Emerald Wells Cafe and Pear Blossom Lane — Michael Friedman

People ask me where I am from. Since I was a Marine Corp brat, I tell them I am not from anywhere. If I could be from somewhere, it would be a place like Emerald Wells, Texas, just off the crossroads. Here you will find Earl in the kitchen of Emerald Wells Café. The owner's name is Emerald Wells, called Em by everyone in town. She does the waitressing.

Carl from Carl's Automotive stops in for breakfast every morning to say ‘Hey.' He sits on the stool at the end of the counter. He likes that Em pats his shoulder the first time she passes by. He also likes to watch Gabby the owner of Let's Dress Up as she rushes across the street from her shop to the Café for her morning coffee and whatever looks good in the glass-domed dessert tray.

The Café is the center of the world for Earl, Em, Carl, Dale the Sheriff who has known them all for their entire lives. The cast also include the Townsends whose place is out on the highway where they tend their orchards and Tom who is retired and bought the empty gas station at the turnoff to Emerald Wells and converted it first to his abode, then The Trading Post.

The group meets monthly and shares their writing in the form of poetry readings. They call the event, Speakeasy Night. They put on their go to meeting clothes, share their poetry, eat desserts and have a good time drinking special tea out of Em's Mom's china cups.

Earl, Carl, and Jimmy served as Marines in Korea. Jimmy did not come home; Army Captain Harold Tomlin was one second late arriving in his tank to save him. Harold shows up in Emerald Wells and is so taken with Em that a courtship begins.

What genre do you ask? It's a western. It's a poetry book. It's a romance. It's a food book. It's the lost biography of the USA. In my heart, I am from Emerald Wells.