“Pancakes,” Eddie said. “Plenty of butter and syrup.” He took off the jacket and laid it on a stool and saw the little old lady sizing up his muscular arms. He thought, We need a name. He remembered the name of a classmate in metal class, Arnold Dykes. He said, “I’m Arnold Dykes and this is my wife Kay.” Kay for Karen. Karen glanced at him as if she hadn’t quite caught what he had said.

The little old lady shifted the pancake turner to her left hand, offered her right to the girl. “I’m Mrs. Mosby. You can call me Ellie if you’ve a mind. Kay’s a pretty name. You’re a right pretty girl, too.”

She seemed taken by Karen. Perhaps something in the girl’s hunted, exhausted look touched her. When the food was put before her, Karen ate it indifferently, almost mechanically; but Eddie noted that her color was better almost at once, that some of the dazed look went out of her eyes.

They were finishing a third cup of coffee when a couple of trucks pulled in next to the place and four truck drivers entered. They were big men, hungry as horses; Mrs. Mosby scurried around, chattering with them, and Eddie saw they were regulars, the kind she depended on to keep the café in business. He was surprised, then, when Karen got up and took all their dishes out to the kitchen, found a rag behind the counter, wiped up.

He caught her wrist across the counter. “Hey,” he said in a low tone, “you don’t have to do that.”

“I’d rather, than just sit.” She went back to the kitchen and came back with a blue apron tied around her middle. The truckers were showing signs of interest, and Mrs. Mosby was openly pleased.

“It wasn’t in the deal,” Eddie said stubbornly, standing up from the stool. Karen looked at him tiredly.

“I’ll make my own deal, then.” Suddenly tears stood in her eyes; her expression seemed weak and sick. “Oh, Eddie, let’s don’t quarrel. Things are too bad to add that along with the other. Let’s just be friendly.”

He shrugged. Mrs. Mosby was pleased, and Karen perhaps would have something to take her mind off their predicament. When Mrs. Mosby had served the truckers she led Eddie out behind the café. The restrooms were here at the back, and the sewer lines from them and from the kitchen drains lay exposed in the hard brown earth. She indicated where Eddie was to dig, and how deep.