Meanwhile, Abel Moses, another storekeeper of Cole, was leading quite a different life.
Abel lived in the old house he was brought up in, now badly in need of repair. However, he could not afford repair. He could hardly afford anything.
Abel managed a small store behind his house (the front of the store was on the side street of the house), and had seen better times. Most of his customers were the old people of the faded neighborhood, and black children who ran errands for their parents. Every now and then he would see customers his late parents had in earlier days, due to the store being open from seven in the morning until six in the evening (sometimes, when Abel was drunk).
Every afternoon, Abel and his best friend, Sam Buggs (nicknamed "Captain Sam") would drive to the City Cafe and have coffee. While Abel and Sam were gone, Abel left the store in the hands of Lillian Bates, a young black lady who was Abel's maid, cook, and occasional mistress.
Abel walked through the back yard, opened the door, and entered the store. He turned on the television, and walked to a table behind the counter. Under the table was a pint of whiskey, half full. Abel opened the bottle, took a large gulp, tightly recapped the bottle, and put it back in its place.
A key was heard in the front door. Through the dirty window, Abel could see Captain Sam, who opened the door, propped an empty Coca-Cola case to hold it open, and walked it.
"Good morning, Abel," the white haired, stooped old man said.
"Howdy, howdy!" Abel shouted. "C'mon in!"
Even though he was poor and struggling, Abel had a senser of humor and was, even at his drunkest moments, very amusing to the townspeople.
"I'm waiting for the milk truck any minute," Abel said.
"It's Sunday, Abel. Ain't no milk truck coming in today!"
"You're crazy," Abel replied. "It couldn't be Sunday. Lillian didn't stop by last night!"
"You're so drunk you don't even know what day it is!" Sam said.
Abel sat on one of the orange crates he used for a chair, and pondered.
"I'll be switched!" Abel said. "That damn nigger stood me up! Where the hell was she?"
Sam arose, and went to the table behind the counter. He got the bottle of whiskey, and took it to Abel.
"Medicine," said Sam, "--take it!"
Throughout the day, what few customers Abel had were either black children running errands for their parents, or teenagers of all backgrounds who bought cigarettes there when no other store would sell them to the under aged. When they laughed at Abel, he laughed with them.
"Hey, Abel," called out Sam Baker from his car, "you got any beer for sale?"
"No," replied Abel. "Haven't sold beer here in years. Try somewhere else!"
"Shit!" replied Sam, "You know I can't get any beer anywhere else on a Sunday!"
"Sorry," Abel said, as he stumbled back into the store.
"Speaking of liquor," Captain Sam said, "It's gettin' kinda dry in here. I might have some of the hard stuff at home."
"Good!" Abel replied. "Go get it!"
While Captain Sam was gone, Abel daydreamed about some of his more prosperous relatives. Maybe, he thought, had his parents set up shop in a better part of town, he'd be better off. Then, again, he had several cousins who had left Cole and made better lives for themselves in other towns and cities. Abel had thought about doing that, but, somehow, alcohol always got in the way.
Abel had many relatives, none of them close.
There was Josiphene Knapp Michael who, by day, was the hardworking manager of Knapp Food Store. Her husband, Eli, managed a small farm. Their marriage, after ten years, was all but finished.
Evenings, Josiphene changed from her weary dress into something more appealing, let down her long black hair, and stepped out with Nicholas Abraham, a forty year old, handsome "man about town." They didn't seem to carethat everybody knew they were having a fling, and Eli stayed too drunk to care.
Josiphene's brother, George, was an insurance agent and very active in numerous civic and social circles in Cole. His lovely but shy wife, Helen, was also in the limelight more often than she sometimes cared to be. She knew, at least for the sake of George's popularity, that she'd have to keep up the pace, however.
There were also Thomas Moses and his big bottomed wife, Mary Kay, who owned and operated the Cole branch of Sunflower Food Store.
Thomas and Mary Kay and their three children, William, Martha, and Steve, seemed "uppity" to the less conservative children of Ellis Kazan whose antics, particularly Bill's, made the Moses children envious. Mary Kay kept her children on the "straight and narrow," and folks sometimes wondered when or if they'd rebel.
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