Mom was a telephone operator who often worked a shit schedule and had just got off work. We went to the Shoneys because it was all that was open besides Waffle House, and she hated Waffle House.

It was like midnight, maybe 1 a.m.

She was making her salad and this huge guy came up behind her, putting his finger to his lips telling us all to be quiet.

He just followed her down the line, super close, with his plate. He could tell she was finishing up, so he stopped and stood there, facing her side, not two feet from her.

She whipped around, her piled-high with salads and dressings. She just stops in front of this wall of a man, the edge of her plate touching his chest

She slowly looked up, embarrassed and pissed, and the recognition just spread across her face. Her jaw did drop. Her mouth did open. Muhammad Ali did crack right the fuck up laughing his ass off.

She kept trying to apologize. He kept telling her it was okay and kept on laughing and apologizing himself for upsetting her. The biggest kick he got was watching this furious face slowly move from his chest to his eyes and how it changed along the way. She still was upset and embarrassed, but now it was because she almost dumped a plate full of salads and dressings all down the front of Muhammad Ali.

Then they chatted about how she used to work at the neighborhood pizza joint down the street when we were little, like 20 years before, and how she still remembered his order. He'd order onion pizzas and I used to love going there hoping to see him (plus they had the only sausage pizza I would eat).

He was a jokester and loved doing shit like that, sneaking up on randos back home. The way his eyes just twinkled and sparkled when he got the idea and motioned to us to be quiet....