cawfeys pot

“Coffee?” she asked sharply.  April stood by the diner booth with a coffee pot in one hand and an attitude from hell in the other.

Bobby said “no” quietly without looking up from his chops and runny eggs.  Though he wanted to take that coffee pot and punch her in the face with it. He never was much of talker. His mother had had the gift of gab and it drove his dad crazy so he always figured it was best to keep quiet. He really didn’t have much to say to most folks anyway. Piss and vinegar had run through his veins for so long he had grown tired of being  pissed off all the time. Quite frankly he was just getting tired. 

Bobby looked out the diner window and saw a kid walk by his car and scrape down the side of it with a rock he had picked up off the street.  Bobby got up and ran out of the diner screaming at the kid …”HEY YOU LITTLE MUTHERFUCKER!!!! IM GONNA WHIP YOUR FUCKING ASS GODDAMMIT!!  The kid caught up with his buddies hiding behind a corner of a brick building. They all ran off laughing as Bobby stood there screaming. Old and bitter as hell, it really wasn’t much of a car anyway and Bobby knew it. An  87 Deville. It was supposed to be beige but the sun and dirt and grime had left it a funky yellow color from years of abuse. He figured as long as it got him from point A to B it was good enough.  That’s all Bobby’s life ever was. Good enough. Never really good or really great.  Just good enough.

April stood inside watching Bobby chase the kid down the street from behind the counter.  She kinda laughed to herself a little. She thought it was funny. “Asshole deserves it.” She half muttered out loud.  Her and Bobby dated once in high school. That was back before Bobby was so mean all the time. They were just kids. The date wasn’t really that bad but when the rich girls in school got wind of her going on a date with Bobby McDermott,  they gave her so much hell, she never wanted to be seen in the same county with Bobby ever again. She was never so lucky. Seemed like wherever she was Bobby seemed to show up. Hell the day she got married to her third husband , Bobby drove his car through the church parking lot going 50 mph half drunk and craziefied.  They had an outdoor wedding reception. It wasn’t much but just like any girl on her wedding day she wanted it to be special, even if it was her third. Bobby slammed on the brakes and threw gravel all over her pink dress. Even hit grandma Eslie in the face with a rock. They had to stop the party and take her to the hospital. Bobby had been up drinking all night and realized he was gonna be late to the wedding though he never was invited. When he finally got there and got the car stopped he realized he had made a mess of the wedding he just wanted to go back home. April never did forgive him for that one. Just about everbody there chewed his ass up and down. That was just one more notch on Bobby’s belt of a long list of dumb things he had done. He felt bad about it. But it was too late for feeling bad.

“Bobby, get back in here and pay for these chops!” she yelled through the door.  “Them kids ain’t gonna do nothing about your car but you sure can do something about paying for your supper!”.  Bobby heard her but he didn’t care. “Goddamn kids.  Ain’t nobody got no damn respect no more” he started walking back towards the diner. “I heard ya the third freaking time! Shit!” she was still yelling at him as he was walking back towards the door but he really wasn’t paying her any attention.  “ I can get an ass chewing anywhere. I don’t need one from YOU!” Bobby walked into the diner slowly. His legs and back were painfully getting tight from the adrenaline leaving his swollen veins. “I’m getting too old for this shit.” He said. April just looked at him from behind the diner counter and started to feel bad for him. Thin and frail, greasy hair and a shirt that looked like it came straight off the HEE HAW show. It was a country and western long sleeve shirt with mother of pearl snaps instead of buttons. Looked like it hadn’t been washed in a month even though she knew better. Bobby did his washing at the local Laundromat every Thursday whether his clothes need it or not. He wasn’t the cleanest person in the world but he wasn’t the dirtiest either. His face just kinda made him look like it.  Bobby was born poor white trash just as pure as any man could be bred to be. His momma was from south Louisiana and his dad was from northern Arkansas. How they ended up in Missouri was anybody’s guess. That was 57 years ago and really didn’t much matter anymore.  Bobby had been here all his life and wasn’t planning on going anywhere. He had never really gone anywhere else outside of this county. He figured he didn’t know enough about the outside world to do anything else anyway so why bother leaving. This was the only place he knew and it didn’t matter much to him to leave so he may as well leave good enough alone. Good enough. That’s all Bobby ever was.

‘Here’s your $4.35.  I didn’t bring enough for a tip but you probably knew that ‘fore I come in dintcha?’ Bobby asked rather plainly. He was calming down now from the craziness.  April snapped at him again for not bringing a tip. Bobby had always tipped her a dollar at every meal.  No more no less, no matter how much his meal was. It never was much but inside she always appreciated it. Bobby never had much money and she knew it. Most folks in this little town never tipped much. So she figured if Bobby gave a dollar that was pretty good for being as poor as he was.  “What you mean you ain’t got no tip? I can’t afford to raise my kids on THESE good looks! We ain’t had but 4 people come in all day and you wanna be an asshole and not leave a tip!”  She never would have said that to anybody else but this was Bobby and she just had to yell at him about something, whatever she could yell at him for.  Bobby gave her the $4.35 that belonged to the diner and turned to walk out the door. He stuck his head back in looked at April and said “you wanna tip? Don’t eat yella snow! Ha!” Bobby walked across the street and got in his car.

