If Robbins buzzed about John Edwards' confession Friday night that he had an affair with a campaign worker, it was gone by Monday.

Coffee drinkers at the Robbins Crossing convenience store said there had been a lot of talk the first day -- especially among those who went to school with Edwards, who grew up in Robbins.

Nearly everyone was talking about it, Odell Brown said.

"Can't ever tell, can you?" Brown said of Edwards' confession. "Can't never tell if a man is telling the truth. Man gets into politics, he is going to tell some lies. I don't care if he is an honest guy or not. What I heard, everybody was saying the same thing -- about him running around and stuff like that? They think he shouldn't have done it."

Some who would have voted for Edwards could have changed their minds, Brown said.

"It'd make some of the Democrats go against him," he said. "A man that goes to church, he does something wrong, some of the good people that like him real good are going to go against him."

Brown said the Democratic Party ought to let Edwards speak at the convention anyway.

"They are going to let (Bill) Clinton, aren't they?" Brown said. "I don't see no difference. Let them stand there side by side. They were just alike. The only thing that will be hurting John, right now, is his wife has got cancer. Everybody likes her. And see, that's going to go against him."

Brown said that anyone running for office is a target these days.

"I don't care, Democrat or Republican," he said. "They are going to find something on all of 'em. I tell you one thing: I sat on a jury once, in Carthage, and he was the lawyer. I thought he was a smarter man than this. What was his wife thinking? She knew, when he was running for president. What was she thinking?"

Brown said he would probably be less likely to vote for Edwards if he ran for president.

"He ain't going to run no more," he said. "It is pretty bad -- if you get caught. Looks like he would have gotten a better-looking woman than that, though."

Tommy Moore had a better answer.

"A woman on TV the other night pretty much summed it up," he said. "'Men will do that,' she said. 'Men do that.' A lady called one time asking about the family tree, you know. Her brother told her, 'Better leave that family tree alone. Something will fall out of there you don't want to know nothing about.'"

Most locals aren't talking much about the Edwards story anymore after the initial burst of talk, Moore said.

"I don't know, I hadn't thought too much about it," he said. "My wife liked him. She was a big John Edwards fan. Think what would have happened, though, if he had got the nomination and it came up now about this time."

Residents seem more interested in the upcoming ABC vote than Edwards.

"I believe it will pass this time," Brown said of the referendum to allow alcohol sales.

Randy Merritt runs the place at Robbins Crossing now, having bought it from Gene Lewis last year.

"I haven't heard any talk about it," Merritt said. "I've just seen it on TV. That's how I became aware of it."

At Deep River Coffee Co. in downtown Robbins, owner Randall Moore said the conversation has been more about the success of the new pet store than it has about Edwards.

"It is just gossip, a gossip story," he said. "In Robbins, we have bigger fish to fry than gossip. Robin Shore just opened her pet place, and she is doing so well she needs more space."

Deep River Coffee, with its tables and back room, is as likely a place as any in Robbins to hear what folks are chatting about -- but Moore said there hasn't been much talk about Edwards after the first day.

"I haven't heard anything about it," one customer said.

"I think it is a shame," said another. "But it's not surprising. I mean, what politician hasn't? It's like, what are you going to do?"

There was also more talk about potters and the fall pottery festival than Edwards, she said.

Moore wears two hats these days. In addition to the espresso business, he has taken on the STEP-funded job of marketing director for the town of Robbins. He's very happy with two new businesses doing well.

"Robin calls her show Robin's Nest," he said. "Robin's Nest in Robbins. And Brian Allen is doing very well with his new game room. People are talking more about that than Edwards."

At Town Hall, nobody remembers hearing anybody mentioning the Edwards story. There are a lot of other things being talked about in Robbins, according to Town Manager Brant Sikes.

"Everything," he said. "Robbins is the place to be."

He has heard virtually nothing at all about Edwards.

"Not much," Sikes said.

Contact John Chappell at 783-5841 or by e-mail at jchappell@thepilot.com.