A few times each month, I meet with friends, former co-workers and former classmates to enjoy breakfast at The Hotcakes Emporium located at 6845 Bluff Road. We all enjoy attending these events. The staff is wonderful, and the food is great. A couple of the gals seem to enjoy giving me a difficult time. There is this one gal that after accepting my ticket and money at the register, she points to the door and yells, “Get out”.
We all laugh.
About eight years ago, several of my high school classmates and I were having breakfast. We were enjoying our meal and telling lots of stories to each other. I noticed a couple deep in conversation while sitting at the counter. When I glanced back a bit later, the guy was gone. The lady was still there, and it looked like she was having a very large breakfast.
A bit later, she hopped off of her stool and walked over to our table. She started talking to one of us. I believe that it was Ed Tinholder. She told him that she remembered him from a golf course. She also said that he was with his father and described his hair.
Ed smiled and informed her that she might have him mixed up with somebody else because he doesn’t play golf and his father was deceased. The lady said that she was sure of her memory and walked back to her seat.
She returned a few minutes later to tell us that she had gone to a liquor store the day before to purchase some pickles, but the clerk was very rude to her. She then informed us that she would never return to that store.
Her physical appearance led us to believe that she might have an oriental background. When one of the guys asked her what country, she was from, she replied Michigan. This banter went on for several minutes before she returned to her breakfast.
She then started chatting with other customers. They appeared to be polite to her but seemed very pleased when she moved on. She returned to our group several times.
One of our guys asked her where her parents lived. She answered northern Indiana, Carmel, Fishers or maybe South Bend.
She passed out business cards, but none were hers. She explained that the people identified on those cards were friends or relatives. A couple of times when a guy from our group would get up to use the rest room, she would take his seat until he returned.
The lady was there before we arrived and was still there when we departed. I’m thinking everyone in the restaurant was more than ready for her to leave. I was told that her breakfast had been reheated three times.
All of my classmates thought all of the employees were professional and polite under some difficult conditions.
I returned one or two days later and was told that she was there for over three hours. None of the staff members knew how she arrived or departed. They were very relieved when she paid her bill and departed.
I’m pretty sure that none of my buddies will forget that breakfast. Neither will most of the other customers. I smile when I consider that several of the staff are still working at The Hotcakes Emporium and they probably all remember that morning like it was last week.
Shonk is a 1960 graduate of Southport High School, a ’63 grad of Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) and a retired bus driver from Beech Grove Schools. He can be reached through email at fdshonk@aol.com.