Seven Empty Deposit Envelopes Showed What Was Happening At Carters Diner
He thought about the Decatur office, and the files, and the corporate auditor who had gone back to Chicago.
He knew the diner would never be a large corporation, and it would never make him a wealthy man.
But as he looked at the clean glass and the warm light coming from the windows, he knew it was doing what it was built to do.
It was keeping people warm, and it was keeping them fed, and it was giving them a place to stand.
He walked back to the wooden steps and went inside.
Carter returned to his Decatur office and filed the final audit reports in the steel cabinet.
He chose not to press criminal charges against the young cashiers, allowing them to pay back the stolen funds through a structured monthly program.
Henry moved out of his old Buick and into a quiet one-bedroom apartment three blocks from the diner.
The original diner on Main Street began to turn a profit again under its new evening manager.
Carter placed his old blue construction cap on the shelf next to his first spatula.
He knew exactly where he belonged.
Henry hangs his new manager jacket on the brass hook behind the counter.
