"SLITHER" THE MOVIE and "XVQJX," is NOT a word !

In the summer of 1974 RBOY12  and I had a working vacation in Florida at DisneyWorld. He stayed on at the Magic Kingdom the whole time but right after the 4th of July, I quit for a better job, as a waiter at the Kissimmee Red Lobster.

I won't go into specifics because each link in the chain of events that led me there is a story in itself, I will say; I met two guys (Bob and Ronnie) from South Carolina who were also disenchanted with the Disney employment thing.

Sometime after they left Disney, I was on a date with  "C" (a co-worker). She was going to drop me off but we decided to listen to live music at the Contemporary Hotel just outside Disney. Afterwards, we had a disagreement over trivialities like, which version of Mambo (dance) was more authentic...the Canarsie or Weehawken style...and the next thing I knew, I was being asked (told) to leave the car.

Well, after about an hour of unsuccessful hitch-hiking on a dark country road about 25 miles from where I lived, a million to one shot happened. Bob, (of Bob and Ronnie), noticed me as he drove to our apartment complex's shuttle bus back from Disney.

He told me that the next night, he and Ronnie were starting as waiters at the Red Lobster in Kissimmee. His description left a powerful and  positive impact on me. A couple of days later, my Disney manager served me an oral reprimand for not smiling enough.  Yes, even in that "joyous" work environment, a mere trash picker-upper was expected to live-up to entertainment standards. 

The next day, I sought out the South Carolina boys and asked the if Red Lobster was still hiring. They shrugged and Bob said, "There's only one way to find out."

                              TWO DAYS LATER, I ENTERED RED LOBSTER'S NEW EMPLOYEE                                                                       ORIENTATION PROGRAM. 

The three of us immediately became close friends.  They were from a rural town called Easley, in Pickens County, at the western tip of South Carolina. We embraced the cultural differences between their gentlemanly Mayberry-like upbringing and my Canarsie swag.

These differences especially with phraseology stick with me today. Something simple like basketball being called,  hoops," was as absurd to them as saying "XVQJX" was a word. They also couldn't come to grips with their tennis shoes being called sneakers. And me, I still laugh that they pronounced Cadillac, " Ka-Diddly-AK."  But the funniest difference was that they added the word "coke" to the end of whatever soda they were talking about, like "Orange-Coke," 7-Up-Coke" or even "Pepsi-Coke."

It may be an insignificant reference, I doubt even RBOY12 would remember that they said that but...down through the years I have repeated that story and it sounds so ridiculous... that people think I'm making it up. Well, for the first time in over 33 years that phrase has resurfaced.

At a recent visit to KURUDAVE's house, PCShmee brought over a movie called "SLITHER" from 2006. I'm not really a Sci-Fi guy but as an excuse for some rare hangout time with friends, it worked for me.  

SLITHER was comedic horror movie clever enough to earn an 87% on Rotten Tomaotes.  Presumably it takes place in the south because of all the southern references but the scenery looks more like Minnesota (perhaps that was part of the director's humor).

During the climatic big ending, the mayor, while his town is being inundated with slug-like aliens and zombied townsfolk goes into panic mode.  He struggles to get out of his office but stops at his cooler to find that he doesn't have any soda left and exclaims, "I can't believe I already drank my last Mr. Pibb-Coke."

IN 1972, COCA COLA DEBUTED ITS SPICY CHERRY CREATION, "PEPPO."  IN 1974, THE NAME CHANGED TO "MR. PIBB." 

I thought my head was going to explode. I insisted that the movie paused and told KURU and PC about Bob, Ronnie and the southern tendacy to add the word "coke". But the coincidence went over their heads because they didn't know Mr. Pibb was Coca-Cola's version of Dr. Pepper (only available down south). So the fact that the mayor added coke to Mr. Pibb compounded the meaninglessness.

Many of my blogs are exaggerations of real vignettes from my life. This is necessary because I'm trying to entertain, not report the news. So, I freely admit boast of a 15% embellishment factor, (especially involving violence, sex, drugs and rock-n-roll). Unfortunately, my insecurities kick-in when the far-fetched truth is challenged.  That's why a silly movie like SLITHER was so important to me.  It's called, "VALIDATION."

I don't know whatever happened to Bob and Ronnie. But I wonder if they ever lived-up to their big life ambition of switching the "W" with the "A" on the Kissimmee WAFFLE HOUSE sign.  That might seem implausible, but I might be in need of a little validation...already.