Date:         Wed, 16 Oct 1996 13:51:26 EST
From: gilbertsmith <gsmith@social.chass.ncsu.edu>
Subject:      WHTMACD
To: Multiple recipients of list WORDS-L <words-l@uga.cc.uga.edu>

WHAT HAPPENED TO ME AT CLARENCE DARROW

This is a single installment report.  Short but important.  So, I get
an invitation to go to a performance of _Clarence Darrow_, a one man
show by a mature student of mine, whom I have known for a long time
through theater connections, and directed by a woman I met 20 years
ago in a theatrical production and with whom I have *always* been
hopelessly in love.

I don't want to go, but I go anyway.  I know *no* *one* in the
audience, but there is one woman who catches my eye, so to speak.
Elegant, smart clothes, seems to be alone, glances at me but averts
her eyes each time I catch her at it.

So, after the performance, there is a reception with the most
unbelievable spread of food I've ever seen.  I keep trying to get to
this woman so I can start a conversation.  I am standing near the
shrimp table, where the shrimp are about ten inches long, talking to
someone about the food.  She is at the shrimp plate, looks over and
says (to us, not to me exactly)

"Some of these are big enough to be pets."

My heart melts and I move quickly over to her side to talk about the
shrimp, then tell her most of my life story, then she smiles and
moves away as I say:

"Next time we meet over shrimp, you can tell me your life story."

Could this be the start of something big?  What do I do now?  I do
not *want* an entanglement, but I can't get rid of this episode, which
plays silent movies in my mind.
--ggs