April watched Bobby as he walked across the street. She was mad but after tonight she would never look at him the same again.



2

April stood at the register and sighed.  She looked at her watch. 8:30pm. She looked out the window and didn’t see anything but the light drizzle of rain starting to fall through the dark.

“Melton?” she asked rather loudly even though Melton was only 3 feet away at the grill. To be honest she almost forgot he was there after yelling at Bobby. “Yes ma’am?” Melton answered rather slowly as not to piss her off.  April could have a temper sometimes, especially if Bobby had been in for his supper.  April sighed and looked at her watch again.  “Why don’t you go on home baby?  I’ll close up the diner tonight and if somebody comes in I’ll take care of it. 

Melton stood there with a puzzled face.  She was calming down now. “Ma’am if it’s ok with you I need the hours.  My bills ain’t gonna pay themselves.” Melton was a baby faced fella with long lanky limbs. He had grown up with Aprils oldest son Roger so she always kind of treated him as if he were one her own.  His age was starting to show a little and the cuteness of his baby face was wearing off.  It was kind of sad really. He was 34 and still living in the same trailer park he was born in.  April knew this job was all he had and that wasn’t much.    “I know baby but if we don’t start picking up business soon ain’t neither one of us gonna have a job.  It gets any slower around here and we’re all gonna starve to death.  Folks just keep leaving a little at a time to go to St. Louis or some damn place.  You and me might be the only folks left around here before long.  Of course then there’s Bobby.  This county couldn’t pay that man to leave.  I don’t reckon he ever will.”  April stared back out into the darkness again.  “I tell ya what kiddo,  you can have my tips for today.  I just paid my bills last week and aint nothing due for another 2 weeks.  I’ll be alright without it.  It ain’t much but it’ll help.”  Melton didn’t argue.  He was too proud to take it but he want gonna argue with April.  “Thank ya ma’am.  I owe ya one April”  “You don’t owe me nothing kiddo.  You just go home and take care of them babies.”  Melton had twin girls from a girlfriend in high school.  The girl got all hopped up on meth and disappeared out to Texas or somewhere.  It didn’t bother anybody that she had left town.. 

After Melton left, April cleaned up the grill and the rest of the diner.  She stood there looking at all the empty booths.  She had bought the diner with the insurance money she got from her first husband.  He had died in a vehicle accident somewhere near Tucson, Arizona. He had been a truck driver for one of the local cereal plants.  He didn’t leave her much but it was enough to buy the diner and keep food on her table until the diner started to make a little money.  This diner never was a booming place but it had never been empty like it had been lately.  “Crap!” she startled herself from sayng it out loud.  The emptiness  was starting to really starting to get to her now. 

April fished her hand into the pocket of her apron and pulled out a small wooden pipe.  April was never a drinker and sure didn’t like popping pills all the time, so to help her aching feet and hips from standing on the concrete floor of the diner she liked to indulge in a little “remedy” as she called it, from “time to time”.  From time to time was pretty much every day though she didn’t like to admit it. She smoked a pipe because she didn’t like buying cigarette papers at the store.  It was a small town and something like that would be more than enough to start a new rumor down at the salon and she figured there was plenty to talk about in this county other than herself and she didn’t need anybody else in her business than need be.  She didn’t really like the pipe because she felt like one of those meth heads she saw on those cop shows at night but it was better than buying papers and she could always hide it under her tit if she had too.  The pipe or not she loved her “remedy”.  It was one of those things that gave her peace at the end of a shitty day from dealing with yuppified out of towners  that wanted their omelet made like some chef they saw on TV. This place made two kinds of food. Fried and greasy.  If they wanted something else they could keep on driving till they hit St. Louis or Memphis.

  She looked at the little pipe in her hand and realized whatever was in it was almost cashed.  She smoked what was left of it and dumped the ashes into the trash can.  She just remembered she had a little bit of “medical grade” that one of her regulars had gotten from some vacation she had just got back from.  “Denver maybe?”  It had been a long day and April really couldn’t remember the particulars of the conversation.  Right now she really didn’t care. She just wanted to relax.  She reached into the junk drawer behind the bar and pulled out a small little bag with two small little green buds.  It wasn’t much but it would get her through today until she went and saw her “friend” to get some more tomorrow.  She took one out and put the bag into her apron pocket.  She loaded the pipe and took a long pull off of it.  She held her breath for a few seconds and let it out. Heavy  and grey the smoke filled the room.  “ Where did she say this shit was from?”  April said aloud as she squinted her face from the strong aroma.  April took another long pull and blew it out.  She sat down behind the bar and closed her eyes.  “Damn, it’s been a long day” she sighed.



3

Bobby woke up the next morning and looked around his room without moving.  “Well…I guess this aint no shitty dream I’m gonna wake up from.  I may as well make breakfast. “  he said to his dog Fred.  Fred was about 10 years old or so.  Half Walker and half Redbone, though he looked more Walker.  He was white with brown spots.  He was too old to be much of a hound, though Bobby didn’t hunt much anymore.  Fred picked his head up long enough to see if Bobby was really gonna get out of bed. 

