Eating at the OK Corral

We had left Mount Airy, NC and were making our way to Nashville, TN when we decided that we had been in the car long enough for that day.  We really needed to stop because we were hot, tired and hungry.  We checked into the first hotel we could find along the interstate and after checking in we headed out to find a restaurant.  Unfortunately there weren’t that many to choose from that were close by, actually there was only one, a Country Pride restaurant that was attached to a local truck stop.  Good enough!

We walked in and sat down in a booth close to the counter where there were a couple of gentlemen sitting by themselves.  We ordered and walked over to the salad bar.  As we walked past the counter I noticed a gentleman sitting by himself at a smaller booth.  He was, dare I say a little strange.  He sat with his feet stretched out into the aisle, his baseball hat pulled low and his eyes were the only part of his body that was moving as he watched people in the restaurant.  When we got back to our booth the counter stools were now empty, but, the guy in the booth was still there, same position, still a little creepy.  We finished our salads and were waiting for our meal when another gentleman walked in and sat down at the counter close to us.  As he was ordering I heard Kenny Rogers on the TV behind me singing The Gambler.  After the gentleman at the counter had finished ordering he looked up at the TV and said, “That Kinny Rogers is a real old man, but, he can shore enough still sang!”  He wasn’t talking to anyone in particular, just to whoever cared to listen and I will add that he said it with a smile on his face. 

Unfortunately the man with his hat pulled low was listening, although not as carefully as he could have.  With a low loud drawl he said, “Don’t you be doggin’on  Kinny Rogers!  He’s a really great sanger, always will be!”  His words came out as sharp as a whip and the snap of the words left no room for debate.  The guy at the counter lost his smile pretty quick and stuttered a bit when he began to defend his words.  He swallowed and said quite solemnly, “I wasn’t doggin’ on him, I was just sayin’ he’s still a purty good sanger for an old man!”

I glanced over at the man in the booth and nope, he still hadn’t moved one iota, but, his eyes had narrowed completely and I wasn’t sure what to think, was he serious?  Was he joking?  At any moment now I was fully expecting the western gun song from the good, the bad and the ugly to begin playing for this shoot out of words at the Country Pride.  And then he spoke again with the same low loud drawl, emphasizing each word.

“I said, don’t be doggin’ on Kinny Rogers!”

"I..."

"I SAID DON'T BE DOGGIN' ON KINNY ROGERS!"

It was as though a gunshot sparked through the room with those words.  That was it, the fight was over.  And the man who won had never moved a muscle.

The man at the counter simply nodded and stayed quiet.  Smart man.  I think it was pretty clear who had the drop on whom in that conversation.

After the smoke finally cleared the man at the counter focused on his plate that had arrived which saved him from any further comments.  Which was probably a good thing; it would appear to be a dangerous thing to make a careless (though innocent) comment about Kinny Rogers… especially in front of a true Kinny Rogers fan!

As I thought about this incident I was reminded of this verse in James.

"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger"

                                                                                                                                              James 1:19

Good reminder for all of us in every aspect of our life.

 

And oh yeah, if you're travelling down south and you have any comments about Kenny Rogers...just keep them to yourself!!