When they turned in the gate that led down the road to the main building, they saw hundreds of prisoners in coarse striped uniforms out in the yard digging or hoeing, and they saw the guards, just like Grady had said, showing off as the car passed by, running their horses in circles and peering at the car as it drove by. Idgie thought that most of them did look a little retarded, so when they brought Artis out, she was relieved to see that he was still alive and well.

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.

"Hold on, Miz Ruth, it's gonna be over soon. It's gonna be over soon, baby."

Ruth looked back up at her and tried to smile, but the pain in her eyes was terrible. There was no rest from it now; no sleep, no relief.

Onzell, a charter member of the Mount Zion Primitive Baptist Church and the lead singer in the Halleluiah Choir, who believed with all her heart and soul in a merciful God, had made a decision.

No God, anywhere, certainly not her sweet, precious Jesus, Who died for our sins and loved us above all things, had ever meant anyone to suffer like this.

So it was with perfect joy and a pure heart that she gave Ruth the morphine that she'd been saving, bit by bit, day by day. Onzell watched Ruth's body relax for the first time in weeks, and then she sat down by the bed and held her little skeleton of a hand and began to rock and sing.

In the sweet by and by ... there's a land that's fairer by day And by faith we can see it afar ...

For the Father waits over the way To prepare us in a dwelling place There in the sweet by and by ... we shall meet on the beautiful shore In the sweet by and by ...

Onzell had her eyes closed as she was singing, but she felt the room fill up with sunlight that had broken through the clouds. The warmth of the sun made her cry tears of joy. As she covered the mirror and stopped the clock by the bed, she thanked her sweet Jesus for taking Miss Ruth home.

FEBRUARY 10, 1947.

Beloved Citizen Passes The cafe will be closed tomorrow, due to the death of Mrs. Ruth Jamison, who passed away over the weekend.

Funeral services will be held tomorrow at the Baptist church. Call Reverend Scroggins for the time. She will be at John Rideout's Funeral Home in Birmingham until then.

We will miss her sweet ways and smiling face, and everyone who knew "Miss Ruth" will be at a loss. Our special love and sympathy goes out to Idgie and Stump.

... Dot Weems ...

SEPTEMBER 13, 1986.

On Saturdays, when Evelyn Couch went shopping, she always drove Ed's big Ford LTD, because there was more room, but it was hard to park; so she had been sitting waiting for the parking place on the end for five minutes while the old man loaded the groceries into his car, took another three minutes to get in, find his keys, and finally backed out. Just as she was about to pull in, a slightly battered red Volkswagen came around the corner and shot right in the space she had been waiting for.

Two skinny, gum-chewing teenage girls, wearing cut-off jeans and rubber flip-flops, got out and slammed the door and started to walk right past her.

Evelyn rolled down her window and said to the one in the ELVIS IS NOT DEAD T-shirt, "Excuse me, but I was waiting for that space and you pulled right in front of me."

The girl looked at her with a smirk and said, "Let's face it, lady, I'm younger and faster than you are," and she and her friend flip-flopped into the store in their rubber-thonged shoes.

Evelyn was left sitting there, staring at the Volkswagen with the I BRAKE FOR REDNECKS bumper sticker on the back.

Twelve minutes later, the girl and her friend came out, just in time to see all four of their hubcaps fly across the parking lot as Evelyn crashed into the Volkswagen, backed up, and slammed into it again. By the time the two hysterical girls had reached the car, Evelyn had almost demolished it. The tall one went berserk, screaming and pulling her hair. "My God! Look what you've done! Are you crazy?"

Evelyn leaned out her window and calmly said, "Let's face it, honey, I'm older than you are and have more insurance than you do" and drove away.

Ed, who worked for an insurance agency, did have plenty of insurance, as it turned out, but he could not understand how she could have run into someone six times by mistake.

Evelyn told him to calm down and not to make a big thing out of it; accidents happen all the time. The truth was, she had enjoyed wrecking that girl's car too much. Lately, the only time she wasn't angry and the only time she could find peace was when she was with Mrs. Threadgoode and when she would visit Whistle Stop at night in her mind. Towanda was taking over her life, and somewhere, deep down, a tiny alarm bell sounded and she knew she was in sure danger of going over the edge and never coming back.

MAY 9, 1949.

Tonight, Grady Kilgore, Jack Butts, and Smokey Lonesome were in the cafe, giggling. This was the seventh week in a row that they had managed to put a whiz bomb in Reverend Scroggins's car. But when Stump came out of the back room, all dressed up in his blue suit and blue bow tie, they stopped and decided to razz him for a while.

Grady waved at him. "Oh, usher, where's my seat?"

Idgie said, "Come on, boys, let him alone. I think he looks handsome. He's got a date with Peggy Hadley, Doc's girl."

Jack called out in a silly voice, "Oh, Doctor ..."

