A Gathering of Eagles

If you ever go into a stand-alone McDonalds Restaurant – any McDonalds in any town or location will do – between the hours of 6 AM and 9 AM, I can guarantee that you will find a group of old men sitting at a table chatting and having their breakfast. 

Why can I make this claim?  First, because I’ve been one of those guys from time to time. And second, I have some experience with visiting the fast food giant at various times and locations throughout America in the early morning hours. Without fail, there are always that familiar set of elders, usually all males, laughing and sharing the coffee and eats.

I look at McDonalds as the retiree’s water cooler, and I have lots of good memories of my times sitting at the one on Trans-Mountain Boulevard in Northeast El Paso with five or six of my “buddies.” 

When you look back at past times, I guess the campfire was the original meeting place for the elders, but the pot-bellied stove, the barbershop, and other warm and friendly places where men gathered for a confabulation later replaced it.  Eventually, it had to be a McDonald’s Restaurant or some other equally welcoming fast food joint. I think Mickey-Ds got the nod due to its ubiquitousness.

Harking back to that place in El Paso, I want to relate a tale about my meetings there.  I had been partaking of my early breakfast with the boys for several months before I learned an interesting fact; one of them had a famous brother.

The man I knew simply as H. D. (he said it stood for “Heavy Duty” and I never did learn what names went with the initials) started talking about his brother, Ronnie, one morning.  Everyone else at the table knew exactly who he was referring to, but I was the newcomer and, consequently, in the dark.  Eventually, the conversation got around to Ronnie’s movie roles.  My curiosity piqued, I asked about what movies his brother was in.  H. D. responded that the biggest one was Deliverance.

The light went off in my head and I looked at old H. D. again and immediately saw the resemblance to Ronnie Cox.  Well, I was flabbergasted, but I still wasn’t completely convinced that he was related.  Everyone at the table assured me that he was, and to prove it for certain, I got a picture the next morning signed by Ronnie to his brother.

H. D. Cox might have been the most connected with celebrity, but he wasn't the most interesting of the group.  That honor went to another, whose name I've misplaced.  he was the oldest of us, well into his 70s even back then.  His claim to fame was his expertise in repairing anything mechanical or electrical.  If you had an old appliance or tool - almost anything - that had given up the ghost, he could strip it down and make it work again. I think he sold his "fixer-uppers" and lived off the profits.  He was an interesting old guy.

Since I had been one of the old geezers at those morning meets out west, I always try to greet the old-timers at any McDonalds when I walk in the door.  I’ve never joined another group quite like them, and I treasure my memory of those fellows in El Paso.  I do stop in every once in a while at our McDonalds in Grovetown and visit for a few minutes. It’s always a good way to start the day.