A pot luck supper at Fermentations
might have a crock pot with a lobster Newburg in it.
Served on buttered toast points. French bread. Or tossed with
fresh pasta. Music by Net Ban'd. One time at Eileen West's Gallery,
an old Seaside hand regretted the sprawl the development had encouraged.
He asked me how long I had lived there. I said, "I'm just here on a visit.
But my brother-in-law hunted ducks in Santa Rosa Beach, and you could leave 50¢
in your mail box and the postal-person-lady would bring you a dozen yard eggs
the next morning. And the sheriff wouldn't arrest you for drunk driving because
he didn't want to have to drive you to Crestview. Everybody wants to be
the last one in." He didn't say much, after that. Balder tended bar at Fermie's.
He said you'd get a garbo from Lower Alabama and he'd order a drink
and you didn't know whether he asked for Merlot or Miller Lite.