I haven’t downloaded the Mardi Gras day pictures off my camera yet but I realize I better get writing before all my I fail to cross the Mardi Gras finish line on the blog for another year…
I confess, I wasn’t super excited when I woke up on Mardi Gras morning it was grey and overcast and a little cold but we still donned our best attire and headed down to the parades. Things seemed amiss when we got there though because normally when we arrive KoR and the Comic Cowboys are lined up, getting ready to go but this year the streets were empty… we weren’t sure if we were early or the float lining occurred late.
We saw some familiar faces at the Dressing of the Queen party – where poor Susan was trying to keep Thomas from further spills and Shelby and Cathy were getting ready for their first Mardi Gras day ride! It seems like everyone trickled through at some point to grab a Dew Drop Hot Dog or to wish our riders well.
Once the riders started loading up – we scattered to the wind to find spots on the route and get a first glimpse at the words of wit and wisdom on the street.
It’s always fun to see familiar faces in the parade but seeing people riding for the first time is a little extra fun for me – Shelby looked so serious when she contemplated her throws, trying to decide what she would throw next and then scanning the crowd for a worthy recipient. Cathy had Roger to take her under her wing, and it was funny to see the seriousness with which he took that task, for her part, Cathy was grinning from ear to ear when the parade rolled and when it came back an hour later.
Despite a light sprinkle that fell right when the parade was getting ready to roll – the rain held long enough for us to enjoy the parade.
When the floats returned it was time for the KoR Reception. As always it seemed to be difficult to keep track of people once the reception starts and so we began an elaborate dance of paths that cross and uncross, familiar faces you see across the crowd but when you make it there you find it hard to find them again in the sea of people! It’s always nice to see old friends and to make new ones…in the ladies’ room. (“Allison, I don’t know who that was that just hugged me in the ladies room but she was so enthusiastic I couldn’t NOT hug back.”) Somewhere during the course of the reception an evil plot was hatched – to go to Waffle House when the reception was over. To those ends we were amongst some of the last guests to leave, the bars were closed, and Nancy was on a mission to help Browne find Mary Spence before we headed off for far less classy surroundings.
The advanced team that arrived at the Waffle House on Government consisted of Jeremy, Nancy, and me. We exploded on the scene in a swirl of beads and laughter, and I got the impression it had been a rather slow day so they were glad to see us. A few minutes after us a family of four, shepherded by a seemingly Stern Faced Dad sat down a few booths away. However, we ordered (cheese and eggs for me, waffles of varying flavors for the other two) and chatted when I noticed that a Drunk Kid was trying to enter the Waffle House by means of a window near the door. (Actually he tried all three of the windows that lead to the door before he FOUND the actual door.) We noticed that his expensive truck wasn’t parked so much as it had been pulled up in front of the Waffle House and left there.
The young man and his friend (who I assume had found the door well with greater ease than his drunk friend so not really attracting much attention) were told they couldn’t order until the truck was moved away from the Waffle House and into an actual parking spot. The two boys headed out to their truck (Mr. I can’t find the door in the drivers seat) and that’s when all hell broke loose.
Instead of putting the truck in reverse, the driver put the truck in drive and pulled straight up to the Waffle House, coming mere INCHES away from driving through the front window. Pandemonium erupted inside the Waffle House as dinners sitting near the window ran over to our (safer) side of the restaurant (suddenly that lovely parking lot view booth doesn’t seem like such a good idea does it?) and the Manager and Stern Faced Dad booked it out the door where the Drunk Kid was unceremoniously jerked out of his truck and his truck was then moved for him, while he was seated on the curb. (The Manager having stuck his head back in to ask for the Police to be called.)
Needless to say, text messages began a-flying – Nancy providing updates for Susan…I was texting Jack and Allison in case they didn’t want to come and have dinner at a crime scene.
Outside an elaborate drama unfolded before us – the Drunk Kid plaintively begging his case and asking to be allowed to leave before the cops arrived, Stern Faced Dad trying to get him to sit quietly on the curb. Our food arrived and suddenly the drama wasn’t quite as interesting as it had been, until the Irresistible Force Paradox began playing itself out right before our eyes – the Drunk Kid playing the part of the Unstoppable Force as he got to his feet to beg, again, to just get his keys back so he could leave and the Stern Faced Dad playing the Immovable Object as he first told the Drunk Kid to sit down, then he got in his face and told him exactly what he thought about his decision to drive drunk and when that failed to get the Drunk Kid sitting quietly on the curb, he dropped him, right there in the parking lot. The Manager went running outside to break up the drama…
Now you may be asking yourself where the Drunk Kid’s friend was – well at some point he wandered down the road and arranged for someone else to pick him up before the police got there.
Jack, Allison, and Scott arrived and our little trio became a motley, hungry mob – we ate and laughed, discussing the drama outside and the virtues of waffles at the Waffle House. The Police arrived to haul off Drunk Kid, who apparently announced – “I’m drunk” as soon as they pulled up and cracked their doors open. We watched from the safety of the booth with comfort of food, and my favorite quote of the evening came from Allison who declared –
“I don’t care if the parking lot erupts in gunshots, as long as I can finish my patty melt.”
Mobile Mardi Gras Revelers 