I spent the morning hiring freelancers for the Fairbanks Daily Miner’s visitor guide, and then put on the coffee and settled into housecleaning. Two loads of laundry were followed by kitchen counter scrubbing, oven cleaning, vacuuming, swabbing all decks and, everyone’s favorite (Not!), cleaning the toilet.Finished at 5 p.m., I set the alarm for 5:15 p.m.,dosed, and cleaned up to see the UAF-Lindenwood hockey game.
I opted for a pulled pork sandwich. The young man behind the sauce ladle was from North Carolina. He wore a green tee shirt. I told him that I once taught at Chapel Hill’s archenemy Clemson University and interviewed a giant football player named Refrigerator Perry for Inside Sports Magazine. “He was a man mountain, the biggest human I ever sat on a couch with,” I said.
Then we got into a serious conversation. Of course I refer to whether ketchup based pulled pork or mustard base pulled pork makes the best sandwich. He revealed the secret ingredients in the pulled pork he was pedding. “Tell me when,” he said as he drenched that pork in glorious looking, slightly sweet-smelling sauce.
“Let me know if you liked it,” he said.
An hour later, en route to the men’s room, I stopped to see him. I waited while he made two sandwiches for a young African-American in his twenties. Whike I waited, a man just ahead bought nachos and dropped his cheese on the floor. “Hate it when that happens,” I said. He pretended not to hear. The counter woman, pretty with extra large eyelashes, had mercy and gave him more cheese on the house.
“So what did you think”” the young man asked.
“Perfect,” I said. “Best since the last time I was in North Carolina.”
“Enjoy the game,” he said. “Every couple minutes I sneak away to catch a bit of the action.”
The score hit 8-0. I said goodbye to the young woman who watched my coat when I went to the bathroom and hurried downstairs and out-the-door in -4F weather. I wanted to beat the traffic.
Faceoff, Nanooks vs. Lions
Arriving in record time, and enjoying the full moon out, I turned on the TV set to see the first episode in the new Alaska Daily TV series. Spoiler. It’s violent. The hostage Eileen is doomed unless a SWAT team member did what SWAT team members do best.