Within a month, the diner had a new owner.
Chad Whitmore.
Thirty years old.
Ambitious.
And convinced he could improve everything.
***
The first thing Chad changed was the sign.
For decades, it had read:
*Gus’s Diner — Est. 1971 — Good food, fair prices.*
Gus had painted it himself.
One of the letters was crooked.
Nobody cared.
Chad replaced it with a sleek black sign.
*Rise & Grind.*
Underneath, in smaller letters:
*Artisan Breakfast Kitchen.*
Dale stared at it for almost a minute.
“What on earth is Rise and Grind supposed to mean?”
“Coffee, I think,” I answered.
He shook his head.
“Coffee’s coffee.”
Then he went inside.
Chad removed the paper menus and replaced them with QR codes.
Mr. Haugen spent five minutes holding his old flip phone toward the little square on the table.
Finally, he looked up at me.
“Bev, can you just tell me what kind of pancakes you’ve got?”
