Stories off the menu @
South Of The Mouth Café
Donna McKee Athearn

THE BOOK

Stories off the menu is a collection of short non-fiction stories about the the people that have crossed the path of this new and unique business that sells food from her boat on the Intracoastal Waterway in Florida. A fun and encouraging read for anyone that has wanted to own and operate their own business.

The reader will see how Athearn developed a customer base business from the passing of her mother. She meets her guiding light within "MY First Dollar" and a man named Sam Sapp.

Friendships developed from such customers as "The Parents Club" that met at her business to eat and became a lengthy story swapping session about the raising of teenagers.

Athearn goes on to share her adventures and escapades in "Guilty by Association" where she had an unexpected encounter with the law. She also found true love on the river with the meeting of her husband Marlin.

Stories off the Menu @ South of the Mouth Café is a fun read crafted for an adult-oriented audience to encourage all to step out of their circle and take a chance on what they believe in.

SAMPLE STORY

The First Month

"What have I done with my mother's money"

I had a positive attitude about this new and different business idea taking off like spinning rubber off a tire. Once it caught on and people got used to seeing me out there every weekend, I knew it had a good chance. My hopes were high and my enthusiasm was strong. I knew that if I worked the right area of the river it would be fine.

In the silence of the environment that the river provided, I felt like both of my parents were out there with me during that first day. I could picture them both sitting with me, waiting on my first customer. Watching me as I organized the food items in the steam table. Encouraging me that they were proud of how my boat looked to the passing boaters, with the colorful flags and signs.

The first day was going to be a trial run. I needed to get a feel for what people wanted to eat. Were the cold cuts going to be an item that the customers would buy or was that something they already had plenty of in sandwiches? I didn't really know how much food they would be eating. This was the actual test market survey, so I didn't expect to make very much money for the first two weeks.

I remember thinking that someone would stop just because they were curious. I began the day like a carnival side show. I would yell in my alto chorus voice the menu as though I was performing on stage, I added swing and rhythm to the words, "HOT DOGS, GET YOUR STEAMING HOT DOGS, RIGHT HERE THEY'RE HOT, THEY'RE STEAMING HOT DOGS."

I was gaining the attention I wanted and I was being the spectacle that I have always been. This job was going to be fun even if I didn't sell a thing. I was on stage. Right in the center. Just the place I liked to be. If nothing else, I was doing this just to entertain myself.

Boaters were waving at me from across the river as they motored by. I could see their faces were smiling as if they were laughing at my shenanigans. I had the small portable radio playing salsa music that only I could hear, and I was dancing on the deck to the beat. I suppose I did look to be a spectacle to them. When the boater traffic stopped, I would go back inside the boat galley and rest until the next group came by.

I must have heard the "Golden Saying" five times in the first hour that day by someone going by. The golden saying is "I had that idea five years ago." I wish I had a nickel for every time I have heard that in nine years. I would have filled my pot of gold, just from that "Golden Saying." The sound of it echoed in my mind from my earlier conversation with Frank Shoeburt.

Attracting the boaters attention felt almost like I was fishing. I wasn't fishing for scaled bodies, but for hungry people bodies. It was about two hours into the morning until I had my first customer. I was so excited I got to moving my feet on the deck like I was stepping in puddles of ice water. It was my first dollar and I wanted to mount my first one.

An older gentleman, in his late 70's, steered towards me in a 20' Maco Craft with a 175 horsepower outboard engine. I knew he was going to stop to see what I had to offer. I was sure of it. I grabbed the line off the bow of my boat to throw it to him and bring him up to my fenders.

"Hello there," enthusiastically I said, "Welcome to the South Of The Mouth Cafe', I'm Donna, and you want to know something? You're my first customer here, Sir." I took a breath then said," Your dollar will be my first one and it is going to be mounted on my wall," I told him in my excitement.

That sparked our first conversation. A flirtatious one at that.

