These stories take place in Flinton, Indiana, an imaginary town about 40 miles south and east of Terre Haute.
The time is whenever.
It's the people who matter.
* * * * *
Lacy Dickman has five children, all of whom were fathered by a different man who happened to be just passing through. She mostly didn't know their last names, so all of her children bear her last name. A matriarch in the making.
The Dickman Sisters in birth order, born in consecutive years:
- Twyla Faye
- Nyla Raye
- Hyla Kaye
- Lyla Jaye
And by the way, they have one brother: Billy Junior. Now he wasn't Billy Dickman, Junior. That would imply he had a father named Billy Dickman, which he didn't. So he was Billy Junior Dickman, and according to Lacy that gave him some kind of dignity. Lord knows he had to get it somewhere because he sure as heck didn't generate it on his own.
Then there's Lu Ellen Dickman, Lacy's fraternal twin born just minutes before Lacy was born and always, in Lacy's mind, the older one. Lu Ellen was as fair as Lacy was dark, and she was about as exciting as oatmeal.
May Belle Rooney has lived across the street from the Dickmans all of her life and knows more about them than any other person ought to and surely more than she cared to, but there you are. Miz Rooney is nice as she can be, with a wry sense of humor and a sharp eye. What she knows she keeps to herself. Lyla thinks she's writing a tell-all book. Maybe she is and maybe she isn't.
The best place to go in Flinton for good food and good company is Cady's Grill, which everyone just calls The Grill, a diner owned by the Cady family since 1902.
Most of these stories are about those girls, but even a rag-tag complement of fatherless girls has a history, and their Lacy's was enough to tell a lifetime of stories.
Lacy and Lu Ellen were born to Ada Peck and Major Dickman, who were forced into marriage by Ada's daddy Jake when they weren't more than children themselves, being as a girl simply could not have a child out of wedlock in the Peck family. Jake Peck was rich; Major Dickman was poor; Ada's blood ran hot, and there you are: trouble in as a tidy a package it ever comes.
If you want to know more, stop by the Grill, have yourself a tuna melt with a side of deep-fried dill pickles and the best sweet iced tea in all of Indiana. Pay attention. The stories will stop by your table and stay as long as you're willing to listen.
