The start of the drive to California was hard as I watched my best friend disappear in the rear view mirror, waving goodbye for the last time. For the first few hours of the drive it was deafeningly quiet. No music blasting through the radio, no podcasts on the radio, just absolute silence, and in the quiet brought forth silence. The silence brought back memories and the memories brought back pain, but the pain didn't last long for when I crossed the North Carolina-Tennessee state line my whole demeanor changed. The fear that had enveloped me for the past two days seemed to vanish into thin air, and my focus shifted from the past to the future.
My mom and I have been on the road for five hours now, and it was getting close to lunch time. The journey to California started early in the morning, about six o'clock in the morning. My stomach started to growl at me like a pack of hungry ravenous wolves that hadn't been eating in four months. I decided to call my mom who was following behind me to see if she was starting to get hungry as well. We were passing through Brentwood, Tennessee which is eighteen minutes outside of Nashville
"Hey baby doll. What's going on?"
"Hey mama. I was wondering if you were starting to get hungry."
"Yeah, Im starting to get a little hungry. Are you getting hungry?"
"Yeah, I am and were only fifteen minutes out from Nashville. I've got a serious hankering for a Nashville hot chicken sandwich right now. Just envisioning the food in my head made my mouth water."
"Alright well, there's a gas station off the next exit. We will stop and get some gas then we will go get something to eat because I'm already on half a tank of gas, and we need to stock up in case if we run out of gas in the middle of absolutely nowhere."
I agreed with her and after we got off the phone we pulled off at the next exit and there was a gas station like mama would be. We pulled into the gas station and filled up our gas tanks and gas cans because you never know when you might be in the middle of nowhere and run out of gas. After we finished filling up our tanks and cans we made our way to Nashville which was five minutes away from where we were. We found a restaurant in downtown Nashville called Whiskey Kitchen, and when we pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant it was a shock to see the lot was full of cars. Some were even parking on the grass beside the restaurant.
We pushed our way to the entrance and waited in a crowded lobby to be seated, but while we waited the aroma from the chicken in the back seemed to make my stomach growl louder, and louder. The sound of the chicken frying in the back, along with smells of homemade macaroni and cheese being made, and hushpuppies. My heart melted when I smelt those wonderful fried balls of cornmeal that made my mouth water more and more. The atmosphere of the whole restaurant gave me good vibes, and the music that was playing made me happy. We waited for another five minutes before the waitress showed us to our table.
"How are yall doing today? My name is Mary-Ellen and I will be taking care of yall. Can I start you off with any appetizers or drinks?" The server placed napkins and silverware on the table in front of us.
"Yes ma'am. Could we please have some hushpuppies please. I would like a sweet tea with lemon, and my mom would like a sweet tea with lemon as well."
"Yes ma'am. I will be right back with your hushpuppies and drinks." Mary-Ellen smiled and walked away as she was writing on her notepad.
My mom and I looked at the menu thoroughly, and although the salads looked amazing and the burgers looked delicious I decided that I would order one of their famous Nashville chicken sandwiches. We sat there for another five to ten minutes waiting for our waitress to come back to our table. The atmosphere inside of the restaurant was fun and light-hearted but it also had an adult feel as well. Mary-Ellen soon returned to our table with our hushpuppies and drinks.
