Mrs. Goode was a little toad of a woman, dark and fleshy-featured. If my mother had seen her, she would have said she looked like she had a “touch of the tar” in her. But not Mr. Goode. He was all pink and white like strawberry and vanilla ice cream, and when you saw him, you wanted to take a spoon and start eating. He was also a real Johnny Reb, which was the name of his business, an office supply company in Montgomery, and he let you know it right away.

When I went to their store to…