Фэнни Флэгг - The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop

Later, Bud and Lois walked to the cafe for lunch, and after Bud had eaten a full plate of fried green tomatoes, Alberta Peavey came out of the kitchen and asked, “How were they, Mr. Threadgoode?”

He looked up at her and smiled. “Alberta, my dear, let’s put it this way. If I wasn’t already married, I’d ask you to marry me on the spot. These are the best fried green tomatoes I’ve had since 1949.”

It was one of those days that Bud would never forget. His whole family was back together again, and Whistle Stop was up and running once more.

Martha Lee, with her new business partner Carolyn, had opened an antique shop in the building where the post office used to be. They would feature fine Asian porcelains, of course. The new Busy Bea Beauty Shop was next door and doing very well.

And as for Evelyn Couch, she was extremely happy. As usual, after a rocky start, another one of her investments had paid off big-time. The woman couldn’t lose for winning, and she enjoyed being back in the game. In fact, she was starting construction on thirty new two-story condo units that she was building behind the cafe called One Railroad Place. She was planning to market it to the younger set, with a top-of-the-line fitness center that would include a large indoor heated pool and a fresh juice and coffee bar. She was even thinking of moving there herself. Her house was too big for one person, and besides, as she found out, it’s a good thing to have younger friends.

They say that timing is everything. As luck would have it, a few months after the cafe opened, Birmingham suddenly became a serious “foodie” town. With an exultant write-up in The Birmingham News and a great television review, almost overnight, the Whistle Stop Cafe became the trendy place to eat. A place that, as one food critic wrote, offered “Delightfully Delicious Authentic Farm-to-Table Cuisine.”

Soon, they had customers coming from as far away as Atlanta and Nashville. It was such a success that they had to expand the cafe to almost triple its original size. Someone said that if Ruth and Idgie could have seen the place today, they wouldn’t have believed it. Who would have dreamed that Sipsey’s fried green tomatoes would ever be considered gourmet food, or that the Whistle Stop Cafe would be taking lunch and dinner reservations weeks in advance?

And here’s something else Ruthie would never have guessed. Since the cafe décor was green and white, it was amazing how cute those two hundred frogs looked on the shelves.

A YEAR AGO, Bud Threadgoode had given up on making plans for the future, but today, he and Lois were busy planning a world cruise.

It was hard for Ruthie to believe, but this morning her daddy was flying to Europe on a private jet with his new wife and Virgil. She had to laugh. At this point, Virgil had traveled to more places than she had. But then, she hadn’t married the Coca-Cola heiress. Before Bud left he called her from the airport and said, “Ruthie, don’t forget what I told you, to enjoy every minute. That’s what Lois and I are doing.”

And as it so happened, so was she. She loved waking up every morning, going to work at the cafe, meeting and greeting people from all over the country, serving them good food, and telling them the story of Idgie and Ruth. Just last week they had an entire busload of tourists come in for lunch.

But there was this one person in particular who had been coming in quite a bit lately. A nice-looking retired investment banker from Birmingham, a widower. Ruthie could tell he liked her, and she was surprised at how much that pleased her. A boyfriend at her age? Well, why not? Look at her daddy. He’d found love at eighty-nine. Her future was wide open with possibilities. Didn’t they say sixty was the new forty? And he did remind her of Brooks. After being so down for so long, she just couldn’t wait to see what tomorrow would bring.

For Colleen

Acknowledgments

I’d like to thank my agents, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Sylvie Rabineau, and Suzanne Gluck, and Random House Publishing for all their support throughout the years, with very special thanks to my longtime editor and friend, Kate Medina.

BY FANNIE FLAGG

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Fannie Flagg’s Original Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

Standing in the Rainbow

A Redbird Christmas

I Still Dream About You

Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven

The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion

The Whole Town’s Talking

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

FANNIE FLAGG’s career started in the fifth grade when she wrote, directed, and starred in her first play, titled The Whoopee Girls, and she has not stopped since. At age nineteen she began writing and producing television specials, and later wrote for and appeared on Candid Camera . She then went on to distinguish herself as an actress and a writer in television, films, and the theater. She is the bestselling author of Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man; Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe; Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!; Standing in the Rainbow; A Redbird Christmas; Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven; I Still Dream About You; The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion; and The Whole Town’s Talking . Flagg’s script for the movie Fried Green Tomatoes was nominated for an Academy Award and the Writers Guild of America Award and won the highly regarded Scripter Award for best screenplay of the year. She is also the winner of the Harper Lee Prize. Fannie loves all animals, especially human beings, and lives happily in California and Alabama.

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