If you walk down Farm-to-Market Street far enough, you get to the Paradise Cafe, the best place in Waller, Texas to have breakfast. "Howdy. How ya doin?" says an old man wearing jeans and a cowboy shirt you have to button up instead of the conventional way with a venerable, old cowboy hat on his head. "Have a seat," he says. There is an empty stool at the counter, so you sit down beside him. "Haven't seen you before," the wizened old man says. "Where ya from? "New York City," you reply. "New York City!" the old man exclaims. "The Big Apple! What brings ya to Waller?" "I'm walking across America," you say. "You're doing what?" the old man says incredulously. "I'm walking across America," you say again. "Well, I'll be ****! I never done that." the old man says. The waitress, a pretty, young woman wearing a pigtail, says, "What can I getch ya?" " "I'll start with a cup of coffee, black." "I'll be right back," she says. "I'm 71. Got born here in Waller, quit high school, started working on a cattle ranch. Spent my whole life on that ranch. Never got married. Now the government is paying me so I can stay alive," he says. "Come in here every morning to have breakfast. Ain't she a beauty!" he says, referring to the waitress. "Sweet as she is pretty," he adds. Sally--the old man told you her name--comes back with a cup of steaming black coffee. "What would you like to eat?" she asks. "I'd like two eggs sunny-side up with a double order of hashbrowns, two sausage patties, and whole wheat toast, butter, but no jelly." "I'll get it. More coffee? "Yes, please." "Waller ain't fancy, but good people live here," the old man says. "But about 20 years ago, somebody robbed the bank. Nobody ever caught him." In a short time, Sally brings you your breakfast. It is good. When you finish eating, you pay your bill and leave five dollars on the counter for Sally. "It was nice meeting you," you say to the old man. "Likewise, I reckon," he replies." "You have a good rest of your walk across America, ya hear," the old man says. "Thanks. I think I will. Here, take this," and gives the old man a twenty. "And keep the change. Thanks for being so nice to a stranger." Then you get up and walk out of the Paradise Cafe to continue your journey.
Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks
A graduate of Andover and Columbia College, Columbia University, Tod Howard Hawks has been a poet, an essayist, a writer of aphorisms, a novelist, and a human-rights advocate his entire adult life.