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FOOD FOR THE SPIRIT
[This column comes to you from Milton Leathers, and I am glad
to relinquish the space to him, his son Cobby and Cobby's friend
Steven Willoughby—Ed.]
Milton writes: Our middle son Cobby, who lives in Thailand,
was just home to Athens for a short visit last week. On the
way back to the Atlanta airport a few early mornings ago, it
was necessary for me to drive by Strickland's restaurant, for
merly located downtown at the corner of Broad and Jackson
streets. Now, that Athens institution is way out west on 29/78
past the car dealerships. It was breakfast time, and Cobby
wanted to pick up—for himself and a couple of other expats
in Bangkok—four sausage biscuits, two country ham biscuits
and two tenderloin biscuits. He got two other biscuits and
one large coffee for us to share on the road. Before going
through security, the precious bundle of eight was neatly
wrapped in wax paper, more paper, a little more paper and a
thin, breathable plastic Cobby had discovered was ideal for his
purposes. The following day in Bangkok, two of the emigrant
biscuits were hand-delivered to Cobby's Thailand colleague,
Steven—a man who is really from Alabama. What follows here
is his friend's thank-you note. (I mean, just because a person
from the South lives in Southeast
Asia, that doesn't absolve him of
his responsibilities about writing
thank-you notes, does it?)
Steven writes: Cobby, the
event took place this morning at
Starbucks Emporium, attended by a
pretty good friend of about seven
or eight years. I shared with him
exactly, uh, none. He is suffering
[from] food poisoning, and I felt for him, truly. But, I did not
want to risk wasting so rare a delicacy to ignominious retching
and projectile vomiting, despite his very convincing whim
pering for just a taste. I just didn't think I could handle the
potential waste. (He's a Brit, an Oxford educated PhD, who, I
am quite certain, has no Aunt BoOv .ie or Aunt Eula, has never
watched pigs breed or swigged a Nehi Grape, so could not pos
sibly appreciate the experience.)
I must confess, Cobby: I had left but one biscuit. After you
departed, I auctioned the sausage biscuit on Thai eBay. Had
bids from as far as Vientiane. In 3 minutes and 25 seconds,
it went for THB 31,220 to a good ol' boy named Hoot Gibson,
from Tupelo, MS. He's been a long way from home for too many
years. Hoot tearfully accepted his treasure, gratefully pumped
my arm with both of his trembling hands, turned to leave and
could not suppress a little jump and a bellowing Rebel yell few
outside the SEC could conjure—and then, another.
Of course, the Thai commuters on the BTS platform accepted
this with nary a reaction. More like deer frozen in the head
lights, except for the security guards, who quickly slunk away,
lest they be called upon to protect the public, or something.
Khun Jack, at Starbucks, unwrapped the remaining biscuit,
and although against the Starbucks rules, agreed to microwave
it for me (a sacrilege in a Southern kitchen, I know, but com
promises were necessary). He admired the curious contents, as
well as the unique wrapping.
"New paper technology," I explained, "wax paper—keeps
the gator meat fresh," to which he nodded uncertainly.
It was weird. As the succulent aroma of the ham and bis
cuit circulated about the cafe, people stopped what they were
doing, noses turned upward, sampled the air and intently
searched about for the source. Instinctively, crossing all cul
tural barriers, visitors from the world over knew something
great was happening. They could not have known how close
they were sitting to culinary perfection. I was sure to keep my
treasure safely below their lines of sight.
The smell of the coffee, the salty, smoky flavor of the ham,
the buttery biscuit—it was sensational, Cobby. Closing my
eyes, I could almost hear Aunt Jessie Merle calling to Uncle
Jack out the back porch. It all combined to awaken a long for
gotten memory from my youth—way down deep, deep in Dixie:
New Hope Community, where float fishing down the Pea River
is religion, great bird dog pups are "purdy," and ham and sau
sage biscuits are food for the spirit.
Thank you, Cobby. It was perfect. May I have more, please?
Pete McCommons edilor@flagpole.com
The smell of the
coffee; the salty,
smoky flavor
of the ham; the
buttery biscuit...
THIS WEEK’S ISSUE:
MEWS AMD FEATURES
City Dope 5
Athens News and Views
A forward-looking wrap-up of last week's meeting on riverfront development.
Townieconomy 30
Teaching to the New Tests
An initiative between Athens-Clarke and Cconee counties addresses circumstances for local businesses.
ARTS A
EVEMT
Movie Pick
Life or Death
127 Hours is the best film of 2010 Athens had to wait until 2011 to see.
11
The Reader
This, That and the Other
Matt Kindt’s graphic novels are stories told with sensitivity and pathos.
Deerhoof
If It Ain’t Broke... Fix It
Indie-rock vets continue to explore new sonic territory...
12
16
Athens Business Rocks 17
A Benefit for Nurji's Space
Will Flagpole's band. The McCommunists, be able to take home top prize?
CITY DOPE 5
CITY PAGES 6
CAPITOL IMPACT 7
ATHENS RISING 8
GEORGIA MUSEUM OF ART 9
MOVIE DOPE 10
MOVIE PICK 11
THE READER 12
THREATS & PROMISES 13
RECORD REVIEWS...'. 14
AMERICAN CHEESEBURGER 15
DEERHOOF *. 16
ATHENS BUSINESS ROCKS 17
THE CALENDAR! 18
BULLETIN BOARD .24
ART AROUND TOWN 25
COMICS 26
REALITY CHECK ;...27
CLASSIFIEDS 28
TOWNIECONOMY 30
EVERYDAY PEOPLE 31
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SSUE NUMBER 4
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