here.”
“What is wrong with you?” I glanced over at her as I maneuvered down the street.
“Nothing’s wrong with me.” She fixed her hat on her head and stretched her neck to peer out of the window. Looking back down the street she asked, “Do you think he saw me?”
“Who?” I asked and looked out the rearview mirror. “That man with the cane walking his dog.”
“Yes! The man with the cane walking the dog. Did he see me?”
“I don’t know, but he’s still standing there, watching us drive away.”
“Oh Lord Almighty. I think I’m gonna faint,” she said and started fanning herself with her hand. Turn on the air, child.”
“Who is he?” I asked as I put the fan on high and rolled up the windows. “Is he someone you know?”
“Can you just drive and not ask so many questions. All I did was ask you to go down Magnolia and before I know it you’re making a big production number out of it.”
“Me?”
“Drive to the diner,” she huffed. “You think you can do that?” She strained to look out the back window as if to make sure we weren’t being followed.
I checked the car mirror. “He’s gone,” I said.
“Who cares?” she said and waved her hand at me. “Let’s just get to what we come to do. The diner.” She wagged her finger pointing out windshield at the road ahead and nodded.
In other words, telling me to get a move on.
Chapter Thirteen
“Land sakes alive, it’s true.” A waitress met us at the door. “I do declare. Rumor mill said you were coming out and dang blast it if you ain’t standing right here in my diner.”
“Mornin’ Viola Rose,” Miss Vivee said. And waved her hand dismissing her comments. “You want to seat us, or just stand here and gawk? I can’t leave my dog in the car all day while you gab.”
Stepping into the Jellybean Café was like arriving in the Land of Oz. It was all in Technicolor. There were shiny chrome, bright red leather-topped stools, placed a few feet apart underneath an aluminum counter that ran the length of the restaurant. The booths were a vibrant red, turquoise, purple and yellow stripe with radiant white Formica table tops that matched the polished linoleum floor and were set in front of huge picture windows that sparkled with colorful neon signs.
“Gus, look who’s here,” Viola Rose called out. She grabbed two menus and headed toward one of the booths.
“Well, if it ain’t the matriarch of Yasamee, Georgia,” Gus grinned. “Rose, you make sure you treat her like royalty. Anything she wants, it’s on the house.”
“Don’t you think I know what to do?” Viola Rose countered back.
Gus, who could pass for a munchkin, was short, muscular and seemed to have a permeant scowl on his face. He worked the flattop grill with skill, donned in a white apron, t-shirt and chef’s skull cap. And if he was one of the citizens of Oz, Viola Rose was its good witch, Glenda. She was pink and bedazzled – shiny lips, shiny eyeshadow and shiny rings on every finger. Even her eyes sparkled when she smiled. Her strawberry blond hair was teased high into a bouffant and she had several pens sticking out of it.
“How long has it been, Miss Vivee?” Viola Rose asked.
“Twenty years.”
“Oh my! Don’t that just beat anything?” Viola Rose stopped in her tracks. “You venture out after twenty years and you come to my diner,” She loosed a smile that was as wide as the Mississippi. “Here, Miss Vivee.” She walked over to a booth that sat in the center of one of the windows, a purple and pink sign blinking “Open” hanging in the middle of it. “You sit right here. This was always your favorite booth,” Viola Rose said patting the table.
“Now who you got with you? This Bay’s girlfriend?” Viola Rose said eyeing me.
“Just because she black don’t mean she’s dating Bay, Viola Rose. I know lots of black people. She’s an archaeologist,” Miss Vivee said seemingly proud. “And she consented to having lunch with me.”
“Don’t put words in my mouth, Miss Vivee,” Viola Rose said. “I was only asking. Not making any judgments.”
“Well you ask too many questions,” Miss Vivee said.
“You not gonna rile me today, Miss Vivee. I’m too happy to see you.” Viola Rose pulled a pen out of her hair and an order pad out of her apron pocket. “So what can I get you ladies?”
“I’ll have coffee and she’ll have an iced