Chapter 7
Thursday morning, August eighth, nineteen fifty-seven arrived.
Kent woke up at eight that morning got showered and dressed in a casual knit shirt, blue jeans and his Converse sneakers.
He left his room and headed off to the motor court's office.
Kent spotted Wilber the day clerk and owner of the motor court sitting behind the counter.
"Good morning," said Wilber.
"Good morning, is there a good place to eat near here?" Kent said then he suddenly remembered a place his dad took him for breakfast and dinner.
"Yes, The Peach Tree Diner. It's down the road about a quarter of a mile," said Wilber and pointed in the westerly direction. "My brother owns it."
"The Peach Tree Diner. Got it and thank you," said Kent and he walked away from the counter and headed to the door. Is everything named Peach Tree down here? He thought while he opened the door and stepped out of the office.
Kent walked through the parking lot of the motor court and soon headed down Route 12
After ten minutes of walking, he spotted the Peach Tree Diner. The diner was small, and behind it was a small house. It belonged to the Edith and Homer, and they opened the diner back in nineteen thirty-eight.
He glanced around the area and saw a Shell gas station a little farther down Route 12.
Kent walked through the gravel parking lot and headed to the front door.
He entered the diner and glanced around the joint. Seeing this place brought back some fond memories of eating here with his mom and dad.
He saw the counter at the rear where you could eat and then behind that counter was a pass-through window. Behind that window was the kitchen.
There were booths along the front wall and the left sidewall. In the middle were tables that seated four. He loved the aroma of his diner.
He walked up to the cash register.
"Table for one, sugar?" said overweight fifty-year-old Edith from behind the register. Kent loved that southern twang everybody spoke down here. He had that twang when he was a kid but lost it years later after his mom moved him to the Boston area.
Kent looked at Edith, and he remembered her from when he was a kid. "Yes, ma-am, table for one."
Edith stared at Kent, and it started to make him feel uncomfortable. "You don't look familiar, are you from around here?"
"No ma-am, I'm from the Boston area."
"Oh, because you do look a little familiar," said Edith.
"I just arrived in town last night."
"Are you moving here?" said Edith while she grabbed a menu from behind the cash register.
"No ma-am, I'm here on business for a few days then I'm heading back home on Monday."
"Business at the Air Force base?"
"Yes," he lied and felt a tad guilty but knew he didn't have a choice.
"That's nice, sugar. Follow me," she said and walked away and headed down the booths by the windows.
She placed the menu on a booth in the middle of the table. "Would you like a cup of our great piping hot coffee?"
"Yes, ma-am," said Kent while he sat down in the booth. He recalled his dad loving the coffee here, but Kent was too young to try it at the time. Now was his chance.
Edith smiled and walked away.
Kent opened up the menu and glanced at it, but he already knew what he wanted. He ordered this meal all the time for breakfast when he was a kid. He started to salivate recalling that fond memory.
He closed the menu then glanced around the diner to check out the nineteen fifty-seven people.
He saw fifty-two-year-old Homer through the pass-through window cooking in the kitchen. Kent thought that if a cook had a huge pot belly, it was high probability he was a great cook.
He looked around the diner, and his eyes soon widened when he saw thirty-year-old Grant Bowers in his Air Force 1505 khaki uniform sporting his silver Lieutenant bars on the collars. Grant sat in a booth along the other wall. He had his right arm around the shoulder of Helen Cooper, a twenty-four-year-old busty blonde with brown eyes.
They were flirting with each other with an occasional light kiss and a nibble on her earlobe. "Jesus, is this guy screwing the whole town?" Kent said under his breath and looked away from his archenemy.
"Grant, that tickles," said the blonde while Grant nibbled on her ear lobe.
"Sickening," said Kent at that sight. "Just sickening."
Edith walked to Kent's table with a cup of coffee. "Are you ready to order, honey?" she said while she set the cup down in front of Kent.
"Yes, I'll have your French Toast," he said.
"Good choice," said Edith, then she walked away.
Kent started drinking his coffee and agreed with his dad that this was great coffee.
