On Tuesday June 5, Krispy Kreme opened a store here. For months
mouths have been watering for the wonderfully divine gastronomic
offering of a Krispy Kreme donut, fresh out of the oven. To express
their deep interest, scores of families booked, not one, but TWO hotels
to “NO Vacancy” that are in the vicinity of the new store, so that they
might better access the place once it opened.
For some thirty-eight hours, from the previous Sunday evening, one
gentleman camped at the front door to be the first in line. The heavenly
confections have been the talk of the town all week. News of people
driving for hundreds of miles and waiting for up to five hours (for
donuts, ya’ll) have been common.
Now, I’ve known for some time that my sense of taste is not nearly as
well developed as that of most people. When it comes to taste buds,
the Great Cook in the sky gave me a measly set. All my life I’ve been
to places with friends to eat and their eyes would roll backward and
they’d begin to make sounds as if they were having a very satisfying
time in bed. “You gotta taste this, todd.” Or “did you try the
__________?” (fill in the blank). When my curiosity would get the
better of me, I’d relent and in fact sample the overwhelmingly
delicious item. Generally it would taste alright, but not so good as to
make me swoon.
I’m comfortable with my weak sense of taste, having come to terms
with the reality that food is never going to be a big thing with me. I
like to eat -- don’t get me wrong. It’s just not really, really high on my
list of favorite things to do. So when the Krispy people warned us that
they were coming, I’m thinking “how good can a donut be?” From
what I’ve heard, pretty damn good. But there’s no way in hell that I’m
waiting more than five minutes for a donut. I’m not worried -- the
Krispy people will do just fine without me. They reportedly sold
100,000 DOZEN within the first 24 hours.
But it got me to thinking. Have I EVER waited in line for something
and didn’t mind. After a while it hit me like a flash of light. I was ashamed that I’d forgotten the answer that should have right in front of me:
A new release at a summer convention.