Breakfast with Grubby

This morning I decided to drive over to the Waffle House by the interstate and eat breakfast. Sometimes, it is just so nice just to sit down and have your food brought to you like that. No dishes and pots and pans to wash. I also enjoy that the Waffle House is one of the last places where you can sit, smoke cigarettes, drink unlimited refills of coffee, and read the morning paper.

I ordered a ham and cheese omelete with hash browns, bacon, and an extra order of toast. As I was eating my meal and reading the paper this very grubby looking fellow walked in and sat down in the booth across from me. I tend to have a habit of people watching and the Waffle House always has interesting patrons. This fellow was short with long white hair and a long scruffy and scraggly white beard. He kind of reminded me of an overweight Willie Nelson. At one point he got up to put a quarter in the jukebox playing an old Patsy Cline song.

I kept getting this feeling I was being watched as well. Every time I would look up, this grubby looking fellow was staring at me. It gave me the creeps. He was sitting there drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. I would look up and his piercing eyes would be gazing right at me. I would quickly divert my eyes back to my newspaper and my cup of coffee fearing making eye contact. Maybe that was my mistake. I should have stared back.

I finally had had enough coffee and cigarettes and had read anything worth reading in the newspaper. I finished my cup and placed a two dollar tip on the table and then paid for my meal. Grubby’s eyes were still following my every move. This kind of piqued my paranoia a tad. I walked out and got in my car and drove home.

I wonder why that fellow was so interested in me. He definitely wins this morning’s award for creepy old man. Maybe he was mistaking me for someone else. That’s par for the course for the Waffle House though. It always draws some pretty interesting people off of the interstates; traveling far and wide.