Sensory Memory – a Mustache, a Chicken Pit Car and French fries. Warning: This is a Crazy A** Southern Story.

As B* will tell you she has a nose like a truffle pig and I’m a huge foodie so we tend to always incorporate all five senses into our stories. A sensory memory can be a powerful thing. Take this afternoon for instance.

DH was giving me a ride home from work and we missed the first two places we should have gotten off the highway to go to Wal-mart instead of home. See the Dog needed cat food, the squirrels needed deer corn and DH needed yeast and 3 25lb bags of sugar. You think I’m making this up? Child Please!

Our next option off the highway took us through Tank Town. A lovely place where the strip club has a sign that says “3 New Girls! Two used” and the railroad unloads oil and gas from tanker cars into big ass tanks to be picked up by tanker trucks. Scenic. Well my Grandfather did make his money cleaning those tanks so I can’t complain too much. Hey remind me one day to tell y’all about the bar there whose patrons are from a casting call for Deliverance the Reality Show and where they also do new age Reiki energy balancing.

Anyway back to my story. We were going through Tank Town and the auto shop across the street from the strip club had a race car with a chicken head and tail on it.

Now we’re both desperately trying to think of the Burt Reynolds movie it’s from and just couldn’t remember. DH calls the Redneck savant who not only knew the name of the movie was Stroker Ace but that the car was the Clyde Torkle Chicken Pit car and the other movie my DH was mixing it up with was Six Pack with Kenny Rodgers and a young Diane Lane. Amazing.

As soon as he said Stoker Ace I could taste French fries soaked in butter, garlic and Worcestershire sauce. You see every Saturday night we had steak at my grandparents’ house. I mean every Saturday night from the time I was born till after my husband and I were together. We would have steaks on the grill ( and it’s a grill, because Bar-b-que is slow cooked pork PERIOD), bake potatoes, French fries, my grandmother’s special salad and garlic bread with my grandfather’s special sauce of butter, garlic butter and Worcestershire sauce.

One Saturday night instead of watching Lawrence Whelk and HeeHaw, we all gathered at the table staring at the tiny TV in the corner by the kitchen table to watch the live from just down the road red carpet Premiere of Stoker Ace. It was a big night for our town and we were all so proud. Then people actually saw the movie and it was a different story.

But my point is, mention that movie and I see, hear, feel, smell and taste that night like it was yesterday and not 1983.

By the way we picked up some steaks, fries, salad and garlic bread while we were at wal-mart but damnit they were sold out of deer corn.

What about you, do you a have vivid sensory memory?