Perquimans People
rHoneymoons aren t all they re cracked up to be
ty urn Mclaughlin
naiidiiii thebnefmtertwde
twpb ltd im to Ik
^enwteiMtstiunu|t.
% MiH. the word itself
brines M riMH o i idyllic
liippiitss. almost other
aarMliaess. But whether
Imcm? expectatioas are set
tokUktr because of cir
eaastaKes beyond the
CMpke*s coatroi. the much
heralded love retreat often
tans Ml ta he a disap
as the ease with
t.erqaia^as County
?Aiereation director Mac Sligh
-Cad his bride. as of Dec. 21,
*Yammy
; ? TVre was a foreshadowing
if troable to tome on the day
;af the rehearsal, the wedding
?itself was a big disap
Jjaaiatawui. aad oa the couple's
^fcaaeymooa. the big bombshell
"A black cat crossed the
faad ia front of our car on the
day of the rehearsal." said
Tammy. Looking hack on it. it
aatt have been a genuine
wnen.
That night the snows fell.
A*ad an anticipated crowd of
^SM people was reduced to 200.
Almost aoae of the out-of-town
nests could get to the wed
ding ia Bealarille. N.C., and
that included most of Sligh's
Meads and relatives from
Lanronburg.
A dream honeymoon
But there was some con
solation in the fact that the
couple had planned the
hooey mooc of their dreams, a
cruise to the Bahamas on the
Emerald Sea, a luxury liner
that rivals television's "Love
Boat."
From Beulahville to Miami,
Fla. is a long ride, but the
couple set out after the
wedding, prepared for four
days of romantic adventure.
There was, however, a one
night stop-over in Florence,
South Carolina. "I spent the
whole night getting rice
crispies, vanilla wafers and
croutons out of my suitcase,"
said Tammy. Wedding-day
pranksters can be so
delightful.
On Monday afternoon,
though, the couple was on the
ship and ready to cruise. At
first, the trip was everything
they expected, maybe even a
little more.
Sligh has vivid memories of
watching the sun set over the
ocean as the ship pulled out of
the harbor in Miami.
At first it was a great golden
globe hovering over the water.
Within 30 seconds it had
slipped out of sight.
Dinner required evening
dress, and offered up a
sumptous fare of anything and
all the diner wanted, paid for
in advance.
Sligh put down two steaks on
the first night. "You eat
wonderful," he said. "Shrimp,
lobster... anything you want."
On Tuesday morning, the
Slighs woke up in Nassau.
They spent the day touring,
bargaining in the market
places, taking in the sights.
The night was for more
exotic stuff.
In Umbo
Would you believe a per
former who could bend
himself backwards far enough
to limbo under a bar eight
inches off the ground? On top
of that, Sligh swears the guy
had pizza pans spinning on
each index finger and a full
cocktail glass perehed on his
forehead as he performed the
feat.
Those amazing animals.
Next on the agenda was a
visit to a casino.
So far so good. "The first
couple of days we were loving
it," said Sligh. "We were
talking about going every five
years."
But on Wednesday the en
thusiasm began to wane a
little. "I woke up throwing
up," said Tammy. Food
poisoning or perhaps a virus
were the suspected culprits.
At 8:30 a.m. she was in the
ship doctor's office getting a
shot of compazine in the
behind. "They give it to you
for seasickness," said Sligh of
the drug.
Suspecting that his wife's
nausea would pass rather
quickly, Sligh went out alone
on a glass bottom boat trip
scheduled that morning. "It
weas the clearest blue water
I've ever seen in my life." he
said.
When he returned to the ship
that afternoon, Tammy was
still sick, and she got another
shot of the drug.
A somber celebration
That evening was New
Year's Eve, and while the rest
of the ship whooped it up.
Tammy and Mac stayed in
their cabin, Tammy sore from
a third shot of compazine in
one day, and extremely ill.
"I ate a tiny bit of saltine
cracker and as soon as it hit
my stomach I threw it up,"
said Tammy.
Mac spent the night playing
solitaire while Tammy slept.
The next morning they woke
up in Freeport, and, you
guessed it. Tammy was still
sick.
We went out on the deck to
get some fresh air," said
Sligh. "It was a real nice day
and Tammy had been
cramped up in the room for
over a day."
Mac went back to the room
to get a camera and take some
pictures and when he returned
he got a real fright.
"She had her head down
between her shoulders and
couldn't control it," he said.
"Her tongue was swollen and
she was talking out of the side
of her mouth."
And if you think Mac was
frightened. "The only thing I
could think of was multiple
sclerosis," said Tammy.
Mac and Tammy Sligh meet captain before ill-fated cruise
Sligh went to get the doctor
for the fourth time, and this
time he refused to come.
"He said he had had a bad
night staying with somebody
'really sick,' and that he
couldn't come. There was
nothing else he could do," said
Tammy.
A nurse who was a
passenger on the ship took a
look at Tammy and tried to
intervene. The doctor still
refused to come, saying there
JJead-eye shot aims for success
Hertford resident Andreia
Blaochard isn't one to brag,
hill Una she doesn't have to.
Her achievements do the
talking for her
For starters, she can
probably claim to be the most
anted female athlete ever to
oat of Perquimans
County.
