At Tina's

I took a day off from my computer and grading papers and headed south to Panama City . I had a few errands to run, but mostly I wanted to get out into the sunshine and beautiful Spring weather. I hoped to see my writer buddy and fellow English teacher Tina. We had not gotten together since the Hurricane Ivan. As I headed south, I tapped in her number on the cellphone but got only her voice-mail.

Drat! She's out of town, probably at a writer's workshop or visiting her "girls" in Pensacola.

I stopped in Bruce and had lunch at the venerable Bruce Cafe located where Highway 81 connects with Highway 20. The food was wonderous as it has been everytime I've eaten there since the age of 12. Some one at the next table was talking abut the "good" fried green beans he had had the night before at... I couldn't make out the place and was to busy attending to the home-cured ham that I was eating to ask.

I make it to Panama City, I complete my errands. No sign of Tina. I'm starting to turn toward home when the cell phone sounds off.

Tina speaking:" I'm on 98 leaving Pensacola; I'll be home soon; Please wait for me."

Did I say long story short?If you know Tina, you know just how much irony there is in that statement. "Go to a movie," she suggested, as if I'd for a second trade this dazzling reality of rebirth for any bodies best world of make-believe. What I did for the two hours while I waited. 1) Drove around looking for interesting pictures to make. 2) Sat in the truck by the water and soaked up the sunshine. I did all this while I listened to the Met's broadcast of Puccini's Tosca on the radio. Click if you want to know more about Tosca.

Tina and I meet at her apartment. She gets there after I do and the girl next door is eyeballing me from behind her curtains.

Tina begins:" Let's go get some Fried Green Beans at this place on Massalina Bayou .They are great! Mystery solved.

They were good which lead us to conclude that anything deep fried was "good"! We sat out on the talk talking about school and teaching English and soaking up what was turning out to be a stunning Spring afternoon.

After that we went to Tina's mom's place to feed the dog. Tina's mother has always been a startling interesting person. Her house was everything I expected given her electic personality -- a cross between's Elvis's Graceland and Ms. Haversham's digs. A truely unique place to visit.

One more stop, Greenwood Cemetary to look at the new drive and statuary. After homemade expresso we bid our farewells and I turned the truck toward home.

I made the mistake of going back the beach route Highway 98) forgetting that "SPRING BREAK" was still in full swing. I got into a line of cars that ran bumper to bumper from the Walmart [built on the site of the old Petticoat Junction Amusement Park] to Miracle Strip Amusement Park that finally shutdown this fall. The vehicles streamed by a virtual parade of young people trying to be seen and heard.