"Everybody thought it was funny except Leona. She was the oldest and the prettiest sister, and Poppa Threadgoode spoiled her rotten . . . everybody did, I guess.
"Idgie was about ten or eleven at the time and she had on a brand new white organdy dress that we'd all told her how pretty she looked in. We were having a fine time and starting in on our blueberry cobbler when all of a sudden, out of a clear blue sky, Idgie stood up and announced, just as loud . . . 'I'm never gonna wear another dress as long as I live!' And with that, honey, she marched upstairs and put on a pair of Buddy's old pants and a shirt. To this day, I don't have any idea what set her off. None of us had.
"But Leona, who knew Idgie never said a thing she didn't mean, began to wail. She said, 'Oh Poppa, Idgie's going to ruin my wedding, I just know it!'
"But Poppa said, 'Now, baby girl, that's just not so. You're gonna be the most beautiful bride in the entire state of Alabama.'
"Poppa had this great big handlebar moustache . . . then he looked at us and he said, 'Isn't that right, children?'. . . and we all put in our two cents worth to make her feel better and to get her to shut up. All of us except Buddy, that is, who just sat there and giggled. Idgie was his pet, so anything she did was all right with him.
"So anyway, Leona was finishing her cobbler, and just when we thought she was all calmed down, she screamed so loud that Sipsey, the colored woman, dropped something in the kitchen. 'Oh Poppa,' Leona said, 'what's gonna happen if one of us dies?'
". . . Well, it was a thought, wasn't it?
"We all looked at Momma, who just put her fork down on the table. 'Now, children, I'm sure your sister will make that one small concession and wear a proper dress if and when that time ever comes. After all, she's stubborn, but she's not unreasonable.'
"Then, a couple of weeks later, I heard Momma tell Ida Simms, the seamstress for the wedding, that she was gonna need a green velvet suit with a bow tie, for Idgie.
"Ida looked up at Momma kinda funny and said, 'A suit?" . . . And Momma said, 'Oh I know, Ida, I know. I tried my best to get her to wear something a little more weddinglike, but that child has a mind of her own.'
"And she did, even at that age. I think she wanted to be like Buddy, myself . . . oh, those two were a mess!" The old lady laughed.
"One time, they had this raccoon named Cookie, and I used to spend hours watching him try to wash a cracker. They'd put a little pan of water out in the backyard, and then they'd give him a soda cracker, and he'd wash cracker after cracker, and never could figure out what happened to it when it would disappear. Each time, he'd look at his little empty hands and be so surprised. Never did figure out where his cracker was going. He spent a good part of his life washing crackers. He'd wash cookies, too, but
that wasn't as funny . . . he washed an ice cream cone once . . .
"Oh, I better quit thinking about that raccoon or they're gonna think I'm as crazy as Mrs. Philbeam, down the hall. Bless her heart, she thinks she's on the Love Boat, headed for Alaska. A lot of these poor souls out here don't even know who they are."
Evelyn's husband, Ed, came to the door of the lounge and motioned. Evelyn wadded up her candy wrappers and put them in her purse and got up. "Excuse me, that was my husband. I think he's ready to go." Mrs. Threadgoode looked up, surprised, and she said, "Oh? Do you hafto?"
Evelyn said, "Yes, I think I better. He's ready to leave."
"Well, I've enjoyed talking to you . . . what's your name, honey?"
"Evelyn."
"Well, you come back and see me, y'hear? I've enjoyed talkin' to you . . . bye-bye," she called after Evelyn, and waited for another visitor.
OCTOBER 15, 1929
Ownership of Meteorite Questioned
Mrs. Vesta Adcock and her son, Earl Jr., have claimed that they are the rightful owner of the meteorite because she said that the Otises rented the house that the meteorite hit from her, and so it is her house and her meteorite.
Mrs. Biddie Louise Otis was questioned on the matter and it is her contention that the meteorite is hers because it was her radio that it hit. Her husband, Roy, who is a brakeman for the Southern Railroad, was working late shift and was not home at the time, but said it was not unusual because in 1833, 10,000 meteors fell in one night and that this was just one, and nothing to make a fuss about.
Biddie said she thought she'd keep it as a souvenir, anyhow.
By the way, is it just my imagination or are times getting harder these days? My other half says that five new hobos showed up at the cafe last week, looking for something to eat.
. . . Dot Weems. . .
OCTOBER 15, 1929
Five men sat huddled around a low-burning fire, orange and black shadows dancing on their faces as they drank weak coffee out of tin cans: Jim Smokey Phillips, Elmo Inky Williams, BoWeevil Jake, Crackshot Sackett, and Chattanooga Red Barkerfive of the estimated two hundred thousand men and boys roaming the countryside that year.