sitting in the parking lot at Sam's Club....

...thinking about my dad. After leaving work, I stopped at the Sonic Drive-in, out in the parking lot. To order a cherry lime-aid during the Sonic Happy Hour, which occurs between 2:00 and 4:00 every afternoon. My reward for working from 6 till 2 without lunch. (Had a lunch break but went to run an errand and didn't actually eat.)

So when you go to Sonic Happy Hour and order a drink, you get it for half price (and usually end up giving the full amount to the server as a tip). It might be a wee addiction, but it seems like the only thing I ever order is the cherry lime-aid. They actually use real, fresh limes, squeezing a half in each cup  pouring in the carbonation  and adding bright red maraschino cherries. The cherries still have their stems on them, with the lid being put on and deliberately catching the stem in the lid when they put the top on the Styrofoam cup.

When I finish the drink, I take the lid off, and eat the cherries out of the cup. Putting the whole thing in my mouth, stem as well as fruit. After the cherry is gone, it is necessary to use your tongue to tie a knot in the cherry stem. You cannot take it out of your mouth,  you cannot use your fingers, only accomplished within the bounds of your closed orifice.

I remember my dad doing it, and apparently with some degree of skill. He would have occasion to issue a challenge to see who could be the first to produce the stem with the knot tied. You can imagine the amusement, gyrations, odd expressions on various faces, getting so tickled in the process you really cannot accomplish the task. I think it is something that happened around the dinner table when he was a kid, with his family bemusedly attempting the knotting.

I just sat there, in the blistering hot parking lot, with the AC blasting, working  my mouth, pushing and pulling with my tongue. Getting the stem in the right position to tuck the end through the loop and complete my knot. Thinking about my dad, thoroughly amused. Cheap fun, and a highly entertaining parlor trick to occupy your spare time.