We also had a prom group come through tonight, and that gave me a great idea for a post later... prom nights. Four proms, three dates, many stories. But that's later. For now, here's the end of my daylong visit to Samson, Alabama. This actually appears on pages 9 thru 12 of the original document I wrote it on, which is why I had to break it up into four parts. Its been a fun column to write, though. Anyway, here's the previous posts, then the finale....
Samson Blog Part I: "...Knee High to a Puddle Duck"
Samson Blog Part II: Tammy Ward & the Library Books
Samson Blog Part III: High School Highs... and Lows
PART IV... MEMORIES IN A BBQ DIVE
I had an original plan heading into this Monday to possibly talk to two people… Chris McCall, my high school best friend who I haven’t seen in a very, very long time, and The Clouds in My Coffee Official High School Crush Julie Wise, who asked me to let her know when I was in town. My thought was, “hey, maybe I can meet one for lunch, one for coffee, or both for dinner, or both for lunch!”, but a day or so before, I discovered Chris had the unfortunate event of being in Disney World at the same time I was in Samson. I had texted The Clouds in My Coffee Official High School Crush Julie Wise on my way down to Samson, but hadn’t heard from her at all, so I was already mentally making plans to maybe go down to the small community of Hacoda and see if another good high school buddy Greg Avant was around.
Lo and behold, The Official Clouds in My Coffee High School Crush Julie Wise texts me back, and after a few texts back and forth, we finally set up a time—5pm—to meet up at a local restaurant—Crew’s BBQ—in town. “Where is Crew’s?” I texted. “Its down on 87, where Gautney’s used to be, across the street from Stephanie Sheffield’s old house” was the reply. Stephanie Sheffield of the "dancing with Ryan Frary as he tried to move my hand to make me feel up Angiejay" fame, as mentioned in the previous post.
I vaguely remember when Gautney’s was open (its had several owners and names since then, including its current incarnation, Crews BBQ). They were the competitors to The Wright Place, and I remember Forrest and Charlotte didn’t like the people that owned it… apparently, the owners of Gautney’s made fun of myself and Victor Miller, the other waiter, saying they’d never hire “Puerto Ricans like that, they’d probably steal all the money.” Its Hispanic, you ignorant (expletive deleted).
After sitting with my mom for a while longer, I finally decided it was time to go on down to dinner, so at 10 til 5, I said goodbye, gave my hugs, and went outside. I reeked of smoke, but luckily, I had anticipated this, so I wheeled onto the little dirt road that runs behind the west block of downtown Samson, namely the area behind the hardware store, the old Wright Place location and so on. I pulled up, yanked off my shirt and threw on a sweatshirt. Then, at 5pm, I was sitting in Crew’s BBQ.
It wasn’t busy at the time, so I went and sat in a booth, and when the waitress came up, I asked for some sweet tea. As she was returning with said drink, I looked at her suspiciously… “Y’all do take debit cards… right?” She smirked and said, “No, the boss won’t get a card machine!” I sighed, mentally cursing the lack of technology in this town and racked my brain for a quick solution. An ATM, maybe?
Like she was reading my mind, the waitress said, “You can go to the ATM if you want.” I perked up, looking around, figuring I’d have to pay a service charge of like, $3 or something, and asked where it was. “Oh, just go down to the red light, take a left, and you’ll see the bank on the left side.” By saying “down to the red light”, she was essentially saying go back the two miles you came from town. Sigh. Again.
I texted The Clouds in My Coffee Official High School Crush Julie Wise and told her what happened, and that I had no money in my pocket. Her text was a big fat LOL. I told her if she’d pull up, she could ride with me down to the bank, and she responded simply, “Don’t worry about it, I got it.” I started to text her back, and in rolls this big Mommy-Mobile SUV wheeling through the parking lot. And out steps The Clouds in My Coffee Official High School Crush Julie Wise, the first time I’d actually seen her in 15 or 16 years. Big smile from her, big smile from me, I gave her a big hug and we sat down for a nice meal of Crews BBQ, even though I got popcorn shrimp and she got chicken fingers.
