We laughed at the same time. “Well, you must know what you talking about, so I’ll take your word.” I let out a loud breath and shook my head. “I guess I’ll have to wait until I get back home to eat. But whatever they cooking up in this place, it sure smells good.”
“Come on in with me. I’ll get you fixed up real quick.” Before I could say anything else, she grabbed my hand and pulled me along with her and told me, “I’ll take you straight up to the counter. You can get your food right away.”
“Well . . . I hope it’s all right. I don’t want to make none of these folks in front of me mad.” A bull-faced man directly in front of me turned around and gave me a dirty look. The rest of the folks ahead of me didn’t look too friendly neither. “I really don’t mind waiting like everybody else,” I said loud enough for everybody in front of me to hear.
“Oh, you ain’t got to worry about them. I know every last one of these knuckleheads and they know not to mess with me. Besides, my sister work here and I never wait in line.”
I followed the young girl as she brushed past everybody in front of us. “Alline! I’m here!” she yelled when we got up to the counter.
A slightly older redbone, who was almost as pretty as the one holding on to my hand, came through a side door. “What you want, Betty Jean?” she barked, looking directly at me as she wiped her hands on a soiled apron.
“Can I get a double order today?”
“Yeah, I reckon so,” the second woman drawled, still looking at me. She looked as unfriendly as the folks standing in line, but I smiled at her anyway. I was surprised when she smiled back. “Who is this handsome devil?” she asked, nodding toward me.
“My new friend,” Betty Jean replied with a giggle. “Now hurry up and go get my stuff. We in a hurry.” She whirled around and looked at me. “It won’t be but a few minutes. Can you stay here that long, Mr. . . . uh, what’s your name?”
“Odell Watson, but just call me Odell.”
I was enjoying the unexpected attention, but I was getting uncomfortable. I couldn’t wait to leave. But since my “new friend” had gone to the trouble to help me get something to eat, I decided that the least I could do was show my appreciation by staying with her. Even though I’d never see her again, I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. “I guess I could stay a few more minutes,” I mumbled.
“I’ll be right back directly,” the second woman said before she went back through the door.
Betty Jean gripped my hand even tighter. “I pick up my order at the same time every day,” she told me.
“So your name is Betty Jean?”
“Yup. Betty Jean Bonner.”
“That’s a beautiful name. And it sure enough fits you.”
She gave me a skeptical look. “Do you really think I’m beautiful?”
One thing I didn’t like about pretty women, especially real young ones like the one with me now, was that even though they knew they looked good, they still needed to hear it from other folks. There was no way this Betty Jean didn’t know how good she looked. “Your name fit you like a glove.” I was already feeling like a clumsy fool and didn’t want to sound like one too, so I stopped talking while I was still ahead.
“It was my grandmama’s name.” Betty Jean narrowed her eyes and stared at me for several seconds without blinking. “I been living in Hartville all my life. This is a real small town and I know most of the colored people. I ain’t never seen you around here before. And I don’t know no Watsons, period.”
“I was born and raised in Branson. I ain’t been over here since I was a young boy. Me and my daddy used to fish in that lake out by the highway.”
“What you doing way over here today?”
“Nothing in particular. My father-in-law sold me his car and I’m still getting used to it. I work long hours five days a week, so I don’t get much free time to drive. I thought I’d cruise around so I could see what it feels like to drive more than a few miles at a time.”
“So you got a wife, huh?”
I nodded. “Joyce.”
“When you get home, tell Joyce I said she is a lucky woman. And she better not let you get loose on account of there’s a heap of women laying in wait to snatch up a man like you. . . .”
Chapter 18
Odell
JUST AS I WAS ABOUT TO ASK BETTY JEAN WHERE SHE LIVED AND IF she had a man, her sister came back out the same door holding a big brown paper bag with grease seeping out on every side. “We didn’t have no more hot sauce,” Alline said, handing the bag to Betty Jean.
“It don’t matter. We got plenty at home. I’ll see you when you get off,” Betty Jean told her sister. Then she motioned with her head for me to follow her back out.
I had no idea why it had even crossed my mind to ask this strange young girl more about herself. There was no reason for me to know where she lived or if she had a man, because I would never see her again unless we bumped into each other by accident. I shook my head to get rid of the thought. “How much do I owe you?” I asked when we made it back outside. The line still hadn’t moved and now there was half a dozen more people in it.
“Don’t worry about it, Odell. It’s on me,” she said, grinning. Everything on this girl was perfect. Her teeth looked like pearls. I couldn’t stop myself from wondering if her lips tasted as sweet as they
