Dixie

Dixie ain't had it easy, no one would disagree. Her parents were well-known figures at the Catfish Creek Baptist Church, loud worshippers who sometimes spoke in tongues which was always entertaining. But Dixie, she was different, always sitting primly in a pew, her hands clasped on her lap but her blue eyes watching everybody act the fool.

She stopped coming to church after that god-awful accident on the farm. Her parents weren't even cold in the ground before she showed up at the Big Boy, asking for a job. Bless her heart, of course the manager hired her, but today he regretted it.

Dixie's shift started alright, and there was even a cute person that she'd never see before, eating alone. She didn't get to wait on them, but their eyes met hers once for a second, and the person gave her a smile. Smiles aren't something Dixie is used to, and she vows to hold the memory of that kind smile in her heart forever.

Unfortunately the smile must have been bad luck, because an hour later she was fired.

Dixie just wants to go home and crawl into bed and think of nice smiles. Extremely worried about her future, Dixie slips into her car and attempts to start it, but it just made a weird metal-grating sound. She tries several more times with the same result. Her stomach in knots, Dixie hops out of her car and raises the hood. "Oh my gosh, what am I thinking?" She doesn't know the first thing about cars. As she stares at the engine, Dixie's bottom lip begins to quiver. She's out of a job, so worried about everything, and now with no way home. The bus stopped over an hour ago, and it is 12 miles to the farmhouse. Dixie buries her face in her hands, crying so hard that she almost didn't hear the clearing of a throat just behind her.

Dixie whirls around - it's the owner of the kind smile! A knight in shining armor, just like in the romance novels! Nervously, Dixie wipes her eyes and hugs herself, hoping she appears nonchalant. "H-Hello," she says between hiccups, "Thank you…thank you for smiling at me earlier. It was so… so n-nice of y-you."