Peak t' Dee?

Have I mentioned this before? The last time I had to set up a date with a girl, college students had neither email nor cell phones.

The good thing about being a young adult prior to the advent of everyday technology is that the prank phone call wasn't quite extinguished. A boring hour could be killed by calling a cab company to come pick up a girl whose name you knew at the house next door, and then watching the confusion out of the window.

When Outback Steakhouse opened, I used to call and put on a cow voice, asking why they killed my mother.

Mama Dee, in her Circle-the-Word heyday.

But I think my favorite activity was to call the house phone at the fraternity, imitating the cook's family asking for her. We called her Mama Dee. When you picked up the phone and heard "Peak t' Dee?" that meant it was for her.

So if I was at work (as the worst teller in the history of the world) and nothing was going on, I would call the phone and give a convincing "Peak t' Dee?" Whoever answered would walk downstairs to the kitchen and get Mama Dee to pick up. Then, I'd say, "Sorry Mama Dee. It's Ben. I need to talk to Vic." And she'd get someone to go find Vic (for example), and then when he answered, I'd just say, "Peak t' Dee?"

I couldn't imitate anything else they might say (or even guess what words they might say), so if questioned, I'd just repeat "Peak t' Dee" over and over and over.