Old Home Café: The Next Generation
By Edward Floden, based on characters and situations created by William D. Fries, Jr.
Episode VI: Very Early One Morning
(Originally published in The Legend-News of 2002 December 16.)
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Theater people call it “opening night jitters”. Jon Bach just called it “anxiety”. It’s a bit of flutter in the abdominal area, a spike in blood pressure, and enough sweat to make a polygraph twitch. It’s showtime, folks.
The time was 5 A.M. on a warm Pisgah morning in July. Sunrise wouldn’t be arriving officially for an hour, but twilight was slowly brightening the east.
Jon closed the circuit breakers to illuminate the two fluorescent signs on the outside of the Old Home Café, then he unlocked the door on the 1st Street side of the building. Outside, a couple of well-used pickup trucks cruised past, their beds filled with feed and farm implements. Across the street, southbound on 1st, he saw Avis Granelli out for a morning jog. She turned right on Main and jogged past the Post Office and out of sight.
Angel of the morning, thought Jon, as he flipped the black-and-white window sign from “CLOSED” to “OPEN”. Now, if I just had a customer or two…