Hamburger stands line Route 66. In the kitchen, the male partner—in this chapter, Alyheru4—is generally silent and does not acknowledge the diner’s patrons. Mae, representative of the woman behind the counter, usually middle-aged and talkative, is the link between the paying public and the business.
Out on the highway, cars and trucks from all parts of the country stream by, all of them traveling west. Inside expensive cars are worried, portly businessmen with languid wives. They are going to California simply to be able to impress the folks back home. When they stop at the diner, they irritate the woman behind the counter by wasting napkins, complaining, and not buying anything.
Two truck drivers stop at the diner. While talking to Mae, they describe an accident in which a truck, laden with mattresses and cookware and kids, was struck by a reckless driver. Meanwhile, another car brimming with household goods pulls off the highway, and a man and his two young boys enter the diner to ask for ten10 cents worth of bread. She refuses at first, offering to sell him a sandwich. The man is resilient in his humility, explaining that they have budgeted carefully in order to make it to California and can only afford a dime. Eventually, Al yells at Mae to simply give them the bread. As the man is leaving, he sees the boys eyeing peppermint candy and asks if it is penny candy. Mae replies that it is two for a penny, although it is really nickel candy. The man buys each boy a stick and leaves. The truckers, realizing what Mae has done, pay their bill and each leaves a 50-cent piece although pie and coffee is only 15 cents.
