The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion

On June 6, 2005, Mrs. Sarah Jane “Sookie” Poole drives down Highway 98 in Point Clear, Alabama. The last of her daughters’ weddings has just occurred, and she feels relieved that she will not have to plan another wedding. Her son’s nuptials, she thinks, are the mother of the bride’s responsibility. Her own wedding to Earle was in 1968. Now, she feels she can relax, as the only other person she has to worry about is her 88-year-old mother, Lenore Simmons Krackenberry, who still lives in her own home. Two of the nurses Sookie hired to take care of Lenore quit, and a third left, stealing from Lenore in the process. The newest nurse, Angel, is very sweet. Sookie is grateful that Angel’s hiring means that she will be able to attend her sorority’s reunion in Dallas, where she can reunite with her roommate, Dena Nordstrom.

Once Sookie arrives home, her mother calls, summoning her to her house. Sookie walks over. Lenore suggests Sookie does not fully appreciate what she will inherit once Lenore passes away. She wants Sookie to swear on a Bible that she will not separate the silver set. It belonged to Lenore’s grandmother, and she held onto it even when their family did not have a lot of money and were near starving.

Later, Sookie goes out to pay one of her mother’s bills. Since Lenore is not good at managing her money, all of her mail goes to Sookie, who, in turn, takes care of her expenses. Waiting at the bank, she thinks of all the other tasks—large and small—she does for her mother, including having her grandfather’s body moved from Selma and reinterred in Point Clear. At the grocery store, one of the bridesmaids from Sookie’s daughter’s wedding comes over to her. She praises Lenore, saying that she was so much fun at the wedding. Another woman makes a similar comment as Sookie leaves the store.

Sookie passes the cemetery on the way home. She spots her mother’s car and knows that she’s putting flowers on her grandfather’s grave. Sookie thinks about how Lenore’s mother passed away during childbirth. Her grandmother was born during the Civil War, and Lenore spent many hours listening to stories of how, though the South was defeated, its people remained proud. She met Alton Carter Krackenberry, her husband, in college.

That night, Sookie thinks about how Earle has surprised her with plans for a second honeymoon. She can’t sleep and is so excited to spend more time with her husband. She thinks about how several members of her family have been committed to a psychiatric hospital. She is worried her mother will be next. Lenore’s doctor has even commented that all Simmonses are a little “unstable.” Sookie worries about herself and her children too. Earle tells her not to worry about the “Simmons curse” (20).

Early the next morning, Sookie wakes and prepares to set out the birdseed she’s purchased. The phone rings, and Sookie ignores it, thinking that it’s a solicitor.

Planning out how she’ll approach the birdseed, she thinks that she’ll begin in the backyard with sunflower seeds, knowing that blue jays will eat them. While they do so, she’ll load the birdfeeder in the front yard, so the other birds have a chance to eat. After she executes her plan, she waits for the smaller birds to go eat. The blue jays soon finish the backyard food and descend upon the front too, defeating her plan to make sure every bird gets to eat.

The phone is still ringing, so Sookie finally answers it. The man on the phone asks if she’s “the former Sarah Jane Krackenberry” (26). Sookie says yes. He then asks to confirm several other details, including that Sookie’s house is the mailing address for her mother. He wants to know if she’ll be home the next day between 10 o’clock in the morning and noon to receive a letter. The man will not tell her who the letter is from, and Sookie begins to worry that her mother has done something stupid. She thinks that it’s a lawsuit or that she is going to owe a lot of money. The man admits that Lenore is not being sued. He also tells Sookie, “you are not who you think you are” (30), then hangs up.

Concerned, Sookie calls Earle. He tells her not to worry. He thinks it’s probably nothing important.

On Wednesday, Sookie’s plans to feed the birds are interrupted when the mailman, Pete, appears. He has come early because the registered letter he’s delivering seems important. Sookie refuses to sign for it. Pete, shocked, tells her that he’s required to try three times to deliver it. He adds that it’s from the Texas Board of Health, which puzzles Sookie. She still won’t take it. Pete leaves. Sookie sees that the blue jays have once again eaten all the bird food. She’s sad that the little birds aren’t getting any, since they’re her favorite.

The letter remains on Sookie’s mind, and she ends up going down to the post office to pick it up. When Earle comes home, she asks him to sit with her while she opens it.

Inside, Sookie finds a note forwarded from a woman named Veronica Gonzalez, who lives in Mexico. Veronica’s note recalls how her mother worked for Lenore in Texas during World War II. Her mother, Conchita Alvarez, had been keeping some papers for Lenore. Veronica has found them and wants to return them to her. When Sookie starts looking at one of the enclosed papers, she faints.

The letter is from October 8, 1952, and reveals that Sookie was adopted on July 31, 1945, from the Texas Children’s Home. When Sookie recovers from fainting, Earle goes on, reading that her mother’s name was Polish and that her father is unknown. Her birth name is Ginger Jurdabralinski. Her mother’s name is Fritzi Willinka. Sookie’s birthday is also different from the one that she grew up with, making her 60 years old instead of 59. She faints again.