Now, let me be very clear about this… before any and all of you start imagining all the things that can go wrong here, and start asking yourself “Is this a good idea?” and such, this was a We-Are-Friends meal. This was clear from the get-go on both of our parts. As a matter of fact, talk of The Lovely Steph Leann was littered throughout our entire conversation, how we met, who she is, how we match up, and so on. I love The Lovely Steph Leann and made sure that my conversation reflected such. Plus, The Clouds in My Coffee Official High School Crush Julie Wise didn't dig me back then... why would she now?
You also have to remember, part of it was seeing my friend, but another small part? It would make for great blogging, to finally reconnect and report on someone who has become an oft-asked about character on the Clouds blog. And another small part? I’m still making book notes. Just making sure you know this.
The Clouds in My Coffee Official High School Crush Julie Wise and I sat and also discussed about a hundred other topics that evening, from the whereabouts of many of my classmates, the whereabouts of many of her classmates, why Chris McCall was so obsessed with Andrea Foreman, why Andrea Foreman was so obsessed with Stan McDuffie, the strange relationships of Ryan Frary, including Kelli White AND Stephanie Sheffield, Angiejay’s Facebook dis of me and the subsequent decision to make her a villain in my story I’m writing, Jennifer Herndon, how the town has changed (and thankfully, only briefly discussing the March tragedy which by this point I was tired of rehashing), what happened to her and the tool she was dating, her daughters Bayleigh and Brantley, my unborn children Campbell Isaiah and Lorelei Addison, and of course, the events before, leading up to, including and beyond the afternoon of The Note.
We laughed and had a great time, like friends do, and it was after I had already left town that I realized that in that 2 and a half hour span, we talked more than I think we had done collectively in 3 years around her in high school. The last real time I had spent with The Official Clouds in My Coffee High School Crush Julie Wise was hanging out at Beverly Day’s birthday party (1992?), which I think I was invited to only because I was in the band.
I also remember me and Chris McCall laughing as Beverly Day, Andrea Foreman, The Clouds in My Coffee Official High School Crush Julie Wise and I think Stephanie Sheffield stood on a couple of tables in the yard and sang “I Like the Way (the kissing game)” by Hi-Five. I have a weird memory about things, I think.
Back to dinner, it was around 7:30ish, when it was finally time to depart… she had kids to get into bed, she had to get to sleep herself, and I had to begin a long journey back to the world I know now.
Like I had done with other faces that I had talked to earlier, The Clouds in My Coffee Official High School Crush Julie Wise and I said our goodbyes, and agreed to stay in touch this time around, and hopefully when The Lovely Steph Leann comes with me, I can introduce the two women who meant a lot to me, albeit completely different stages of life.
At 7:30, I turned onto Highway 52, and headed out of Samson, toward Geneva, back from the direction I had already come. I had told Sandy Wright hours earlier that I would stop by her parent’s house and say hello, so when I came upon their county road, I turned right. It was paved, but only slightly… the Wright home is a house I’d been to many, many times as a teenager, both visiting and working. Sometimes I would just hang out with Cristie, other times I would help Forrest paint or clean or whatever, and he paid well. The restaurant closed some years after I started college, but the Wrights own a florist & gift shop in Geneva, and he does, or at least did at one point, sell fencing and siding.
So when I came to the Wright home, imagine my surprise when I couldn’t get in. They have a long white fence that wraps around the property, with a small driveway that I parked in. There was a gate. An immovable gate that I had no clue how to approach. Granted, I could have easily ducked between the wide spaces in the fencing, but the last time I was here, they had a couple of Dalmatians that were the size of Toni Rocky Honda, so I stood for a few minutes, staring at the house. Do I honk the horn? Do I duck under the fence and make a run for it, hoping the Spawn of Spotted Dog doesn’t chase me down and maul me? What do I do? It’s about 7:50 now, the light is fading, so who knows if they even recognize me?
