David Couts with the people that mean the most to him : his wife and their grandchildren and great-grandchildren .
The bar stool , the live country music band and a table surrounded by Cullman County ’ s finest , made mine the best seat in the house . I wasn ’ t able to cut Miss Five Foot Three out of the herd . At the wee hours closing time I invited the whole herd to Denny ’ s for breakfast – on me .
Breakfast at Denny ’ s gave me the opportunity to check out Miss Five Foot Three in daylight hours . I was not the least disappointed . All of the girls got my business card , with my phone number on the card . I got Wanda Meadows phone number , instantly memorized , the instant she gave it to me . I was branded and didn ’ t even know it !
A week or so later I was on my way to Cullman , no cellphone , no GPS , no Google Maps . The Holiday Inn at the Good Hope exit had a pay phone ( remember those ?) under a light , on a telephone pole , in the parking lot . “ Call me from that payphone ,” the petite little package had directed , “ you ’ ll never find my house . I ’ ll come and get you .” I practiced on both the front fenders of my pick-up truck to see which one I would look the coolest leaning against when Wanda pulled up . I was laying down and covering up some of the junque in the pick-up bed when she drove up from the opposite direction I was expecting . Right away I got started off on the wrong fender- a back one . At least she didn ’ t seem too unimpressed with my choice of fenders . I followed her tail-lights home . We
discussed where in Cullman ’ s vast array of mid-eighties entertainment choices would be suitable for me to have a second chance at impressing this delightful lady . The “ walk-up ” theatre had already started the feature movie for the evening ( it ’ s now an auto parts house across the street from Books-A-Million behind Hardy ’ s .) The drive-in movie had closed years ago . “ Our McDonald ’ s has just opened ,” Wanda ventured when I asked about a place to go and eat . I had heard of a place called Bug Tussle somewhere in Cullman County . Wanda said the place wasn ’ t far away . It was settled then . Off to Bug Tussle we went .
It ’ s a wonderful feeling having all of the guys in a place like that trying to sneak in two or three looks at the pretty little girl sitting at your table in a place that crowded . The cashier when we left accidentally included one bill in my change that was inappropriately too large . I called the lady ’ s attention to the error . We each generously reconciled the difference . Wanda told me years later that she was already sufficiently impressed with my behaviors since our “ bar stool ” first meeting . The return to the cashier of the lady ’ s accidental overpayment Wanda said , sealed the deal . I told her at this same years later moment of reflection , that I got sealed when she stepped out of her car , under the light , at the payphone , hanging on to a telephone pole , in the Cullman Holiday Inn parking lot .
30 | WINTER 2021 CULLMAN COUNTY SENIOR MAGAZINE