Blaachard is a basketball
, sensation at High Point
OoUefe. and those who are in
the know about women's
basketball, know about An
dreia Blanchard.
She currently owns nine
basketball records at the
school, including most points
(2,012), most rebounds (1,116),
and best scoring average
(20.4).
She is closing in on the 2,396
point school scoring record
held by former professional
basketball player Gene Littles
and is also approaching the
Pete Collins' school record of
Andreia Blanc hard
1,268 rebounds.
This year Ms. Blanchard is
shooting at a torrid 24.4 points
a game and snatching 11.9
rebounds a game.
Yet with all those creden
tials, she still maintains she is
not a great basketball talent.
"I don't think I'm good.
They're a lot of people better
than me," she said.
But she will concede that
she can jump. The program
lists her as a 6'1" center. She
says she is only 5'10".
Because of her jumping
ability, though, some folks
think she's 6'3". She can leap
high enough to dunk a
volleyball and says she could
do the same with a basketball
if she could only palm it long
enough.
Andreia is the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Watson Blan
chard of Hertford, and credits
them with much of her suc
cess. "I think I do things like
(this) in order to make them
proud of me. They've done a
lot for me. This is one way I
can show my gratitue," she
said.
Andreia's parents, two of
her brothers and her younger
sister were in the stands on
Saturday when High Point
demolished Catawba College
87-52, and, indeed, they are
some kind of proud of her.
She said she learned to piay
with her brothers on the
playgrounds of Hertford, and
her skills were refined by
coach Larry Knox at
Perquimans High School (now
coaching at Chocowynity ).
She is a senior at High Point,
and was discovered somewhat
by accident. She went to visit a
friend at the college while still
in high school.
Andrea talked with the
basketball coach while
visiting, and must of made an
impression on her. The coach
attended one girls' game at
Perquimans, and brought all
the appropriate paperwork
with her.
Following the game, An
dreia was signed up for a full
scholarship. . "It was just
luck," she maintained. There
she goes with that modesty
again.
The same kind of luck has
brought her all American and
all everything else honors for
the past two year, and her
steady performance so far this
year is sure to bring her even
more accolades.
Andreia is also in the
Reserve Officer Training
Program at her school and she
11 11
Heriford Hardware
ALL
HUNTING
AND
COLD
WEATHER
CLOTHING
CHURCH STREET
426-5211
concedes that between ROTC,
basketball and schoolwork,
there is time for little else.
She is entertaining thoughts
of turning professional, but
isn't all to sure that the
women's league is on solid
ground yet.
To put it bluntly, she isn't
sure the spectator interest is
there to support women's
basketball on the professional
level. "I could be wrong," she
said, "but not too many people
want to see women participate
in sports."
If the professional route
doesn't pan out, though, she
will take her degree in
physical education/recreation
and be commissioned as a
second lieutenant in the Army.
Why not? She hits what
she's aiming at 62 per cent of
the time.
was nothing he could do.
Too much strain
The doctor maintained that
the strain of getting married
had brought about some kind
of breakdown, and the illness
was all in Tammy's mind.
But the nurse apparently
thought otherwise. She ad
vised that the Slighs leave the
ship and fly to Miami for
emergency treatment. v
That proved difficult, with
much of Freeport shut down
for New Year's Day. But with
the help of the ship's purser,
the arrangements were made.
There was supposed to be an
ambulance waiting at the
airport but of course it wasn't.
Someone had canceled the
emergency call by mistake.
In the waiting room at the
airport Tammy's head was
lolling backwards and Mac
couldn't get it back up.
Needless to say she was
drawing stares. But there
were also offers of help. ,
About a half an hour later
the ambulance arrived at the
other end of the airport, so
Tammy was wheeled all way
through Miami International.
When they got to the am
bulance, Mac realized he had
forgotten the suitcases. "I had
to pull an O.J. Simpson," he
said of his sprint back to the
other end of the airport.
But security guards thought
he was trying to pull
something else. They stopped
and frisked him.
Quick trip
Traffic just peeled away for
the four and a half mile ride to
the hospital, but the bill for
that little trip was a jaw
dropper. Sligh said. A hundred
and one dollars. In the face of
Sligh's amazement, the at
tendent dropped it down to
$90.10.
The patient was finally at
the hospital emergency room,
though, and expert treatment
for her rare tropical disease
was just around the corner.
"The doctor didn't even
touch me. He just walked right
by, looked at me. and said.
'Give her a shot of this and
she'll be fine,'" said Tammy.
The rare disease had turned
out to be no more than an
allergic reaction to the
compazine. A doctor's
mistake had turned a dream
vacation ioto a nightmare
"Now it's all funny when we
talk about it ? and Mac mocks
me," said Tammy.
Very funny. Could anything
possibly be worse on a
couple's honeymoon? "I've
heard of one worse situation."
said Tammy. "A friend of
mine went into a diabetic
comma on her honeymoon.
She didn't even know she was
diabetic until then."
Anyway, she's glad it was
Mac who was with her and not
her mother. "Mac was scared
but he tried to keep calm and
keep me calm," she said.
Instead of a celebration, the
Slighs' honeymoon was more
like an initiation into the
rigors of love unto death. "He
found out he was married,"
said Tammy.
In sickness and in health.
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