So---we're at Drew's and Drew is in the kitchen looming over his gastronomic domain. The dining room has just a few tables of 3 or 4 persons/table there before us. The dining room at Drew's Place probably seats about 50, maybe 60 people in a close-knit environment.
BTW, I must preface the rest of this with the statement that I swear I witnessed a cosmic event and the rest will describe this. Also, I am very curious to hear comments about this post from those of you who are reading this. DEAL? Vicki told me that she will never forget today's events at lunch.
Okay---go forward with this explanation: Drew's Place is an honest-to-God soul food restaurant that pretty much beats any other S-F restaurant I've visited anywhere. And the sweet tea is PERFECT.
We're sitting at the first customer's table from the front door and we are well into our lunches and our conversations about work, family, etc. Vicki was facing the door and my back was to the door. I see her look up, go silent and look at something behind me. About that time, I could begin to hear sounds behind me, multiple kids' voices, some rising over the others. There was a slight breeze of air that circled among 9-12 young boys, all about 6-11 years old--all clean-cut boys, most resembled each other, in facial structure, coloring, etc---even freckles. The boys looked like they were coming off the Boy Scouts' bus into a cafe---straight off the cover of a 1959 Saturday Evening Post cover. As they "herded in," the boys shuffled, pulled out chairs, to sit, only they would abandon a chair and try to take a seat from one of the others. There were two couples who came in together, dressed in church clothes---perhaps they were having lunch after a funeral. These boys were moving deep into this table's outer perimeter. The boys were closing in and the two couples quickly abandoned their table, picking up silverware and their coffees and iced teas to steer clear of the boys.We both remarked in astonishment that this was a rare sighting of human public behavior. As the boys were in herding-mode, a well-dressed woman from a different table comes over, puts her hands on two boys' shoulders and looks each in the eye and tells them to correct their behavior. To me, it wasn't that these boys were loud and rambunctious; it was as if there were just SO MANY of them and they appeared as if they were in another time--if not the 60's, then it was the early 70's. The two captive boys were still and looked away while the lady dressed them down a bit. Afterward, she went back to her table to continue her meal.
We saw another couple come in right after the boys. The newcomers to Drew's were just like, "Oh, shit." We got up abruptly so they could sit down.
Turns out, these boys are all brothers in the same family. No, they are not foster brothers in a foster home. They come a lot of times on Saturday for lunch. They eat without adult supervision; a taxi-VAN brings them and sits outside to wait on the boys to finish their lunches. The parents never come.
Vicki and I were told that these boys order much more food than they eat. They've been coming for years.
Questions:
1. Are there sets of multiple births?
2. Twins, triplets?
3. Do they have different biological mothers?
4. Are these boys cousins, not brothers?
5. Was the cashier just making up a story about the boys?
Amazing lunch...we like Drew's quite a bit. We'll go again----for the soul food and now, to watch the boys!
Tune in in about a month or so. We'll keep you posted; maybe post a photograph--at least one of Drew's.
