On my last day in Jackson, I had more time to have breakfast without rushing. Deprived of eggs for the last two days, I went down at 7:10 a.m. with the illuminating image of two fried eggs at the end of the tunnel…
The Breakfast Lady was there, with her straight-up-and-to-the-left gaze, along with a few people already having breakfast – which raised my optimism that breakfast is, ultimately, possible even at the Holiday Inn, Pearl…I sat down at one of the tables and sank into the bench, realizing the tabletop came up almost to my chest and I’m not short – I think – at 1.65 m. I felt like a kid at the grown-ups’ table.
She approached me, asked if I wanted something to drink, and began listing the juices on the menu. “Just water, please,” I said. She raised her eyebrows: “No juices, ma’am? Just water?” I confirmed and wanted to add “without ice,” but it was too late. She disappeared and returned with a huge glass, 80% ice, 20% water…
She asked if I’d managed to choose something from the menu. There were several meals combining eggs, sausages, whole wheat toast,etc…but none of them was exactly what I wanted: two fried eggs with toast and pancakes. I wanted to taste American pancakes in an American diner. I told her what I wanted. She raised her eyebrows again, saying something I can’t reproduce exactly – the essence of it being that if I overcomplicated the order, the cook would simply prepare the biggest meal option on the menu. “Okay, whatever,” I said, “just without sausage or bacon.”
My fried eggs came out over hard – they looked like a pancake with two yellow spots. I didn’t remember asking for them that way, nor do I recall her asking how I wanted them – and I doubt that specific menu even offered “over hard” as an option. It felt like an insult, a kind of ‘you came, you ate, now you can go’ message….did she dislike me so much? Infinite laughs… I got my eggs and pancakes, ate them all, paid, and left.
Over hard
