°You take ldgie and Ruth. Now you never saw two people more devoted to each other than they were, but even the two of them went through a period when they had their little problems. Ruth moved In with us once. I never knew what it was about, nor did I ask, because it was none of my business, but I think it was because she didn’t like Idgie goin’ over to the river, where Eva Bates lived. Said she felt that maybe Eva encouraged Idgie to drink too much for her own good. And it was true.
“But like I told Evelyn, everybody has their little quirks.
“Poor little Evelyn, I worry about her. That menopause has hit her with a vengeance! She said, not only does she want to hit Ed in the head, but lately, she’s having fantasies in her mind where she dresses up in black clothes and goes out and kills all the bad people with a machine gun. Can you imagine?
“I said, ‘Honey, you been looking at too many TV shows. You just get those thoughts out of your mind right now! Besides it’s not up to us to judge other people. It says right there in the Bible as plain as the nose on your face that on Judgement Day Jesus is going to come down with a host of angels to judge the quick and the dead.’
“Evelyn asked me who the quick were, and do you know, for the life of me, I couldn’t tell her!”
WARRIOR RIVER, ALABAMA
JUNE 3, 1946
The blue lights were on and you could hear the people inside carrying on, and the jukebox blaring all the way across the river. Idgie was sitting right in the middle of it, drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and chasing it with more Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. She was off whiskey for that night, because the night before had been enough to last her for a while.
Her friend Eva was whooping it up with some country boys that were supposed to be at an Elks Club meeting that night over in Gate City. She passed by Idgie and looked at her.
"Good God, girl, what's the matter with you? You look like a lizard with a hangover!"
Hank Williams was singing his heart out about how he was so lonesome he could die.
Idgie said, "Ruth moved out."
Eva's mood changed. "What?"
"Moved out. Went over to Cleo and Ninny's house."
Eva sat down. "Well, good Lord, Idgie, why did she do that?"
"She's mad at me."
"I figured that. But what did you do?"
"I lied to her."
“Uh-oh. What did you say?"
“I told her I was going to Atlanta to see my sister Leona and John.”
"Didn't you go?"
"No."
"Where did you go?"
"Out in the woods."
"With who?"
"By myself. I just wanted to be by myself, that's all."
"Why didn't you tell her?"
"I don't know. I guess I just kinda got mad at having to tell somebody where I am all the time. I don't know. I was beginning to feel kinda trapped, like I needed to get out for a while. So I lied. That's all. What's the big deal? Grady lies to Gladys, and Jack lies to Mozell."
"Yeah, but now, honey, you ain't Grady or Jack . . . and Ruth ain't Gladys or Mozell, either. Oh Lord, girl, I hate to see this happen, don't you remember the fits you was having until she came over here?"
"Yeah, but sometimes I just need to take off for a while. I feel like I need my freedom. You know."
"Course I know, Idgie, but you got to look at this thing from her point of view. That girl give up everything she had to come over here. She left her hometown and all her friends she grew up with—gave up all that just to be here and make a life for you. You and Stump are all she has. You've got all your friends and your family . . ."
"Yeah, well, sometimes I think they like her better than they do me."
"You listen, Idgie, I'm gonna tell you something. Don't you think she couldn't have anybody that she wanted around here? All she'd have to do is snap her fingers. So I'd think long and hard before I'd go flying off."
At that moment, Helen Claypoole, a woman of about fifty, who'd been hanging around the River Club for years, picking up men and drinking with anything that moved and would buy her drinks, came out of the bathroom so drunk that she had stuffed the back of her dress in her panties and was staggering to her table, where the men were waiting for her.
Eva pointed toward her. "Now, there's a woman who's got her freedom. Nobody gives a shit where she is and ain't nobody checkin' up on her, you can be damn sure of that."
Idgie watched Helen, with her lipstick smeared and her hair falling in her face, sitting there, looking at the men with her boozy eyes, not seeing them.
Pretty soon Idgie said, "I gotta go. Gotta think this thing out."
"Yeah, well, I thought you might."
Two days later, Ruth received a neatly typed note that said, "If you cage a wild thing, you can be sure it will die, but if you let it run free, nine times out of ten it will run back home."
Ruth called Idgie for the first time in three weeks. "I got your note and I've been thinking, maybe we should at least talk."
Idgie was thrilled. "I think that would be great. I'll be right over," and started out the door, planning to swear on a Bible in front of Reverend Scroggins's house, if she had to, that she would never lie to Ruth again.
As she turned the corner and saw Cleo and Ninny's house, something Ruth said dawned on her. What note? She hadn't sent any note.
OCTOBER 15, 1947
One-Armed Quarterback Leads Team to Fifth Straight Victory
In a 27 to 20 win over Edge wood, with the score tied 20-20 throughout the fourth quarter, victory for Whistle Stop came in the thrilling 43-yard pass made by Whistle Stop's one-armed quarterback, Buddy (Stump) Threadgoode, a senior.
"Stump is our most valuable player," said Coach Delbert Naves in an interview earlier today. "His winning attitude and team spirit has made the difference. Despite his handicap, he has been able to complete 33 out of 37 attempted passes this year. He is able to take the snap from center and hug the ball to his chest, get the correct grip, and throw the ball in less than two seconds, and his speed and accuracy are outstanding."
This B-average student is also on the first string baseball and basketball team. He is the son of Mrs. Ruth Jamison, of Whistle Stop, and when asked how he became so proficient in sports, he said that his Aunt Idgie, who helped raise him, taught him everything he knows about football.
OCTOBER 28, 1947
Stump had just come in from practice and got himself a Coke. Idgie was behind the counter fixing Smokey Lonesome a second cup of coffee, and she said to him as he passed by, "I want to talk to you, young man."
Uh-oh, thought Smokey, and buried his head in his pie.
Stump said, "What'd I do? I didn't do anything . . ."
"That's what you think, little fella," she said to Stump, who at the time was six feet tall and shaving. "Let's go in the back room."
He followed her slowly and sat down at the table. "Where's Momma?"
"She's over at the school at a meeting. Now, young man, what did you say to Peggy this afternoon?"
He looked innocent. "Peggy? Peggy who?"
"You know Peggy who. Peggy Hadley."
"I didn't say anything."
"You didn't say anything."
"No."
"Then why do you suppose she came in the cafe, no more than an hour ago, Just crying her eyes out?"
"I don't know. How should I know?"
"Didn't she ask you to go to the Sadie Hawkins Dance with her this afternoon?"
"Yeah, I guess she may have. I don't remember."