The Power of Oprah

I am way behind on this post, because my camera would not load to the computer. But this post is still blog-worthy.

Last Thursday I went to get EK from school and realized that I had NADA to eat at the house. I had not taken anything out of the freezer and had no ready-to-eat supper ideas. If EK does not eat by 6:15 p.m. her head starts spinning like Linda Blair in the Exorcists, so I knew it was going to be a fast food night for us. I was not in the mood for McDonald's, so I asked EK what she wanted.

"Chizzen nungents, " was her reply.

Usually, when chicken is the request, we head over the Breezeway for some grilled baskets--I prefer grilled chicken over fried any day. But, I had heard about KFC's new grilled chicken and I pass a KFC on the way home, so I thought we would give it a try.

I pulled into the strip mall parking lot that connects to the KFC drive thru line while trying to explain why we could not listen to the T.I. cd that Daddy and Unc left in the car for the 100th time (more on that later). As I pulled in, I realized that I was stuck in some sort of traffic jam in the mall lot. Was there a big sale at the mattress store? Was this an entire middle school meeting to leave for a field trip? Um, no, it was the line for KFC.

Allegedly, this was the day that Oprah announced that you could go online and print out a coupon for a free grilled chicken meal from the Ol' Colonel. I was stuck. There was now a car behind me and I was stuck in this line with no where to get out. I was 14 cars back. FOURTEEN. I looked at the clock. It was 5:21.

I had less than an hour to get food into EK's mouth before she turned into the Tasmanian devil. Could she wait? What was the option? No food at the house and by the time I managed my 72- point turn to try and get out of the narrow line, I would just have to go wait in another line somewhere else.

So, I made the decision to wait in line. It would go fast?! Wouldn't it?

That was just the drive thru line. The ENTIRE strip mall parking lot was FULL and I realized that all of it was for the KFC. If the fire chief had been near he would have shut the place down. Everyone was flooding in with folded sheets of printer paper to get their free chicken.

Hey--I live in a college town and it was finals week. I think the entire student body was gettin' their chicken on.

So we waited. There was even a gal selling Krispy Kreme donughts to those of us waiting in line. At first I thought this was humorous, but when I looked at the clock and it was 5:52 and I was still 8 cars back, I knew Krispy Kreme was my only option.

$8.00 later, my daughter had gooey hands, but I had bought myself at least another ten minutes.

Finally after 14 rendnetions of "wheels on the bus" I was nearing the window. I ordered a bucket of grilled chicken and two sides. It was 6:03.

When I got up to the window, the cute---and exhausted---clerk looked at me and gave me my total. I handed her my debit card and she said....

"Do you know you are my first paying customer since before lunch?"

"WHAT??????? Are you kidding me??"

"No, look," and she stepped back so that I could see the heaping pile of folded printer paper. It was as big as her cash register and spilling onto the floor.

I asked if they were going to run out of chicken (like we did the time I worked at Guthrie's. That is all they serve at Guthries.) She said...

"If we do I am changing my shirt and leaving the state, these folks are cuh-razy."

As we pulled away, it was 6:12 and I knew I was safe. I could get home in 3 minutes and have EK enjoying her grilled KFC before Dr Jekyl/Mrs. Hyde came out. There was still a line forming beghind me as we pulled away.

But, Oprah was righ it was yummy.