feel_human | saturday night and the moon is out

Tucked away off the road in Bon Temps, there's a road house. Warm light spills from its windows, and the sound of a jukebox playing drifts out into the muggy Louisiana night. The regular assortment of trucks and Hail-Mary-please-keep-this-lemon-goin'-just-a-little-longer cars sit in the dirt parking lot; what amounts to about half the town's small population... or, at least, of those of the 'drinking age and above' persuasion.

Inside, it's a bar of the type scattered all across the American South: homey, no-nonsense. Booths and tables. A man in a plaid flannel shirt wiping the bar; a crossdresser in the kitchen singing Gospel hymns and rolling his hips in time with the words just to scandalize the prep cook. A handful of waitresses, bustling about.

Sookie makes her way briskly through it all, a tray balanced on her palm and her eyes kept stubbornly front, as voices swarm around her. Aloud, and... less so.

...I’m just going to have one beer tonight Jesus one beer that’s all...

...better not gripe about me eating fries not after what I did for him last night...

...I cannot wait to get the hell out of this podunk town...

"Well, make sure you do, and before it’s too late," she responds, thoughtless, to the young man. "Because every year you wait? You just get more and more stuck here. Believe me, I know."

He stares at her. So do his parents.

So does the other table. And she realizes, too little too late, that he hadn't said that out loud, not at all. She laughs, uncomfortable. "I’ll get y'all some ketchup," she says, brightly, and flees, ponytail swinging against the nape of her neck as she goes.

Stupid, Sookie, she chides herself. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

feel_human

Sizzle goes the sausage patties as she sets them into the pan, and the coffee maker beeps. Adele brushes her hands over her apron and goes to fill a mug, then sets it in front of him with a smile. "Milk is in the fridge," she tells him. "And sugar is on the counter, just there."

Going back to the stove, she picks up the thread of the conversation. "Well, I don't know as there's not something to be said for the freedom to roam about," she muses. "I imagine your family must be quite scattered, then."

From:

gavemea_45

"Thanks." He gets up and takes the milk from the fridge, adds a dollop to his mug, then puts it back before resuming his seat.

"I'm - um, it's only the three of us," he says. It'd be easier to just lie his way through it, but he's already told Sookie so much of the truth. "Me, my brother, and our dad."

From:

feel_human

"Oh, I see."

No one could ever fault Adele Stackhouse's manners; she takes this information and says, kindly: "Well, I have never been out to Kansas, but I expect there's a good amount of interestin' country between here and there. Sookie mentioned you've been traveling."

She cracks a few eggs into the pan and goes to a cupboard to get a plate, setting it near the pan to warm through. "Have you had any favorite places, so far?"

From:

gavemea_45

"St. Louis is pretty nice. And Chicago." He stops to take a sip of coffee. "But I like smaller towns, too. Usually we - I - stick to the side roads and state highways rather than the interstates, or anything like that."

From:

feel_human

"Well, now, doesn't that sound like an adventure?" She fixes herself a cup of coffee, then comes to switch off the stovetop and plate the sausage and eggs. Retrieving some silverware and a pressed cloth napkin, she sets the plate and utensils in front of Sam, smiling, then takes her own seat at the table.

"Well, I'm glad you decided to stop in Bon Temps last night. And I certainly hope you'll enjoy your stay in our little town."

From:

gavemea_45

"I am too," Sam tells her, earnestly, as he picks up the fork. "And I'm sure I will."

He pauses to take a bite of sausage and egg together and is nearly stunned by the flavor.

"Mrs. Stackhouse, this is amazing."

From:

feel_human

"Oh," she tuts, but her smile is warm and pleased. "It's nothing but a little farm sausage and some fresh eggs. But I'm glad you like it. I'll mix up some biscuits in a moment, after I've had some of my coffee."

From:

gavemea_45

"It's really good," he promises. Sam wages a short war with himself and loses. "I should tell you not to go to the trouble, but I don't know when I've last had homemade biscuits. So instead I'm just going to say thank you."

From:

feel_human

"Bless you," Adele chuckles. "It's no trouble, I make them most mornings. And there's nothing quite like a fresh, hot biscuit with your coffee. Now, you tell me."

