Wayne Sherman wants to tell the whole, long story behind his new sub shop in South Baltimore, the Bawlmer Sandwich Express, when I'm thinking, hey, how interesting can it be? There must be a few thousand sub shops in the Greater Patapsco Drainage Basin. And besides, the "Hon Bun" on his menu was the point of my trip to Fort Avenue in Saturday's chilly rain.
But it turns out that, on his way to opening this business, Sherman put out his hand to a family beset with problems and pulled them along. That says something good about him -- not that he was looking for a pat on the back, either -- but also reminds me of the small, mostly private and sometimes risky efforts people will make to help others.
This all started over the summer after Kenny Metcalf, a 16-year-old kid Sherman had known for several years, was shot to death on Wilkens Avenue. He was hit by a stray bullet from a street shooting as he sat in a lawn chair on Wilkens Avenue, a block from his home. He collapsed in the arms of his twin brother, Scott. "Let me put it this way," Sherman says. "Any city problem you can think of, this family has been through, and the worst was what happened to Kenny."
After a funeral the Metcalfs needed donations to pay for, Sherman got to thinking about this sub shop he'd purchased but didn't have time to manage. (He already had a full-time job at the airport.) He went to the Metcalfs. He made Kenny's older brothers, Chad and Johnny, managers of the shop. He gave their mother, Wanda, a job, too.
Johnny, who's 27 and was hit deep in the guilt glands by Kenny's death, snapped at the opportunity. "It took me off the streets; I'm a recovering addict," he says. Chad, who is 19, works days now. Wanda Metcalf handles the noon to 8 shift.
Now, about "Hon Bun." It's a soft cinnamon-caramel pastry with pecans, baked by the Metcalfs each morning.
"We wanted to keep the 'Bawlmer' theme but do something a little more upscale," Sherman says. "We bake our own sub rolls, and we use tenderloin in our cheese steaks, and we deliver."
Good luck, you guys.
Sing we noir
This Just In: John Waters' Christmas card. It features a blowup of Liz Taylor's face wrapped in surgical gauze, in a scene from the 1973 bomb "Ash Wednesday." It's one of those movies that's so dopey and bad it gives you the giggles. Waters, that kidder, always sends a holiday greeting that features a scene or promotional shot from either a deliciously horrid film or cinema macabre -- and never one of his own works. On this year's card, Liz looks absolutely serene as she awaits the outcome of a face lift (shown in the movie's flesh-slicing detail) to regain her youth. Apparently the operation did not go well. Hey, John, Feliz Navidad!
Cookies with a cause
If you're considering acts of charity this holiday season, try an easy one: Bake a dozen cookies for the annual Christmas dinner at Viva House in West Baltimore. Home of the Baltimore Catholic Worker, Viva House has been providing food, shelter and hospitality to the city's poor for 25 years. In that time, volunteers have served more than 600,000 meals, distributed a couple of hundred tons of food, and provided a temporary home to more than 3,000 men, women and children. When Viva House first opened, it served mainly old or middle-age men, mostly coming off drunks. These days, most of the people who walk in are young women and children.
Brendan Walsh and Willa Bickham, the couple who operate the soup kitchen, expect to serve 600 meals between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday. They need workers to help prepare, serve and clean up. They could also use another 60 dozen cookies. "We wrap them as a gift for the dinner," Walsh says. "So we like to have all the cookies by no later than Wednesday." There's something else you can do: Bring a clean blanket. Next month, to mark the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, Viva House will be giving them away. The address is 26 South Mount. The phone number is 233-0488.
Chip off the old rink
Follow up on last Wednesday's column:
We've been contacted by representatives of the snow man that appears each Christmas at Perring Parkway and Putty Hill Avenue. Apparently, some fun-loving rascals load up ice shavings from a municipal rink, deliver them to the median strip of Perring Parkway -- sometimes with the assistance of a Baltimore County cop -- and form un grand bonhomme de neige. "As Santa's elves, we wish to remain anonymous," was the message received here. "The snow man stands there for all who believe." We hope to see the white guy next week.
How was that again?
I like the tandem themes in this lineup of discussion topics for a Howard County singles group:
Jan. 13, "How can I improve my luck in 1995? . . . In my next life, do I want to come back as a man or a woman?"
Jan. 27, "The new Republican Congress and the new conservatism. . . . What makes me laugh?"
No greetings for a season
The only thing worse than a baseball season cut short by a strike would be a baseball season played long by scabs.
The contact line for This Just In is 332-6166. Letters can be addressed to The Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, Md. 21278.