Hot Dogs Come with Friends in High Places

I am a hot dog lover. Don’t know why, but I love a good hot dog. And this week, when it came to hot dogs, it was good to have friends in high places, kinda.

Maybe it was something developed in childhood, cause I can remember frying up hot dogs as a kid and literally pigging out.

Pigging out may be the correct word here. Long time ago in a town far, far away – Cincinnati, Ohio – I had a cousin who worked in a packing plant. Cincinnati is a blue-collar, meat-packing, beer-drinking town. Cousin once told my mother that if she knew what was in a hot dog she would NEVER eat another one.

Wrong. I don’t care what’s in that hot dog. I will eat it anyway I can get it. And I have. I like ‘em fried. I really like ‘em burned to black over an open camp fire or on the grill. I’ll even take ‘em boiled if I have to. I’ll eat ‘em cut up and heated up with pork and beans ala character Sheldon Cooper on “The Big Bang Theory.” I think one time I even ate some cold. All rules are to be broken, and I will not eat them nuked, that means heated up in a microwave so much they actually explode. Yuck.

And I can eat a lot of them. Over this year’s Fourth of July holiday I ate a whole pack of hot dogs. Well, not in one sitting. It took a couple days. But I ate ‘em all, all by myself.

So when Sonic Drive-In’s $1 Hot Dog Day arrives, you can imagine how happy I am. I can hardly wait. I almost went there for hot dogs for breakfast, but decided I wanted to savor my hot dogs for lunch.

But best bud Delanna N., of the KXMX advertising team, had an errand to run before lunch and asked me to go with her. “Sure,” I agreed, “as long as we go to Sonic afterward for hot dogs.” That was good for her and off we went at 11 a.m. Oops. Errand took until noon, and, it turns out, I’m not the only one who likes Sonic hot dogs. The Sonic Drive-In, at noon on Hot Dog Day, was full to capacity and then some.

Poor Delanna drove me round and round our Sallisaw Sonic. There were NO parking places to be had. And we weren’t the only ones. Delanna led a parade of hot dog lovers around Sonic. But if we were on the west side of the drive-in loop, then somebody on the east side would leave, hot dogs in hand I’m sure, and someone else would get the slot. If we were on the east side, then someone would leave on the west side, and someone else would get that slot.

I was beside myself. “It’s like we’re playing hot dog musical chairs, or parking spots! I should have been here at 11:30. I gotta’ have a hot dog!” I was putting all the blame on poor Delanna for delaying my hot dog feed. Sorry Delanna! Delanna drove around Sonic for more than 20 minutes trying to find just one parking spot where she could get me my hot dogs. It wasn’t to be.

“This isn’t working,” I finally told her. “Let’s go.” I nearly sobbed.

Delanna offered, “We can go to (another fast food place that shall remain nameless).”

“No,” I countered. “I’ll come back for my hot dogs.” And I did, at five minutes after 1 p.m. Too bad. No parking places. The drive-in remained packed to the gills with hot dog lovers just like me. But I wasn’t going to quit. I drove round, and round, and round.

Then my cell phone rang. I had to answer. It was a friend in a high place. And this friend shall also remain nameless. “You trying to get a hot dog?” I was asked.

“YES!” I babbled. Friend said, “I’m on the west side and getting ready to leave. I’ll stay here until you get behind me.”

Three hot dogs later, I was happy in hot dog heaven. And I am so grateful, I’m going to have to send friend a gift. Wonder if friend would like some hot dogs? I’ll be more than happy to supply the gift, after I have a bite or two of course.