Vicki...I'll say once more, good question. My, my, you girls are really putting your thinking caps on and hitting da Queen here with some good uns...

Yes, I can remember when "it" happened. True story. I had organized a backyard show and the main event was a girlfriend named Patsy who had taken ballet lessons. I figured hey, with that kind of talent, she would bring the house down. She did some sort of thing called "Air Bess, Lee Sa, and tousch a tay." Okay, for all of your ballet-goers, I KNOW that isn't the correct spelling, k?

I decided if she could do it, I could do it, so I had her show me how she did this little number. How hard could it be, right? Understand that I was an avid student of Curly, Larry, and Moe, as well as the Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis...and don't forget Abbot and Costello...so, being serious I wasn't. Also, I had her show me the routine one night before the big show. I was exactly a rocket scientist, but hey, I was 7 years old.

Showtime...the other kids do their little routines (you don't EVEN want to know) and then it was time for the grand finale...

Patsy and I came out of the quilt that was drapped over the clothesline. It was our dressing room. We're wearing TuTu's Patsy's Mom had made for HER. Everthing started out okay, but suddenly I forgot the rest of the routine and instead of following her lead, I start doing a soft shoe I had see Dean and Jerry do, then did a

"Da da--da--dada" flinging arms out wildly... "Da da--da--dada" throwing feet out too, right back into the quilt. The laughter went on for about 5 minutes. Patsy was mad at me, but a star was born.

JJ