Blessed Assurance

by Laddy Sartin

It is the turbulent Freedom Summer of 1964. Olivia, the cook for the Whitehouse Café, has shocked her small southern town by marching up the courthouse steps demanding to register to vote. Because of this she is attacked from all sides, even by those closest to her heart. Harlan, the owner of the café, who is like a son to Olivia, accuses her of listening to outside agitators and following along “like cows being led to slaughter.” This damnation incites Olivia to challenge Harlan’s personal beliefs, and his allegiance to her, by sitting at the counter of the café where she has worked most of her life and requesting to be served. When Harlan asks her what she thinks she’s doing, she says “I think they call it a sit-in!”