Chapter 7 - Ray's
Jane and I walked into the newest, coolest restaurant in Detroit, a soul food restaurant called Ray's. The owner was a man named Ray McNeal, formerly AT3 McNeal. You see, Mr. McNeal was the plane captain for 503, and one cold, ugly night on the USS Eisenhower, Ray saved the lives of my crew and I when our plane caught fire. I owed Ray more than the cost of a meal; I owed the man my life. I had decided on this place, expecting to get Jane out of her comfort zone a bit. She didn't know where we were going, I just told her the address, and I arrived 15 minutes before I had said we had reservations. I had my reasons.
Ray came out and greeted me when just after I sat down. He was bouncing around, talking to people, getting things done; basically, he was the same Ray he was all those years ago. "Com-" he stopped himself, we were both civilians now "Tom Banner, how's it going!" I could feel Ray's infectious grin, and turned around into a huge bear hug, which I returned.
"This place looks great, Ray" I said, and I meant it. All the stuff he had collected, old newspapers he had frame, paintings done by schoolkids, all of it oozed Detroit history. Even if he was proud of his food, I think he was a thousand times prouder of his hometown. Ray and I sat and chatted for a minute, until he had to head back to the kitchen to help fix an issue.
While I waited for Jane, I looked through the menu, found the catfish that I knew would be amazing, and just kept looking. I wanted to pass the time and keep an eye on the door, because I didn't want to miss the show. Ray kept coming back out to check on me every few minutes, and I began to suspect that he thought I had been stood up. That was going to be a fun surprise. Eventually, 15 minutes after I had been seated, and with Ray back at my table checking on me, Jane walked in. She was wearing a sweater with a floppy neck, a straight skirt that hugged her hips, nylons, and high heels that matched everything. Jane looked gorgeous. Ray looked up, and did a double take, and then looked at me. Just by the look I gave Jane, Ray was fairly certain that he knew who had walked through the door. Ray looked over, and we just fist bumped. I introduced Jane to him, and he bent over to kiss her hand, saying an exaggerated "enchantained, mademoiselle" in a ridiculous attempt at a French accent.
After he had left, Jane glared at me. "If you showed up 15 minutes early to watch me walk in here, you're an asshole."
I laughed a little, and the glare turned into a sweet smile. "Jane, you know I would totally do that." She just titled her head and looked at me as if to say 'Really? Really?' We made some small talk about the house moving, as she was still getting the small things out of her old house. We had put most of her things into storage, but were looking at a run sometime in the next week to take the last of her furniture away. A lot of the stuff she had, though, we just used to replace mine. I wanted her bed, and she just laughed when I explained my reasoning.
We went through the menu, and I had already picked out my choice. Jane seemed to have a hard time, before settling on the shrimp and grits. I was impressed, as that was one of their specialties. "You've done your homework" I said, matter of factly.
Jane looked at me, and said "Tom, if you haven't looked at me recently, it has to be obvious that I like my food." I looked at her, slightly annoyed that she was putting herself down.
"No, Jane, I just see the sexy woman I invited on a date tonight" I retorted. Jane blushed a little bit. I was hoping that she was fishing for compliments, but I knew her insecurities were still there.
We talked, had a drink, and watched the people around us. The place was busy, and given that we were among the oldest people there, it was a hip restaurant. I had waved goodbye to being hip years ago. Jane didn't notice, but loved the wall decorations that Ray had put up. The food arrived, much faster than I had expected, given how busy it was. We both ate our food and talked, more talking than eating, and I soon realized that I was losing myself in Jane's glowing blue eyes. They had the mystical ability to entrance me, and I loved every second of the hypnotization. We finally finished our food, both of us loving our meal choices.
Ray came out after we were done, and proceeded to tell Jane the story of when Ray had to save the day. "So I'm standing there at the back seats, just busted the canopy out, and I see the front canopy is up. I'm thinking 'they're out of the plane, the canopy's up.' I jump over to the front, and who do I see? His dopy ass, flipping switches and trying to save the jet. So I yell to him 'Skull, what are you doing?!' and he just looks at me like I just barged in on him in the restroom. I know he's not moving on his own, so I reach in, pop off the harness, and pull on him. I guess I didn't know how hard I pulled, because I launched both of us out of the front cockpit and onto the deck. His ass lands on me, breaks some ribs, and all I got was a thank you from Uncle Sam." Jane was roaring with laughter at the story.
"Ray, I sprained my wrist when we landed on the deck" I replied, weakly.
Ray only said "If I had left you in there, Banner, you would have been flying with the angels, and not the Blue ones." This only made Jane laugh harder, and I started laughing as well. Ray had a great way of telling this tale, even though I don't remember a lot of it happening the way he told me. I'm pretty sure that the sparking ECM pod was a new wrinkle in the story he had just thrown in.
By now, everyone in the restaurant was listening, partially to the story, but mostly to my beautiful date laugh at it. Ray had a hell of a way to tell it. Ray begged his leave, and gave me a huge hug. He was a great man, and if there's any justice in the world, he's going to have the best restaurant in all of Detroit.
After Ray had left, Jane looked at me, a look of being impressed with my actions. "Who knew my boyfriend was so heroic?" She said.
