Bonnie and Clyde

January 2nd, 1930

I wasn’t always the glamorous fugitive Bonnie Parker, believe it or not. In fact, before I met Clyde, I lived with my mother and two siblings: my older brother John and my younger sister Rachel and worked in the little rundown restaurant across from our house.

We were always poor; presently we lived in the poorest area of Dallas: Cement City, or as it’s called by the population and those around us, the Devil’s Back Porch.

I never had many friends growing up, being short, shy and sickly. All the people back home in Rowena were massive- five foot ten and taller. I was always frightened of such people.

I’m only four foot eleven inches tall, but my uncle Jeb always said I was as strong as a race horse. God rest his soul. He was a gangster, as I found out when I was sixteen. Wanted in four states, no less.

I found him shot dead in the front yard the day after my seventeenth birthday. The look of rage on his face is emblazoned into my brain even now.

I’ve been through a lot in my lifetime; I was born in Rowena, Texas, where my father died of cancer when I was three years old, Ma had just had Rachel and John was going on seven. I was sickly as a child, which is why I am so small. Having no father to support us, we never had money to get medicine. After he died, we moved up here to live with my grandparents. They were poor, but good people.

I did get completely well at fourteen, however, and that next summer I married Ned Mitchell, who was a terrible abusive husband. He was jailed for the murder of three people when we were sixteen, and I never saw him again because I up and left him.

We lived real far off from my ma then. She lived up in Livingston after Granny and Grandpa died, and Ned and I moved up to the Back Porch. After I left Ned, I brought ma and them up to live with me. Today, I’m nineteen years old and have no desire to marry again, for I still bear scars from where Ned beat me…

“Bonnie? We got customers.” My friend Billie told me. I glanced up from my notebook that I was writing in to see tables full of people.

Billie was real pretty, she was tall and thin, with curled blonde hair and crystal clear aquamarine eyes. She, like me, also wanted to be a Hollywood starlet. I wanted to be a movie star, and Billie wanted to be a singer. She has an alto’s soulful voice, and she’s the envy of the town.

She worked with me, and she was headed for two little tables that were occupied by families, who from what I could see, were passersby from other cities much larger than modest Dallas.

I got a real big table. There were six men and one girl about my own age. One of the boys really stuck out to me, though. He was pretty good looking, with sparkling, devilish hazel eyes and chestnut hair. He smiled at me, and I tried to hide my blushing cheeks as I went to greet them.

“Evenin’, y’all. I’m Bonnie and I’ll be helping y’all out today. What can I get for your drinks?” I said with a friendly smile.

“Hey, sugar. I’ll have a bottle of your nicest beer. Then whatever them fools want.” The handsome fellow told me. His eyes danced merrily when he looked at me. I liked his voice. It was low and husky, dripping with charisma. I thought I might be speaking to an actor if it weren’t for the fact that we were in the poorest little town this side of Texas.

“Just a sweet tea for me please, ma’am.” The girl said. The other men just wanted booze along with their handsome friend.

I jotted the order down and hurried to the kitchen where Emma Brown, another waitress, handed me the bottles of booze from the ice box, along with several cups.

She was young and shy, and she much preferred waiting in the back and helping the others with their orders. It’s quite efficient this way, and word of mouth travels fast in a small town. We get tons of customers both locally and as far away as New Mexico.

I poured a glass of sweet tea and headed back to the table with my very heavy tray. “Here are your beers, gents, and your sweet tea. Here I’ll just leave a small pitcher for you here. We’re awfully busy tonight.” I said with a laugh.

“Actually I think we’re ready to order our meals.” The hazel eyed boy said.

“Oh, alright.” I answered with a grin.

“I’ll take the steak and taters, and some of them refried beans. In fact, we’ll all have that. I’m payin’ too. Put it under Clyde Barrow.”

“Yessir. Thank you kindly. Folks like y’all usually ain’t able to pay so much. Money’s terribly hard to come by these days.” I told him, after jotting down: steak, taters and beans 6x on my notepad.

“I thought I would help y’all out a little bit.” Clyde said, winking.

“Well, me and the boss sure appreciate it. My name’s Bonnie Parker.” I answered.

