Chapter 2

The town marker said there were 11,562 inhabitants in the town. Big enough for some business, but with the small town feel to it. It would be mostly agriculturally connected, although we went by an industrial park on the outskirts. I pulled into Milfords Diner for lunch. When we got inside we found it clean and it had a menu posted. We had been on the road for two days. We could have made it this far in one, but had made a leisurely journey out of our traveling. We had slept one night in the same bed and one night in twins. A sister and a brother didn't--or shouldn't, so we didn't. Hey, this was going to work.

We ordered the special of soup and a seven-ounce steak with fries. Apple pie and coffee completed our meal. As we were there on the tail end of the lunch hour, we were soon the only customers. The lone waitress, Bertha, pulled a chair from a table and sat at the end of our booth. "I see your car tags say you are from the state of New York. On vacation are you? Nice for a man and wife to go on vacation this early in the summer."

"Nope, we aren't married. We could be brother and sister and looking to relocate. I might take a job if I could find a decent one. We'd have to find a place to live though, that isn't too expensive."

"Well now, half the businesses in town are looking for help, but you probably will want to go into one of the new factories. They pay more. Christ we can't even get anyone to wash dishes here in the diner. Too bad you two aren't husband and wife. This diner is up for sale. It would be a good business to own. It'll get better as soon as all of the factories start up."

"How much would it take to buy, say on a lease-purchase agreement?"

"You could do better than that if you want an investor to go in with you. I'd put up half and you could sign for the remainder. I have a few pennies saved and I have been waiting table here for seven years. 'Course, you'd have to work about every day. If you have never run a diner before, I could train you. There is a two bedroom bungalow out back that could be fixed up to live in if you ain't too fussy."

"You sound desperate."

"I am. I love this place. I'd buy it all myself, but then as I said there is the problem of getting help and I ain't much on managing. With two new young people that wouldn't mind working, this place could really hum along."

"It is a thought. We are going into town for the night. If you see us for breakfast, maybe you will have time to talk with us again."

"I'll make time. I still have dishes to do and better get busy. What did you say your names were?"

I smiled to myself. This woman was a master at getting information out of a person. "We are Roxy Andrews and Rodney Thomas."

We found a small motel on the other side of town. There was only one room available, but it did have two single beds in it. When we signed in, the lady on the desk made note that Roxy signed her name Miss and we stated we were sister and brother. But we would be comfortable sharing a room. Close enough, let her figure it out.

We walked around the settled part of the town, and yes, just about all of the businesses had a sign in their window saying they were hiring, or just plain help wanted. We lay down on our respective beds in the afternoon and talked.

"What do you think? Is this the town we want to start a new life in?"

"Looks promising. I don't mean to pry, but how much money do you have with you? I only have about $2500. Some of that I suppose belongs to Ginger, but she most likely got that much from Barry for spreading her legs."

Roxy started laughing. "I got my money from spreading my legs the same way. If we bought the diner, we could say this is the business that twat built. That struck me really funny and it was infectious, keeping us in stitches for several minutes. "Seriously, I have almost $17,000. Put together it probably isn't enough to buy the diner, but we will never know unless we ask. Let's go back and have dinner tonight and see what it is like with more customers in attendance."

The diner was almost too busy. The owners were the ones that prepared the food. They were good at it without any lost motions. Many of the customers were well-known and their meals were started just as soon as they came through the door. Bertha had a young girl helping on the tables and both were swamped. The customers all understood if their meals were delayed and never complained. There was a nice family atmosphere to the diner.

As we were finishing up dessert, Roxy spoke, "The place needs one more experienced waitress and more help in the kitchen. If the owners are doing the cooking for all three meals, they must be exhausted. You and I could work here and there still wouldn't be enough help. Wouldn't it be fun if we knew all of the customers by their first names like Bertha does?"

I was getting more and more interested as Roxy talked. She was much more at ease with people than I was, men especially. I had worked in a stockroom with very little interaction with other people. I could learn to be friendly by watching the way Bertha treated the patrons.

When Bertha came by with our check, I asked, "Customers are about all gone. How long before you clean up and get to go home?"

"There are the pots and pans I have agreed to do. I get a little extra for doing those, just so they get done. An hour or more after that. That doesn't do it all either. I will have to come in early and do the prep work and set ups that should be done tonight. I'm so tired I'm google-eyed."

"Would you like help with the dishes tonight? We are kind of interested in what you were saying this afternoon."

"I'll show you what has to be done. There is a God up there and he is smiling down on me as we speak."

"Wow, I haven't got up this early for years. The diner opens at six-thirty and the coffee has to be ready by the time the door opens. Not like going to work at three in the afternoon, that's for certain."

"I never got up before noon many days. Of course I never went to bed many nights before three either."

"Are you sure?"

"To sleep anyway. Bed was my work place just as your stockroom was for you. Those days are behind us now and I'm glad, even though I have to get up this early."

We parked behind the diner and went in the back door to the kitchen. We had become familiar with the interior last night while doing the pots and pans. This morning the elderly owners, Burt and Betty Milford were there already starting breakfast and Bertha was in the dining room making sure the sugar bowls were filled, etc.

It seemed as if half the time Roxy and I were in the way, but Roxy was taking care of the dishes as they were used and when the plates and silverware came out she kept up with those. Myself, I tried to help with the cooking, but it was mostly having stuff at hand for Burt. As the orders were prepared, I passed them through to Bertha where she grabbed them and carried them to the correct table.

That was the start of the first day. A month later Burt cornered us as we were tidying up after breakfast one morning. Roxy, Bertha and I had handled the whole meal without a glitch. I had nosed around and found some part-time service help to hire. Sometimes the help was only signed up for one meal a day. I had contacted the parent teachers' association and the president had put me onto some women that could use a few extra dollars.

When school began, I knew we would have people vying for this work and the few dollars it paid. Anyway as I said, Roxy and I were cornered. "Will you two buy the diner from Betty and me? Bertha wants to buy half, but is concerned she can't operate it and take care of everything else that goes with running it. I can see where the three of you can do well. Better than the Mrs. and I have, in fact.

"You have done things that I have never thought of. That night were ran out of rolls to set on the table. You substituted the little fake pizzas to keep the table occupied while they were waiting for their meal. That was a stroke of genius. Where did you get that idea from?"

"My folks grew up poor. We always had a garden and Mom always canned salsa to preserve the garden produce. Sometimes when I was just a little hungry, I would spread a little salsa on a slice of toast and put a slice of American cheese on it. Heat it up and there was my snack. Takes about five minutes now that we have microwaves.

"The cost to buy everything for the item now amounts to about thirty-five cents. Well worth the cost to have a satisfied customer. You notice a customer usually orders a little extra off the menu. So that little item amounts to about the same as a single roll. So what kind of a deal are we talking here?"

The first of September, one waitress, one retired prostitute and one cheated-on husband owned a very busy diner together. Burt was seventy years old and the diner had been his whole life. We didn't see Betty very often after we bought it, except when she occasionally came in for a meal. Burt, though, showed up almost everyday to lend a hand. He wouldn't take any money for what he did, saying he wanted to keep his hand in.