Stump got himself a Coca-Cola and gave Idgie a dirty look. If it hadn't been for her, he would not be stuck having to go to the Sweetheart Banquet with Peggy Hadley, a little girl he once had a crush on but had now outgrown. Peggy was two years younger than he was and wore glasses, and he had ignored her his entire high school career. But the minute she found out he was back from Georgia Tech for the summer, she went over and asked Idgie if she thought Stump would go to her Senior Sweetheart Banquet with her, and Idgie had graciously accepted.

Being a gentleman, he had figured that one night wouldn't kill him-although at the moment he was not sure.

Idgie went over to the icebox in the kitchen and handed him a bouquet of tiny sweetheart roses. "Here, I went up to the big house today and cut some out in the backyard. Take these to her. Your mother loved those little things."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh God! Aunt Idgie, why don't you just go instead of me? You've planned the entire evening anyway."

Stump turned to the gang at the table. "Hey, Grady! You wanna go?"

Grady shook his head. "Wish I could, but Gladys'd kill me if she ever caught me with a younger woman. But then, you don't know anything about that. Just wait till you're an old married man, like I am, boy. Besides, I ain't the man I used to be."

"Or ever was, for that matter," Jack interjected.

They laughed, and Stump went out the door. "Well, I'm off. Guess I'll see you afterwards."

Every year, after the banquet, all the kids wound up at the cafe; and tonight was no exception. When Peggy came in, looking so pretty in her white eyelet dress, with her pink sweetheart roses pinned at the shoulder, Idgie said, "Thank God you're all right. I've been worried to death about you."

Peggy asked her why in the world would she be so worried.

"Didn't you hear about that girl over in Birmingham, last week?" Idgie said. "She was so excited at her Sweetheart Banquet that while she was posing for her picture, all of a sudden she burned right up. A case of spontaneous combustion. In seconds she was gone. Nothing was left of her but her high heels. Her date had to take her home in a Dixie cup."

Peggy, who had believed the story up to a point, said, "Oh, Idgie, you're playing with me!"

Stump was glad when the evening was over and they were headed home. The fact that he had been a football hero the year before made him still subject to a lot of younger boys standing around staring at him and girls squealing and giggling when he said hello, or anything, for that matter.

He stopped the car in front of Peggy's house and was getting ready to get out and go around and open her door when she took her glasses off, leaned over, and looked up at him with those big brown myopic Susan Hayward eyes of hers and said, "Well, good night."

He looked down into those eyes, realizing that he had never seen them before: pools of velvet brown that he could have dived into and had a swim in. Her face was now a quarter of an inch from his, and he smelled the intoxicating scent of her White Shoulders perfume; in that moment she became Rita Hayworth in Gilda; no, Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice. And when he kissed her, it was the most passionate moment he had ever known.

That summer, the blue suit was trotted out regularly, and that fall it wound up in Columbus, Georgia, when they went over to the courthouse to get married. All Idgie ever said to him was "I told you so."

After that, all Peggy ever had to do was take off her glasses and look up at him, and he was a goner.

MAY 24, 1949.

Birmingham's black middle- and upper-class society was at its peak, and the Slagtown News was kept busy reporting on the doings of over a hundred social clubs; the lighter the skin, the better the club.

Mrs. Blanche Peavey, Jasper's wife, who was as light in color as he was, had just been named president of the famous Royal Saxon Society Belles Social and Saving Club, an organization whose members were of such fair coloring that the club's annual group picture had wound up in the white newspaper by mistake.

Jasper had just been reelected as Grand Vice Chancellor of the prestigous Knights of Pythias, so it was only natural that his oldest daughter, Clarissa, was a leading debutante that year and was being presented to the Carnation Coalition.

With her red-gold, silky hair, her peaches-and-cream complexion, and her green eyes, she was considered the deb you would most want to be with.

On the day of the Debutante Ball, Clarissa went downtown to buy some special perfume for the affair. She had ridden up to the second floor on the main white elevator, as she had done a few times before when she had been downtown alone, knowing that other members of her race rode the freight elevator.

She knew her mother and daddy would kill her if they knew she was downtown passing, for although she was encouraged to mingle only with the lighter-skinned people, passing for a white was an unpardonable sin. But she was tired of the stares of the other blacks when she rode the freight elevator before; and besides, she was in a hurry.

The beautiful woman in the royal blue wool dress behind the counter was so considerate and polite to Clarissa. "Have you ever tried White Shoulders?"

"No ma'am, I don't think so."

She bent down under the counter for the display bottle. "Try a little of this. Shalimar is very popular, but I think it's going to be a little too heavy for you, with your fair skin and all."

Clarissa smelled it on her wrist. "Oh, this is wonderful. How much is it?"

"It's on special, eight ounces for two ninety-eight. That should last you at least six months.

"I'll just get this, then."

The lady was pleased. "I think it suits you perfectly. Cash or charge?"

"Cash."

The woman took the money and went off to wrap the box.