The look she gives him, satisfied and warm, is deeply reminiscent of her granddaughter. "Isn't this more civilized than a motel?"

From:

gavemea_45

"Yes, ma'am, it is," Sam says. His smile is abashed, but bright. "You were right."

From:

feel_human

Adele beams back at him and nods to his plate. "Well, you just eat up. Young man like you needs a good square meal to start the day off right."

She sips at her coffee for a few more moments, relaxing and letting him eat, before getting up to turn on the oven and putter around the kitchen for her ingredients. "Are you travelin' for any particular reason, or just for the fun of it?"

From:

gavemea_45

He doesn't waste time before starting back in on his breakfast, washing it down with small sips of coffee between bites.

"I'm working my way cross-country," he tells her. "I start college in the fall."

From:

feel_human

"Well now!" Adele sifts flour and dry ingredients into her old stoneware mixing bowl, then cuts lard into them. "That is just wonderful. I think a good education is so important."

It never was in the stars for Sookie, poor thing, though she's plenty bright enough for it, and Jason, well. Who knows what might have happened, if he hadn't been injured in high school?

From:

gavemea_45

It's hard to think about just how much happier both Adele and Sookie had been for him than his own family had. Sam takes another swallow of coffee to drive away the lump in his throat.

"Yes, ma'am. I had an English teacher who always said the same thing."

From:

feel_human

"Well, good for you for listenin'." She mixes buttermilk into the ingredients and dusts flour over the countertop. "The opportunities you young people have these days are just marvelous. And it's not everyone can take advantage of 'em."

She turns the dough out onto the flour and molds it into a ball, then rolls it out into a thick, soft oval before she folds it into thirds and rolls it out again. "You must be a man with some ambitions."

From:

gavemea_45

"I want to be a lawyer," Sam admits, watching as she does magic things with her hands and the dough she's making. He finishes off the last bite of sausage and eggs and takes up the coffee again.

From:

feel_human

Out comes her old biscuit cutter, and she busies herself cutting out the soft, flat circles and setting them on the baking sheet. "A lawyer, fancy that! You must be a real bright young fella, but then, you certainly look it."

She smiles over at him and transfers the sheet of biscuits into the oven, then sets the timer. "Can I warm that coffee up for you?"

From:

gavemea_45

He ducks his head at the compliment, a little awkward with it, then gives her a sweet answering smile. "Yes please, ma'am, thank you."

From:

feel_human

A light step sounds on the stairs as Adele pours more hot coffee into his mug, and Sookie appears in the doorway in the next moment, her eyes still a little dark and dopey with sleep. "I smell coffee," she says, with a crooked little smile. "And biscuits. Mornin', Gran."

Adele beams at her as she settles back into her seat, and as Sookie comes to drop a kiss onto her upturned cheek. "Mornin', honey," she says, fondly.

Sookie pours herself a cup of coffee and doctors it, then leans against the counter. Her glance tracks to Sam's empty plate, and her smile widens. "Mornin' to you, too, Sam. I see Gran's got you started already."

From:

gavemea_45

"She sure has," Sam agrees, smiling warmly back at her. "Good morning, Sookie. Did you sleep okay?"

From:

feel_human

"Pretty well, thanks."

Her own smile turns a little shy, but she hides it behind her coffee.

"I like to see a man with an appetite," Adele declares. "Sookie, you oughta show young Mister Winchester around the town today. You don't have to go in to work right away, do you?"

Sookie shakes her head. "No," she confirms. "I'm closin' tonight. I don't have to be in 'til the dinner shift."

From:

gavemea_45

"If you want to," Sam adds, hastily. "I mean, I'd like that--"

He would, he really would, and he hopes that his sincerity comes across somehow.

"--but I don't want to be any trouble."

From:

feel_human

"'Course I do. Didn't I say so yesterday?" It comes out a little softer than she'd meant it to, and she puts a little briskness into her voice as Adele watches her over her coffee mug.

"But I got a few chores to take care of first. You don't mind, do you, Sam?"