"Sweet little lady, I feel honored to be your first anything." he said in a deep and slow twang.

"I believe that I would let you mount me on your wall instead of that dollar."

Thinking of his comment sounding like a pass, I wanted to steer the dialog away from any dangerous innuendoes. "I don't think you would like to be mounted on the wall, sir. I'm thinking that you might be a bit too tall. I'm believing I would run short on wall space if I were to do that," I said with a laugh in my voice.

He introduced himself to me as Sam Sapp. He was a retired sergeant major in the army. Sam had a slow southern draw in his deep resonating voice. He was a slim figured man that stood 6'5. He had an air of sophistication about him in his mannerism when he shook my hand.

My mother always said you could tell a lot about a person by their hands, and I had come to believe that to be true. Sam had a firm grip and very long straight fingers. His hands were very soft to the touch, as though he didn't use them much for hard labor, but more for cooking or reading a newspaper.

"What can I fix you for your lunch today, Mr. Sam?" I asked, as I tried to remember what I had on my menu.

"What about one of those hot dogs you've been singing across the river about. And make it a chili and cheese mess, I feel pretty hungry for something messy."

Undisturbed by the possible insinuation of his reply, I went inside my boat galley to prepare my first sale.

I didn't feel uncomfortable with Sam's flirting. I was actually flattered that he was being sweet on me with his southerner's style approach but I didn't want it to get out of hand either. I changed the conversation to reflect a more professional business conversation, and asked about the fishing experience he had so far that day.

He began to tell me about the days catch and where he liked to go fishing at particular times of the day. Then he spoke of his younger days and of fishing off shore. I wanted him to keep talking, so that he did not realize how long it was taking me to prepare his hot dog, so I would answer with "Oh, really, tell me more."

I finished his order and brought it out to him saying, "Here you go Mr. Sam, now, you just get comfortable in your boat chair and have your lunch and we can chat for a minute. After all, I want to remember who my first dollar came from, and who knows, I may want to write a book about this someday."

We talked about how I came up with the idea for what I was doing out in the river and all that I had to go through to get the boat build and licensed. Sam seemed very interested to hear more, so I just kept talking so that he did not have to try and reply with a mouth full of food. I did not want my first customer to choke on anything.

He finished his lunch and told me some background about who he was. He spoke of his days in Germany while he was stationed there, and about his wife who was of German descent, now dead. This was a man that commanded respect just in the sound of his voice. I could tell that he was a wise person and a true southern gentleman. I felt that I could be close to this man someday in the future. I was not sure how close of friends we would become.

Sam sat on his boat talking to me for about an hour that day before the next boater pulled up beside me. Sam said that he would see me again later and we said goodbye. In my excitement of serving my first customer, I forgot to get his money for his food. After I realized that my first sale was a freebie, I relaxed myself by believing that I was meant to give away the first meal and that there would be other customers I would charge.

The day finished out with a grand total of $12.00. I remember thinking that it would have been $15.00 if I had not given away the first meal. But I knew sales would get better. I was comfortable with that first test market results.

The following weekend, I still displayed the excitement of this new business. The boats still passed me with the passengers pointing their fingers at my boat and smiling as they waved. I looked over the passing people as potential visitors in the future.

About two hours into that second Saturday morning, I saw the 20' Maco craft steering towards me with Sam Sapp at the helm, motoring over to me with his hardy grin. I readied a line to throw and tied his boat beside mine as we had done before.

"Hello again Mr. Sam." I said as I was remembering how much I enjoyed seeing him again.

"How are you doing pretty little hot dog lady?" He asked as he secured his vessel and continued.

"I brought you something."

I was puzzled by his comment and asked, "What have you brought me?"

Sam stood up from his chair and leaned down to reach deep into his dry cooler that was under his seat. "I brought you this little old thing." I looked at a brown paper bag that Sam had in his outstretched hand and said, "What in the world is it Mr. Sam?"

