Jim Dandy
Very routine Thursday. After tossing and turning all over the bed till slumber creeps in, morning begins. Woke up at the same six am time but wasn’t clocked in for the day, so in bed I stay for another hour. Another hour of thinking and planning for productivity as I’m sinking into bed. No messages or alerts on my phone, not even a spam call. I must get moving out of bed because it’s becoming quick sand and I’m going to start swimming in this memory foam. Maybe if I get dressed and hop in the car, i’ll figure out something productive to do. The gas tank level is the same as it was left last thursday. Now eight am, gritting my freshly brushed teeth as I try to avoid the predictable. I told myself last thursday that this was the last thursday that I would do this, I even waved bye to the waitress one last time the last time. I’ve done this like two months in a row, I don’t know where to go. With winter wind kicking in, I succumb to this urge to not break this routine that is practically a law at this point. Off to Friendly’s we go; It’s not open now but it will be when I get there. A cross country drive that is two hours away from where I stay now takes place. Ages ago, there was a Friendly’s near where I still buy groceries but it was ripped away from me as a child. I’m now left to chase this cross country good time as an adult, in a pathetic attempt to make amends with my former self. This looming embarrassment is set as an imagery of myself is created as I drive there. Just sitting in a booth alone, all grown. All this imagery has me unfocused on the road, almost hopped on a tow truck a couple times and kissed a black oak tree. It’s now ten am and we are finally here, one of the last surviving Friendly’s that there is. It’s a workday, so no one is really here except the workers and me. They serve breakfast at this location but no one gets breakfast at a Friendy’s, I’d check the sex offender registry on a man who eats the breakfast like it were a pitstop diner. It’s still breakfast time but I’m never here for it or any meal. The waitress shamefully knows my name by now like a happy hooker and assumes I’m here for the usual, of course she was right. I sit tight in the booth that is in the corner, with my back to the main entrance. My usual is a bit of a hybrid, a bespoke made for me. It’s a Jim Dandy sundae but I ask them if they could put a smiley face on it like they do with the kids sundaes, specifically the cherry eyes and nose with a red smile. The waitress finally comes and drops off my special request; still no other customers have entered. You know, you get a bit speechless for a couple seconds when you are face to face with something that makes you happy. Whether it’s a grandma that is loving the red hot jackpot slots or a mad man that remembered where he buried his moonshine. I’m face to face with the first smile that has been given to me this week, I could care less about the ice cream. Makes me think about why shouldn’t I smile but then I look at this Jim Dandy for a bit longer than I should have. The smile on the sundae melts away; I’ve never really understood what was supposed to happen after you smile. Do you just wipe it off your face just right after it happens? It seems like it doesn’t last long enough, it is a lot of hassle to go through just to get a demo of it. Those drug addicts that get a long jail time must understand a bit, get left high and dry to go cold turkey after going through that hassle. After finishing the smiling Jim Dandy, i’m high on the hog like a University of Arkansas athlete and i’m not sure if it was the sugar or the simile. Back to the land I go, days like this I just don’t know where to go but I sure do know that i’m clocked in for tomorrow.