Doughnut Days

A year or two ago, a Saturday morning tradition evolved: around 9:30 or 10:00 a.m., the family (sometimes 2,sometimes 3, and sometimes all of us) would load up for a trip to our local doughnut store, Rise 'N' Shine. The order is always basically the same: 1/2 dozen kolaches, a pink glazed doughnut (Grace), and something in the cinnamon family for Rob.

The people at Rise 'N' Shine over the last year are also basically the same: native Korean waitstaff, who have a great deal of difficulty with spoken English, an older couple with their coffee and two glazed, a combination of mom & two kids or dad and two kids, and usually a middle-aged couple working a crossword puzzle together over coffee and cinnamon rolls.

Every once in a while, a new person comes in or is there when we arrive.

And sometimes, you wonder if you are all from the same planet.

This morning: middle-aged woman is seated in the booth next to ours. Mid-bite, she begins talking to Grace, and then starts talking to Rob: "You'll have to keep the boys off of her with a baseball bat", etc.--odd, but not other-worldly. (Rob muttered under his breath, "Not worried about the boys--worried about the strange women at doughnut store.)

When she got up to leave, she stopped at our table and started talking again--this time, so, so fast that even I--who has a medal in speed-talking--couldn't understand her. I looked over at Luke, whose eyes were getting bigger and wider by the second. Then she said, "You know, they raised minimum wage from 6.55 to 6.85, and all the businesses know it, and they haven't notified any of the employees, because that is how it has always been around here in Lubbock. That's why the FBI keeps a watch on Lubbock. They've always kept a watch on us." Etc . . .

Yowza. I never knew.

A day in the life at the doughnut store. (As she left, Luke said, "I don't know what she said, but I think she works at an auction" [talking so fast!])

Jana