The Honk and Holler Opening Soon

The Honk and Holler Opening Soon is a romantic novel by American author Billie Letts, published in 1998. Paralyzed Vietnam veteran Caney Paxton hasn’t left his run-down Oklahoma diner since he came home from the war, but the arrival of two outsiders, a pretty Crow Indian woman and a kindly Vietnamese refugee, changes Caney’s life, and that of the townsfolk for the better. Letts uses gentle humor and realistic dialogue to explore the characters’ personal conflicts, their inner transformations, and the healing power of relationships.

The year is 1985, and it is just before Christmas in the Eastern Oklahoma town of Sequoyah. Caney Paxton doesn’t want any decorations in his diner, the Honk and Holler Opening Soon, but he doesn’t have much choice. Molly O, his middle-aged, four-times married but now single waitress has gone a little overboard with Christmas décor. Molly O is like a mom to Caney, having helped raise him when he lost his own parents. Molly O’s holiday cheer is secretly fake, however, because she is desperately missing her high-school dropout daughter, Brenda, who left town to become a country singer.

When Caney opened the Honk and Holler Opening Soon twelve years ago, he wanted the biggest, flashiest neon sign around. The “opening soon” part was supposed to be removable. However, a few beers the night before he was released from physical therapy resulted in $600 dollars of permanent red neon. The sign became the town joke. Now, the joke has worn thin for Caney. A paraplegic since the age of seventeen when he fell out of a helicopter in Vietnam, he is confined to a wheelchair and has confined himself to life inside the diner. The restaurant is losing money, failing like the nearly deserted highway that runs by outside.



But the regulars at the diner are steadfast. Life Halstead eats his three meals a day there just to be close to Molly O. He’s trying to get up the courage to ask her out. Wanda Sue, the town gossip, drops in frequently. Red Eagle, Soldier Starr, and Quinton Roach are three Cherokee World War II veterans who have sat at the same table every morning since the diner opened. Peg Porter-Bilbo, hooked up to oxygen because of her emphysema, visits the restaurant with her husband Bilbo, a three-pack-a-day smoker.

Vena Takes Horse, a Crow Indian woman, arrives at the diner in a short yellow dress, faded jean jacket and red cowboy boots. She’s carrying a small, badly injured dog that she rescued from the side of a road while hitchhiking. Vena reminds Caney of a coyote: she’s fast, wary, and tough. Her face is all hard angles and edges. He knows she’s trouble, but realizes “she’s something else, too.” Vena asks for work, and Caney takes her on as a waitress. Molly O doesn’t trust Vena and doesn’t want her help, but Vena works hard, even drumming up business by taking food out to people in their cars. Initially, she sleeps in an abandoned school bus near the diner, but as she and Caney grow closer, she accepts the offer to stay on his couch.

Vena “isn’t good at staying still.” Running from past traumas that include a bad marriage, an abortion, and her sister Helen’s suicide, Vena hitches from place to place, staying only a short while in each. Vena learned how to make healing salves, poultices, and teas from her Cherokee grandpa, and she nurses the little dog back to health.



On Christmas Day, another stranger arrives at the Honk and Holler Opening Soon. Bui Khanh, a Vietnamese refugee, is also running from the past: he was in a car crash. The other driver, a nameless blonde lady, was angry. Bui’s English was not good enough to understand her, and he had no license and no insurance, so he fled.

Bui cheerfully tells Caney he is there to work. Soft-hearted Caney hires Bui for one day only—but Bui stays on as a terrible cook, yet efficient handyman. He starts repairing the diner. Bui is saving his money to bring his wife, Nguyet, to the U.S. Bui lives secretly in the basement of a local church. One night, as Bui is praying to his stone Buddha, he realizes there is someone else in the church with him. He meets Galilee Jackson, an older African American woman who, once she learns Bui is being respectful in the church, befriends him and teaches him English. Bui begins to repair the church as well.

Hard-eyed, forty-something Sam Kellam is mean to the core. He calls Bui racial slurs and is appalled that Caney hired a Vietnamese man after so many Americans were killed in the war. Sam also has lewd designs on Vena, who fends off his crude advances.



Vena and Caney’s relationship grows stronger. Vena discovers that Caney was a rodeo star before he was injured, and she arranges to take him riding. Caney is thrilled and terrified to be on horseback again but being outside triggers painful memories of Vietnam. Caney gradually opens up about his experiences, and the two become intimate.

Sam takes matters into his own hands and attempts to murder Bui, shooting him twice and injuring Caney’s horse. Sam is killed when the gelding falls on him. The town rallies around Bui, and Galilee takes him under her wing. Vena heals the horse and then leaves without saying goodbye.

Seven months later, Caney and Bui travel to San Antonio to meet Vena. She apologizes for hurting Caney by running away. She realizes, “All that time, I didn’t know the person I was trying to leave behind was me.” Caney and Vena declare their love, and they return to Sequoya, bringing along a surprise: their son, Caney Paxton the Second. The regulars gather in the Honk and Holler Opening Soon to celebrate Christmas, the return of their friends, and the birth of little Pax. Vena understands, “This is the place I’ve been heading all my life.”