Sunday, November 18, 2001
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Sunday, November 18, 2001 |
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It doesn't get any better than this By MARY JANE HOLT
We learned that her name was Eliza. She called him Dan. That's how they introduced themselves when they accepted my invitation to join us at our table for lunch at the Concord Café Sunday. Oddly enough, I did not get my usual look from my Dan when I issued the invitation. I am beginning to think after all these years that I finally have him trained. It appears he has now realized a stranger is just a friend you don't know yet. When we left the restaurant he actually commented on how much he enjoyed the couple and how beautiful she was. Of course he never bothered to remember aloud that she was wearing a suit the same color as the one I had on the night I met him some 35 years ago. Oh, well, if the years teach us anything they teach us how to forgive. At least it was clear that he still liked the personality behind that brilliant rose red color. She had stopped at our table as they entered the restaurant to speak to my hubby. She, a total stranger, tall, thin and graceful, was so forward as to suggest that he go fix himself another plate and let her have the one which he had just set before himself. My, how I was enjoying that encounter. I wondered if she and I were kin. I recalled a time some years back when the physician I worked for had taken the entire office staff out for lunch. As we walked into the restaurant, and by this booth of four strange men, I stopped to inquire about a platter of something on their table that I did not recognize. They offered me a taste. I tasted. To this day, the folks with whom I am still in contact from that office call me a floozie. By the way, just try nonchalantly, unless you want to be labeled a floozie, to glance at the plates of other diners as you enter a restaurant. That is the best way by far to choose what you'd like to have. In fact, if you ask to be seated near the back of the establishment you will have an opportunity to view more selections as you meander slowly to your table. Decide what you like and when you server comes, tell him to forget the menu and discreetly point to the person eating what you want, ask what they are having, and order it. Back to Concord and Eliza and Dan. We learned they had been on their way from Atlanta to someplace in Wyoming Sept. 11. Eliza talked about how brilliant Dan is and how he knows maps and all sorts of things. He had been watching when they crossed the Mississippi and suddenly turned north. He whispered to her that the pilot had just changed course. She had not noticed, but she knew her man and never for a second doubted that he knew what he was talking about so she wondered why the pilot had taken such action. Within seconds the voice they will never forget came through the air. "This is your captain," he said, "and this is not a joke. I am serious. We have just been ordered to land in Little Rock. American Airlines is under attack. Two of our planes have just crashed into the World Trade Centers." The couple said cell phones began to literally fly out of hand bags, brief cases and carry on luggage. They said folks started dialing contacts down below for confirmation. For details. For any other information. Once they reached Little Rock they had to circle for more than 30 minutes while waiting for their turn to land. At first there was chaos. Then, in a matter of hours, everything became eerily quiet. They inquired about car rentals and bus travel. It took two and half days to get a car which they, and the couple accompanying them, drove back to Atlanta. They said retrieving their car from Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta proved to be yet another adventure. Then suddenly I realized why I could not help but invite these two "strangers" to join Daniel and me for lunch. Not one negative thing had they said about their entire adventure of Sept. 11. In fact, in the hour or so we shared together, not one negative thing did they say about anything or anyone. It just doesn't get better than that, and the food was good, too, as usual!
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