Discriminating Taste

Every time we drive by the McDonald's in Tucker, Sam says, "Jonah is sad." You see, there's no McDonald's there anymore. They tore it down.

Micky D's is Jonah's favorite restaurant in the entire universe. I have driven the full length and breadth of many small southern cities, eyes scanning between the sky and horizon for the golden arches. We have eaten very early and very late while on the road to take advantage of a disadvantageously placed McDonald's. We have also made two stops on occasion, picking up a golden-wrapped Precious in advance and taking it in with us wherever we go.

It's the cheeseburgers, you see. Jonah will only eat McDonald's cheeseburgers. Not the Varsity (it's brown on top and smushed!), not Wendy's (it's square!), not Burger King (the cheese is melted!), nor even Chili's (also melted). We have searched far and wide to find another cheeseburger to please the palate of my third child, the blue-eyed fast food tyrant. If we do go somewhere else, he will eat something else (following much wailing and gnashing of teeth).

If we leave the house after I get off from work, and if the word "dinner" has been mentioned even in passing, Jonah will start begging to go to McDonald's as soon as we get in the car. "Are we going to McDonald's?" "Can we go to McDonald's?" "Why aren't we turning in to McDonald'?" "Dad! YOU DROVE PAST MCDONALD'S!?!"

So you can probably imagine the scene within the car when my wife, Jonah, and Sam drove past the Tucker McDonald's, only to see it gone. The building was missing, only a muddy rubble remained.

Sam still talks about it whenever we drive by.

They are rebuilding (although they took a horribly long time to put up a notice saying when they planned to re-open). And so there will be a McDonald's in Tucker again, starting in December.

We will of course be there on opening day.