Elmira hugs

It may be just our family charm, but I'm guessing Sue Sidle (sp?) hands out hugs at the Elmira store just as enthusiastically as she hands bearded customers their biscuits and gravy for dinner. When my brother asked my mother where she wanted to go have dinner last night, she took no time thinking about it.

"The Elmira Store," she told him. Now, I've written past postings about the cholesterol delights at the Elmira Store, but Mother had her first dining experience there a couple of weeks ago. That was the night she couldn't decide whether she wanted the curly fries or the homemade potato chips. I decided to make it easy on her and order the chips so she could order the fries.

I ordered a bacon cheese burger to go with my chips and figured that was enough. But I couldn't stop thinking about the heavenly chocolate milkshake I'd sampled there a time or two before. When Sue came back to the table to drop off some coffee, I yelled, "Throw in a chocolate shake, and bring four spoons."

That was after the four of us (Barbara, Laurie, Mother and me) had changed our minds so many times before that Sue chuckled, threw up her hands and said, "You're gonna get what I bring you." A friendship was hatched. It had been a quiet night at the Elmira store except for those two bearded guys with their 5,000-calorie biscuits and gravy. They couldn't take their eyes off from us as we sat at the back tables and giggled through our orders.

The worst part during their presence occurred when Mother took a look at them and inquired of me, in her loud voice from a deaf woman designed for all others within earshot to hear, "Is one of those that weird looking man who was standing on my porch?"

Jabbing an elbow into her side, I quietly but forcefully whispered into her left ear (that's the one that can sorta hear), "Shut up. They're looking at us."

"Well, is it?' she continued.

"I said 'Shut up!'" I snapped back. Somehow, the second time around, she got the message and saved us from total embarrassment and possibly physical injury. Mother had heard that a strange man---and a strange-looking one at that---had appeared on her porch step while she was gone to Louisville. I had driven up, rolled the passenger window down slightly, let Kiwi growl at him and listened as he told me he'd come for manure.

He was strange to me, and it was, indeed, strange to find a person standing on my mother's front porch when nobody was supposed to be there. So, manure or not, I kept the window partially open and suggested he come back in 30 minutes when my sister arrived home from school. He complied. His story was valid. He did take manure and turned out much nicer than my preconceived notion.

So, of course, since I'd told Mother he had a beard, she figured he HAD to be one of those two men at the nearby table dining on the Elmira store biscuits. I assured her he wasn't.

By the time, Sue came back to our table with the shake and the spoons, the men got up and left. I'm sure they had plenty to say about those four strange women all eating out of one milkshake. Mother loved the curly fries and had to take home half of her Philly steak sandwich. The bill for the four of us would feed two at any other restaurant, and we walked up to pay it 10,000 calories richer.

Before leaving though, we had to take time for a great big hug from Sue who said, "You made my evening tonight." During the course of our give-and-take over hamburgers and sides, we learned that Sue's been here since January. Her daughter owns the new latte shop "A Taste of Heaven," which keeps growing on the corner of HWY 200 and Colburn Culver Road. Sue says the place will continue to grow and will serve as a produce shop for local gardeners come summer.

Sue has already had offers to work somewhere else in the area, but she likes Elmira. And, we can see why the folks in Elmira would take a shining to her, just as we have. Last night, we had reservations for dinner after Mother had called and said we were coming. Sue made sure to have the special posted: three pieces of fried chicken, a big baked potato, a salad with lots of goodies, beans and corn and a big biscuit for $6.25.

When she found out Bill was from Louisiana, she told him he'd better show up in February for her gumbo. Seems Sue has inhabited some of the same haunts in Southwest Louisiana as Bill, specifically Ville Platte in the heart of Cajun country. And, when I mentioned Fred's Tavern, in Mamoo, where the three-piece band strikes up at 9 a.m. for Saturday morning dances and hot boudin, she practically hugged me early.

Now, loyal readers know I've liked the Elmira Store and its eats before, but now that Sue's there, I think it's gonna hit the big time as "the place to go for good food" and a healthy hug. Before we got out the door last night, Sue asked to at least hug Grandma before we left.

"You take good care of her," she said as Mother walked out the door. "She's precious stuff."

"We do, and I know, " I said while giving Sue a big hug. "See you soon."