The Crawdad

The Wikipedia on-line Dictionary defines an Eating Disorder as follows:

An eating disorder is a compulsion to eat in a way which disturbs physical health. The eating may be excessive (compulsive over-eating); too limited (restricting); may include normal eating punctuated with episodes of purging; may include cycles of binging and purging; or may encompass the ingesting of non-foods----. ----There are numerous theories as to the causes and mechanisms leading to eating disorders.

            One day this summer while on a short trip to see the Talimena Drive, my daughter, her two sons, and I stayed over night in a Motel in Mena, Arkansas called the Lime Tree Inn.  This town in Arkansas is at the Eastern end of this beautiful drive across the Winding Stair Mountains in Western Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma.

            While checking in at this Motel I asked whether there was a restaurant on premises.  The clerk said there was.  It was late in the afternoon, so after finding our room and unloading our baggage, and resting a few minutes we decided to go for dinner.  The choices as I recall were Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Sonic, etc., but I wanted to see if the Lime Tree Restaurant prices were reasonable; and, surprisingly, in this day of inflated values they seemed acceptable.  It was Friday and they had, that evening, a seafood buffet, which I enjoy eating, and also is one of the few things which her youngest will eat with alacrity so we decided to eat there and to have the buffet.

            One of the facets of life in which he seems to take the least pleasure is eating.  Even when he is very hungry he will quite often turn down even the most succulent morsel if it is not something which suits his palate.  He is quite fond of sweets and will almost always eat chocolate—at Braums his favorite is the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.  Naturally his Mother prefers that he eat his supper first or he will not have any desert; and often he goes to bed without his sweet.  Some time ago during the children’s sermon at church the Pastor asked the group what they wished for.  His answer was that he wished he would get desert.  One food that he enjoys is crab legs; this is probably his favorite meal; along with other sorts of seafood.  I suspect he also would like lobster, but perhaps because of the expense it is better not to find that out.

            So it seemed to me that the seafood buffet was probably a good idea because my Grandson would probably enjoy his dinner that evening.  We sat down and ordered our drinks; then began filling our plates at the buffet.  Her eldest, as usual, filled his plate quickly and began eating.  My daughter selected mashed potatoes and corn.  I served myself catfish, shrimp, and a vegetable.  I did not observe closely what her youngest son  took to eat—he was sitting across the table from me—but he seemed to be eating what was on his plate and liking it.  Soon he said he was going back for another serving, because he had seen crawdads on the buffet. My daughter then began explaining elaborately to her sons her experience in catching crawdads.  She had just gotten through explaining to them just how you go about catching a crawdad using a piece of bacon tied on the end of a string when he got up to refill his plate. 

            This is the sort of creature that was on his plate when he arrived back at the table.  His Mother had recently eaten crawfish pie somewhere, didn’t really care for it, and I think she thought her son had found some of that dish.  She was very surprised, I think, at what was on his plate when he returned, averted her eyes, and looked disgusted.  She said something to the effect that if you are going to eat that do it quickly and get it over with.

            I’m sure most of you have eaten shrimp; as I have.  I have had it breaded and fried, grilled in olive oil, served on ice, and even boiled whole.  I did not really care for boiled shrimp.  They are messy little things which look much like the picture above.  When I eat them I pull off the legs, peel off the shell, remove any other unsavory looking pieces, and pop them in my mouth.

            This boy, not being very perceptive—what 13 year old is--, and being very curious about what he was probably beginning to think seriously about not eating, picked it up in his hands, turned it this way and that, pulled on the legs, and looking at some other part said, “What’s that”.  My daughter, becoming more and more upset, said, “Put it down and eat it if you are going to”.  She continued to look in any direction other than at what he was fingering.  I think she was beginning to feel ill at ease.

            Paying little attention to his Mother or anyone else, he continued to toy with the crawdad.  He said, “How do you eat it”, and “What part do you eat”.  I think his brother told him you only eat the tail.  My daughter told him, “Put that thing down, get another plate, and get yourself something else to eat”.  Her youngest, blithely unaware of the tension he was causing, continued manipulating the crayfish in his hands.

            I, of course, watched this whole scenario with internal amusement, careful not to interfere in my daughter’s parenting of her son, silently wondered how this would all turn out.

            She finally told him, “Put that thing down on your plate, and cover it up with a napkin!”  “But why Mom”, he asked?  “I was going to eat it”.  I think by then she had become a little sick at her stomach.  “Give it to me”, she ordered!  She then took the offending crustacean, wrapped it up in a napkin, out of sight, and placated him by sending him for some desert.

            My daughter was finally able to relax and finish her dinner, although she placed the napkin covered crayfish off to the side where it was least visible, and ensured the waitress picked up the plate and removed it.

            Would I have eaten the crawdad if I had noticed it on the buffet?  I probably would not have.  Would my Grandson have eaten the crawdad on his plate if his Mother had not objected?  I don’t know, but I don’t think so.  Will my daughter ever again tell her sons her tale of catching crawdads in a ditch?  She probably will, but I suspect she will add the caveat I did not eat them.  Did I enjoy my dinner?  Yes, I did.