Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

JUNE 16, 1936

The minute Idgie heard the voices outside by the tracks, she knew that somebody had been hurt. She looked out and saw Biddie Louise Otis running for the cafe.

Sipsey and Onzell had walked out of the kitchen, just as Biddie threw open the door and screamed, “It’s your little boy, he’s been run over by the train!”

Idgie’s heart stopped for a moment.

Sipsey threw her hands up to her mouth, “Oh Lord Jesus!”

Idgie turned to Onzell: “Keep Ruth in the back,” and started running over to the tracks. When she got there, the six-year-old boy was lying on his back with his eyes wide open, staring at the group of people who were looking down on him in horror.

When he saw her, he smiled, and she almost smiled back, thinking he was all right, until she saw his arm lying in a pool of blood three feet away.

Big George, who had been out in the back of the cafe, barbecuing, had come running right up behind her and saw the blood at the same time. He picked him up and started running as fast as he could toward Dr. Hadley’s house.

Onzell was standing in the door, blocking Ruth from leaving the back room.

“No, now, Miz Ruth, you cain’t go. You jus’ stay put right here, sugar.”

Ruth was scared and confused. “What’s the matter? What’s happened? Is it the baby?”

Onzell took her over to the couch and sat her down and held her hands with a death grip.

“Hush, sugar … you jus’ sit here and wait now, honey, it’s gonna be all right.”

Ruth was terrified. “What is it?”

Sipsey was still in the cafe, wagging her finger up to the ceiling. “Don’t you do dis, Lord … don’t you do dis to Miz Idgie and Miz Ruth … don’t you do dis thang! You hear me, God? Don’t do it!”

Idgie was running right behind Big George and they were both yelling at the house, three blocks away, “Doctor Hadley! Doctor Hadley!”

The doctor’s wife, Margaret, heard them first and came out on the front porch. She spotted them just as they came around the corner, and she shouted for her husband, “Get out here quick! It’s Idgie and she’s got Buddy Jr.!”

Dr. Hadley jumped up from the table and met them on the sidewalk, with his napkin still in his hand. When he saw the blood spurting from the boy’s arm, he threw the napkin down and said, “Get in the car. We’ve got to get him to Birmingham. He’s gonna need transfusions.”

As he was running to the old Dodge, he told his wife to call the hospital and tell them they were coming. She ran inside to call, and Big George, who was by this time completely covered with blood, got in the backseat and held the boy in his arms. Idgie sat in the front seat and talked to him all the way there, telling him stories to keep him calm, although her own legs were shaking.

When they arrived at the Emergency entrance, the nurse and the attendant were waiting for them at the door.

As they started in, the nurse said to Idgie, “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to have your man wait outside, this is a white hospital.”

The boy, who hadn’t said a word, kept watching Big George as they took him down the hall, and until they turned the corridor, out of sight …

Still covered with blood, Big George sat outside on the brick wall and put his head in his hands and waited.

Two pimply-faced boys walked by, and one snarled over at Big George.

“Look, there’s another nigger that’s got hisself all cut up in a knife fight.” The other called out, “Hey! You better get yourself over to the nigger hospital, boy.”

His friend with the missing front tooth and the crossed eye spit, hitched up his pants, and swaggered on down the street.