Lips And...Well...

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There are times in life when you run into certain people that you never forget, for whatever reason. Take Carol. I forget what her last name was, and even if I could remember what it was, I probably wouldn't share it. She was a "hard" woman, probably in her late 30s or early 40s, but looking at her you kind of knew she had had a bit of hard life. She wasn't made of money and her biggest dream was to "finally get that double-wide." If she told you she was 50 you would not have fallen down, shocked. That's a trailer for anyone wondering. A mobile home. And I mean no harm when I mention that nor do I make any assumptions as to her character, worth, or anything else for being that kind of woman. But again, she was hard. Or maybe hardened is the word I am looking for. It was at Kraft Foods, where I worked at the time. The Kraft Pizza Company to be exact, where we made DiGiorno's, Jack's, and Tombstone. In the break room we had pizza ovens of course. All the "duds" and "rejects" made their way to the break room freezer. We could cook them up on our breaks and enjoy free of charge. But you get sick of pizza, of course. So, they also had a Gedunk machine in the break room. Nobody called it that but me. And I am not even sure if I spelled it right. I am a Navy guy and that's what we called "snack machines." Gedunk machines. In there were sandwiches and stuff. Hamburgers and chicken sandwiches and whatever else. Carol would stand before the machine and say, "What kind of lips and a$$holes do I want today?" To her it was all mystery meat disguised as familiar meat. Snouts, toes, eyeballs...and yes lips and a$$holes. Every time she said it, it gave us all a laugh. And it just never got old. Because that was Carol, standing before the gedunk machine, trying to decide what to get. Trying to pick out what lips and a$$holes she wanted on any particular day when she was not cooking up a pizza. Some people you encounter in life you just never forget. She may have been hard. She may have had a hard life. But she is someone that also made an impression. You never forget about people like that. I don't know where she is now. Kraft sold the pizza division and that plant is long gone. But wherever she is, perhaps she is in another place, scanning the gedunk machine, with new faces and new ears in her surroundings, picking out her lips and a$$holes during her break.