Last Saturday I met a stranger at a BBQ restaurant at 2 pm in the suburbs of Atlanta. An older man with a hat who looked like your grandfather. Harmless, cute, and quaint.
A friend told me I should meet this man because he has an interesting story. I like interesting stories.
“Hi, I’m Trey.” I reached out my hand as I approached the table.
“Dennis,” he replied with a big smile full of white teeth. He was wearing a sweater with a collared shirt underneath and some khaki pants. Standard old man attire.
We chatted a minute then got in line for some BBQ. My friend Ilene showed up a few minutes later. We like interviewing interesting people. We never show up with an agenda. We aren’t organized enough for that. Two weeks ago, we interviewed a lady who was attacked by a raccoon and before that, a man who milks Cobra venom in Miami.
As we sat down at the table I tried to figure out how to start the conversation. I knew almost nothing about the man. It was silent for a minute then Dennis said, “Well, let me tell you the short version of my life,” as he slowly nibbled on some BBQ.
“I have no meat in my ass anymore so sitting on these seats hurts like hell.” He grinned and informed us he weighed 290 pounds a year ago and now is down to 170.
He only eats one meal a day now. Apparently, he used to eat everything.
“I finally went ahead and spent $53,000 on new teeth after mine were beaten out of my head when I was attacked by six prisoners at the Federal Prison. They stabbed me 38 times and beat my right eyeball out of the socket…” he mentioned casually.
What?