Yes, we changed many things about Fred's News. We ourselves changed, hopefully for the better. I always refer it to as the "seasoning process". Sounds much more interesting than getting old. We watched patrons grow from young children, to responsible adults, with families of their own. Many pleasantly surprised us, by returning and introducing their kids to the Fred's News they had grown to love. One of my favorite stories came from a young man named Rusty. His mom, Missy, was one of our first employees after we purchased Fred's News. At the time Rusty wasn't more than three or four years old. Over the years we would occasionally see him, particularly after he reached driving age. By that time his mom had moved on to a full time job and no longer lived close to Fred's News.
Missy was by all accounts, a character. Somewhere around four foot nine inches tall, maybe a little more, she was a bundle of energy and could control the young teen crowd that frequented the place at night. Many a night, she was exhausted from reaching deep into the old Fred's ice cream coolers, making delicious, cones, shakes and sundaes. Usually son Matthew or one of his friends that worked with us, would also be working with Missy. Everyone also knew where the buzzer was located, in case extra support was needed. On this particular night Eric was working with Missy. When we hired Eric, he didn't have any experience working with food, but he was a great kid, a friend of our boys, and the Egg-Nazi had coached him in basketball. Eric, respectful and quiet by nature, particularly around adults, was the perfect opposite of bubbly little Missy...the perfect team.
In order for Missy to reach the ice cream in the tubs, located in the open top freezer, she had to stand on her tip toes. At the end of every night, the empty tubs needed replacing. Eric was rushing about doing the cleaning, stocking for the next day, Missy attempting to change the ice cream tubs. As Eric descended into the catacombs of the Fred's News basement, his thoughts were not about Missy trying to move all the tubs. Missy, not only short was very well endowed in the upper body, therefore making the cleanup process all the more difficult. Add this up if you will...overly short, big boobs, extremely deep freezers, trying to hurry....yes, as Missy was leaning over the edge of the freezer, trying to reach the bottom, she lost her grip...ass over band box, head first into the freezer, kind of wedged there...nothing to hold onto, making escape impossible. Eric not the quickest person at the stocking job, relayed the following: "It was awful, I heard a muffled cry, but didn't see her. I looked out back, nope. As I came back in, all I saw were feet, sticking straight upside down, out of the freezer. I ran, (I find that a bit hard to believe), only to find Missy hollering, "get me out of this God damn freezer." I'm sorry, but I did laugh!" he said looking very apologetic. Of course by this time we are hysterical, Missy standing there,blood returning to the other parts of her body, after being upside down for five minutes. We finally asked. "Eric, how did you get her out?" Eric, ever so dryly, looking around, as if he were some super sleuth, not wanting to be detected, said in a barely audible tone...."I had to touch her ass!" OMG he was so embarrassed. "Really" "Why her ass, Eric?" What was I supposed to touch?" he questioned innocently. Missy said he pulled her out by the seat of her pants, that way he wouldn't break those short little legs.
Years later, Eric graduates from college, becoming a local high school teacher. Rusty, now in his teens, happens to have Mr. Johnson as one of his teachers. Rusty was one of those young people, that didn't change much in appearance as the years passed. Yes, he looked older and more mature, but the facial features were the same as that wide eyed, innocent young four year old that would often visit mom, when she worked the night shift at Fred's. I am not sure who brought up the subject of Fred's, but I am quite positive it was Rusty. With the same innocence of his younger years, Rusty blurted forth, "Mr. Johnson...are you the Eric that touched my mother's ass?" OMG
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