I took the bag from his hand and looked up at this tall, strong figure of a man with an overwhelmed look on my face. This first customer brought me a gift. I felt compelled to shake his hand as I took the bag from his other hand. I stood on the bow of my boat as I opened the bag to see what was inside.

"I thought you might like to have this, since we talked about it when I was here last,." he said. I reached in the bag and felt a piece of carved wood with what felt like a resin finish on one side. It was very light and smooth. When I pulled the item out of the packaging I felt deeply touched and overwhelmed.

Sam had taken a brand new dollar bill and mounted it onto a piece of drift wood. A small plate of aluminum was hanging from the bottom of the wood with the words tapped into the metal, "MY FIRST DOLLAR FOR THE SOUTH OF THE MOUTH CAFE. WITH LOVE SAM SAPP."

I knew that this boat business I had chosen would be just right for me as long as I got to meet people like Sam. I knew I had done the right thing with my mother's money.

DEDICATION

This written work is dedicated to my parents Sara and Harold McKee who are no longer of this earth but have guided me in spirit; and to my sister, Linda and brother-in-law Larry Walton. I hope they will all be proud of the person they helped mold and influence.

I started this business flying by the seat of my pants. I had never driven a boat before this endeavor nor had I ever run a food service restaurant business. I have been biting off more than I can chew for as long as I can remember. My family understands that.

THE CONCEPTION

I have lived on the Intracoastal Waterway for most all of my 43 years of life. I have always loved the river. The people of that river have been so very much fun to be with and very entertaining to me. I did not think that they would become as close to me as they have over the years. I grew up in this small little town just 15 miles south of Daytona. That was the place for all the action at periodic times of the year.

I had been living in South Florida for five years when my mother told me of an aneurysm that had shown up on an x-ray. She didn't think it was anything to be concerned about at the time and that I shouldn't make any changes to the life that I had. My mother did not want her children to worry about her.

I came home for a visit one weekend and found out differently from my older sister, Linda. This was very serious. If this thing were to burst, like a blow out on a tire, Mom could die in minutes. I did not understand that with this type of illness, the patient can bleed from every orifice in the body and die in minutes.

My mother was always a very small framed person. She had lived through being run over by a truck at 10 years old, and she was not expected to live. Surviving the experience with her insides pushed to one side of her body, she was still able to have a child, my big sister, Linda. My parents adopted me at birth. For as small a body as she had, she was a 'tough old bird' as she would say.

My father was a plumber. He went to Pennsylvania in a round about way from Indiana in the 1940s and worked at the Navy yard in Philadelphia.. He met my mother and Linda there, married Mom and later moved to New Smyrna Beach where he became a good plumber. He and Mom established a plumbing service business after settling in to their new life. Mom, a beautician since her teens, opened a beauty shop. They didn't have much to start out back then, but my parents had their good name that carried our family over some very hard times.

I have always remembered "daddy's little ditties". Songs and sayings that he and his brothers would make up to pass the time as children. When you come from a family of 11 kids, you learn to make the best of what little you have during the depression.

One of those ditties was very reassuring to me as a little kid. I don't think I will ever hold anything so dear to my list of accomplishments, than this one.

Who am I? I'm Donna Mckee,
to stand up here where all can see,
and speak of peace as well as those
who wear the finest kinds of clothes.
I do not speak of Greece nor Rome,
I'll tell you what I've learned at home.
I've learned to read, write and spell.
Now, don't you think that's very well
for a small child as I?
Now I must leave you, so, goodbye.

That little ditty always gave me something to say to a group of adults and a strong sense of confidence as if I were somebody. I always felt that it made him proud of me. I had remembered something important that he taught me. And with that little ditty, I could do anything. He died from a cerebral hemorrhage when I was 12 years old.. He never made a fuss about his life and how hard he had worked and he died the same way--without fuss--as he walked to his plumbing truck, planning to head home on May 1, 1972.