Flashing back to Stanislaw Ludic Jurdabralinski, the narration reveals that Stanislaw moves to Pulaski, Wisconsin in 1916, to be near other Polish families. He marries a woman named Linka Marie. He becomes a US citizen, excited by the promises of freedom in the United States.

Soon after, Linka gives birth to Fritzi Willinka Jurdabralinski. She eventually has four more children. Fritzi is clearly Stanislaw’s favorite. He buys a couple of acres of land and then builds a house for his family. Fritzi is a busy child and often gets into trouble.

Shocked, Sookie feels like she doesn’t know who she is and like she’ll never be the same. Earle promises that he will still love her. She worries that she doesn’t know anything about her real parents. Sookie continues to panic, reliving all of her childhood moments with new eyes. She hopes she’ll wake up the next day and nothing will have changed.

In Pulaski, Wisconsin, in 1928, Stanislaw responds to the increasing popularity of automobiles by opening a Phillips 66 service station on the land near his home, proud to be a business owner. He decides to name it “Wink’s Phillips 66,” after his son. Stanislaw puts a cot in the back of the gas station, and the gas station becomes the center of the family’s life.

Despite the Great Depression, Wink’s Phillips 66 remains open, and their family lives a comfortable life. In 1938, Fritzi is the most popular girl at Pulaski High School, worrying her mother.

The next morning in the present, in Point Clear, Alabama, Sookie calls her college roommate, explaining that she’s adopted. She feels so confused because Lenore always treated her poorly because she wasn’t just like her, yet she wasn’t even Lenore’s daughter. She’s a Yankee, not a Southerner, making her membership in the Daughters of the Confederacy feel fraudulent. She even feels like she’s not part of her sorority because she thinks she only got in because her mother was a sister. Dena tries to reassure her and suggests she talk to a therapist. Sookie says she’ll think about it. When they get off the phone, Dena considers how Sookie always thought of her life in terms of Lenore’s expectations. She wishes that Sookie would realize how great she is on her own.

In bed that night, Earle calms Sookie down. She thinks about how supportive he’s been, especially with her mother. Sookie reflects on her past. When Sookie didn’t initially get into a top university, Lenore used her connections, and Sookie went to Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Lenore had put a note in her pocket that said that if she wasn’t smart, she should “be perky” (58) because men love happy women. She joined Kappa, but tried so hard to be popular that her health suffered.

During her senior year, she announced she was going to marry Earle. Her mother did not approve, admonishing Sookie for marrying Earle when she could’ve met a man from a “good” family as a Kappa. For the first time in her life, Sookie stood up to Lenore. Earle had always liked Sookie, and when she’d come home for Christmas that year, he’d gone over with flowers, and Sookie immediately fell in love with him.

On Friday, Sookie’s daughter Ce Ce calls from her honeymoon to say that she and her husband have arrived safely in Georgia. Sookie then calls Angel, her mother’s nurse, and says that she has a highly contagious flu that she doesn’t want to pass along to Lenore. Sookie feels bad for lying, but she isn’t sure she wants to talk to her mother again.

Earle recalls a conversation he once had with Sookie’s father at their engagement party. Mr. Krackenberry had commented that the saying, “[i]f you want to know what your wife will be like in twenty years, just look at the mother” (64), didn’t apply to Sookie. He made Earle promise that he would never repeat the comment to anyone. Earle had forgotten all about the remark until now. Sookie wonders what she should do.

In the past timeline, Linka insists that, unlike at most gas stations, the restrooms at Wink’s Phillips 66 must be kept pristinely clean. Gas companies start to catch on, thinking that clean restrooms will lure more female customers there. They all start having cleanliness inspectors drop in at random, and Philipps Petroleum Company establishes the Highway Hostesses, a young group of nurses who stop by stations that are part of the franchise to inspect rest rooms. If the bathroom meets their standards, they are called “Certified Restrooms” (68).

One day, Fritzi’s brother Wink (short for “Wencent”) spots a Highway Hostess as she arrives at their filling station. Linka is immediately nervous, afraid that their restroom isn’t clean enough, as Fritzi was the last to clean it. When the inspector greets Linka, she informs her that their restroom passed the test.

Sookie continues to avoid her mother, thinking about how much pressure Lenore has put on her. She wonders if she would have been better off without a mother at all.

The events of August 9, 1938, change the Jurdabralinski family forever. With Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart’s iconic flights, the Phillips Petroleum Company hires skywriters to write “Phillips 66” in the sky over their filling stations. 

Billy Bevins is the one assigned to Wink’s Phillips 66. After Billy returns from his flight, he instantly captivates Fritzi. He has lunch with her family the next day. Not long after, Billy skywrites, “HEY, FRITZI, HOW ABOUT A DATE?” (77). Linka has always feared that Fritzi might run off on some adventure, and Billy’s act proves her right. When he calls the filling station and talks to Fritzi, Linka hopes that Stanislaw will stop her from going along with Billy’s plan to fly her to Milwaukee for dinner. However, he says nothing. Fritzi’s friends worry that Billy will try to make an advance on her, but Fritzi thinks she can handle it.

