One morning back in 1986, as was usual for me, I drove down to the Girlie Restaurant on I44 next to the Sleepy Bear Motor Hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The west side of Tulsa was not the best of places to find a good breakfast on Sunday morning. But, I had been eating at the restaurant for a few months and it was not bad.
I retrieved a copy of the Tulsa World newspaper from the machine out front after depositing fifty cents and strolled to the back, sliding into a booth that allowed me a full view of anyone coming or going in the restaurant.
I had been sitting there about fifteen minutes when a couple of women came in. One was somewhat older than the other, possibly a mother and daughter. They selected a booth on the opposite side of the aisle from me, a little towards the front, with the younger woman facing me, and the older woman turned away.
The older woman looked to be in her fifties with some gray showing and wearing thick glasses. She was a little on the heavy side for her height, but not terribly so. She appeared to be talking to her daughter all the while.
I’ve been told that my ability to notice or pay attention skills did not function well at times. But, I want to tell you, I did notice that the younger woman looked strange. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was there. She was taller than her mother, slim, had short blonde hair and blue eyes and was not a bad looking woman.
Before she sat down, I saw that she wore a medium length dress, bare legs and a pair of loafers. She had nice looking breasts and. . . wait a minute! All of a sudden it clicked. She was a double amputee! Both arms were missing just below her shoulders! How in the world was she going to eat, I thought to myself?
The waitress had my order; two eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy. Where was she anyway? Sure seems slow today for some reason. I continued to roam the sports page, occasionally glancing up from the paper.
It was then that I noticed something peculiar going on across the way. No, it wasn’t that the woman with her back to me had lit a cigarette and was puffing away? What grabbed my attention was that she handed the cigarette to her daughter and she took it with her foot!
I did a double take, leaning to one side to see around the waitress as she placed my order on the table. I had to see this. The woman had her foot on the table and took the lit cigarette between her toes. She tilted her head slightly, taking a drag off the weed then let the smoke ease from between her slightly spaced lips then the corner of her mouth.
Gosh that looks easy, I thought. Well, the food hasn’t arrived yet. Let’s see how she handles that.
I glanced through the paper, took a sip of coffee, a bite of eggs and sausage then returned my attention to the two women sitting across the way.
Good! I murmured to my self. Here comes their food. Let’s see how she does this. A cigarette is one thing, but a fork, a spoon, a cup of coffee. . and pancakes?
Well! I could not believe my eyes. She ate her pancakes, bacon and drank coffee as if nothing was the matter at all. If I had not seen it, I would not have believed it.
I finished my breakfast and continued to read the paper. While, across the way, the two ladies sit a while longer, smoking and sipping coffee. They may have been talking about me.
“Who is that strange gawking, nobody at the back of the restaurant,” the girl may have asked her mother.
Anyway, I never forgot that pair of ladies and their most unusual actions in the Girlie Restaurant on I-44, that Sunday morning in 1986.
Benjamin J Cox is an author, novelist, poet, speaker, writer and humorist. He has written a book, Insider Dreams, a 911 Novel. He was born on a dirt street in a Waldron, Arkansas, in 1943. He graduated from the University of Tulsa with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He is married with three children, five grandchildren. He is the President of Mayes County Writers Club, the Treasurer of Pryor Creek Investment Club and a member of Will Rogers Toastmasters Club. He is retired and lives with his wife in Pryor, Oklahoma. He like to run, enjoys big band dancing, Speaking before groups, and writes every day.
Author: Benjamin Cox
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Smiling shark
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