But while he sipped his hot coffee, he couldn't refrain from taking the discreet glances over at Grant and Helen. Grant was just like he remembered back when he was a kid. Oh, how he wanted to go over there and beat the crap out of that creep. He fought off that urge and stared out the diner window. But that didn't last long, and he had to take a few more discreet glances at Grant.
Edith brought Kent his plate of French Toast that also came with four slices of bacon, two slices of buttered toast. She set the plate in front of him with her usual warm smile then walked away to assist someone at the cash register.
Kent started eating his French Toast and that first bite brought back so many fond memories.
Kent was halfway through his breakfast and on his second cup of coffee when from the corner of his eye he saw Grant and Helen get up from their booth.
He glanced away and stared out his booth window and ate his breakfast.
It wasn't long before Grant and Helen walked outside by his window arm in arm.
A few more minutes had passed, and Kent finished his breakfast and headed off to the cash register.
He paid his eighty-five cents and left the dinner with Edith's famous, "Please revisit us."
"I will," said Kent and smiled back at Edith while he walked out of the diner.
Once he got outside of the diner, he headed across the dirt parking lot. But something caught his attention. It was the rear of a red 1957 T-Bird with a white hardtop, and it was nestled between two trees near the back of the diner.
He stopped. He knew that car, as he remembered taking a ride in that car when he was a kid. "What an asshole," he muttered, figuring Grant was doing the nasty with Helen. From the rear window, he could see Grant was inside but appeared to be alone. But then he saw blonde hair bob up and down from Grant's crotch. "I knew it. A blow job. He's getting a blow job," he said then he got an evil idea.
Kent gingerly walked up to the rear of the T-Bird. He paused for a second then he inched his way to the rear window of the hardtop. He could now see that Helen was, in fact, giving Grant a blow job. He reached over and gave the back window a hard knock.
He could see Grant jump up and wondered if she snapped down on his dick.
He ran away chuckling.
Inside the T-Bird, Grant fumbled while he pulled up and buckled his pants.
"Asshole!" yelled out Grant the second he got out of his T-Bird and saw this stranger chuckling while he was running away toward Route 12.
Kent ran down on the shoulder of the road still chuckling.
A little while later, he heard tires screeching from behind him. He listened to the sound of a car racing down the street in his direction.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw Grant's T-Bird racing after him on the shoulder. "Shit!" he cried out and drove into the grass seconds before Grant's T-Bird would have flattened him.
The horn of the T-Bird blew while it raced away go let Kent know Grant didn't appreciate what he did back there.
Kent stood up and smiled, knowing that he pissed Grant off. He brushed his pants off and continued his walk down Route 12, heading to the motor court.
Inside the T-Bird, Grant was chuckling about almost running Kent over.
"That wasn't very nice. You could have killed him, "said Helen.
"Oh, that asshole got what he deserved for banging on my rear window like that."
"I know, I almost chomped down on your dick," said Helen.
"See, he deserved that. I wasn't going to hit him, just scare him for a little payback."
"Okay," said Helen, then she reached over and started to massage his crotch. "Some more of this tomorrow?"
"You bet," said Grant and he continued his drive and headed to the Air Force base.
Ten minutes passed, and Kent got back to his motor courtroom and sat around bored.
Ten minutes had passed, and Kent was so bored being cooped up in that small room. He got up and left.
He headed off down on the shoulder of the road in the direction of the diner. He decided to check out some of the old homesteads.
While Kent walked down Route 12, he started to see some sights that began to look a little familiar.
He turned left onto Broadview Avenue.
While he walked down Broadview, he noticed that the clouds started to turn black and there was a storm on the horizon. But he felt that it wasn't a threat and heading off in another direction, so he kept on walking down Broadview.
After fifteen minutes of walking down Broadview, he recognized the Piggly Wiggly store his mom always shopped for groceries.
He got curious and headed off through the parking lot then to the front doors of that store. There was someone he hoped was here so he could catch a glimpse of her.
