Original Audio Story

Biscuits and Gravy

An original audio story

Written for Appaloosa Radio

It was Wednesday morning and that always meant a massive plate of biscuits and gravy at Dee’s Skillet, a breakfast joint on Highway 101. And it always meant that Jim would join him.

They had worked together on a construction job some twenty or so years ago. Both were electricians. Both had come to Silicon Valley to make the really good wages. Both loved NASCAR. Most importantly, both were from Texas. To be sure, one hailed from San Antonio and one grew up in Corpus Christi, but hell, that didn’t matter, they were both Texans!

And both were named Jim.

James Howard was the older and more massive of the two, standing well over six feet, three and weighing nearly 300 pounds. He was sometimes called “Big Jim.”

On the other hand, James Franklin had a well-trimmed silver beard, and a smaller frame, five and half feet and a fit 130 pounds. The other Jim sometimes called him, el pequeno.

There was a time a decade ago when they had lost track of each other. Then, one morning, they saw each other again in the Bel Air Supermarket. James Franklin had popped in to buy doughnuts for his church. James Howard had come to the Bel Air to buy the two essentials of his life, Coors beer and cigarettes. They had become even more essential since his wife Mandy had died.

It did not take the two Jims long to re-kindle their friendship. They agreed to meet the following Wednesday morning at Dee’s Skillet, a breakfast joint on Highway 101 that James Franklin frequented.