 "Photo: Julie Ann Sanchez")
SABINE PASS - A figure dressed in a French military uniform talks to children and watches over the patrons of Tammie's Olde Tyme Diner. He plays tricks on workers - opening windows, throwing plates across the room, turning on ceiling fans - and gazes up at the stars at night.
But the diner's resident ghost, dubbed Joe, hasn't been back since Hurricane Rita flooded the family restaurant.
"We haven't seen him since the storm," Tammie Blood, the diner's namesake and co-owner, said in an interview Dec. 26. "I think he was mad that we left him behind."
Joe first appeared Oct. 8, 1992. He was standing outside the diner staring at the sky. The Bloods thought he was an early guest, but when they opened the door several times to let him in, they realized no one was there, according to the restaurant's history printed on the back of their menu.
After that first sighting, Joe reappeared several times, mostly to children.
Children seem to be having a conversation with themselves, but when they are asked who they are talking to, the children often reply "that man with the funny hat," Tammie Blood said.
The diner closed its doors for about seven weeks after the hurricane. Instead, the proprietors served hungry denizens of Sabine Pass through a to-go window. Today, it is the only establishment open for business in the town of about 500 located on the Gulf Coast about 32 miles south of Beaumont.
And it's a good thing the diner is open - with or without Joe.
With residents living in Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers, families don't want to have to cook and clean for meals, Tammie's husband, Kirk Blood, 30-year resident and diner co-owner, said.
The diner served Salvation Army meals for breakfast and dinner from two 18-wheelers of donated food. Meals were anything that could be made in bulk, such as spaghetti.
Only Sabine Pass residents with an identification pass were allowed to pick up meals from the diner. Kirk Blood, who has co-owned the restaurant for five years, said he didn't need to see the passes.
"It's such a small town," he said. "We already know who they are."
Before the storm, the town's population was about 700, but it dwindled when some families didn't return.
Tammie Blood said nonresidents were turned away "unless they're just absolutely hungry." Then she said she gave them a meal anyway.
The diner served about 100 people a day with 50 or 60 cars backing up a half mile.
Helpers in the diner took orders by carhopping and brought the count back to the cooks.
This service was offered for about seven weeks, ending Jan. 1.
"The funds are starting to get a little depleted," Kirk Blood said Dec. 26.
He said the diner was opening for regular customers Dec. 27.
"(Business) is booming," Tammie Blood said Jan. 7. "We just don't have any employees. We're doing very well. I guess it's what happens when you have the monopoly."
During the storm, the diner was flooded with water about 3-5 feet high and mud a foot deep.
"It didn't smell good either," Tammie Blood said.
The walk-in freezer floated out of the building, across the street and settled in a baseball field.
One shelf survived the storm, but the day the family came back to clean up, the shelf fell in the mud, Tammie Blood said, laughing.
To kill the mold, holes were drilled into the walls and bleach was sprayed inside.
Because there is no insulation in the walls, this was not against health regulations. Members of a Baptist relief team helping out in Sabine Pass suggested using bleach to keep the walls intact.
"We got to save the original walls," Tammie Blood said.
Saving the wooden walls was a priority because they are from the original structure built in 1938.
Kirk Blood pointed out with pride that one of the walls was not built quite square.
"We wanted to save that," he said.
The diner was originally 87 Inn, which opened for business in August 1938. It became the Olde Tyme Diner in 1987 after Becky Trotter bought it. The Bloods bought the diner in 2000, according to the menu's historical account.
The drywall on some walls had to be replaced, so the Bloods had it installed horizontally. If the area floods again, only the bottom half will have to be replaced. This was another tip from the Baptist relief workers.
Kirk Blood and his son, Ethan Blood, 28, built the new cashier's stand.
"We're trying to do a little of it ourselves so we can save a little money," he said.
Tammie Blood said she's lucky the diner was salvageable. But during cleanup, she wasn't so optimistic.
"When I was shoveling the mud and rotten food, I didn't feel so lucky," she said. "If it does it again next year, I'll just clean it out and sell it."
As Sabine Pass rebuilds, a sports store is supposed to open in June. It will sell gas and sundries and provide service from an added deli.
The closest gas station right now is 45 minutes away.
One man came to the diner looking for fishing bait, Tammie Blood said. He was angry when he was told the diner didn't have any.
She said this was a couple weeks after the storm, so she looked him in the eye and said, "Do you think anybody here cares whether you go fishing or not? They really don't."
Even if Sabine Pass inhabitants don't care about fishing, Tammie Blood said several returning customers have asked about the missing Joe.
"Everybody always asks about him," she said Jan. 7. "I hope (he comes back). He's part of the place."
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