He went inside, stood near the entrance, and glanced around the store. The store felt familiar.
He decided to walk around the store to bring back some fond memories of shopping with his mom.
He walked down a few aisles then came down the one that was always his favorite. This aisle had the good stuff – cookies.
He glanced at the cookies then saw his favorite – Fig Newtons. He grabbed a box of Fig Newtons.
"That's my son's favorite," said a familiar-sounding female voice behind him.
He turned around, and his mouth almost dropped to the floor. Standing behind him a few feet away with a shopping cart was his mom. He stared in disbelief at how young and beautiful she was.
"My son loves Fig Newtons," she said while she grabbed a box of them off the shelf.
Kent was speechless and wanted to hug her but knew that if he did, he probably would get slapped and then arrested by his dad. "I also love them, and my mom would always buy them when I was a kid," he said.
"I bet our mom was the best mom in the world," said Brenda.
"Oh, she was. I mean, she still is," said Kent and still couldn't believe how beautiful she was as a young mom.
Brenda smiled at Kent then pushed her cart down the aisle.
Kent walked the opposite way down the aisle and headed off to the checkout lines.
He stopped and looked at the three checkout lines. He smiled when he spotted the individual he hoped worked today.
He headed off to the middle checkout lane where a teenage girl worked as the cashier.
When he got to her, he saw her "Angie" name tag.
"How are you today?" said Angie.
"I'm doing good," he said then the sound of a thunderclap was heard outside.
"Sounds like a nasty storm is coming our way," said Angie.
"Yes it does," said Kent and he started to look worried when he saw the black clouds outside from the storefront windows.
Angie rang up the Fig Newtons and put them in a small paper bag.
Kent paid for the Fig Newtons then he left Angie's lane after she gave him a warm smile.
What a nice girl. He thought while grabbed the paper bag and walked to the glass front door. He felt sorry for her.
The second Kent went outside the clouds started dumping rain all over Warner Robins.
Kent knew he couldn't walk back to the motor court, so he waited by the Piggly Wiggly front entrance since it provided shelter.
Fifteen minutes had passed, and the sky didn't look like it was going to stop pouring any time soon.
"Are you okay?" said Angie while she walked out of the store.
Kent turned around as that voice sounded familiar and saw Angie with a clear plastic rain bonnet covering her head and a raincoat.
"I don't have a car."
"Did you walk to the Piggly Wiggly?"
"Yes."
"Where do you live?"
"I'm staying at the Peach Tree Motor Court."
"That's not much of a home."
"I just arrived in town the other day."
"Well, I know where that place is," said Angie with a hint of a smile because that's where Grant would take her after she was done working at the Piggly Wiggly.
"I hope that won't take you out of your way."
"Oh no, it's on my way home to the base."
Kent thought if he should take her up on her offer. "That would be very nice," said Kent, as the sight of that storm looking like it would last a while changed his mind.
"I'll get my car, and I'll be right back," said Angie, and she rushed off into the rain.
While she headed off to her car, Kent glanced back at the store windows and saw his mom with her shopping cart full of paper bags. She was waiting inside the store for the rain to stop.
The sound of a car stopping was heard, and Kent saw a yellow and black fifty-seven Ford Fairlane stop near him. Angie was behind the wheel. She motioned for Kent to get inside.
Kent rushed through the rain and up to her Fairlane with his paper bag in hand. He opened up the passenger door and sat inside.
"I'm Angie Abbott," she said while she drove the Fairlane away.
"I know," he said, and she looked at him wondering how he knew that. "I mean, I know your name is Angie from your Piggly Wiggly name tag."
"Oh, yeah, silly me," she said with a girlish giggle. "What's your name?"
"Kent Hollister," he said then cringed thinking that maybe he should have made up a fake name.
"So Kent, where are you from? I don't think you're from around here since I've never seen you at the Piggly Wiggly before."
"Cambridge, Massachusetts."
"That's way far away," said Angie, then she turned out of the Piggly Wiggly parking lot and onto Broadview.
"Yes, it is."
"What brings you all the way down here?"
