Although his clothes were wrinkled, his hair was nappy. Artis was never so happy to see anybody in his whole life. The scars on his back from the whip didn't show, and they could not see the lumps on his head. He grinned from ear to ear as they walked out to the car. He was going home . . .

On the way back, Grady said, "Now, Artis, I'm in charge of you, so don't be going and getting in any more trouble. You hear?"

"No suh. I don't ever want to go back to that place, no suh."

Grady looked at him in the rearview mirror. "Pretty rough in there, huh?"

Artis laughed. "Yes suh, it be pretty rough, all right . . . yes suh, pretty rough."

When they first caught sight of the steel mills in Birmingham about four hours later, Artis became so excited he was like a child, and wanted to get out of the car.

Idgie tried to get him to come home to Whistle Stop first. "Your momma and daddy and Sipsey are all waiting to see you."

But he pleaded to get out in Birmingham for just a few hours, so they drove him over to 8th Avenue North, where he wanted to be let out.

Idgie said, "Please try and get on home soon, 'cause they really want to see you . . . promise?"

Artis said, "Yes ma'am, I promise," and ran down the street laughing so happy to be back where he belonged.

About a week later, he showed up at the cafe, his hair smooth as glass, looking spectacular in his brand-new Revel hat, designed in Harlem, with the extra-wide brim, a gift from Madeline, happy to have him home.

SEPTEMBER 7, 1986

This week, for Evelyn and Ninny, the bill of fare was Corn Curls and Cokes and homemade brownies.

"Honey, you should have been out here this morning, you missed a show. We were all having our breakfast and we looked up and there was Vesta Adcock with a bran muffin on her head, doing a hula dance right in front of us in the dining room. It was a sight! Poor old Mr. Dunaway got so excited they had to give him his pill and take him to his room. Geneene, that little colored nurse, made her sit down and eat her muffin. They want us to have one of those every day, so we won't get constipated. When you get up in years, your digestive system goes off."

She leaned over and whispered. "Some of these old people out here pass gas and they don't even know they've done it."

Ninny took a swig of her Coke. "You know, a lot of these people resent having colored nurses out here. One of them said that deep down, all colored people hate white people and if those nurses got a chance, they'd kill us off in our sleep."

Evelyn said that was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard.

“That’s what I thought at the time, but it was your mother-in-law that said it, so I shut my trap.'*

"Well, I'm not surprised."

"Oh, it's not just her. You'd be surprised how many of them out here think that way. But I don't believe it for one minute. I've been around colored people all my life. Why, when Momma Threadgoode died and was laid out in the parlor, that afternoon we looked out the window and, one by one, every colored woman from Troutville had gathered out in the side yard, there by the window, and they started singing one of their old Negra spirituals, 'When I Get to Heaven, I'm Gonna Sit Down and Rest Awhile' . . . Oh, I never will forget it. You've never heard singing like that, it still gives me goose bumps just to think about it.

"And take Idgie, for instance. She had as many friends over in Troutville as she did in Whistle Stop. She was always over there preaching at some funeral if a friend of hers died. She told me one time that she preferred them to some of the whites she knew. I remember one time she said to me, 'Ninny, a no-good nigger is just no good, but a low-down white man is lower than a dog.'

"Of course, I cain't speak for all of them, but I never saw anybody more devoted to a person than Onzell was to Ruth. Ruth was her special pet, and she let you know it, too. She wouldn't allow anybody to bother Ruth.

"I remember one time when Idgie was acting up, drinking and carrying on and she didn't come home all night, she told her. right in the kitchen the next day, she said, 'Now, Miz Idgie, I'm gonna tell you something . . . Miz Ruth's done left one no-account, and it'd be jest as easy to leave two, an' I's jest the one to help her pack.'

"Idgie just walked out of the kitchen and didn't say a word. She knew not to cross Onzell where Ruth was concerned.

"As sweet as she was, Onzell could be tough. She had to be, raising all those kids and working all day at the cafe. When Artis or Naughty Bird would get to pestering her, I've seen her backslap them out the door and never miss cutting a biscuit.

“But she was gentle as a lamb where Ruth was concerned.

And when Ruth got that terrible cancer in her female organs and had to go over to Birmingham and have an operation, Onzell went right along with Idgie and me. We were all three sitting in the waiting room when the doctor came in. He hadn't even taken off his cap and gown and he said, 'I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but I cain't do a thing for her.’ It had spread to her pancreas, and once it hits you in your pancreas, you're a goner. So he said he just sewed her back up and left a tube in her to drain.

"We took her home to the Threadgoode house and put her upstairs in one of the bedrooms so she would be more comfortable, and from the moment she got there, Onzell moved into the room with her and never left her side.

"Idgie wanted to hire a nurse, but Onzell wouldn't hear of it. All of her children were grown by then, but Big George had to cook for himself.

"Poor Idgie and Stump, they just sorta fell apart. They'd just sit downstairs in a daze. Ruth went down so fast and, oh, she was in so much pain. She'd tried not to let on she was, but you could tell. Onzell was right there with her medicine, twenty- four hours a day, and during the last week, Onzell wouldn't let anybody in to see her but Idgie and Stump. She said that Ruth had begged her not to let anyone see her looking so terrible.

"I never will forget what she said, standing there in front of that door. She said, Miss Ruth is a lady and always knew when to leave a party, and this wasn't going to be any exception as long as she was around.

"She kept her word. Big George and Stump and Idgie were way out in the woods looking for pinecones for her room when Ruth died, and by the time they got back home she had been taken away.

"Onzell had called Dr. Hadley, and he had sent an ambulance over to pick up Ruth's body and take her over to the funeral home in Birmingham. Cleo and I went down there with her, waiting, and after they put her in the ambulance. Dr. Hadley said, 'You go on home now, Onzell, and I'll ride over with her and make all the arrangements.'

"Well, honey, Onzell pulled herself up tall and told Dr. Hadley, 'No suh, that's my place!' and marched right by him and got in the back of the ambulance and closed the door. She had packed Ruth's gown and makeup and did not leave the funeral parlor that night until she thought Ruth looked like she wanted her to look.

"So there's not a person alive that can tell me that colored people hate white people. No sir! I've seen too many sweet ones in my life to believe that.

"I told Cleo just the other day, I'd like for us to ride the train to Memphis and back so I could see Jasper and see what he's up to. He works on the dining car."

Evelyn looked at her friend and realized that she was confused about time again.

FEBRUARY 7, 1947

That rainy morning, Onzell had asked Stump and Idgie to go down to the woods by the river and get some pinecones for Miss Ruth's sickroom. She was wiping Ruth's face with a damp cloth.