The Disadvantage of a Long Nap

The Sunday show in Winston-Salem was an afternoon show so we were done well before dark. I went back to my room at the Brookstown and turned on the TV and laid down on the couch for a few minutes which turned into a couple hours of dozing. When I woke up it was nearly 8p and the first thing I thought of was that if I wanted to eat supper I’d better get on it. The only thing that sounded good was a cheeseburger. A few minutes of perusing the Yelp app and I had found a place that looked like it was a only a couple miles away and was open.

The streets in Winston-Salem are a little weird in the part of town I was in and where I was going. Seems like every time I needed to go anywhere I found myself on the same few streets initially. Apparently nothing was in the other direction. I rode down a few streets that had a mix of old houses and vacant lots and then a few buildings that looked like they were being repurposed for other than they were originally intended. I went down a long hill and around a couple sharp curves still going downward and I found myself at my destination, Hop’s Burger Bar. At first glance it appeared that there was no parking available but fortunately I found a small sign with an arrow pointing towards more parking up the street.

I was still a little dozy from a 2+ hour snooze so I was a little slow yet. I walked in the front door and a pleasant young woman with blondish hair seated me at one of those tall bar tables where your feet won’t touch the floor when you sit down. The place is somewhat typical of some of the newer establishments that are around now. It’s not so much a place that flaunts ‘industrial’ decor, but there is plenty of exposed ductwork and electrical conduit and water lines. Just plain walls and a mural or two. The hostess came back a couple minutes after I got my coat and hat off and had time to look at the menu a minute and asked me what I wanted to drink. I told her I’d just have water and would have a beer when I got back to the room (which was unfortunate because the menu had some good looking choices). The wait person disappeared again and came back shortly with a tall glass of water and set it on the table next to me. I looked up and said thanks and went back to reading the menu. Then I heard her say, “Do you like women”?

My initial reaction to my wait person’s question was to not make eye contact, to just stare at the menu. I realized when I first came in Hop’s that the clientele was made up of a mix of races and persuasions it appeared, most all about half my age if that, so I wondered if this was a just what they do here to feel people out. The place seemed really laid back, you know? Anyway, it felt like there was a really long silence and I laid down my menu and looked at her and asked, “What did you say?” She said, “ I asked if you like lemon”. I started laughing and looked away. She looked at me a little puzzled and I said, “ I thought you asked me if I like women and I didn’t know what to say. I mean, I’ve never thought of myself as a misogynist so I was going to say ‘yes’, but then it seemed like the wrong answer so I didn’t say anything.” By now she was rolling her eyes at me and looked like she was just wanting to leave the table. I can’t say I blame her. She reworded her question and asked, “Do you want l-e-m-o-n?”

She was gone a while this time and I had plenty of time to read the entire menu and think how weird that all was before she came back. A couple things looked pretty good and I inquired. I had my eye on what they call the North Carolinian which is a burger topped with a fried egg, applewood bacon, a fried green tomato, lettuce and pimento cheese. Pimento cheese? I asked the wait person about whether or not it was good and after she thought about it she said, “My husband likes it”. Okay. So now it feels weird again. You know that feeling you get when you think somebody thinks you’re hitting on them? There it was. No matter, I ordered the North Carolinian anyway. When it came out another young woman brought it to me. I thought to myself, “Yeah, Blondie has had enough of me for a while”. The sandwich was huge and I had to turn the plate around a few times to figure out just how to tackle it without half of it ending up in my lap on the first bite. I decided to “stob it” as they say down South. I stuck a toothpick in it and cut it in half which released all the egg yolk and made it impossible to eat gracefully. It was at least a 3-nakiner. But man, was it good.

A few minutes later my original wait person came back over to bring the bill and check on things. She asked how I liked the burger and I told her her husband had very good taste in burgers but that I had to survey the situation before I went after it because it was so large. Then she mentioned that I had mentioned drinking a beer when I got back to my room and asked me where I’m from. I told her I live just outside Nashville, TN in a smaller town called Mount Juliet. She asked what the terrain is like and I told her flat on the west and hilly on the east and then she mentioned she was from back west where there are mountains. I asked if she had followed a man to Winston-Salem. “Yes. But in a few years we’re gonna move back. At least that’s my plan.” Then she took my credit card and walked away. When she came back she said that she always likes talking to folks from the mountains and said thanks for stopping in. I wondered what gave her the impression I was from the mountains but considering how awkward some of the conversation had been so far I just thanked her for the meal.

When I opened the door to go outside the bar a very thick fog had come in. You know, the kind that is so thick that all you can see is where the lights are and nothing else. As I walked up the street it became apparent that it was quite a bit colder too. I started Gertrude and while I waited for the car to get a little warmer I brushed off most of the live oak leaves that had collected on my windows in the Brookstown parking lot. It was a very slow and squinty drive back to the top of the hill and back on the same few streets that by now are etched into my mind. I think next time I’m so drowsy I will just go to bed instead of going out and trying to engage with other humans. If you’re in Winston-Salem try Hop’s Burger Bar.

Life is good. MC