Driving to Marengo

(Those who have read S&G at all will know that my approach is to take a very limited view of subjects here ... not that I consider other views to be unimportant. Far from it. Almost any subject has its serious side ... quite serious ... when taken in the broad scope of things. Hunger, for example. There is so much of it in the world that it can hardly be taken in any other way than serious. But in S&G I always attempt to find something to smile about ... at least ... and I do that by trying to find something close to home, in my own limited experience ... my own bumbling way of confronting my own perceived problems ... that I can talk about. Bear that in mind, please, as I consider the subject of hunger ... and note that small “h” in hunger ... in my opening monologue today.)


-S&G-


Hunger ... my hunger ... is like lightning, in that it can strike at any time, and ... unlike the common perception of lightning ... it can strike in the same place more than once.


Take it from one who was known ... a couple of decades and roughly a hundred pounds ago ... as THE CAKE MAN ... I know about hunger.


I can be strolling a distant mall ... watching TV ... waking in the middle of the night ... seeing a billboard ... noting a passing pizza delivery vehicle ... glimpsing a sale bill being tumbled by the wind ... and hunger strikes.


I can be thinking deep philosophical thoughts ... but let the faint aroma of baking bread come wafting my way, and I’m hungry.


As I’ve told many people ... friends, relatives and strangers alike ... I was born hungry ... and never got over it.


-S&G-


And so it was ... late on a recent sunny day in Ohio (a rare occasion in itself) ... Phyllis and I were tooling along in The Little Red Car ... minding the Rules of the Road ... while impeding traffic by obeying the speed limits ... when I felt a sudden pang.


I was hungry ... again.


The solution? Food. More specifically, Fast Food. I have trouble waiting for someone to approach, scribble our order, then disappear for what seems to be days before returning with our food.


-S&G-


There was a place we both knew. The food was good and FAST ... and, better yet, we were headed roughly in that direction.


We ... Little Red and the two of us ... were there in a flash. We turned the corner at the traffic light ... and almost immediately found ourselves staring into the eyes of what must have been the world’s largest tractor-trailer rig.


Fortunately, it wasn’t moving ... for the driver appeared to be enjoying a morsel of food, very possibly from the haven toward which Little Red was pointed. 


Unfortunately, the rig was blocking our way. Now, understand, Little Red is not one to back down easily ... but Little Red does have some breeding ... and (usually) remembers his/her manners.


I can imagine that Little Red’s first thought was: Hey, let’s just duck under that thing! And I think Little Red might have been able to, had Phyllis and I scrunched down a bit.


But I thought better of that ... so we turned around ... and headed off in pursuit of Plan B ... another source of good, FAST food.


Within minutes we’d found that place ... and were dismounting ... Phyllis onto dry parking lot pavement ... and I into the middle of a puddle of melted snow which I hadn’t noticed in my weakened condition.


-S&G- 

We soon reached the warmth inside and placed our order ... as did the person behind us.


Then I heard the counter person tell the person behind us ... “Sorry, we’re out of beef!” How could that be? This was a place which specializes in beef! 


What were they handing out to that stream of vehicles passing the drive-thru window? And did they run out just after we placed our order? Or just before? Or maybe she was just kidding, right? Surely, she was kidding.


Phyllis and I stood there staring at each other for what seemed like a couple of days. Of course, she had ordered chicken ... I was the one who’d ordered BEEF. 


Sure enough ... when the sandwiches arrived and we found a quiet booth where we could recover partially from the afternoon’s trauma ... Phyllis had chicken ... and I had beef. 


At least I think I had beef.


-S&G-


TODAY’S POEM - This is one of my favorites, largely because of the memories it has preserved of a young family taking affordable outings. We were living in Northern Illinois at the time, and Marengo was one of our favorite destinations.


Memories of those outings were still "rotating on the carousel of my mind" as Phyllis and I returned from a now-rare outing, a trip out of town. Traffic had thinned a bit (all the trucks, buses and cars of the world had gone zip-zip-zipping past us ... because I always poke along at the posted speed limit).


During those few moments when we had only the humming of our own car's tires to keep us company, my thoughts drifted toward those summertime outings. What delicious memories! I had no choice. I had to dig out "Driving to Marengo" and share it with you again today:


DRIVING TO MARENGO


We urged the old station wagon
along curving country roads
toward that place just across
from the school, to consume
those remarkable foot-long
hotdogs with chili peppers
and onions, dripping mustard
and juices, filling the air
with an aroma that lingered
all the slow, dark drive home,
and for days afterward,
like a spirit moving softly
among us, implanting memories
still turning, slowly rotating
on the carousel of my mind.
© 1998
(originally published in Raintown Review)
-S&G-


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-S&G-


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Thanks for paying a visit.




-S&G-


UNTIL NEXT TIME ... take care ... see ya!


-S&G-


© 2010