78-year-old Charlie Hicks had been going to the Shrimp Basket restaurant in Pensacola, Florida, twice daily for a decade.
His order for lunch was always a cup of gumbo, light on the rice, and he asked to hold the cracker, CBS News reported. He repeated the same routine for his dinner at the restaurant.
“Mr. Hicks don’t miss no days,” Shrimp Basket chef Donell Stallworth said. “We open the doors up, Mr. Hicks is there to greet us.”
Despite patronizing the services of Shrimp Basket on a daily basis for ten years, he failed to come around for many days in September.
“I knew, then, something was wrong,” Stallworth said.
After sensing something was wrong Stallworth, ultimately drove to Hicks’ apartment in the middle of his shift to check up on the septuagenarian. When he arrived at Hicks’ apartment, he repeatedly knocked on the door, but no one answered.
“And right when I was going to turn, I heard something, a voice, just like, ‘Help,'” Stallworth recalled. “And then I opened the door up. He was laying on the ground, and I didn’t know what his condition was, that was the scariest part right there.”
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Hicks may have been lying in his apartment for a number of days. He is said to have suffered two broken ribs in addition to being seriously dehydrated. He eventually survived because of Stallworth’s instinctive action.
While recovering in the hospital, Shrimp Basket took the initiative of bringing him his gumbo meal. Besides that, the restaurant’s staff also found him an apartment close to the eatery in an effort to keep an eye on him. They additionally got new appliances for the 78-year-old’s new home and arranged the place, CBS News reported.
Hicks eventually showed up at Shrimp Basket after he recovered. “I’m glad to have you back buddy,” Stallworth told Hicks when he showed up at the restaurant for the first time after he was last seen in September.
Hicks, as usual, made himself comfortable at his favorite table and placed his go-to order. “We made a connection,” Hicks told the news outlet. We made a connection.”
Stallworth also said that Hicks’ staying within close proximity of the restaurant “is the best thing going.”
“He’s that uncle,” Stallworth added. “He’s that grandfather. He’s that best friend. He’s all in one.”
