sorry.Excuse me,” he said shortly.I need to get the lights turned on.He was already shucking out of his suit coat when he went through to the kitchen.
He could hear Salzy introducing himself to Jamie’s mother.He could hear her response.“Do you work here.Are you a...cook orsomething?”
Jamie let out a sigh.Why is she here?Hell, he didn’t even expect her to show up to the funeral, much less hang around.She hadn’t shown up for her father’s funeral after all.He pulled on a bib apron over a cook’s shirt that he’d slipped on after ditching the suit coat, dress shirt, and tie.He left the top snap button undone, still wearing his suit pants.There must be a reason.He wrinkled his nose.Jamie knew his mother well enough to know she wanted something, but what?It usually boiled down to money.
* * * * *
Florence came throughthe front door of the diner and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Marlene.“What in dickens are you doing here?”She patted the back of her updo hair, her oversized brown handbag slung over one shoulder.“Shouldn’t you be off...doing whatever the hell it is you do?”She walked past Marlene, looking as if she’d just smelled something rotten.
Hazel, a middle aged, roundish woman, followed Florence, who didn’t even look at Marlene, quickly followed by Minnie.Minnie was a thin, thirty-something woman who always reminded Jamie of a shy mouse but was a hard worker.She skirted around Marlene, her eyes firmly on the ground as she scurried after the other two waitresses.
Marlene just stood there looking very much out of place in her expensive black suit, white silk blouse and way too much makeup for a woman her age.It only made her look like a woman who wouldn’t give up her long-lost youth easily.Her bleached blonde hair was meticulously cut, her hands manicured as were her toes, in the slightly opened-toed, expensive-looking slingback pumps.
It wasn’t long before Walter shoved through the door, taking off a sports coat.He passed Marlene like she wasn’t even there.In his younger years, Walter played football as a linebacker and still had the same build, although a little thicker around the middle.
Timmy came in, looked at Marlene, his eyebrows slightly raised and hurried into the kitchen.The first time Jamie had met Timmy, he was struck by how shy the young man was, not much older than Jamie himself, but soon understood why.Timmy had a significant stutter.It was years before the redhead was able to grow out of being a pimpled teen.
Dexter, the dishwasher/cook, came in and greeted Jamie’s mother.“Hello, Ms.Marlene.Glad you could make it.”It sounded flat, like he was both surprised and uncomfortable all at the same time.Jamie was about to graduate high school when Dexter joined the diner family.
When Florence walked into the kitchen, she immediately hugged Jamie to her.“You poor, poor boy.”She then held him at arm’s length, looking at him for a moment before pulling him into another tight hug before releasing him.“Losing both Solan and Mattie so close together.”
Then it was Hazel’s turn.“How you holdin’ up, Jamie?”She hugged him.“The service was beautiful.Mattie would have been very pleased, and she was so,soproud of you.”
Jamie shrugged.He was doing everything he could to hold back the tears.
Minnie walked up to him, gave him a quick hug, then hurried back towards the staff room, which had a bathroom, a few beat-up old lockers that Solan had gotten from some school that had closed years ago.There was also a shaky table and a few mismatched chairs.
Walter came in and hugged Jamie close, his big arms like a vice grip around Jamie’s chest.“She was one of the good ones, but you always knew that.”
Timmy shook Jamie’s hand, looked into his eyes for a few moments, nodded, then dropped his hand and followed the other employees into the breakroom.
Salzy watched all this solemnly.He approached Jamie—the sounds of the locker doors being opened and the hum of the group talking surrounding them.“What can I do to help?”
Jamie stood a moment before shrugging his shoulders.“Why don’t you go and ask Flo.”Jamie had found his plain blue ball cap on the coat/hat hooks next to the back door and pulled it on.“I’m going to start on making biscuits.Everyone will be expecting them.”
Salzy raised his hand and gently squeezed Jamie’s shoulder.“You got it.”
Jamie rolled the large white bin filled with flour close to the biscuit table.Without even looking, he pulled out a large bowl, rolling pin, and the other bowl that, sure enough, held several biscuit cutters.He closed his eyes and remembered his grandmother teaching him how to make her famous buttermilk biscuits.He opened his eyes, wiped his cheek and picked up a baking tray and went to the walk-in refrigerator to get the butter, lard, and buttermilk.
When he came out of the big cold box, he saw that the staff had all changed into their respective uniforms.Flo, Hazel, and Minnie had on the bright pink dresses with white collars, pristine white pleated aprons, and a white lace handkerchief pinned down by their name tags.All the ladies were in the dining room, setting out the flatware and napkins.They were getting ready for all the guests they were expecting, coming to pay their respects.For Jamie, it wasn’t just another day of work.It was an important day.A significant day.It wasnotjust another service at Mattie’s Diner.
Walter and Timmy had turned on the flattop grill, the stove already had a pot filled with water, and the flame, blue, white, flickering beneath it.A huge skillet sat on another burner, heating, ready to start the sausage gravy.Dexter was chopping and slicing onions, a large uncut pile next to the cutting board, as was a large bowl.
Jamie smiled and then frowned.There was something missing.He placed the tray that had all his cold supplies for the biscuits before he realized what it was that was absent.The radio hadn’t been turned on.
“Excuse me,” he said to Walter as he nudged his way between Timmy and Walter.He reached up and turned on the old portable radio that sat on a shelf behind the stove.Since the industrial exhaust fan had already been turned on, he upped the volume of the radio so it could be heard, but not so loud that it would blare into the dining room.The station was a country music one, which, as far as Jamie knew, had always been the music of choice in the kitchen.
Walter looked at Jamie and smiled.“Yep.It’s all going to be okay.You got this, just like ol’ times.”
Jamie looked at Timmy, who had a big smile on his face.“We’re o-on-on on it, boss,” he said in his stuttering way.
Jamie couldn’t help but laugh.Timmy had always called him boss, even when he was just a teenager.“Can’t have it too quiet in here.Mamaw wouldn’t like that one bit.”
When Jamie looked out of the opening into the dining room, his mother was just standing there looking very much out of place.He went to start making biscuits, unwrapping blocks of butter and then the lard, placing them on the large cutting board.He pulled down the rest of his dry ingredients that sat on the shelf above the work bench.
“Are you just going to ignore me?”When Jamie looked up, his mother stood about two feet away from him, making sure she wouldn’t get anything on her clothing.
