DAY 7, CHARACTERS OF TYBEE, (AND A KENTUCKIAN)

Day 7,  Characters of Tybee, (and a Kentuckian)

The People of Tybee are characters, extremely casual and friendly, willing to completely stop and take time to talk to you, and you NEVER EVER know what they're going to say.

Flounder Guy
At the Sunrise Cafe, was a lone coffee drinker with leathery skin, wispy gray hair, longish beard, who looked like an old salt, hardy and forthright.  As he started to pass by our table I asked him how long he'd been coming here, meaning here at Tybee.  With definite pride but mistaking my meaning he said he'd been coming to this cafe since it opened but I was wondering about his life, well, he'd been here his whole life and he suggested we rent a bicycle and peddle all over the island.  In true character, he said it'd be easy since Tybee was "flat as a flounder."

Sunglasses Lady
From our swim we stepped out of the boisterous waves of  the Atlantic Ocean, the tide going out and leaving behind many a tiny seashell, brown, charcoal, ribbed, smooth, cracked.  We walked across the boardwalk over the dunes -- midway there's a little alcove with a built-in bench on each side.  This time the sightseer resting there was an older lady wearing dark sunglasses with her red rolling walker at hand.  We said, "Hi", she said "Hi", and Spencer began his research, "How long have you lived on Tybee and how well do you like living here?"  He so wants to relocate, his mother so won't like it, but she so won't stop him.

The stout woman with silver hair was thrilled to visit.  Tybee residents all are!  She loves Tybee, does fine living alone, missed her family visiting this year due to the coronavirus guidelines, and even though laser surgery took away her central vision and she only navigates on peripheral vision, she sat there praising God.

Her walk with God is what she wanted to expound upon.  And especially how He helped her to learn to brush her teeth with her limited vision.  She couldn't make the tubed toothpaste meet the toothbrush.  She credits God with giving her the idea of getting a small flat jar, filling it with toothpaste, and then dabbing her brush in it.

After having asked her what it was like seeing all the changes, and living through all the events of history, she didn't say much about The Depression, the World Wars, the plagues, the inventions, the decline of her health -- she was a Baptist, she chose to praise God.  She was 91.



Santa Claus
Sitting on black wrought iron chairs dining al fresco, watching the tourists walking towards us, Spencer whispered, "Look, it's Santa Claus.  He's coming.  Here comes Santa Claus."  And "his eyes twinkled, how merry!"  So, though they said, "No, Mom, don't do it!"  I put my hand out and asked Santa if he'd mind if I took his picture, "I'll post you on Facebook, maybe it'll make you famous", LOL.

He "nodded his head" in understanding when I tried to seal the deal with, "Spencer starts counting down to Christmas the day after Christmas!"

But then Faux Santa shook his head,  "No, don't put my name on Facebook, too many people are looking for me."  Over his shoulder his wife said, "And he's not lying."

Musket Man
He was 78 years old, in a cabin at Fort Boonesborough telling about the guns and muskets used during The Great Siege in 1778 during the Revolutionary War.  He told how the Indians came up the river and dug a tunnel from the bank intending to enter the fort, and how Daniel Boone and his men dug a tunnel from the fort towards the river intending to shoot a canon as soon as they saw light and Indians rowing by, but the rains came for 9 days and collapsed it all.

The river provided travel for merchandise until the railroad came through, then the fort became a station for tobacco.  And from there he drifted into today's world and a bit of politics.

Musket Man said there was going to be a parade at 2 p.m. in the big city and asked if we were going to attend.  He said there'd be the LGBT, the African-Americans, the Mexicans, and following right behind would be the Kentucky Militia in full uniform.  "I'd like to meet whoever put THAT together!"  He fully expected a skirmish and wished he could be watching from an upper story. "I wanna be right up on top with my black eyes" and he pulled out of his white muslim shirt a small pair of binoculars, "I wanna see who shoots who first."

Was he in the right century?
Oh, and I can't reveal his name or his political party, here I quote him,  "I'm an employee of the state, and I'm not supposed to say such things."

Snake Non-handler
Our waitress at Waffle House at 5 a.m. was happy as a lark!  She made jokes, she grandly brought our breakfasts, and she happily refilled our coffee cups.  We were just "waking up to Folgers in our cups" while she was ending her shift heading home.  Before she went she was regaled by her relief waitress with a tale of the night before, loudly, because we heard every excited word.

"It was a baby one, right there on the pavement, in the parking lot.  It was a rat snake.  I don't care if it was a baby, it's still a rat snake.  I ain't gonna get out of my car with a rat snake right there.  I sat there for 20 minutes.  I called Shane.  I called my son, "There's a rat snake right there and I ain't getting out!  Look at him lying there all unconcerned!"  Un-huh, no ma'am, Lordy Jesus, I wasn't handlin' no snake, I wasn't gettin' outta my car 'til Shane came!"

It's worth the asking.  It's worth the hello greeting and the handshake.  It's worth the time, because you NEVER EVER know what the other person is going to say!