Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

While on a recent trip to Massachusetts, we went out for breakfast our first full day there and had a good breakfast.  Bobby and Brenda Hardy, Val and Franny Johnson along with Tracey and I were on a mission to find the perfect “local breakfast joint”.  We were glad someone pointed us in the right direction.

We parked at Percy’s Place and headed inside.  Had a bit of a wait, not too bad though for the size of the building and at the time we got there around 11:00AM, late for breakfast.  We finally were seated, menus placed in front of us along with water and utensils.  As we eagerly looked at our menus, we all looked at each other and were amazed that a Boston area restaurant was using such a southern word –druthers.

I had to ask our waitress if she knew what druthers meant.  She was young, and informed us that she had recently moved to the area and honestly did not know what it meant.  It was throughout the menu, over and over again.  So, as the polite Southerners that we are, we shared our knowledge of the meaning of the word.

The term druthers simply stated means, I had rather have this than that.  Would you like an egg or druther have corned beef hash.  The word has many slang terms and it applies to what you want or prefer or druther have something else.  Tracey, Franny and Brenda used that that word the whole week we were in Cape Cod and with laughter.

Having seen the menu first I was quick to notice the word druthers throughout the menu and I thought it was a company at first glancing.  Come to find out the waitress had no idea, so we informed her of our interpretation of the word.

I will never forget that morning at Percy’s, the fine food it served or the waitress.  The best corned beef hash and eggs over easy with a glass of cold tomato juice is what I ate that morning.  The girls laughed all week and used the word druthers every chance they got.

I will admit that my wife, Tracey, shared in this column so she gets half the credit.

They were the best of times with the best of friends and in the best of places, Washington, N.C.!  The Original Washington!

Harold Jr.