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My dear, truly you are the goddess. In each of these stories there were the essential elements of truth that touch deeply our hearts. Tears well to my eyes, as they did through out. Thank you.
I believe that this is your best work, second only to 'One Last Shot'.

Hi Maggie!
I loved your story, keep writing more stories just like this!
You're a good writer.
Kisses.
silvia.

I'm sorry, I'm going to blame some of this on you today. I have been dealing with a hyper active 8 year old all day. First, the favorite toy broke. I had to tell that kid not to play with with the trains. This kid lived for that. I will take the blame for that, so I sat down to read a story. I am going to blame this part on you. I had to put up with this kid until the entire story was read. Through the entire story this kid couldnt sit still. The little legs were running in place most of the time. I know, I will get to play with my trains again, in time. But,now I have to go find another one of your stories to read to to my little hyper active 8 year old. My old legs cant handle running in place much more. I dont remember having this much fun reading to my kid. From my hyper active 8 year old, Thanks for the fun.

Yay!  I found it!

I first encountered 'Bob's Cafe' in a series of stories by Valentina Michelle Smith, called the 'Bear Market'...  At the time I wondered about the character of Maggie.  Little did I realize that I'd already read some stuff by her originator.  (love the 'One Last Shot' basketball Hugglebug story)

It was awesome to read Maggie's background.

SB

Nothing kills a story more quickly for me than an incident that would not likely happen as described in the real world setting in which it is placed. Suspension of disbelief is reserved for those story elements, such as magic, that obviously do not exist in the real world -- even then, such things need to follow their own internal logic.

The story begins with a "fiery tempered" (ie. someone who does not suffer fools well) impassible TS meter maid who is on the verge of being fired for getting into little spats with the angry motorists she cites, because they never fail to make gender-bigoted comments. Excuse me, but that's just not real. Though parking enforcers are bottom-feeding carrion eaters who exist for the purpose of filling quotas and extracting revenue from citizens, they are still police officers in most communities. Though I've never heard of any of them being forced to pedal a bicycle, I am sure that they are still equipped with two-way police radios, on which they can call for backup if things get ugly. Where I live, no matter how much you may hate the low-down pig who has his or her hand in your pocket, you still say "yes sir" or "yes ma'am," because they have just too many means at hand to suddenly make your life very miserable indeed if you are foolish enough to exercise your free speech rights.

If that were not enough, there is this:

>>It was 1:30 and time for Maggie to check the meters in the small shops district again. Maggie the meter-maid had been working her route for over six months now, and she knew what streets to hit and when. The small shops district, especially the restaurants, was always packed at lunch time. Between the motorists who thought they could just duck in to pick up a carry out order without paying the meter, and those whose meters had expired because they had lingered too long over their pie and coffee, Maggie always made her quota.

Contrast this with 'The Dream' by Prudence Walker, where the main character is also an impassible TS meter maid (who incidentally is also named Maggie, inspired by Maggie the Kitten). However, Prue's Maggie hates her job, and hates what it requires her to do to people, but she works it because there are few other employment opportunities available to her. In Prue's story, being a meter maid is symbolic of Maggie's miserable wretched condition.

O'Malley's Maggie, on the other hand, knows all the trouble spots around town, and just when to hit them to fleece the most motorists. (I once lived in a city that used their motorcycle cops in just the same exact way -- they knew all of the difficult intersections, where they would sit in plain view, waiting to nail anyone who slipped up.) Her attitude is nearly that of a predator stalking her prey, and she laughs up her sleeve at those hapless suckers she manages to nail. Unlike Prue's Maggie, this is scarcely a sympathetic character.

>>Maggie smiled gently. "That's okay. I think I really need to find something where I'm not dealing with the public anyway. I just get too frustrated!"

The public can be really appreciative if you are providing valuable goods or services. They are less appreciative of municipalities that think up "creative" back-door taxation and revenue-raising schemes to thwart the will of the voters.

>>Bob nodded knowingly. "I can understand that. I get people in here every day who are never satisfied, no matter how I cook their steak, but it must really be bad for you. I've seen you out there every day in all types of weather, so I know you are hot, cold, wet and tired, and then you've got to deal with people screaming at you all day long over tickets. Anyone would be frustrated!"

Brown-noser.

>>Maggie sighed. "Yeah, it's a lousy, low paying job, and some of these people really go ballistic over a parking ticket..."

Poor baby. You might understand a little better if you were made to pay some of the fines. I once had some pig tell me "It's just a ticket!" while getting back into his cushy cruiser. Try living on the edge, where you cannot afford to make one mistake, where one of those buggers might be the one who costs you your car. You'll never see one of them pedaling a bicycle or taking the bus out of necessity!

>>"I mean meter-maids have almost no friends..."

Gee, I wonder why. Maybe the rest of the story gets better, but I guess I won't be finding out. I have no use for attitudes like these in real life; I sure do not care to read about them, either. 73 and 88 to ya, good buddy, I'm GONE--

Although this was really a long.  This is truly the happiest story that I have read.  Thank you for writing such a wonderful peice.  I just truly wish that I could have gone through that in real life.  As I'm sure that a lot of your readers even if they don't post to say the same thing that I feel about this peice!

Its a wounderful story to kill a Saturday afternoon with. Inky the cat who will all ways be a kitten at hart and Moonshine say Hi.

I read Follow Your Heart first and the storyline was more to my liking. I have to say Maggie can write no matter what direction her storyline is going. The dialog is excellent, the descriptive adjectives are right on in perfect timing to the story. The lady is a writer.

Maggie,

This is such a lovely story.  Reading this was just what the Doctor ordered.  You have been blessed by Goddess with a wonderful talent.  By reading the comments of the other ladies, I believe you have written other stories and I am now in search of where they might be.  Please, gift us with more stories with the same character's.  I really care about them and truly wish they were my friends.
Again, thank you,
Hugs, Sharlee

Thank you for creating such a wonderful place.  Our four ex-feral cats will enjoy learning about other cat people.  Whoops, gotta clean up a furball.

     A very beautiful story Maggie.  I have always enjoyed all of your kitten tales, and this one is no exception.  I'm glad to see you are finally posted at SS.  Now you can finally see what I and the others were talking about, when we praised your story telling abilities.

    Thank you for this story.  I'm glad you decided to post this.

            Sincerely: RickkiB.

Hiyas Sis,

I have already expostulated, expounded, and exploded over this story to you in person. But, for the official record, here it is. Maggie de Kitten, you have told us one of your very finest tails in this one.  As otheres have stated, yopur characters are alive and vibrant, your plotting excellent, and the dialogue super.  Please keep it up.
your sis,
Misty

Awwwww!  I had tears in my eyes as I read this story.  Oh, it's just so cute!  And so well written as well.  Maggie, your use of dialog between the characters reminds me of Heinlein's work.  You introduced a set of characters so vibrant and so real that I could imagine myself walking down the street and into the cafe for a reuben.  And what a lovely conclusion you have given us.  We adults so often yearn for the simplicity of childhood.  Thank you, Maggie.  And could you possibly post the directions to Bob's on Mapquest?

Well done Kitten, glad to see your story up at Crystals, where it can be appreciated by all. I can feel the emotions and longing in this story. this is the start of something wonderful for people who havent read any of maggies stories. huggles from prue

Thank you for a wonderfull story.

Mary

This is one of the finest stories I've read in some time. It's well crafted, and wonderfully sentimental. I truly hope we'll see more from the author, and more stories with Bob and his neighbors.