Just passing through
Published 4:15 am Wednesday, May 8, 2019
The soft light of early morning danced on my eyelids. Spending Easter with our daughter and grandson had been wonderful, and I wanted to tuck the weekend away in a special place in my memory. The nights spent at the B&B in Williamsburg had also been a pleasure, but now it was time to move on to thoughts of home.
I roused Mike and we quickly dressed and headed to the coffee shop for a cup of rich, dark roasted brew and one of their delicious omelets. It’s a long trek from Virginia so we crashed at Melinda’s again on our way south. Our grandson had to finish a paper so he couldn’t join us, but Melinda ran in for a quick cup of decaf on her way to work.
“Mike, it’s really been fun, but I’m missing home. You?”
“Me too, honey. I’ll bet Missy will be glad to see us. Either that, or she might be pouting because we didn’t bring her.”
We sat in companionable silence finishing our breakfast. Soon we were rolling down I-40, and I used the time to go through my email. Then, I realized that I had not deleted any photos in a while and started that somewhat tedious task.
Before I knew it we were almost to Fort Payne, Alabama, and needed to decide what to do for lunch. I perused the Internet and found the top 10 eateries in the area. We thought barbeque sounded good so Mike put Sally’s Smokin’ Butt Barbecue’s address in his phone.
I read the reviews and noticed that one said the food was delish, but she was a little surprised that the restrooms were out back of the rather rustic eatery. Well, being a country girl myself, that didn’t give me much pause.
So the restrooms are around back, so what? A city girl must have written that review. I don’t think that information is even worth mentioning, really.
We found the place rather easily and entered to the smell of heaven. Mike ordered, and I strolled around back to wash up. About that time I realized that nature was calling, and I would be doing more than just washing my hands in there.
I noticed a beautiful white church next door with gorgeous towering pines blowing in the breeze as I opened the door to the facilities. Oddly, I couldn’t find the light switch and the call of nature became more insistent as I searched. There was no window so it was quite dark in the small space, and I decided to leave the door open a crack.
At the most awkward moment imaginable a strong wind blew the door open wide. I had a birds eye view of the little white church and knew that anyone about would have a view inside Sally’s Smockin’ Butt’s outside restroom where this butt was exposed. I hurried out as fast as I could, and sure am glad that I don’t know anyone in Fort Payne, Alabama!
Jan Penton Miller can be reached at lilsisjan@yahoo.com.