Finally, I decided I would just leave a note. I grabbed a Sharpie, cause you know I lurves me some Sharpies and Toni Rocki Honda contains about 30, and scribbled down:
Forrest & Charlotte
Stopped by to see you both. Didn’t know how to enter the Wright Fortress. Hope you are well, hope to see you soon.
d$
I wheeled Toni Rocki Honda to their mailbox, opened it, put my note in, and left. There was one more stop to make, really, in my Samson excursion… Wal-Mart, though it was actually in Geneva. My purpose was singular… I wanted to walk the store front to back, side to side, and count the paces. Then I wanted to compare it with the Wal-Mart down the street from The Cabana on 280. Back to front, the Geneva Wal-Mart was 73 paces. Side to side, its 103. I’m not joking. And the Wal-Mart closes, which in a city that has about six of them within a fifteen mile radius that stay open 24-7, is unfathomable.
Finally, it was time to go. Through Geneva, back through Enterprise and up to Troy, where I made a quick stop at the FarmHouse Fraternity house to drop off a paddle that was given to me years and years ago by my big brother there… it was time the paddle found a home in the house. Met some of the guys, watched a few minutes of the NCAA championship game, shook some hands and then I was out.
My last stop before home was in Prattville at Steak-n-Shake… I wasn’t even that hungry, having eaten hours before with The Clouds in My Coffee Official High School Crush Julie Wise, but I got a small burger, fries and a milkshake… because its Steak-n-Shake, and I never get a chance to go there. Truly, I miss Denny’s, but I do love some SNS.
My day in Samson was wonderful, not made so by any particular part of it, but by the combination of well wishes, familiar faces and throwbacks to days when it was so simple. I think everyone thinks to themselves how they would do it if they could go back, knowing now what you know. I would think I’d be the coolest guy in school, because honestly I wouldn’t care. Lord knows I’d have better fashion sense, and I’d probably have a change of clothes in my locker to put on as soon as I got to school.
As simple as it seems, though, I am truly blessed to be sitting here in front of my laptop, sitting on a wooden TV tray, which is sitting on an expensive designer rug, sprawled out in front of our leather couches, in a living room directly under the bedroom where the most wonderful, beautiful woman I’ve ever known is sleeping peacefully. All of this is in The Cabana, our house we bought last year, sitting close to a major highway in our town, which means we’re close to everything, including both jobs that we possess and love.
I do have a new found love for my hometown of Samson, and one day, maybe in a few decades, maybe sooner, maybe never, I might go back. Maybe with The Lovely Steph Leann in 2020, maybe as a widower in 2061. And I do have a love for the people I left behind, be it The Clouds in My Coffee Official High School Crush Julie Wise, or Chris McCall or my other two Samson BFFs Tonya and Greg, and friends like Jason Howell (who I’m dying to spend some more time with) and Rona Mock and her husband Ryan (who I’m going to call for dinner in the next two weeks) and especially my mom, who will most certainly die in this town, probably in the next few years. I’ve already decided I’m going to make it a more frequent trip, perhaps once every two months, maybe once per month during football season…
..but in all my remembering where I come from, I’ll be careful not to forget where I am now. And where I am right now is the most blessed place I could be. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna click this laptop off and go upstairs and sleep next to The Lovely Steph Leann.
(one more authors note... when I finish and publish a post, which usually takes me forever, as The Lovely Steph Leann can attest, I read it on the actual website itself, usually to make sure it flows and posts correctly, is spaced correctly, et al. Tonight as I did this for Part IV, my website playlist played "When I Get Where I'm Going" by Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton. I thought it was kinda cool. Course, if this were 1993, "You Don't Bring Me Anything But Down" might've sufficed for my dinner guest. Ha!!)
Thanks for reading.
