Sunday, December 27, 2009

Down South...Day Twenty-Five...Thursday, December 24, 2009...Ace's Lunch "Crush"

I wake up in some kind of "steam bath"...maybe I'm at my health club and fell asleep. I flail about...trying to escape the suffocating heat.
I'm actually in bed at Mom's. She likes to keep the thermostat at 82 or so...and the heat is stifling. I bolt out of bed, throw on some clothes and dash out the front door...and, oh yes, I've checked the alarm system first. Outside, it's nice and cool...mid-60's, maybe...time for a smoke before making some coffee. It's 9:00AM or so, and I've slept almost eleven hours...but I'm still feeling "under the weather". You might think it's because of all of those oysters I've been eating. But I'm thinking that, based on the timing and the symptoms, the most likely "culprit" is that breakfast sandwich I had back in Fairhope.
Ace wants to take me to lunch today, and he's there promptly at 11:00. We head over to "Flashback Diner"...one of those 1950's "Malt Shop Replicas" that are so popular with us "boomers". The food is decent, but I don't have much of an appetite. I've left my car at Ace's, and he's driving us in his Cadillac.
After lunch, I ask Ace to stop at a Walgreen's so that I can pick up some Pepto Bismol and a few bottles of Gatorade. I throw these in Ace's back seat, and we head back to his place so I can get my car. When we get to Ace's, he stops in the street in front of his home and starts chatting with neighbors. I hop out, open the back door, and reach in to get my stuff. At this point, Ace decides to get moving and pushes down on the accelerator. Panicking, I shout, "Stop!", and push myself away from his Cadillac. Unfortunately, I forget to move my left foot, which Ace promptly runs over.
Like me, you may have wondered what it feels like to have your foot run over by a vehicle (in this case, a big heavy vehicle). Well...I can offer a few observations, based on my experience...it hurts like hell! Soon, I'm laying down in the street and Ace's neighbors are all over me...pulling off my shoe, cradling my head, offering words of comfort and support. Amazingly, nothing is broken...it hurts, it's swelling up, it's already turning black and blue...but...it could have been much worse.
I can walk on it...barely. So, after a few minutes, I'm up and hobbling off to my vehicle to run some errands.
Later, I return to Mom's and "ice down" the foot...swelling is not too bad and it's not as bruised as I thought.
That night we go out to dinner...the Jensen Beach Fish House in (where else?) Jensen Beach has a Maine lobster "special"...$21.95 for a pound and a half lobster with two "sides", so we're driving forty-five minutes for that. It's a miserable dining experience...we wait 30 minutes to order...thirty minutes after that, we're informed that they are out of 1 1/2 pounders, so we order 2 pounders...fifteen minutes later, they tell us they only have one two pounder left (I let Mom keep the lobster, and I opt for fried shrimp)...forty minutes after that, we get the "bad news"...Mom's lobster has come out "bad", so she'll have to order something else. She eats one or two of my shrimp (which are terrible...greasy, heavy breading, not much "shrimp"). The best thing at this point is to end an unpleasant experience as quickly as possible...so we pay our bill and "scoot".
Back at Mom's, I put my foot up and relax with a little TV...CNN, a Law & Order episode, a little sports. It's been a long (and painful) day...the sooner to bed, the better.
It's Christmas Eve at Mom's.

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