Molly selected a table by the window so they could watch the airplanes take off and land; only there weren’t any taking off and landing. The waitress appeared and handed menus to Molly and her father. Molly looked at the young woman and said, “It’s hot in here. Don’t you have any air conditioning?

“Honey, we do, but it’s shut off. The—”

“Power is reduced because the wind generators are only spinning at half speed due to a low wind velocity. The power people are redirecting power to the important places and they have decided this place isn’t important.” Molly smiled and folded her arms across her chest.

The waitress gasped and leaned close to Molly. “Little lady, you need to be careful about criticizing the Power Commission. You never know who might be listening. We can run the refrigerators and lights but not the air conditioner. We cook with gas so that isn’t a problem. Now, what do you and your father want to eat?”

After studying the menu, Molly ordered fried chicken, fresh corn on the cob, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy and lemonade. Her father ordered the same with coffee. As the young lady wrote the order on the pad, a voice summoned her to the kitchen. She returned to the table shaking her head from side to side. “I’m sorry. There isn’t any chicken or corn. We ran out. We have green beans and potatoes. You’ll need to order another type of meat. We have sausage, wieners, ham and fish.”

Both Molly and her father ordered cured ham with pineapple sauce then Molly asked, “Why don’t you have chicken?”

“It has something to do with power or that is what I heard.” The waitress went to the kitchen.

When the food arrived, the waitress said, “This is your lucky day. This is the last of the ham. You two got the last two slices.”

“Why is that?” Molly asked.

“Well, I suppose it won’t hurt to tell you. Everyone around here knows about it and it’s the talk of the town. Roger Felstrom, the owner of this place, has three more restaurants. He and his two brothers own a big farm in corn country up north. They raise hogs—well they did raise hogs until a few weeks ago—and beef cattle. They also have a meat packing plant where they processed the meat for their restaurants and some other independent cafes—uh—that is until a few weeks ago too.”

“What happened?” Marvin asked.

“The federal ethanol boys found out that Roger was feeding his corn to the hogs and cattle instead of selling it to the fuel processing plant. He didn’t a have a permit to feed the corn to his livestock and they shut him down. They cut all of the new crop and hauled away all the older corn that he had in storage. They cut off the electricity to his farm because he didn’t have the right kind of energy permits. The Agriculture Department honchos took all of his animals and it looks like he will have to close the restaurants.”

Molly looked at her father and said, “Daddy look what you have caused with all the energy stuff you have pushed.”

“Be quiet Molly, it’s for the good of everyone. The planet is being saved. If Mr. Felstrom had followed the rules, none of that would have happened to him. Permits are the way we do business now.”

The waitress looked at Dimwiddy with disbelief written all over her. “Are you one of those save the planet nuts? If I had known that I wouldn’t have let you order.”

“Now you looky here young lady, I—”

“No you looky here mister. Your kind is ruining this country. Now you eat and get out of here.” She turned and stomped off without saying another word, only to come back and lay the check on the table.

Marvin looked at the check and gulped. “This is highway robbery. Our dinners cost forty-five dollars. I want to see the manager.”

The man behind the counter ambled over and said, “I’m the manager. What’s the problem?”

 “This is the problem,” Marvin said, pointing to the check. “Forty-five dollars for two ham meals is outrageous. You need to be reported for gouging.”

“Sir, I understand you’re upset, but I can’t help it. See that on the wall over there,” the manager said, indicating a sign behind the cash resister.

“I see it. What about it?”

“Read it.”

Marvin read it and looked up at the manager. “You mean to tell me that going green with alternative power has caused the water bills, the electric power and the natural gas prices to increase that much?”

“Yes sir, that’s what’s happening and it’s going to get worse. Food costs keep going up and up. We have to buy meat from the commercial packers now and it costs a fortune due to the corn going to ethanol production. The screwballs that dreamed that one up sure don’t know much.”

All Marvin could do was look glum. Molly suppressed a smile. “Let’s go,” a dejected Marvin said to his daughter. “Saving the planet wasn’t supposed to be this way.”

“What did you say, Daddy?”

“Nothing.”

(To be continued.)

    © 07-03-2008 DEC