Summary

“The Phantom Brakeman”

Joey and Mary Alice’s father always gave them twenty-five cents apiece before their annual trip to Grandma Dowdel’s. They discover that they could buy five Nehis, an orange pop, during their visit. They go to the Coffee Pot Café to buy the Nehis. The kids were 13 and 11 that summer. Mary Alice had discovered tap dancing and was likely to tap dance down the street.

The first afternoon they are at Grandmas, they go down to the Coffee Pot Café to buy a Nehi. There are only a couple of customers, Mrs. Ike Cripe, the proprietress, and a girl working the counter. The girl is skinny and pale as a ghost. When the girl comes by Mary Alice’s table, they fall into a murmuring conversation; Joey assumes it is girl talk. Suddenly, they see a women pull up front riding a...