Tuesday 4 April – THE MESSENGER DINES OUT, Episode One – Setting the Table

By
William E. Spear

Volume 1, Issue 14

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Full Transcript –

THE MESSENGER DINES OUT, PODCAST EPISODE ONE – Setting the Table

ORIGINAL DATE: 4 APRIL 2023

(Theme for Jim and Francine’s Place fades up)

Hello . . . and welcome to Let’s Go To the Hop. No, not really; it’s the Three Fifty-seven.

(Theme for Jim and Francine’s Place plays)

My name is William Spear and this is our new series titled THE MESSENGER DINES OUT.

(Theme for Jim and Francine’s Place plays)

A long time ago, Jim and Francine Dale started a diner in central New Jersey. Rather than work for someone else they made their own jobs. Jim knew how to cook from the Marines and Francine was a brain about bookkeeping.

The diner grew and became an important part of the community. However, several generations later and it was on the verge of going broke.

Now, Episode One titled Setting the Table.

(Theme for Jim and Francine’s Place fades out)

I used to be a “messenger.” Imagine a “fixer” or an “auditor” but more intelligent. . . . Way, way more intelligent. I was called when people lost their way. When I made a visit, an encounter of the cerebral kind was coming.

But I’m retired now. Got a place down the shore in Spring Lake. Crazy right? Move to a lake to live near the shore. It’s a nice town. Know what I mean?

Anyway, I got a call from my old boss. Wanted to buy me a cup of coffee. You got to know this – my old old boss doesn’t buy anything for anyone. Something’s brewing and it’s more than a cup of coffee.

So I drive up, toss quarters into a meter, and waltz in. I say “Hello” to a few and get shown to “The Office.” Now I know something’s up. “The Office” is not for a casual conversation.

My old boss is behind a desk big enough to have two area codes. Coffee is poured, crumb cake is offered, nice-nice is exchanged – “Hey, you look good. Not half as good as you; lose some weight?”

More coffee, more crumb cake, and we move onto “How’s the family? Wow; they grow up too fast.”

The conversation is like beach traffic on the Garden State Parkway on Fridays in the summer – slow. Painfully, painfully slow.

Forty-two minutes go by and I got three minutes left on the meter. I stand and say “Thanks for the hospitality” and make my way to the door.

The owner of the two-area-code-desktop casually says, “You hear about the old Dale place.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Jim and Francine’s diner. By the highway.”

I remembered a lot of good times and bragged, “When I was there we had the best Friday night dinner in the county. Washed dishes for a few years and waited tables, too. . . . Why do you care?”

The boss meets my gaze and says, “It needs a Visit.”

(Theme for Jim and Francine’s Place fades up)

You’ve just listened to Episode One of the series THE MESSENGER DINES OUT.

Theme music is through the courtesy of Francesco Biondi at PixaBay.

The Three Fifty-seven is written and produced by William Spear.

Thank you for listening.

Cue the bobby socks.

(Theme for Jim and Francine’s Place fades out)