I did the input thing both ways...TRISC.7 = 1 and TRISC=%10000000 - no change

I have two HC-05's hooked up to the RX and TX ports. They are hooked up backwards from one another. So I see the menu show up on one terminal screen, and I see the echo of what I type(a mirror of what the MC is receiving) show up in the other terminal on my screen on a different BT-com port. The second BT (as well as the MC presumably) receives 1 or 2 or whatever I type. But the when the menus didnt respond, I added the SEROUT and 1500 pause (to read it) and underneath the menu it'll only output [00] everytime no matter what key I hit. Just to be certain I added the next line for a total of:
serout TX, 2, [cereal]
serout TX, 2, ["Dingleberry"]
pause 1500
and I get

[00]Dingleberry

then after 1.5 seonds, it dissappears and the Main Menu is reborn to await another keystroke.....