Visitors, part one

Leta looked out the front window anxiously, not because of the rather stormy weather, but because of the guests she was expecting to her diner.

Actually, inclement weather was usually beneficial for the small, rural truck stop. The establishment consisted of several gas pumps, a bar and a small restaurant. Leta managed the restaurant, which was visited primarily by truckers en route from Pennsylvania to Indiana. Most of the truckers would stop to fill their tanks, take a driving break and grab a bite. More often than not, they would linger in the bar longer than what was wise, especially for a driver. The owner, who also managed the bar, would then send them over to the restaurant for some sobering coffee and a meal. At what they had unofficially dubbed “Leta’s Place,” they would fill themselves with coffee and solid food before heading on their way. Leta, the establishment’s owner said in a complimentary way, had a way with drinking men.

During heavy weather, the truckers liked to pause for the weather to pass.

But on this Saturday evening, she didn’t want a large crowd. The weather had been more pleasant the night before, but her son informed her that they could not come on a Friday night. The woman he was bringing was a devout Roman Catholic. She ate only fish on Fridays. While Leta would occasionally serve lake perch, walleye or catfish, this was only when a local would bring over a fresh catch, and never during the winter. Mostly, she served hearty breakfast foods, steak, hamburgers and her special fried chicken. The truckers also raved about her hamburgers, and it wasn’t just because she used good beef right from the farm, but also a special ingredient.

On this particular Saturday night, her son Dale was bringing the young woman he was courting to meet her, and she was slightly anxious. Kathryn was the first woman Dale was introducing her to, and up until then as far as she could fathom, he wasn’t very interested in girls. Since he was 25, Leta figured this young woman must be important. Also, she did not want to make the same first impression with her son’s girl, as she did when she met her future son-in-law Ed two years earlier. Then, she was slightly tipsy and nearly mistook him for someone interested in her. It was an inauspicious beginning to a long relationship that would always be tainted by that first impression.

However, there were differences. Meeting Ed was a surprise; meeting Kathryn was planned. She knew very little about her daughter’s dating habits; whereas, her son Dale kept her regularly informed that he wasn’t interested in anyone, even when she would point out a pretty young woman when they were at a restaurant or shop together.

His habits were so contrary to meeting a young woman that Leta surprised that recent afternoon over coffee when Dale announced that he had met a girl and was courting a young woman he met at a church function he went to with a friend.

“I really like her mom,” Dale stressed. “I want you to meet her.”

To be continued.