As if sensing how much stress we're already under making sure is meat is cooked and cooked good.Sherman ,the homeless guy who lives in the hut behind the Memfis Valley Mall doesn't wait behind the dumpsters of the Country Inside America diner like he usually does for his supper .
He's mulling around the front door ,I guess he's seen Sam,the owner leave and knows in the past I have given alms without any song and dance needed
Sam believes his insistence the homeless "do something to amuse him" before getting a hand out teaches the bums a work ethic
Sherman knows the rules about singing for your supper at least 2 yards from the premises-after all Sam has said he can't very well have the homeless dancing jigs ,juggling or doing hand stands in the restaurant can he ?
What license does the Country Inside America have for such activities?
Sam was out picking up some new server.
So many serviceman quit the Country Inside America once they see how many of the vegetables are microwaved .
Knowing from experience that Sam likes to coach the new servers on their postings concerning the orders they give to the guys behind the counter I realized Sam wouldn't be back for a while.Like an idiot I let Sherman sit at a booth .
I tell Sherman he 's going to have to wait longer than usual for his food because of the Fry Effect.
Everywhere in the diner people are drumming their fingers and sighing .
It's not my fault the food writer for the Memfis Ohio supplement wrote about the slow kill of rare cooking.
It's amazing how just one little article can make something mean something or mean nothing at all...
According to Sam that article is going to stay there till we're all dead and buried ,this journalist's article forever and all time to be the first thing that jumps out at anyone researching the subject of rare cooking .
Meg sometimes stops by the Country Inside America to kill time between her community college classes .Sam always offers her a bowl of what he calls his Sacrificial Lamb Stew ($ 10.99 with soup and salad ).
Meg never stays long at the diner probably because she feels sorry for me for not being able to break away from the job after all these years.
I used to have respect for Sam and his Country Inside before I found out how dirty the pantry was.
I was about ready to call Meg to ask if she could put down her books and lend a hand to the cause around here when I see Sam pull up outside in his black van .
Sherman gets up and runs to the back of the kitchen out the door to the little staging area where Sam has the homeless do their numbers for a day old dinner roll and half eaten Salisbury Steak .
I follow Sherman out the door wanting to go over with him some logical excuse he was in the diner that doesn't pertain to the bathroom he can't use in case someone says something to Sam but Sherman seems more agitated than usual .
If Sam knows Sherman was in the Country Inside America than let him know
I ask Sherman why he came into the diner to begin with .
He says it's about the food columnist that wrote the story about rare cooking .
The Voice that according to Sherman instructs him to write The Memfis Manifesto on a seemingly endless ream of wallpaper wants the columnist to play a part in the story and Sherman is not sure he should go along with it
You ask crazy what's on their mind and what do you expect I can't help think
'Don't write about it if it scares you" I tell him literally pushing his body into a seated position on a milk carton so Sam can see he has humbled himself for his trespasses
"If I don't someone else will,"Sherman says,"They use people to set up situations ..I feel I must warn him .."
"Than write about it .It's a piece of yellow wallpaper nobody reads Sherman " I say ,having no idea what he's talking about ,"You going to yodel for Sam today or are we back to soft shoe?"
Sherman looks angry and part of me hopes Sam won't feed him today.
I hear the door slam and turn to the diner's back door and see Sam coming out carrying a plastic dish of Lamb Stew and a clear bag full of over done burgers.
A treat, these blackened burgers .I hope Sherman appreciates everything the Country Inside America has done for him voices or no voices.
I see Sherman look at the burgers and leap from the milk carton and begin quickly walking away from stage down the grassy glen to his hut on Memfis Mall Road.
Never have I seen Sherman walk away from food i try to think what he was talking about that made him so testy but I guess if I understood crazy talk I'd be crazy myself.
'What's with Loony?" Sam says ."And what's with you letting him in the door ?"
'He's was acting all troubled Sam..I thought something was wrong " I tell Sam.
"You thought something was wrong and now there is something wrong ..Sherman isn't allowed in the Country inside America and you're not allowed to bring him in...,"Sam says,"It's just not the way it works .."
Still holding the bag of food Sam points at Sherman now deep in the knoll.
"That could be you ,' Sam says pointing at Sherman 's back making his finger into a trigger ," tell me ? are you trying to mess with my business...or does it just come natural for you.....Am I missing something here ?..are you the boss of something I don't know about or do you just take orders from the Country Inside America "
"I take orders from the Country Inside America " I tell Sam
'There are worse things in the world ' Sam says
but for the life of me I no longer know what .
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