The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion

Sookie wonders how to tell her children about their new family history. She buys a Polish cookbook, but she doesn’t think any of them will like it. She decides to start by telling Dee Dee, which will be hard since Lenore has taught Dee Dee all about the Simmons family history and insists that their family is more “well-bred” than others.

Sookie also starts to feel more like herself again, but then she runs into her mother. Lenore immediately comments that her skin doesn’t look good. Furious, Sookie calls Dena when she gets home, who calms her down. She decides to learn more about her family. She calls the Pulaski Chamber of Commerce, asking for information on the Jurdabralinskis. The woman comments that they were “The Gas Station Family” (116). She also offers to do some research about the whereabouts of family members and will call Sookie back. Sookie gives her a fake name.

Sookie calls the psychiatrist, and he reluctantly agrees to come to meet her at a Waffle House to talk the next day. Sookie requests that location because she’s afraid her mother might see him come to the house.

It is May of 1941, and Wink now works full-time at the filling station. He wants to go help in the war like his friends who have snuck into Canada and joined the Royal Air Force. However, he also doesn’t want to leave his girlfriend alone. He has promised to take her to the senior prom. He calls Fritzi, who offers to give him some money to buy an engagement ring. Angie immediately says yes, and they plan to get married in June, once she finishes high school.

Fritzi comes home a few days before the wedding, but Billy doesn’t like weddings. However, Fritzi suspects that he eventually feels bad, because he sneaks into town to skywrite congratulatory words for Wink and Angie before flying back to Grand Rapids.

Sookie meets Dr. Shapiro at Waffle House and begins to recount her saga, beginning with her bird feed problem with the blue jays. By the time he learns that Lenore is her mother, he understands Sookie better, recalling the first time he met her.

Sookie eventually asks him if he thinks she’s having a mental health crisis, but Dr. Shapiro tells her it’s normal to act out against her mother, especially after discovering a lie. Sookie feels very reassured, and they agree to meet again the following week. Back at his office, Dr. Shapiro notes that Sookie has anxiety and that her mother is a narcissist.

On December 7, 1941, the announcement that the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor makes its way to Pulaski. In the Jurdabralinski house, Stanislaw worries about what will happen to the US and breaks down crying.

When Billy receives the news about Pearl Harbor, he immediately goes to a recruiting office to enlist. Soon after, Wink tells his family that he is also going to enlist in the hopes that he can get into the Army Air Corps. His wife Angie, who is now pregnant, will move in with his parents.

With Billy ordered to report to Florida on December 15, he ends the flying circus and sells his planes to a flying school. He and Fritzi say goodbye at the train station. She thinks that neither of them was interested in marriage but wonders what she’ll do next. She has tried to enlist too since she was a pilot, but the recruitment office told her that they wouldn’t accept female pilots, despite the fact that England and Russia both allow women. She returns home to Pulaski and, with no job flying, goes back to working at the pickle factory.

Reluctantly, Sookie agrees to her usual Wednesday lunch date with her mother. Lenore comments that Sookie threw away her potential to marry Earle. She wonders what it would’ve been like if she herself would have been able to become an actress instead of a housewife. Sookie, on the other hand, lacks drive. 

When Lenore goes on to talk about what it means to be a Simmons, Sookie snaps at her to stop. Lenore says that she wants to go home, so they leave. Sookie thinks she shouldn’t have spoken out like that. She calls Dr. Shapiro for an impromptu meeting, but he reassures her that her behavior makes sense. Still, Sookie feels like it wasn’t appropriate to act like that in public.

Christmas in 1941 feels less cheerful with the war waging. Dottie Frakes, the former bathroom inspector, visits the Jurdabralinskis and informs them that she’s leaving to become an army nurse. When she and Fritzi are alone, she comments that Stanislaw’s cough is alarming and suggests he go see a doctor. Soon after, the doctor diagnoses him with tuberculosis and recommends that he go to a sanitarium for treatment. Reluctantly, he agrees.

