Part II: Champagne, Country Gravy and Sweet New Friends

Following is Part II of a series sharing the story of a time in the Pacific Northwest when I was a paid signature gatherer for a variety of issues. I couldn’t have imagined when I started this job, the highs and lows I would experience, the kind and incredibly interesting friends I would make and the strange and dramatic way it would all end.

Part I is free to all subscribers. You can find it at WhatABeautifulMess.Net

Parts II, III and IV will be for paid subscribers.

Part III – Friday, Part IV – Sunday.

PART II

In the early days of my signature-gathering adventure, I made a dear new friend. Every evening, after work, I would meet Bobbi in her room. She was the only other female on this odd circuit and we stuck together. She was 25 years older than I was, grew up in Atlanta and wore bright red lipstick and expensive shoes with high heels. To look at us – a young white woman from Montana and a middle-aged Black woman from Atlanta – we were an unlikely pair. But Bobbi liked good champagne. And I’d never had good champagne. So we got along just fine. Every evening we’d sip champagne in Room 106 at the Super 8 in Medford. And I’d listen to Bobbi’s stories about the big city of Atlanta and her sophisticated friends and fancy restaurants and the theaters she would attend when she returned someday soon. She talked about her best friend who had AIDS and the death of her father the previous year. 

One night, after a hard day’s work, our entire group decided to splurge and go out for dinner. We met in the parking lot of the motel and walked to a nearby Denny’s. This is important because Denny’s had just settled a hugely public racial discrimination lawsuit and this lawsuit was about to have a direct impact on our dining experience.