To Be So Lucky
Sailing West on Corridor X, somewhere in rual Southern Mississippi between the Alabama state line and Memphis, and my bladder’s just signaled it’s unwillingness to wait any longer for a bio-break. I hit the blinker at the next exit and my little silver VW Golf glide’s down the off-ramp leaving the long ribbon of Westward bound highway behind. Scanning a row of fast food restaurants and truck stop signs for facilities “ de jure ”. Ahhhhhhhhh, there we are, Mickey D’s will do just fine. What was that catchy jingle a few years back, “YOU deserve a break today, so get up and get away to McDonald’s……” As a matter of fact, Yes I Will!!!!!
Feels good to step out of the VW Golf and stretch my 6’2” frame. Shaking off some of the trip induced stiffness I can’t help but look toward the curved horizon in the distance. What a drop dead beautiful Spring day! Bright sunshine, cotton candy-like clouds, and ocean blue sky as far as the eye can see…..Mmmmmmmm nice. Almost noon and the early morning cool has already given way to sultry mid-day Southern Mississippi heat.
I pass through the restaurant’s door and into the middle of a large rural lunch crowd. Red dirt stained construction workers, young Mom’s with their 1.5 colorfully dressed children in tow, and a number of senior citizens in sensible shoes, all patiently waiting their turn in long lines. The comfortable smell of freshly cooked french fries and grilled hamburgers immediately assaults the senses. I step lightly toward the back of the room threading my way through the crowd hoping for not-so-full facilities. Oh yeah, how do you spell relief? Wheeeeeeeeeew.That’s how I spell it. ;) Zip up, wash up, shuffle to the door, Major D’s coming back for more.
Not usually up for any fast-food fix I quickly succumb to the allure of fresh hot fries, a big McTasty, and a very large McSweet tea. Don’t’ you get McTired of McDonald’s using Mc in front of everything on the damn McMenu? I sure as hell McDo….. LOL.
One sip of that tea should have been enough to put me right into a diabetic coma…..Daaaaaaamn! And I don’t even HAVE diabetes. When will they learn to go easy on the sugar. More is NOT always better. I find an empty, and as yet, unclean booth and slide in facing the back of the room. Just a little “me” time on the road,……again….to somewhere else.
I didn’t notice them at first. Like most people at the time, too busy savoring a bite of burger, a hot fry, lost in my own thoughts. The two could have easily passed for just another gray haired senior couple, taking time for a quick McLunch on their way to see the McGrandkids. (Okay, I’ll McStop, I McPromise) Then I noticed the look on the older man’s face. He’s uncomfortable in the cacophony of the noon lunch rush, decidedly out of place, glancing furtively from side-to-side. He gripped his life-mate’s hand for reassurance as they made their way across the room. She gently squeezed back and looked his way, speaking soft words of reassurance. They had my undivided attention. My food would have to take second seat. Something was amiss.
Slowly settling into a booth with his back toward the crowd the old man stared into the distance. A thousand yard stare in a 30 foot room. I’ve seen that look before, or one very much like it. Placing a loving hand across a shoulder his wife knelt to look into his eyes and ask him what he wanted for lunch. A dark cloud passed across the man’s face. Nervously rubbing his hands together he struggled in vane to find an answer to his wife’s simple question. The answer never came. She waited a short while longer then stood, kissed his cheek, told him it was okay, and made her way to the counter. Even from across the far side of a crowded room I could feel the warmth, caring, devotion, and love that flowed between the old gray haired couple.
The old man obviously suffered from some form of dementia. The entire exchange couldn’t have taken more than a minute or two. The lunch crowd surrounding the couple motored on oblivious, uncaring, or both. A human drama, played out on a beautiful bright mid-Spring day, for an audience of one.
My attention returns to what is now a lukewarm lunch, and my thoughts turn inward. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health. In this day and time, by all measure of what really matters to us all in the end, a lucky man indeed. Oh, to be so lucky…..
Lunch time is over. Time to go.
At ease. Dismissed.
Major D.
