Eatin' Good in the Neighborhood...

"Are you hungry?" dad asked me over the phone around 11 AM.

I was very glad to hear from him. He sounded upbeat.

"I am about out of groceries," I replied. "Yes, I am hungry."

"Are you dressed?" he then asked. "I've still got my pajamas on."

I could sense a plan formulating by the minute.

"Come by the house and I'll give you enough money to get us two fried catfish plates and some sweet tea," my father said. "I'll call Roger's when I get off the phone with you and they should be ready when you get there."

I put on some tennis shoes and got underway. The troops had been mobilized. Dad then called me back as I was leaving the house and asked me if I wanted a one-piece meal or a two-piece meal. Two-piece, of course, I told him.

Dad gave me $25 dollars and I drove across the Chattahoochee into West Point.

"Andrew?" the lady with the glass eye said when I walked in the door. "Here are your catfish plates."

I paid and then hurried back to my father's house where we both ate our meals. Dad could only eat one of his two filets so Maggie got a treat when I got back home.