Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

OCTOBER 17, 1940

When Vesta Adcock was younger, someone had told her to speak up, and she never forgot it. You could hear Vesta through brick walls. The booming voice from that little woman traveled for blocks.

Cleo Threadgoode made the remark that it was a shame that Earl Adcock had to pay his telephone bills since Vesta could just as well have opened the door and aimed at whoever’s house she was calling.

Considering that, and the fact that she had appointed herself president of the “I’m Better Than Anyone Else Club,” it was not surprising that Earl did what he did.

Earl Adcock was a quiet, decent man who had always done the right thing—one of the unsung heroes of life who had married the girl just because she had picked him out and he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. And so he had just remained quiet while Vesta and and his mother-in-law-to-be had arranged everything from the wedding to the honeymoon to where they would live.

After the one child, Earl Jr., had been born, a soft, pudgy,pasty little boy with brown ringlets who screamed for his mother whenever his father got near him, Earl realized he had made a big mistake, but he did the gentlemanly, manly thing: He stayed married and raised this son, who lived in the same house, had the same blood, but was a stranger to him.

Earl was in charge of over two hundred men down at L & N Railroad, where he worked, and commanded great respect and was extremely capable. He had served bravely in the First World War, killing two Germans, but in his own home he had been reduced to just another child of Vesta’s, and not even a favorite child: He came in second to Earl Jr.

“WIPE YOUR FEET BEFORE YOU COME IN HERE! DON’T SIT IN THAT CHAIR!”

“HOW DARE YOU SMOKE IN MY HOUSE … GO OUT ON THE PORCH!”

“YOU CAIN’T BRING THOSE NASTY FISH IN HERE. TAKE THEM OUT IN THE BACKYARD AND CLEAN THEM!”

“EITHER YOU GET RID OF THOSE DOGS OR I’M TAKING THE BABY AND LEAVING!”

“MY GOD, IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE ON YOUR MIND? YOU MEN ARE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF ANIMALS!”

She picked out his clothes, she picked out their friends, and flew at him like an enraged wild turkey the few times that he had tried to swat little Earl; eventually, he gave up.

Thus, throughout the years, Earl had worn the correct blue suit, carved the meat, gone to church, been the husband and father, and never said one word against Vesta. But Earl Jr. was grown now, and the L & N had retired him with a nice pension that he immediately signed over to Vesta, and had given him a gold Rockford railroad watch. And so, as quietly as he had lived, he slipped out of town, leaving only a note behind:

Well, that’s that. I’m off, and if you don’t believe I’m leaving, just count the days I’m gone. When you hear the phone not ringing, it’ll be me that’s not calling.

Goodbye, old girl, and good luck.

Yours truly,

Earl Adcock

P.S. I’m not deaf.

Vesta smacked a surprised Earl Jr. in the face and went to bed for a week with a cold rag on her head, while everyone in town secretly cheered Earl on. If good wishes had been ten-dollar bills, he would have left a rich man.