"Yeah, if that was on the menu I think Mom woulda' jittered off into space a long time ago." Weird, how easy that comes out of his mouth. It ain't like he don't think about Ma or anything, it's just that there's usually no reason to talk about her. Not like this, no one else would get it. He grins at Ford because yeah, that's nice, bein' able to do that.

"Here you go, fellas!" says the waitress, bustling out and setting their plates in front of them. "Anything else I can get for ya'?"

"Yeah, coffee for my friend here. A lot of coffee. Biggest mug you got."

"Coming right up!"

Stan starts digging into his food with big, quick bites before she's even turned back around to leave, the kind meant to get the food off the plate and into the person as quick as possible. "So," he says around his food, and he almost don't sound nervous about this question at all, because he's got the meal to focus on. "You uh, you talk to her lately, at all? Ma, I mean?"