Sookie leaves the house for the first time in a week and goes to the bank. She takes out the letters she put in a safety deposit box for her family in case she wound up in a psychiatric hospital and wasn’t acting like herself. Knowing that she isn’t a Simmons, she throws them away.

Driving home, she eyes her mother’s car at the cemetery and recalls a conversation in which she confessed it was difficult to be her mother’s daughter. Lenore did not understand. She also thought that mothering Buck and Sookie had kept her from a career as an actress. However, she treated her grandchildren much better.

In the past timeline, Billy takes off for Milwaukee, and Fritzi considers how he offers her the adventure that she’s always wanted. So many of her friends are already married. She is amazed, looking down at the ground as they soar through the sky. She is also awestruck by the urban life of Milwaukee, having never been in a large city before. Fritzi thinks that, after seeing this, she could never just work at the pickle factory like she was supposed to after graduating from high school.

Fritzi gets nervous entering the hotel where she’ll dance with Billy, but she hides this from him. When they fly home that night, she knows that her life will never be the same. She is in love with him and with flying.

Sookie decides to learn more about Polish people, now that she knows that she isn’t a Simmons or a Krackenberry. Seeing that Martha Stewart is Polish cheers her up.

In the yard later that day, she asks her neighbor Netta what she knows about Polish people. She comments that they like sauerkraut and singing but has never met a Polish person. Sookie doesn’t feel like herself.

In 1938, Billy’s intentions toward Fritzi are not romantic; instead, he wants her to join his flying act. He’s performed in several different ones, but he thinks she would be a good fit for the Billy Bevins Flying Circus as a wingwalker. Fritzi enthusiastically agrees to take flying lessons from him but is confused that he hasn’t kissed her. As a favor to Fritzi, he also teaches Wink about flying.

After a few months, Billy sends Fritzi into the air by herself, and while she is nervous, she does well. Stanislaw drives her to Grand Rapid to get her pilot’s license, and Fritzi makes him stop at the hotel where Billy is staying. She is surprised to learn that Billy has been living with a different wingwalking woman. She feels like a fool, but she also knows that Billy never promised her anything romantically.

Fritzi starts performing in shows, going out on the wing while he flies. Her stunts include standing on her head, dancing, and jumping through hoops. He offers her a permanent job a few weeks later, and she moves to Grand Rapids.

Sookie tries to find Pulaski on a map. She buys a book on Wisconsin and Poland.

In 1939, Polish Americans follow the war in Europe closely. Stanislaw’s cousin in Warsaw sends news of the invasion, but he suddenly stops on September 1. Eight days later, Poland falls to the Nazis.

The other three Jurdabralinski daughters stay at home. The twins graduate from high school and have boyfriends. The youngest, Sophie, is quiet. Linka hopes that she will become a nun.

As the United States prepares to enter the war, more civilian pilot training programs open up. Stanislaw allows a local college to use the airstrip he built for Billy when he first came to skywrite above their filling station. They plan to build a hangar and offer flying lessons, and Stanislaw’s only stipulation is that the instructors teach Wink and his daughters in their spare time. Linka doesn’t like it.

Ce Ce returns from her honeymoon and comments that Sookie doesn’t seem like herself. Sookie replies that she’s been wondering if she should’ve done something more with her life. Ce Ce asserts that there’s so much that Sookie has done to take care of them, their father, and Lenore.

Sookie calls Dena and asks her what her main personality traits are. Dena responds that she was well-liked because she was agreeable. Sookie feels like she has no characteristics of her own and that it’s too late to change. Dena disagrees and emphasizes that she could change. Sookie refutes her, wondering if she even likes people. She thanks Dena for being her friend.

Dena understands that everyone falls behind Lenore’s big personality. She can’t imagine being her daughter.

The wingwalker living with Billy soon starts to suspect that he is in love with Fritzi. One night, she leaves, leaving Fritzi a note. It warns Fritzi to be careful: Billy is not interested in marriage.

Fritzi moves in with Billy and doesn’t want her parents to find out. She also doesn’t want to get pregnant because it might ruin her flying career.

Sookie thinks that her life has been a lie. She calls up one of her friends, Marvaleen, and asks if she uses a journal. Marvaleen loves her life coach and recommends having both an Appreciation Journal and a Rage Journal. She tells Sookie that to start journaling, she should write a list every day of 10 things she likes about herself and five things she wants to change. She drops off more instructions later that day, including making a private “Sacred Space” (107).

Sookie decides to use her greenhouse as her Sacred Space and puts a photo of her from when she was in third grade on a small altar in it, per Marvaleen’s instructions. She starts making her list of things she likes. However, she only writes three things: Her husband, children, and house. Two hours later, she still hasn’t progressed any further.

A few years before, she had tried reading about codependency because of her relationship with her mother, but Lenore’s personality had overwhelmed her attempts to be more assertive. Mother’s Day, Lenore’s birthday, and even Sookie’s birthday are all about Lenore. Buck has tried to get Sookie to ignore Lenore. She thinks that maybe her real mother was a quiet Polish woman.