Characters were always a large part of Fred's News. Aside from food, conversations, ambiance and anything else quirky, the Cast of Characters definitely stood apart from the millions of ordinary folks that inhabit this tiny planet in the endless wonders of the universe. Or perhaps the uniqueness of the place brought out the "best" in all that passed through its door. Much like "you have entered the twilight zone" just quirky strange, not scary strange but then what's scary for one may not be the same scary for another.Let's just say, no two people were ever the same! Praise Jesus on that one!
Frenchy the wood chopper whose soul is one that now roams aimlessly throughout the heavens, was a tad bit pass the halfway mark to becoming an eccentric. I use the word eccentric because relatively wealthy people who are somewhat off their rocker are called eccentrics. Had he not amassed a small fortune we would simple refer to him as a" friggan nut." We enjoyed visits from Frenchy, as did all the morning regulars. A woodcutter by trade, a gambler at heart, Frenchy loved to hunt. The first morning we saw him in full hunting regalia he looked more like a foreign mercenary fighter than a deer hunter. Can't imagine how many shots he thought it would take to bring down a nice buck, but the ammo belts he wore draped over his shoulders suggested he was ready to tackle "big game". Frenchy had a way of explaining things like no one else. As a much younger person he had lost an eye while cutting down a tree. He now sported a glass eye, allowing him to look like the great beast slayer that he envisioned only in HIS imagination. Frenchy announced he would no longer hunt after one of the "wild beast"(Bambi) had managed to sneak up on his blind side, scaring the crap out of him. Frenchy tripped over a log, fell to ground, almost shot his foot off and let the "big one" get away. "Time to hang up the ammo belt" he announced!
Old Red from Scotland another outspoken character, visited Fred's often during his life. Another who passed much too soon, he was an eccentric by nature. I do mean nature......he loved the earth and grew some of the most beautiful plants, especially cacti. Red was a wealth of information, with his scraggly white hair hanging from beneath his hillbilly cap, and oh how he loved his land. Red reminded me of an early settler to this country, strong on ideals, quick tempered, kind of heart who spoke with love affection about his family but spared the kindness with those he perceived as his enemies.
When it came to cemeteries, old head stones and their history, our resident historian was Fred Fredette. Ironically, he too hailed from the small town of Scotland, just up the road a piece! Fred, already close to retirement age was a wealth of knowledge. He loved anything old, including himself. A character in his own right any "antique picker" would of gladly given his right arm, to enter into the world of Fred's collectibles. Still in the old wooden crates in which it was shipped, was an old Model T, never assembled, all original pieces. I am not sure what happened to this much desired antique, but I do know Fred had a brother and sister-in-law that confiscated many of his antiques, as he lay in a coma. Their thought process: Fred would never survive, he had no heirs, rightfully they would be theirs. Fred defied the odds, surviving. When he realized what they had done he was livid! He sold his remaining properties, what little was left of his antiques, heading to southern Arizona in search of new surroundings, people and as far away from his brother as he could get! Knowing Fred he still lives all though I have never heard otherwise!
Not many will remember Teddy, his eccentricities were many. Hailing from Windham, up the road from Scotland, his artistic talents were known to many yet his strange behaviors were definitely the talk of the town. Teddy never talked much about his father, but his devotion to his mother and his memories of her were almost self-consuming. Teddy, although he never admitted it seemed to suffer from paranoia, going so far as to paint all the windows in his house BLACK, just in case "the nosey ones" might be peeking in. Yet despite the fact that he had a pet goat, a craggy old dog that was as mangy as him, an extremely weird nature and well past the left of of center, I liked him. He had an infectious laugh that opened up that rough and deranged looking exterior and a very wicked sense of humor. Occasionally he would arrive with an older woman in her early eighties, introducing her as his cousin. Rumor was this woman was his lifelong on again off again companion. After sharing only a few conversations with her, it was easy to see they shared many of the same quirky and outlandish personality trait. I feel very good at putting the "girlfriend" thing to rest, only the same strange genes would produce these family traits!
Seems some of our most memorable characters were men, less we forget about Millie. A strange woman, made even stranger by years of alcohol abuse. She had a beautiful home at one time, was married to a man who also consumed enormous amounts of alcohol and also raised a child. A sad story but at times Millie's problems just made you smile. I am sure her inner demons wanted out just as much as she wanted to rid herself of them. She tried holding down a job, hoping that work would not only help her financially but keep her mind off of drinking. Working at a local egg farm, she was allowed or so she thought she was allowed to take a few eggs a week. In all actuality it was one dozen per week. Millie immediately came into Fred's News, using the eggs as a bartering tool for a cup of coffee. Although we had given her many "free" cups, he felt this was her way of paying and upholding what little dignity she had left. This continued for a few weeks but Millie was also confiscating eggs in her pockets. She arrived early one morning, totally inebriated, asking for a cup of coffee and one egg with toast. As I handed her the cup of coffee, she teetered, turning abruptly, she slammed into the large column that was a support beam in the building. The coffee cup went flying, the saucer went in the other direction but Millie, with face slammed into the wooden column, outstretched her arms on either side of column catching both pieces, one in each hand before they crashed to the floor. I questioned, "my God Millie, are you okay?" Dazed and somewhat confused, she reached in her pockets, pulling out crushed eggs, "maybe you'd better cancel my order," she announced with very slurred speech, " I have just lost all my purchasing power!" Seems she had been confiscating more eggs than allowed. With that she left the restaurant, sadly we never enjoyed Millie's company again.
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