Фэнни Флэгг - The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop

I don’t know what to buy a little baby, so until I can figure it out, I am sending all my best to you, and your momma and daddy. Uncle Julian does the same.

Love,

Your Aunt Idgie

P.S. When you get old enough to travel, come and see an old lady sometime, will you?

Idgie put the letter in the mailbox, and was still smiling as she walked back to the house. Wow. There was now a new little Ruth in the world. The thought made her so happy she didn’t know what to do. She grabbed a candy bar from the kitchen and went out and sat on the porch, enjoying her candy and thinking about the future. The baby was not even a day old yet and Idgie was already planning all the fun things they could do together, when an image from the past suddenly crossed her mind. It was of a day in spring and Ruth Jamison was sitting across a meadow smiling at her, looking so young and beautiful. Then it occurred to Idgie that if that same young girl was alive today, she would now be a grandmother. How could that be? Idgie tried her best to envision Ruth as an older woman with wrinkles and gray hair, but as hard as she tried she just couldn’t do it. In her mind Ruth would always remain young and beautiful. She would always remember her just that way.

Idgie had often thought that if she had somehow had the power to stop time, she would have stopped it when they both were young. But then, if she had, there would have been no Buddy in the world, or his new little baby. As heartbreaking as it could be at times, maybe life knew best. Idgie didn’t know the answer. She had finally stopped trying to figure it out and had accepted the fact that life was a mystery, yet to be solved by people much smarter than she was. All she knew was that a little bit of Ruth was still alive, and she just couldn’t wait to meet her.

BAUMHOLDER, GERMANY

December 31, 1964

IT WAS FIVE degrees outside and snowing when Peggy Threadgoode, a redhead with freckles, walked in the door with the mail from the PX and called out “Hey, Bud, we just got Dot’s Christmas letter.”

A tall blond man with brown eyes looked up from the medical chart he was studying. “Oh, great. How are they doing?”

“I don’t know yet.” After she’d hung up her hat and coat, Peggy came in and sat down beside him, opened the letter, and started reading.

After a moment she said, “They’re doing fine. They still seem to like it down there in Fairhope. She says she got Idgie’s honey and oranges from Florida….Jessie Ray Scroggins is getting divorced again.”

“Oh, too bad. Poor guy.”

“Well, I’m not surprised. You know his daddy has got to be upset, poor Reverend Scroggins. And let’s see…ah, here it is. She announced that we had a baby and named her after your mother. And says she bets Idgie is happy about that.”

Bud smiled. “That’s nice.”

Peggy laughed. “Then she says that she and Wilbur remember us when we were just kids, running around town barefooted.”

Bud sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Good old Dot and Wilbur. I miss the heck out of ’em, don’t you?”

Peggy nodded. “Yeah, I do. And she also mentions your new arm, and says she misses Christmas at the cafe, and all the fun we used to have. And she also asks if people could send her some of their happiest memories of Whistle Stop.” Peggy looked at Bud.

“That’s a hard one, we have so many.”

“Not really. I sure know what mine would be.”

“What?”

Bud smiled a wicked little smile. “A certain night out at Double Springs Lake.”

Peggy was alarmed and started to blush. “Bud Threadgoode, you’re not going to write and tell her that!”

He laughed. “No, but it’s quite a memory, you have to admit.”

Just then baby Ruthie woke up from her nap and started crying. Bud ran over to the crib and picked her up. Peggy laughed and said, “You’re going to spoil that baby something awful.”

“I don’t care. She should be spoiled,” he said, as he walked around the room, cooing at her. “Good morning, my beautiful little Ruthie. Your daddy loves you, yes he does.”

Peggy shook her head. “Lord, Bud, you would think there had never been another baby born in the entire world.”

“Well, there hasn’t. Not like this little girl,” he said, rocking her back and forth. “She’s special. Aren’t you, sweetheart?”

Peggy walked over and held out her arms. “She may be special, but I need to change her diaper.”

“Oh.” Bud reluctantly handed over the baby.

The truth was, they were both madly in love with little Ruthie. After having waited so long to start a family, they were over the moon with joy. Bud in particular. He had wished for a little girl and he’d gotten one.

FAIRHOPE, ALABAMA

Christmas 1970

Well, folks, another year and we’re still here, alive and kicking. I am anyway. Wilbur dropped a hammer on his foot and broke his toe, so he’s not doing much kicking these days. But I am happy to report that he finally went and got some hearing aids, so I don’t have to shout anymore. You try playing bingo with a deaf man.

And now to the news of the day, as they say.

Received a darling photo of Bud, Peggy, and little Ruthie. I can’t believe how much Ruthie has grown since last year. This new one was taken of the three of them standing in front of her daddy’s brand-new Threadgoode Animal Clinic building in Silver Spring, Maryland, where they are now living. I must say it’s good to have them back home in the old USA. It looks like a very nice building and we’re so happy to see the Threadgoode name on it. Our Bud has done very well for himself, and we are all proud of him.

And speaking of Threadgoodes, my old friend and former neighbor Ninny Threadgoode sent me another one of her favorite Whistle Stop memories. She says she remembers Saturday mornings when Idgie used to pile all the kids in Whistle Stop into that old car of hers and drive them over to Birmingham to the movies and treat them all to popcorn and a coke. She said nobody loved kids more than Idgie. I agree.

Sad news: Grady Kilgore, who was in Birmingham over Thanksgiving, took a ride over to Whistle Stop and reports that someone must have stolen the old Whistle Stop railroad crossing sign, because it’s not there anymore. Reverend Scroggins wrote to tell us that his son Jessie Ray just got back from the service and has wrecked another car. That makes three so far.

On a happier note: Our old pal Opal Butts said she ran into Sipsey’s granddaughter Alberta, who is now living in Birmingham, and says that she is attending a fancy cooking school and hopes to become a chef. Good for her! Maybe she will become the next Julia Child.

Merry Christmas, gang!

Your faithful scribe,

Dot

P.S. We don’t get out to the movies much anymore. Write and tell us some good shows to look at. Wilbur and I like Carol Burnett, Candid Camera, and What’s My Line? How about you?

KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA

November 1971

RIGHT AFTER IDGIE opened her new fruit and honey stand, somebody called her in Florida and made her a good offer. So Idgie sold the cafe over the phone. She only made a few hundred dollars, but it was just enough to buy the little pink stucco house right next to her brother Julian’s. It had a big screened-in porch with a white metal swan on the door that Idgie loved.

Ruthie Threadgoode had heard a lot about her dad’s Aunt Idgie, and she received a birthday card from her every year, but she had never met her. When Ruthie turned six, Idgie sent her a picture of herself taken at an ostrich farm, sitting on an ostrich. She’d signed it Happy birthday from two old birds.