Adventures with Kerri Part 2
(Note: Here is another chapter of my Travels With Kerri.
Once again you have several choices. You can read the whole thing,
read part of it or delete the whole thing and don't tell the author.
I will somehow know who my real interested friends are)
Since it was almost 5:00 and the kids had to be at the college by 6:30 we
decided that we should find a place to have something to eat. Dick asked the
young man at the desk if he could recommend a "southern" restaurants and he
said "not really" so we thought we would just drive until something looked
interesting. That took only 3 minutes because as we drove out of the motel
entrance we saw "Tammy's" (not the real name) Southern Buffet and Dick said
"how about trying that" so we agreed. We also wondered why the young man at
the motel hadn't mentioned it if it was good, but we are always up for a new
experience in fine dining. We walked in and were greeted by a very friendly
young girl who showed us to a booth, took our drink orders, and said help
yourself to the buffet. As we got up to walk over to the serving line Dick
asked the girl what her name was. She said Christy which I understood very
well, but Dick thought she said Tracy (remember the dialect is different up
there) and she said no it's Christy. So he asked her to spell it and she did,
CHRISTY and then he understood.
Now I have been to a lot of Southern buffets, but I've never visited one
that had Chinese good before. It was also interesting that the salads were
the first course, followed by desserts, then vegetable, entrees, and then the
Chinese dishes. Since Dick is a big dessert fan he didn't mind the desserts
being first, but we did wonder how they determined the orders of courses.
There was quite a variety of dishes and I tried to sample a fair number but we
all agreed that it wasn't going to rank up there with the top southern food we
had ever eaten. Even the Chinese food wasn't very good and Dick wondered why
I had even tried Chinese food at a southern café and I really had no answer
for that question.
Now even though the food wasn't so good, Christy was a treat. She kept
coming over to our table and asking if she could get anything for us and of
course Dick engaged her in many topics of conversation. We had to listen
closely (at least everyone except me did) to understand what she was saying
and I had a pen and pad and tried to copy down some of the conversation.
The thing is that later I couldn't read my dialect writing. I do know that she
said she was from Sinner (Center) Ga. and she had to wop off (wipe off) the
table. She had just graduated from high school and was dating a boy younger
than she was who was still in school. He should have been a senior but was a
sophomore so there was some problem in that scenario. She said they met in
church which we heartily approved of and her mother (the other waitress) was
standing nearby and heard our conversation. She said she liked the boyfriend
and insisted that they go to church because "God don't lak (like) ugly" and we
think she meant ugly behavior. She then went further by telling us that he'd
better not ever hit her daughter because "you just don't let no man hit you
more than once". I was thinking "why even once".
Dick asked Christy why they served Chinese food and she said she didn't know
about that, but that the café was owned by a Korean man who owned several other
restaurants in town... Well that's when we knew it was providence that we had
picked that particular place to eat. Of course we said nothing about Ron being
half Korean at first and Dick asked her all about the owner and if he was nice
and easy to work for, etc. just to see what she would say. She answered very
positively so then Ron told her he was half Korean. In the mean time Kerri went
out to the car to get a copy of her book and CD which she signed and gave to
Christy as we were leaving and enclosed a $20 bill. Dick also added $20 so I
would say that was one happy little girl.
By then it was time to head to the college and get ready for the big show.
Kerri had been on the cell phone off and on all day with the student Carrie who
arranged their performance and she met us at the entrance gate so we could
follow her to the site of the show. Carrie was a very sweet girl who seemed
very much in awe of Ron and Kerri. After all they are big stars. Everyone at
the college was so nice and friendly and it's always a pleasure for Dick and me
to be around Christian young people. The program started with a band playing
and leading praise songs. Everyone was asked to stand which we did, but the
songs went on and on as praise music tends to do and my back was letting me
know it was time to sit down. However, there was a young man in a wheelchair
sitting in front of us and he stood with a walker during the singing so I just
kept telling myself if he could stand up so could I. Dick told me later that he
was saying the same thing. What an inspiration!
There were about 150 kids in attendance and they loved both Kerri and Ron's
performances as did we. They served pizza after the show so we met and talked
with quite a few of the kids including the young man in the wheelchair and they
were delightful and very friendly.
Then it was back to the "Ritz". Dick and Ron had found a wonderful family
bakery and bought pastries so they came to our "suite" and we indulged ourselves
and talked about the evening's success. Kerri and Ron left and in preparing for
bed I removed the bedspread and wished I hadn't when I saw the blanket. It's
hard to describe except to say that I wouldn't dare let any part of it touch
any part of my body. At least the sheets looked clean and I prayed that they
were. I didn't look for bedbugs; ignorance is bliss. Neither Dick nor I slept
very well because of the radiator AC which made a lot of noise and I don't
think we could relax enough to sleep. I got up early the next morning and
walked down to the lobby to check out the free breakfast. There were bagels,
white bread slices, cereal, and make your own waffles so I decided to make a
waffle. What a mistake as it was tasteless so I threw it away and ate a piece
of toast. Fortunately back in the room, there was a leftover donut from the
bakery so I added those calories to the toast.
Since Kerri and Ron wanted to sleep in Dick and I explored the shops nearby
and spent some time in Tuesday Morning. I just stood in the aisles and
listened to the conversations around me and was fascinated that we could be in
the same state and have such a different language. Once again I jotted down
notes but couldn't read them. I know it was lite, rite, and nite for light,
right, and night. When I gave my credit card to the lady at the check out she
had it upside down and when she noticed, she said something like, "if I could
git yo head up rite I mite can read dat". Or sumpin lite that.
We picked Kerri and Ron up and I told them that at this stage in my life I
no longer feel the need to stay at cheap motels that are less than clean. I know
that they don't get to pick where they stay as the people who they are performing for book
their accommodations, but I'm too old and spoiled to stay at those motels with "atmosphere".
I also just mentioned in passing that I felt certain in the near future that
their "star" status would merit them staying in five star hotels as well. I
don't know where that would be in Rome, Ga. but there had to be something
better than where we were.
On our way out of town, we made a quick driving tour of Martha Berry College
which is spectacularly beautiful. It is the largest college campus in the US
encompassing 28,000 acres most of which are just countryside. Henry Ford
contributed quite a large sum of money to build several beautiful buildings on
campus so that of course was interesting to us. That man really got around and
we don't know what his relationship with Martha was.
We couldn't leave town without checking out the TJ Maxx store as well the
Barnes and Nobel bookstore in a quest to find Kerri's book which they did not
have. We of course wrote a note requesting that they order some copies as it was
an excellent book. We then decided to have lunch at Panera Bread Company.
Kerri and I were going to share a sandwich so we chose one of the specialty
sandwiches and the girl behind the counter asked which side we wanted.
Well the choices were 2 kinds of bread, an apple, or chips. Kerri immediately
said she wanted the baguette to which I said' "why would you want more bread
when you ordered a sandwich". Now mind you, all week she has been telling me
that she and Ron are on the Weight Watchers diet and they are counting points.
She then said she just liked the bread and did I think she was fat? She
continued with this tirade adding that her mother was trying to give her a
complex and the 2 girls behind the counter were looking at us wondering if
we were crazy or what. Ron was standing there trying to act like he didn't know
us and Dick was still shopping. Well, I knew that she was smiling and really
just trying to embarrass me which she did. She finally told the girl to just
give her an apple and Ron went up to the counter and said "do you think you can
get a marriage annulled after a year and half?" Well Kerri was on a roll
(no pun intended) and continued all through lunch telling Ron that her mother
thought she was fat. I just kept telling her to eat her apple and count her
points. Of course now she has more material for her act.
