Oh Happy Day!

It's the day before what could be the most important election of our time, yet for a moment the entire world was made right today with the opening of Houston's first Krystal restaurant. There was no full eclipse of the moon as in St. Louis last week when the Red Sox took the Cardinals in four, but cosmic forces must have been at work to bring so much pleasure to so many this morning on FM 1960 West. In a state of totally unplanned goofiness, I got up this morning before 6 a.m. and drove to the Mecca of ground meat with its glowing red and yellow "K" sign as a beacon. There along side three strangers I stood in a downpour of pseudo-biblical proportions as lightning and thunder filled the sky. It was then through the recently Windexed windows that we caught our first glimpse of the elusive, most sought after, Krystal cheese burger. Never before seen in Houston, Texas, the Krystal cheese burger was so close, yet still so far. But we knew that by mid-morning it would be ours. Much like the wait to early vote last week, the line grew and we talked about all things. We discussed issues from politics and the state of Trick-or-Treating in our country, to our various occupations and of course, Krystal love stories. Some in line were Houston natives having only heard the myth of the little square burger. Some had eaten Krystal when traveling across the Southeast, while others had grown up with them as a regular part of the food pyramid. My favorite was the lady from Chattanooga who complained that some Halloween vandal had stolen the Kerry/Edwards campaign sign from her yard . . . the same sign that she had stolen from the polling place herself early last week. There was one from Memphis, several were from Atlanta, another from Austin, and a few White Castle outcasts from Chicago and New Jersey. But, no matter where they had been raised they were all right here, right now to share in this historic moment. The time passed quickly and at 10 o'clock the doors were opened. By now there were more than 100 in line and a drive-thru that backed out into the six-lane Farm to Market road. As the first dozen of us passed the smartly dressed regional manager we were thanked for being "Fantastic Krystal Fans" and each handed a card entitling us to 12 burgers every week for the next 52 weeks! I felt like Christmas Story's Ralphie when his Little Orphan Annie secret decoder ring came in the mail. I reverently approached the pristine counter and placed my order for cheese burgers with a young blonde cashier who was determined to make this the best fast food experience of my life. It was. In fact it was so good that I was back an hour later with a good friend for lunch to do it all over again. Oh, Happy Day! www.baxwrtr.com