The Booth In the Back

The Booth In The Back

"You used to be able to buy a lot with ¢25 and Mama says there are a lot of people out there who would view that quarter as a miracle.  Odie would be as happy as a clam with that quarter; he'd make me take him to the grocery store so that he could put it into the little gum ball machine and get himself a little treat.  But-and I feel guilty about this, I do, because of all those really bad off people in the world- at the end of the day, after all of those long hours of work and torment and running to and fro, when I open up the little check book and see he only left me a  ¢25 tip (AGAIN) I feel so angry I almost want to kill him."

Carolina Mathers is a genuinely good person.  She works hard, tries not to complain too much and takes care of everyone around her.  Her Mama's dying, with not too much time left, her older brother "Odie" has the mental capacity of a six year old, her friend Kendra is a single mother completely and utterly unlucky in love, Redford, the only person in the male species actually willing to talk to her, got mugged and beaten to a pulp and Alexandar Corona is back in town causing her trouble and only leaving her a quarter for all her hard work.  She's the girl with too much ambition and far too much disappointment.

He never thought he'd ever come back to this small, one horse town, but his mother died and someone needed to take care of his kid brother.  Alexandar never thought he'd find himself back in Lola's dinner eating his Italian meatball sandwich and drinking his three and a half cups of coffee, but there he is and he certainly isn't happy about it.