At first while Stanislaw is away at the sanitarium, Fritzi’s cousin Florian runs the filling station, but he is soon drafted. Linka considers selling the filling station, but Fritzi suggests that they run it. Linka isn’t convinced anyone will come to get gas or have their car fixed by a woman. Fritzi convinces her sisters that they can do it, and when they look to Linka, she comments that Fritzi is the leader of the house.

Fritzi and her sisters divide up the filling station’s work. Fritzi runs several ads in the newspapers, advertising the all-girl filling station, and Wink’s Phillips 66 begins to draw a crowd.

In the present, Dr. Shapiro explains to Sookie that her mother seems unable to empathize with anyone beyond herself, but Sookie still feels betrayed by her mother lying. Dr. Shapiro thinks it might be a survival skill, which makes Sookie realize that Lenore only talked about her mother once, when she mentioned that it was hard not having her mother around as a kid. This is odd, since Lenore so frequently talks about her grandmother and the rest of the Simmons family.

Fritzi misses flying and Billy, though she starts going out with another man. The filling station also collects items for the war effort.

Linka writes to Stanislaw, emphasizing how proud he should be of their daughters. She hopes Fritzi will marry and stop thinking about flying. She also tells him not to worry.

Dr. Shapiro asks Sookie about a positive recollection of her mother. She struggles at first but finally recounts how Lenore would dress up and pretend to be the tooth fairy. She also recounts how Lenore once stayed with her all night when she had a fever, a memory that brings her to tears. She wishes she hadn’t disappointed Lenore. 

Dr. Shapiro comments on how strong Sookie is and that children often think their parents are right. However, he points out that she has a good marriage and raised four children. He finishes by saying that they’re going to figure out who Sookie is and get away from who her mother thinks she is.

Later, Sookie calls Dena and apologizes that she won’t make it to their sorority’s reunion. She also comments that she thinks she might be Dr. Shapiro’s sole patient. He relies on her to come to their appointments, so she doesn’t want to miss one.

Gertrude and Tula—Fritzi’s sisters—suggest that they start wearing roller skates to clean customers’ cars more quickly. Linka thinks it’s silly, but Fritzi replies that people really like it. Linka also admits that she’s glad Fritzi takes care of her sisters.

Fritzi starts hosting events at the filling station since work consumes so much of her sisters’ time. Everyone also keeps busy doing what they can for the war effort. Her younger sister Sophie Marie wants to become a nun, but she decides to stay at the filling station until Wink gets back, even though this makes her sad.

Wink sends a letter saying he’s going overseas. He’s glad things are going well at the filling station.

Fritzi writes to Wink, warning him to be careful.

Sookie continues to care for the birds. When she reenters the house one morning, her mother calls, asking about Sookie’s birthday. Sookie knows now that this is the birthday that her mom celebrates, not her real birthday, so she replies that she wants to spend it with Earle. Her mother insists that they do something, claiming it’s also about her as her mother. Eventually, Sookie gives in, even as she knows that despite her mother’s insistence that she gave birth to her, Sookie is adopted.

Distracted one day, Tula accidentally undoes the wrong valve while fixing a car, and oil flows out right onto her face and hair. She has a date later that evening with a boy who’s on furlough for one day from the Army. The oil stains her skin, and she’s furious since she’d asked Fritzi to let her wait an extra day before fixing it because of her date. When he arrives, Tula is too embarrassed to come downstairs, and Fritzi and Gertrude have to tell him that she can’t come. Later, Fritzi and Gertrude lie that the boy was so sad to miss her, but it makes Tula feel better.

Dr. Shapiro and Sookie talk about Sookie’s father. Sookie says he didn’t really get involved when Lenore gave her or Buck a hard time. Sookie wonders if she should be mad at him. She also thinks about how telling Dr. Shapiro all of the Simmons gossip feels like she’s betraying her family. They have a few secrets, including that the plantation that her grandmother supposedly saved during the Civil War didn’t even exist. It was a farmhouse, and only one soldier came by because he was looking for directions. However, Lenore always made it seem like Union soldiers were storming the plantation.