One day Wanda Sumpter put a pair of plastic flamingos by the entrance to her cubicle. For her, the flamingos were more than just decoration. They were a sign of hope, a symbol of prestige, and a reminder of her beginnings.
At eighteen, lured by the glitter of the trailer park, Wanda had left her family’s farm for nearby Squat, Kansas. Squat is a small town with a big legacy. It’s the origin of the famous saying, “He may think he’s smart, but he don’t know Squat.” It was also the starting point for families who headed out west and vexed the cowboys by setting up homes on their range.
Wanda found work at the Squat Diner and Gas Station, the rest stop for the interstate bus and the only eating establishment in town. The diner featured three kinds of pork sandwich and a daily special of black bean soup. Bus riders complained about the soup, but the natives were used to it. Besides, as owner Joe “Pop” Samuels said, “What do they want me to do? Throw away all my used motor oil and wreck the environment?”
On her way to work, Wanda always drove through the wealthy part of Squat so she could see its real lawns and houses that hadn’t come in on trucks. In front of the split-level everyone called “The Mansion,” two pink flamingos grazed on the chemical-green grass. Wanda loved these fuchsia birds and vowed she would have her own one day. After seven years, three months, and six days of saving tips, she did. She bought the perfect pair to put beside her trailer. But, as love would have it, she hardly had them in the dirt before she ditched Squat.
That’s because Billy Wilson had come in one Friday on the 11:52 eastbound from Oklahoma. When it pulled into the Squat rest stop, Billy followed the other three passengers into the diner. He sat down at the counter and that was it for Wanda. She took one look at Billy and took off her apron. She got her paycheck from Pop and a one-way ticket to the same place Billy was going. When the big Greyhound Scenicruiser pulled out twelve minutes later, she was sitting in the window seat, right beside Billy Wilson.
They got a low-rent apartment in a Hoboken high rise. It had two rooms, a TV, and indoor plumbing, but no yard outside. It wasn’t long before Wanda became depressed, their marriage suffered, and the pink on the two flamingos faded from bright fuchsia to light baby.
Then she got the idea of bringing them to the office.
It’s been two weeks since Wanda put the flamingos outside her cubicle. Her spirits are up and the flamingos are fuchsia again. Some people snicker at what she’s done, but Wanda doesn’t get angry. She understands. It’s not their fault. It’s just that they don’t know Squat.