“How’d you like to come over sometime, Bonnie? Me and the boys will be there too and we can play cards or have ourselves a little bonfire or something.” Clyde offered.

“I would love to! I’m free tomorrow, it’s a Saturday. Maybe then?” I answered.

“I ain’t got nothing to do.” Clyde said.

I smiled at him, then I turned on my heel and went to the kitchen. I handed my note to Emma, who ran to the cook and started helping.

In the meantime, I went about my duties. I waited on two other tables, but I found my eyes always wandered back to Clyde Barrow.

When their order was finally ready, they were the only party still at the restaurant, save for one lonely old man in the back. I carried their order out, and Billie took the other tray of theirs.

I passed out plates and all six of them started eating heartily, as if it had been their first real supper in days. From the way Clyde was dressed, I suspected he was a merchant. He had nicer clothes than his fellows. The others, however, must be poor beggars.

I cleaned up the last of the tables and helped Billie with the dishes. Clyde and his friends seemed to be having a grand old time. How I wished I could join…

“Hey Buck, call that pretty girl over here.” Clyde said, none too quietly.

“I reckon that’s you, Bonnie.” Billie said coyly. I smiled and then turned and went to their table.

“You called for me?” I asked, laughing.

“You’re darn right I did, girl!” Clyde said. He laughed after the fact.

“You off now? Maybe we could go driving. I wanna get to know you.” Clyde asked.

“Well now, I barely even know you, Clyde. You could be a killer for all I know.” I said, grinning at him.

“Well, how bout we go down to the bar and you let me buy you a couple drinks?” Clyde said.

“Sounds fabulous! I haven’t had a drink in forever.” I giggled.

“Bonnie, babe, if you’re gonna be friends with us, that’ll change real quick.” Clyde said, patting my hand.

I liked him. And I liked how he called me babe and sugar even though we just met.

“Can y’all wait up a while? I gotta get out of my work clothes. I’ll be right back. Billie will ring you up. ” I said.

Hearing her name, Billie came from the kitchen. Our eyes met. “Hot date tonight?” She whispered.

“Darn right.” I whispered back. Clyde winked back at me. Butterflies rose in the pit of my stomach as I smiled at him and turned to change clothes.

I went to the back room, it was a closet with cabinets for the workers to put their belongings. I reached into my cloth bag and took a sapphire blue past-the-knee skirt and a lacy black blouse. A nice pair of high heeled shoes were in my cupboard too, I bought them after saving up for two years. They were black, and normally I only wore them to church, but I had a feeling I ought to take them to work today.

I hastily got dressed, touched up my makeup and grabbed my purse. I put the cloth bag in my handbag, along with my other things that I brought with me to work.

Clyde and Billie were talking, he’d already paid; it seemed and was waiting for me. “I’m ready, Clyde.” I said, hurrying to meet him.

“You look gorgeous, babe.” Clyde said in that low, charming voice that gave me butterflies.

“Thank you. Will the others be joining us? I’d like to meet them too.” I asked.

“Well, I was thinking this time it could just be you and me. You’re real pretty and I’d like for you to be my girlfriend. Tomorrow’s Saturday, and presuming you don’t have to work weekends, we’ll get together and play cards, maybe have a few drinks and talk. Then maybe I could talk you into going for a drive.” Clyde said with a smile.

I trusted him. He seemed like everything I wanted in a partner. “Maybe you can. Or we can go driving now and get a drink before we head home for the night.” I answered.

“It’s like you read my mind, babe. Let’s do it. The other fools already went home anyhow. We’ll have the car to ourselves.” Clyde said.

I smiled, excited about the fun ahead.

“I’ll tell your ma that you’ll be gone a little bit later, Bonnie. When will you be home?” Billie told me.

“I’ll be home at a reasonable hour.” I said, glancing at the clock in the corner. It was almost nine o’clock.

“Alright, I’ll tell her.” Billie said.

“Thanks, Billie.” I said.

“Of course, Bonnie. Have fun!” Billie said.

Clyde had gone to his car to drive it up to the door. He got out and opened the passenger door and let me in.