Boondoggle's End

Continued from here. 
...After leaving the Buckhead Barnes and Noble and the triple-awesomeness that was Jen, Laurie and Quinn, we decided we'd begin our search for sustenance.  There's so much in the Buckhead area, that the chore wasn't finding a place to get great food...but narrowing it down from all of the choices around us.  We noticed a nice-looking place called Saltwater Ketch that had live music on the outdoor patio & was obviously a seafood joint...JennJ loves her some live music...and I love me some seafood, so we decided to stop there.

The food was divine.  Both of our dishes had a definite Mediterranean flavor...I had the ahi tuna on quinoa...JennJ, the grilled shrimp with couscous and a chickpea/cucumber/tomato salad.  We were some kind of hongry!  Meeting fabulous authors is hungry work. After we finished our meals, we ambled on over to the bar, where we could hear the music and also see whatever football game was on at the time.

It took the patrons at the bar all of 22 1/2 seconds to notice JennJ and start homing in on her.  In next to no-time, drinks had been bought for us by a gentleman at the end of the bar, we'll call him John Doe (JD for short) and he sidled on up to strike up a conversation with Jenn.  Now, I've been off the market for the better part of my life.  Jeff and I were high school sweethearts...and I was married before I could legally drink (calm down, it was only 2 months before I was 21).  Watching someone trying to do the pick-up thing at a bar is FASCINATING to me. So I sipped my (free) drink, pretended to watch the football game and eavesdropped on the fella who was hitting on Jenn.
He had a very intoxicated buddy at the bar who drifted by every now and then to pound him on the back and talk him up to Jenn (I think he was supposed to be a "wing man," but he was waaaaay too inebriated to make a lot of sense).  He'd come by, slap "JD" on his shoulder and say something like, "Man, this guy RUNS THE EFFIN' SHOW! THE WHOLE DAMN SHOW, I TELL YOU!" Then he'd stumble off for awhile and drink some more.  Meanwhile, "JD" was engaging in some of the most convoluted conversation starters I had ever heard...

Jenn had lived in Texas before?  What did she think of the politicians from Texas?
Did she have any interest in Electronic Data Processing devices?
How much did she remember about the Iranian Revolution?

"Where the hell is he going with this?" I thought to myself, completely mystified by whatever pickup routine this was.  Another round of drinks were ordered, a couple of innocuous questions were lobbed my way...I answered as succinctly as possible so that "JD" could get to the point already.
Drunk wingman stumbles back up slurring something like, "JD's the best damn litigator in Georgia!" and joins the conversation...it took a full half hour and Jenn was finally asked, "Have you ever voted for an Independent?" or some shit and she replies, "Oh, my!  Marianne and I are always saying how we were young and foolish and put Clinton in office by voting for Ross Perot for our first Presidential election!"

"Perot" was barely out of her mouth when drunk wing man leans in and an stage whispers (slurs) "Did he tell...um...did JD mention that he, uh, dated Ross Perot's daughter?"

God.  These two guys had spent over 30 minutes in the most astonishing feat of verbal gymnastics I have ever witnessed in order to bring up the fact that "JD" had dated Katherine Perot for a couple of months when he was in college (some 25 years ago).  Now, I have to give credit where credit is due, because it cannot be easy to work to bring Mr. Perot into a conversation in the year 2013.  But come on, boys, you have GOT to update your schtick.

About this point, the restaurant was getting ready to pack up for the night.  JD poured his buddy into a car and stayed in the parking lot to make sure we didn't get jumped by a bunch of Iranians and we headed on back to the hotel.  We laughed all the way back until we were practically in tears.

We had THE BEST Boondoggle...couldn't have possibly packed more entertainment in 14 hours on a bet.

(Okay, honestly, "JD" wasn't that bad of a guy.  He was sort of good-looking, he honestly was a lawyer and after his buddy got too drunk to actually talk, his conversation got a lot more relaxed and interesting.  And he was nice enough to make sure we got on our way without getting 'jacked in the middle of Atlanta at midnight.  Jenn didn't exchange digits with him...but did give him her email...I'm encouraging her to give him another shot if she goes back over to Atlanta any time soon...as long as he leaves his goofy wing man at home.)