I wanted to give a brief background of my parents because they are what this boat business is all about. Both my mother and father were very loving and giving people. They each gave of themselves to everyone they came into contact with. I guess I had a deep desire to be as much like them as I could in my life and in my accomplishments. I wanted to make them so proud of this special adopted child. This chosen child born at Christmas.

Mom later closed the hair salon and beauty shop to go to work in the office of the plumbing business with Daddy. She ran the books, paid the bills, and handled the payroll. After my father died, Mom continued for a while with the plumbing business working with the plumbers we had working for us for about five years. My fathers death aged her about 10 years and the business got to be too much for her. She was still raising a teenager. She decided to close the business and went to work as a beach toll collector spending the next 13 years during the summer there.

I can remember her telling me the story of how she was riding out the afternoon storms one day. She was dedicated, and was not going to go to her car with the till of money. So she rode it out in the toll booth to the bottom of the ramp, when the winds picked up, and stayed there until the relief worker and supervisor came on the scene to let her close up for the day. Storms on the beach can be violent. I would ask her, "Mom, why in the world didn't you just go to the car, why stay in the booth to the end of the storm?" Mom would just say, " If the lord wants it, he can have it whenever it is. And if he wants me he can have me too." I was raised with some very good philosophies.

I believe that Mom found good in everyone she would meet, even the strays. She told me of this fellow riding a bike to the beach one day. He stopped at her booth and asked her for some money to go and get something to eat. He told her that he had come into some bad luck with his job and that it had been a few days since his last meal. Mom replied to him that she was about to go to lunch and that he could ride along with her and she would feed him.

This was a perfect stranger, way bigger than her and she was taking him to lunch. When I asked her about it she said "Oh, he ate real good and we talked, he just needed someone to help him." I don't remember who was more upset with her for possibly putting herself in danger like that, me or my sister. All she would say about it was, "You never know what people have had to live through or what they have yet to live through. If you could put everyone's troubles into one hat, you would be lucky to grab out your own."

She had a sense for people. Like any teenager, I was reluctant to believe her senses were so accurate. I eventually learned that she was right on target most of the time about people. Eventually, I would bring boys home to get her opinion about them before I would date them.

I had a party at our house about five years after my high school graduation. I wanted my senior class to have a reunion. One of the guys I liked and wanted to date was there. I wanted Mom's approval and after she met him I asked what she thought.

Mom said, "There is something 'funny' about that boy. I don't think he is for you. Now, that Marlin Athearn, I like him, he is a good person."

"Oh Mom, you're being ridiculous. Marlin is not my type, he is a football jock,'' I replied.

But she remained true to herself and convinced. The other boy was, she said, 'not for you.''

I dated him for several months and found out he was indeed not for me--he was gay. My Mom was right. But Marlin, well, he comes around later on in the story.

This collection of stories from the ship’s log has come from the visitors of the first licensed food service vessel operating on the waterways in the state of Florida. Since conception of this business, I have developed relationships with the clientele that can never be replaced or forgotten. The tale of my first dollar, is one of those relationships that had a great impact on my life.

The saying, “You never know who you will meet or who they will want to introduce you to” is true. From a chance encounter on a remote section of the river came a waterway catering job where I found myself in Rome in the story called The Naked Sailors Party.

The groups of people in the Breakfast Club and the Parents Club has given me things to laugh about and shake my head thinking “I haven’t got it so bad”.

I have encountered people that I will know the rest of my life. But I have also met people that I hope I never see again as well. Out of a frightening situation a rescue came from an unexpected direction.

I never would have believed I would meet the love of my life on the Intracoastal Waterway, nor would I have believed that love would help me face a ghost from my past and endure one of the hardest losses in my world.

I wanted the stories in this collection to reflect some good lessons from the school of hard knocks without the homework, and to encourage people to stick their head out of their comfort zone and try to venture into something you believe in for the good that may come out of it. If you put your heart into it and believe in yourself completely it will work and you will be rewarded in more ways than you think.

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