Around lunchtime, he saw one of the farmers sitting quietly with untouched eggs.
“What’s wrong with him?” Chad asked me.
“He’s having a difficult year,” I said. “Milk prices are down.”
“How do you know?”
“He hasn’t touched his breakfast.”
Chad looked at the man for a long moment.
That afternoon, instead of returning to his office, he sat across from the farmer.
He didn’t say much.
He simply listened.
A week later, the farmer received an anonymous envelope in his mailbox.
Chad never mentioned it.
And I never asked.
***
Over the following months, the diner changed again.
The modern sign came down.
Gus’s original hand-painted sign returned.
The crooked letter stayed crooked.
Underneath, Chad added a small wooden plaque.
*Ask for Bev.*
Paper menus came back.
Coffee refills became free again.
The Farmer’s Breakfast returned at a reasonable price.
And Tanner learned to make gravy the old-fashioned way.