"Well," he said and hesitated. To find your killer. He wanted to say. "Well, I was thinking of moving back down here," he said. as that was the first thing that came in his head.
"Moving back? You lived here before. When?"
Kent had to think for a few seconds. "Back in the early thirties."
"Why did you leave?"
Kent looked at Angie and started to think this was a huge mistake. "My dad died, and mom wanted to move to be near her parents. So we moved to Cambridge."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said and patted Kent on his arm.
"Thanks. But that was twenty-one years ago."
"Do you have a girlfriend?" said Angie while she turned the Fairlane down another street.
"Ah, no, I don't," said Kent and her asking that question made him wish he had a girlfriend. But he tried a few times, but nobody wanted to date a shy janitor.
"I have a boyfriend," she said with love in her eyes, and Kent saw her lightly rub her belly. He knew what that meant.
"Does he go to your high school?"
"Oh no, he's a little older but so dreamy," she said with a sparkle in her eyes and loving smile.
Kent rolled his eyes.
Angie looked at Kent. "You know, I, ah, could be interested in dating you," said Angie and gave Kent a warm smile. "You know if I didn't have a boyfriend."
Kent looked at Angie's beautiful blue eyes and smile. "I would like that," he said and knew she was underage but still thought she would be a dream come true. "But I know you have a boyfriend."
It got quiet in the Fairlane while Angie turned the Fairlane down Route 12 and the storm showed signs of weakening.
Angie reached over and turned on the radio.
"And now here's Elvis' brand new song," said the DJ.
"Oh, I love that new Elvis song!" said Angie.
"Oh baby, let me be, your lovin' teddy bear," Angie sang out along with Elvis. She had a beautiful voice, and Kent was impressed.
He saw the Peach Tree Motor Court up ahead. "There's the motor court, up ahead."
The rain stopped so Angie turned off the wipers.
She turned into the parking lot.
"I'll get out here," he said.
She stopped the Fairlane.
"Thank you for the ride, Angie."
"Oh, you're welcome. I hope we'll run into each other soon."
"Oh, I'm sure we will," said Kent, then he opened up the car door and stepped outside with his paper bag. He gave Angie a little smile, then closed the door.
Angie drove off and tooted the horn.
She pulled the Fairlane on Route 12 and headed off to the Air Force base.
Kent walked off to his room with a smile, thinking that Angie was so sweet and adorable. She's way too sweet to die. He thought while he walked up to his room door and unlocked it.
He went back inside his room and took a little nap on the bed.
Kent woke up from his nap, and it was now five in the evening. His stomach growled.
He got off the bed and left his room.
He walked through the parking lot and headed down Route 12. He was going back to the Peach Tree Diner for supper.
When he got to the diner, Edith immediately seated him at the same booth he sat at this morning.
He ordered chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, cream corn, and a glass of refreshing sweet tea.
The diner was crowded this evening, and Kent glanced around the diner while he waited for his food. Some of the people eating there looked familiar, but he wasn't sure he knew them.
Edith brought him his dinner and sweet tea.
Kent ate supper and thought about Angie again.
After he was done and paid his supper bill, Kent left the diner and walked off through the parking lot and headed down Route 12.
Kent returned to his room at the motor court and retired for the evening. He fell fast asleep within ten minutes.
Kent started to dream…
In his dream, he saw the room where they kept Old Sparky. An unknown person was strapped to Old Sparky with that leather hood over the individual's head.
He looked around the room of people watching the execution. He didn't see his mom, dad, or Grant.
He wondered who was being executed.
One of the guards flipped the switch on the wall.
Volts of electricity flowed into this individual's body, and he violently shook.
"DADDY!" he cried out in his dream.
He heard the sound of a female crying and looked around the room.
There was a woman in a black mourning veil and large hat crying, but he couldn't see her face.
"Mom!" he cried out in his dream.
Back to reality…
Kent bolted up in a cold sweat. He glanced around the room, confused as to where he was. I'm in a motel room. He thought and realized he had a dream.
He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.