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Granny Missus patted the wreath of frothy white hair
teased into poodle-cut perfection on her head.
What a woman does with her hair is almost always about mak-
ing somebody sit up and take notice. My own words came back
to haunt me. Even at her age, Granny still used the age-old
feminine tricks to try to get what she wanted just a few
seconds of this man s time and attention.
How many times now had Ry s presence in town granted
me the opportunity to behave like an ass in order to try to
get my own way? I should have kept score.
Granny Missus sighed and started to turn away.
Ry clicked off the penlight and gazed grumpily into the
156 Annie Flannigan
newly outfitted engine.  What did my grandfather call
you?
Luckily, Ry had better sense than I did or maybe it was
a bigger heart.
The old gal paused, turned slowly, then tipped her nose
up, exposing the soft folds under her chin.  A lady would
never use that kind of language.
 A lady might not, but how about you? He double-
checked an airtight hose connection by pretending to tug on
it.
Her eyes sparkled. Her lips twitched into the briefest of
all smiles, then she scowled mightily and barked,  Just like
your kinfolk. If manners was moonshine y all wouldn t
have enough to get a goat tipsy.
Her indignant act didn t fool him one minute, of course.
 Yeah, that s true, I reckon. But that doesn t matter to me
because any stories you might have heard about my great
uncle Ulysses aside neither me nor none of my kin ever
had much use for drunken farm animals.
She stared at him.
He stared back.
Her grin broke slowly over her face, and when it came
into its full force it rivaled the lights of the South Winds old
sign for brightness.
He gave her the double-barreled dimple grin that had
melted colder hearts than hers.  I have to compliment you
on the work you ve done so far on the Starliner. You cer-
tainly know your way around an engine.
 Had to learn. Lost Mr. Hadley in  fifty-seven and had
two children to feed.
 Nineteen fifty-seven? He caressed the gleaming red
L ove and a Bad Hair Day 157
fender of the tenderly restored old Ford from that same
year.  Must have been a hard time for you. Not many lady
mechanics and gas jockeys back then.
 Well, I had some experience. You know us gals filled in
at all kinds of jobs for the fellas during the war years.
Yes, he definitely had a bigger heart. Damn him. Why
did he have to look so adorable standing there catering to
my vain old grandmother?
 Besides, like I said, I didn t have no choice. I had to
learn to do it fast, and I had to be the best, too.
 Why the best? Did you have a lot of competitors in Ver-
bena back then?
 I didn t have no competitors, son, I had your grand-
father. I had the O Malleys breathing down my neck.
 But my grandfather ran the South Winds and the Break-
fast Buffet 
 Did you forget that for the longest time it was just a
sorry old greasy spoon? It took a while for folks around
here to catch on to the idea of eating breakfast any place but
at home.
He smiled.  Yeah, the last summer I worked here was the
summer Grandpa made the big changeover.
Granny Missus muttered something under her breath.
 In fifty-seven it was just the motel, you know. But when I
took over here and put in soda and candy machines, he de-
cided to expand into the restaurant business. He couldn t
stand for a person to make a dime off something if he
thought he could make a quarter off it especially after he
drove that first person out of business.
 He saw you turn a profit and expanded on your idea.
That just seems like good business. While the s of business
158 Annie Flannigan
still vibrated on his lips, the look on his face said that Ry
knew he d said the wrong thing.
I tensed.
Granny drew herself up.  You don t hardly know any-
thing about the history gone between your family and ours,
do you?
 I know enough. In other words, he did not want to
hear some long-winded story featuring his forefathers and
the evil villains.
Granny Missus did not take the hint.  I ve spent the day
with your daughter, young man. I know you ain t got all
the facts.
I stepped forward.  Granny, hon, why don t we 
 And I ain t got the heart nor the stomach to go into them
proper right now.
I sighed a silent thank-you for that.
Ry stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets.
 But it s enough for you to know how things was back
then. From the time your great-grandfather finagled the
Hadleys out of our half of the deal selling our land to the
government to build this highway 
 Now, this part I do know. The deal that gave my great-
grandfather the money to build his fortune was almost lost
because of the Hadleys.
 He moved in and sold them all the land they wanted at
a cut rate, undercutting the original offer to sell equal por-
tions of land on either side of the fence where the Hadley
and O Malley land met.
 He only did that because the Hadleys wouldn t commit
to contract. They could have shared in that opportunity if
they hadn t dragged their feet, waiting for who knows
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