A Florida chef is being credited with saving the life of one of his regular diners after the elderly man didn’t show up to the restaurant he’s been eating at twice a day, every day for a decade.
Charlie Hicks, 78, has ordered a cup of gumbo — light on the rice, without the cracker — from the Shrimp Basket for lunch and dinner every single day for the last 10 years, staffers at the Pensacola eatery told CBS News.
“We open the doors up, Mr. Hicks is there to greet us,” Donell Stallworth, a 45-year-old chef at the Shrimp Basket, told the outlet.
But in September, the regular missed his informal reservation several days in a row. Stallworth said that was enough indication to know “something was wrong.”
At first, the staff phoned his home, and Hicks said he was sick. So, they delivered his gumbo to his apartment. Hicks insisted they leave it at the door because he didn’t want to get anyone else sick, the Pensacola News Journal reported.
On the third day, though, his phone went straight to voicemail.
Stallworth told CBS News he originally feared the worst. He left in the middle of his shift and drove straight to Hicks’ apartment.
He knocked on the door repeatedly, but there was no answer.
“And right when I was going to turn, I heard something, a voice, just like, ‘Help’. And then I opened the door up. He was lying on the ground, and I didn’t know what his condition was — that was the scariest part right there,” Stallworth told the outlet.
His “best friend” had fallen, broken two ribs and was severely dehydrated.
The septuagenarian was hospitalized during his arduous recovery, but the dedicated staff at the Shrimp Basket endeavored to keep his spirits high and delivered his usual order daily.
After he was released, they went the extra mile and helped Hicks find and move into a new apartment right next to the restaurant so they could keep an eye on him.
“He said that Donell had saved his life. And I’m pretty sure that Donell and [the Shrimp Basket staff] saved his life. Donell has been texting him and visiting him. Apparently, they’re best friends,” Hicks’ niece, Christina Neeper, told the Pensacola News Journal.
“We made a connection. We made a connection,” Hicks told CBS News.
By December, the regular was back at the Shrimp Basket, chatting with Stallworth at his usual table.
Stallworth told the Pensacola News Journal that they usually start off by talking about “The Andy Griffith Show,” then let the conversation flow from there.
“I’m glad to have you back, buddy,” Stallworth told Hicks when he entered the Shrimp Basket for the first time since he was discharged from the hospital.
Stallworth told CBS News that having Hicks so close “is the best thing going.”
“He’s that uncle. He’s that grandfather. He’s that best friend. He’s all in one,” Stallworth said.
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