Jeff Calder's 50th Birthday Memoirs > Robert Schmid (1)
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Orange Freeze
Around the beginning of 1979, we (the Q's) were working our way up the East coast. The morning after a show in Washington,DC, we decided to eat breakfast at a Ho Jo's (Howard Johnson's to the dilettantes). This choice was made primarily because Bob (Elsey) had an
uncontrollable hankering for the infamous Ho Jo orange freeze that quickly spread to the whole group. We arrived and were seated after no small wait. We were a rather unconventional
looking group of people to say the least. I believe Jeff was sporting his Demetridon hairdo at the time and the rest of us probably looked like the recipients of some vaudeville prop man's throwaways. However, we were always unfailingly polite and very patient people. The waitress proceeded to ignore us for ages. We were finally allowed to order and waited for an eternity
for our food which arrived cold(our orange freezes were, at least, excellent) . Her attitude was antagonistic despite our friendly Southern demeanors. Jeff proposed revenge in the form of a feigned heart attack at the cash register. We had gone to the front to settle our bill when Jeff immediately clutched his chest and grimaced in agony. After a moment of theatrical gesticulating, he fell to the floor shattering the "Please wait to be seated" sign in the process.
Jeff now had the rapt attention of the entire restaurant and had induced apoplexy on the management and staff. The bill was hastily forgiven after we ministered to Jeff ("Please! Just give him some air!") and denied the need for medical attention. Jeff quickly arose like
Lazarus and fairly skipped out of the place with us all in tow.
-Robert Schmid