Grilled Cheese with Gumballs and Jerry

(Road House, a 1948 film directed by Negulesco)

Having a parent that owned a Roadhouse was a blast. A roadhouse, as explained on Wikipedia is; "A local inn or restaurant, the 'roadhouse' or 'road house' commonly serves meals, especially in the evenings, has a bar serving beer or hard liquor and features music, dancing and sometimes gambling. Most roadhouses are located along highways or roads in rural areas or on the outskirts of towns. Early roadhouses provided lodging for travelers but with the advent of faster means of transport than walking, horseback riding, or horse-drawn carriages, few now have rooms available. Roadhouses have a slightly disreputable image similar to honky tonks". Thanks Wikipedia and the 331 Roadhouse along HWY 331 in Alabama did qualify as a honky tonk!

The time that we lived at the 331 in Alabama, I was very young and very aware of my surroundings. Aside from spending hours upon hours in the deep woods of Alabama I spent most of my late mornings sitting at the dinning counter in the roadhouse eating a squished grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast/lunch. I did not eat much as a kid and I will confidently state that I lived on grilled cheese sandwiches! Even though I was not well aged in life experience I knew my sandwiches. I knew a grilled cheese sandwich was not a true grilled cheese sandwich until it was properly squished almost flat. To grill a flattened cheese sandwich one needed to use a heavy metal spatula to press down on the sandwich as it browned and as the cheese melted. Grilled cheese all squished and hot with the cheese melted into orange goo. Yep, at 4, I was already a food snob. 

Along with my morning cheese sandwiches there was a young man who, for a small while, spent many late mornings and early afternoons at the roadhouse having breakfast with me. Together we would sit at the counter. I was always twirling the bar stool I sat on around and around while at the same time biting into my sandwich while at the same time chatting. Without taking a breath I would report about the latest baby bird I found or how many pollywogs I had caught or reveal my plans for lightening bug capture and torment or sometimes I would just humming and twirl and eat. He, my chow companion would be hunched over a cup of coffee with a side of grits and eggs. On a few occasions that man emptied the gumball machine, one penny click and twist at a time, just for me. He arrived at the roadhouse with his pockets full of pennies singing, "got a penny in my pocket, got an angel on my shoulder, found a four leaf clover and I put it in my wallet" while his fingers would play tunes in his pockets using the pennies as his musical backup. After I finished my twirling breakfast is when he would insert into the gumball machine enough pennies to buy up all the gumballs and all the little shinny charms. As each gumball dropped and each charm escaped the machine, this wonderful kind man would hand them to me one by one and I would stuff my mouth until I could not open my jaws and I would stuff my pockets with the reaming gumballs and the charms. I would take the charms out behind the roadhouse, and line them up on the picnic table provided for the customers who were not allowed to use the front entrance. 

 (gumball machine charms)

My breakfast partner was very nice and he and my mom talked and talked and talked about music, and food, and life. I loved all the gumballs but more than the gumballs I loved the man's generosity and kindness he demonstrated toward me. His attention was not in a bad inappropriate way. My breakfast date demonstrated genuine heartfelt kindness. I could feel the kindness and I could feel he sincerely enjoyed my company. Being 4, it was a rare experience to encounter an adult that actually paid attention, listened, and shared their valuable adult time. I learned early on that adults lived in a world where every second was too precious to play and talk with kids. Nope, adults had business to attend to and it was my job to find ways to stay out of the way. Now, today, I find myself wondering about my friend and I feel that the time he and I spent sharing gumballs and trinkets was shortly after his 3 year old son drowned. Of course I knew the kind man sang and played the piano but since he did so late at night at the 331 entertaining the customers,I never got to watch. It was the law that I had to be outside of the roadhouse when evening came and customers filed in. Since we lived in the cabins adjacent to the road house I did hear a lot of his music and wow! I did not really know who this kind man was until years later. Oh, I also met his talented cousin. 

  (Jerry Lee Lewis)

I now believe when I shared my breakfast time with Jerry Lee Lewis, he was doing roadhouse tours because of the slump in his career upon the discovery he had married his cousin's 13 year old daughter. And we all know that that slump soon eased and he went on again to big success and more controversy.

(All stories blogged by me are my property and protected under copyright laws. No part may be used or reproduced in anyway without my permission ~ Maryanne Mesplé)