Joe's

I love Joe's. It's my favorite breakfast joint of all time, except on Sunday mornings. Sunday mornings, especially sunny and warm Sunday mornings, the place is so packed you have to stand in line to wait for a space. But, I happened to be there before people realized the time change and found a corner by a window looking out onto Pacific Coast Hwy. The weather man claimed we were going to hit 85 degrees in Los Angeles. That usually means the beach will be jammed packed with cars from the flatlands, loaded with bikes, surfboards, strollers and lots of kids. It also means, parking will be at a premium, unless of course, you don't mind walking.

Choosing a seat at Joe's isn't always possible. There are days when you just have to take what's available. Because my hours are flexible during the week, I usually end up at Joe's after the breakfast crowd has dispersed and before the lunch crowd has grown. I almost always sit by the window and I usually have something to read or a computer to work on. Joe's has free Wi-fi. Yesterday, however, I came empty-handed, which left me to be entertained by the others around me. One can't help but eavesdrop at a table shared with others.

A family came in, straight from Sunday morning services at a local church. It looked to me that the older couple were grandparents, the middle aged couple were the parents, and the two teenagers were the focus of the family. Apparently the discussion at church was about evolution vs creationism. The older teenage boy was red in the face and appeared to be quite frustrated. He has been in college for a year and a half and, after all, he should know...he's the one with an education! He was saying, as he sat down, "People who believe in creationism at the exclusion of scientific evidence of evolution are like the people in the 1400s who believed the Earth was flat." "I'm not saying they're stupid, Grandpa. I'm just saying they are ignorant of the facts. Maybe they're just uneducated." I almost spit out my coffee but I didn't want them to know I was paying that much attention. But, there wasn't a word whispered that I didn't catch. That is the pleasure of dining alone. You get free entertainment.

The father looked like he could care less what his son believed or didn't believe. But, Grandma and Grandpa were not having any of it. Mother, on the other hand was patiently explaining to her son that she believes in both. "What?" He looked at his mother as if she had just grown an extra head. The tension was palpable. He was so frustrated at their obvious 'ignorance' that he could hardly sit still. He declared that he had made a decision a few weeks ago, to attend a different church, and felt that after todays sermon, his decision was justified.

Mentally I reviewed my CPR training from my CERT class last year. Grandma's going to blow any second, I thought. Is it pump fifteen then blow or blow fifteen then pump? I need to review my training.

Grandma went silent. Sister kept her head down. Dad kept on eating and reading the paper and Mom stared at her son in apparent shock. She whispered something to him that sounded like, "We'll discuss this later." but son wouldn't let it go. Now it's getting interesting.

"Mom, it's like believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. You went to college, you can't sit there and tell me you agree with him." (Him, I assumed was the preacher at the church.)
Mom was silent. Heaven forbid she agree with son and freak out her own parents....oh dear...what to do?

Sister came to the rescue. "I think what he was saying is that God created the universe. God created us. God created everything so in a sense, if we evolved from a lower species, God created that too."

Deep sigh from mom.....grunt from dad.....smiles from Grandma and Grandpa....and a glaring "You people are idiots, Was I adopted?" stare from son.

The rest of the meal was silent. Ya gotta love Joe's!