The Gift of Lunch
The nicest visitors seem to drop by on Sundays. A local friend has brought cookies, twice, many of which have been shared with visitors. On July 17, the front office crew of a Lear 45 came into the museum, lured perhaps by the 1/48 scale Lear 31 in the front showcase. We had a fine visit, but as usual, they were short on time and soon were outbound for Springfield town in a borrowed courtesy car.
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A few hours later, the two gentlemen returned with a white styrofoam box. The pilot explained how, coming back, they stopped at the highly recommended Parkway Cafe on Dirksen Parkway for lunch, which was delicious. There was more fried chicken than he wanted, and would I be interested in the rest?
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Absolutely! I never bring lunch to the airport. Frankly, I like the idea of fasting (if you don’t count coffee and cold water) until the evening on Sundays. I seldom get hungry when I’m having fun, and food has always been a peripheral concern. But I never say no to the GIFT of sustenance. I have not dined on fried chicken in more than a year, and when I opened the box, the aroma from the still-warm bird hit me like Chanel No. 5!
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Thank goodness, the pilots did not hang around to chat some more. They knew it was ready to eat, and encouraged me not to wait. I did not wait. I took the first bite before they were out the door! Then I realized I should take a few pictures to celebrate the good fortune from Divine Providence and two generous Learjet jockeys. So I took a few fast pictures.
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The gesture restored my outlook on the day as much as the meal restored my body.
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The day had been going at what fishermen and prostitutes call “trawling speed,” but from the moment the aroma hit me, I continued, a few hours longer than first planned, at economy cruise and accomplished quite a bit.
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I considered keeping the bones and styro box, but I didn’t; pitched them directly after my upper incisors had removed the last morsel from small thigh bone. I have saved the restaurant paper coffee cup left in the Research Room by the first visiting, in-transit pilot (left seater in a Cessna Sovereign) who joined Abe Lincoln’s Air Force and waited for me to print his membership certificate, but that’s another story; maybe another blog post.
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Some readers may wonder to themselves, “Do I HAVE to wait for a Sunday to bring lunch to AeroKnow Museum? For now the answer is YES. Until the Divine Providence that brought chicken allows me to be at AeroKnow Museum ‘tween 11:00a and 1:00p on weekdays and Saturdays, Sundays are the only options.
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Even so, you don’t have to bring lunch to support this museum. Checks slipped under the downstairs office door when I’m away or given from your hand to mine when I’m there are perfectly acceptable, and it’s easy to appreciate why . . . .
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No polyunsaturated fats.
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Abe Lincoln's Air Force 