May....in Memphis

The outlook at the Memphis airport was not particularly hopeful, but it was my great delight to discover May at the gate. What had brought my lovely friend from Camden, South Carolina, to Memphis, Tennessee? I'm still not entirely sure...something about needing her carpets steam cleaned and heading to Beale Street while her husband stayed home and managed those muggy details. Despite the torrents of rain outside, she'd arrived looking quite spiffy. Her skirt, she told me, was made for her by the clever Frenchie Bunch of Frenchie Skirts.
As you might have noticed, I frequently despair about the state of travel wardrobes. There seemed this once, however, to be no shortage of well-dressed, jovial people waiting out the storm. This gentleman told me he got his topcoat in New York.
And look at this handsome fellow. I interrupted his feverish typing to praise his tortoise shell glasses. "Modern" eyeglass frames were invented in 1727 by a British optician named Edward Scarlett, a bit of history I was happy to share with this man. I do believe he was grateful to be so enlightened. (Alas, not everyone welcomes an old anthropologist's ready supply of fascinating facts.)

Indeed, the entire evening might have been perfect save two things: the delay of my flight and the 25% tax the Memphis airport places on spirits. I may at last understand the American revolutionary's cry: "No taxation upon my libations!" (I do have your history correct, yes?)