Manifest Cheezers For Your Destiny

One Saturday morning at Scripps Ranch the weather was really warm & the business was really slow.  I walked over to an adjacent park to make some phone calls on my flip phone out of earshot.  I had a short list of friends who I thought might wanna invest in the buildout of Mad Munch's shop.  

"It's gonna be great once we get opened up.  Our location is two blocks from the ocean & there's a ton of foot traffic, year-round," I bragged to several of my old college & high school pals.

"How much are you looking to borrow?" they asked.

"Sixty grand," I said.

And, that pretty much closed the book on the deal right then & there.  

I called DP, Chase, & even messaged Yuri on Facebook.  I hadn't talked to Yuri in over ten years, so I didn't have his phone number.  He responded days later:  "Sorry, man I wish I could help you out.  Good luck!"

I walked back to the cluster of tents there in the parking lot next to the elementary school.  I felt defeated.  It was bad enough having to ask for money, but it was even worse when everyone told you no. 

Kate was behind our front table making a Cheezer of the Month for this crazy lady whom we called "Grape Nuts."  She was polite & all but dressed very weird, usually in dirty pajamas & always ordered a Sunkist Grape soda.   

"Here you go," Kate said & handed the sandwich to her in the box.  Grape Nuts, turned around, took one bite, thought about it for a few minutes, then threw it on the ground- the rest of the Cheezer in the box & walked away.

"What the hell just happened?" Kate asked, but neither of us had an answer.  Harry & Alex next to us, manning Bibby's Crepes saw it all go down, too. 

"Wow, now that's a first," Harry said between his usual line of regulars.  

The two of us sat there watching Harry & Alex trade cash for crepes for the next hour or so, while the guitar guy played Bad Company's "Feel Like Making Love," way too loud to an audience of mostly grammar school & junior high students.  

And, that's when it dawned on us both.  

That coupled with Grape Nuts' outburst & my soliciting rejections, Mad Munch had been pushed to the brink at Scripps Ranch.  How much more could we take? 

"We're never gonna have a line like that," I whispered to Kate. "I mean, Harry's been doing this market for like ten years.  I can't do ten years.  We don't have ten years."

"Hell no, we don't," Kate agreed.  "Hey, isn't Poway still going on right now?  Why don't you take some Cheezers over there?"

"Yes, great idea, babe!  I try to butter up, Diane.  She seemed to like 'em last time."

We boxed up four Cheezers to go & I drove the six miles over there & soon found Diane sitting by the old train depot.

I re-introduced myself & handed her the boxes.  "I was just wondering if you guys had any openings here?  We never heard back from you before so I figured I'd bring you some grilled cheeses."

"Oh, ok.  What is your business again?" she asked.

"Mad Munch," I said.  "I stopped by & talked to you about a year ago."

"Oh, right.  Well, I'm not sure if we have any openings right now, but maybe you guys could sub-in one week."

"Absolutely.  We'd love to."

The next few weeks we subbed in at Poway, getting the go-ahead from Diane the day before.  We ended up getting a regular spot about a month later.  It became one of my favorite & our most profitable weekly farmer's markets over the next year.