“Alright, alright, I hear ya.  Shit.  Keep your pants on,  I gotta take a piss too”  Bobby yelled at Fred.  Fred just yawned and put his head back down.  Bobby got up and wandered through his house to his bathroom.  He stood there at the toilet for a few moments before the flow of piss started.  He wasn’t getting any younger again he thought to himself.  It seemed like five minutes before it started and another five before it stopped.  He stood at the toilet wandering if it wasEVER gonna stop.  He yelled at Fred again.  “Hang on, I gotta finish mine first dammit. “  Fred had gotten out of his bed and stretched out his front legs with his rear end up in the air. He did this with a long yawn all in one motion.  He walked over to the door  while he was waiting for Bobby to let him out.  Fred made a loud coonhound bay at the door.  Bobby being still half asleep was startled by Fred’s loud wake up call and pissed all over the toilet seat.  “ Goddammit keep your pants on.  Im comin.” 

Fred raced outside in a frenzy  as soon as Bobby cracked the door. Bobbys  was holding his pants up with one hand since he hadn’t had a chance to button his breeches while Fred had been making all that noise.

When Bobby saw what was out there, his pants hit the floor about the same time his jaw did. 



4

When April woke up, she felt the stiffness in her limbs before her eyes were open.  She realized that she was still  in her diner uniform and still at the diner.  Her eyes were still fuzzy as they adjusted to the light.  “what the hell?” she mumbled out loud.  “ That was some strong remedy. I better tell that girl she needs a warning label on that stuff.”  She figured she may as well make some coffee before the regulars start showing up. She stretched her arms wide, with a big yawn and headed for the coffee machine.  Melton had cleaned the coffee pot up pretty good when they were slow the day before and she had no problems getting it started. “Damn I love that boy. He might be dumb as a box of rocks but his momma sure raised him right.” April looked around the diner and felt the stillness surround her. The loneliness seemed to drink her in as she sat on a stool at the register counter.  The only sounds she could hear was the bubbling of coffee percolating. 

It was quiet. Too quiet.  At one time this place was pretty busy.  Bustling with locals and a steady stream of traffic through the door, folks used to have to line up on Sunday mornings just a get a table after church had let out.  April had never won any awards or had any of those celebrity wannabes stop by and show off the diner on one of those food shows on cable tv, but she had done pretty well for herself at making a living.

April  laughed a little out loud as she looked around at the diner and then back to herself. She studied her wrinkled dress that she had slept in and figured the diner looked about as tired as she was. The paneling on the walls was  as out dated the pictures that hung from the same. The bar stools had cracks in the seats and the bar itself was scratched and dulled from years of plates sliding across the top. She felt sadness build up as she turned to look out the window. There wasn’t enough money coming in to remodel the place like she wanted to.  Those years had quietly slipped by.  The cereal plant was laying off folk left and right and there weren’t a whole lot of jobs left to keep people sticking around.  April had spent her life at this diner and she didn’t have many other skills.  She would have to move to Saint Louis or somewhere else if she wanted to stay in the restaurant industry but she really didn’t want to go anywhere.  She loved this town. She loved her local community.  The good, the bad and the ugly. She even loved Bobby in a weird sort of way.  Even as much as he pissed her off.

She saw a broken tile in the floor and it reminded her of the time Bobby had come in drunk on a Saturday morning.  He had been up all night with his coon hunting buddies and came in stinking up the place. He stumbled in , hollering about how he wanted “some of the best damn chops in the county!”. Before April could scold him for coming in yelling and being drunk, Bobby had already managed to knock a whole tray of breakfast plates out the hands of one of her high school waitress’. Buiscuits, gravy eggs and grits flew all over the bar and into the faces of two elderly ladies. Bobby came tumbling down in the floor covered in hot food and knocked over 2 empty tables on the way down. Poor fella hit the floor so hard he cracked the tile with his hard head. He laid there still for a minute before April had the chance to get in his face to yell at him. April kinda laughed as she thought about all this. “That damn Bobby…” She was more mad about making her poor waitress cry than she was for throwing grits in those two old hags faces.  They were two old nasty hens and never did tip very well.  But that was Bobby.  She knew he meant well but she didn’t show him much mercy. Even if she was flattered a little about having “ the best damn chops in the county!”

April realized the coffee machine was done and went to grab a cup.  She walked towards the door to look outside and felt a little uneasy about the quietness of the diner.  It seemed that the world outside was just as still.  She had been awake for 15 minutes now and the morning light outside hadn’t gotten any brighter. Hadn’t gotten any darker either but it was too early yet to tell if it was cloudy out.  She opened the door to get a breath of fresh air and seemed to choke on its thickness.  The air seemed heavy like the smokiness of a bar after closing time.  “Weird.” There was no breeze blowing. Actually no wind was moving at all.  No cars, no people, no dogs, no nothing.  “ Man that’s creepy”.