Last Thursday's speaking engagement, I guess,..was a resounding success. I talked,..read portions of the book,..adlibbed,..clowned,...got a five minute STANDING OVATION....(pardon the lack of modesty,..but they did stand up and clap for an extended period of time!!)

I clowned around some more,..Rosezelle took questions,..and finally after an hour and a half..those bored wealthy women let us go to brunch with them.

Things were "O-K" till "Mrs. My-Rock-Is-Bigger Than Your Rock"...turned to me and said,.."You must tell me JUST how you can STAND being around people like that."

"People...like...what?" I asked her slowly.

"Those diseased people!" she sniffed primly,.."The invalids that you got out of the mental institutions!! You know,..the deaf ones,..the blind ones. It just turns my stomach!"

"Yeeeeeeaaaaah!" I growled, "My stomach is turning..too! I feel a nausea coming on,..in fact...."

"Em!!" barked Rosezelle,.."Save the comments. These ladies will want to buy their books!"

I was so angry that I went outside in thirty-five degree weather..without my coat on, to get our copies of our book!!
WE HAD JUST SPENT AN HOUR AND A HALF TALKING TO THOSE WOMEN IN THERE AND THEY HAD CLAPPED AND CLAPPED AND CLAPPED AND SOME OF THEM,..ESPECIALLY THIS ONE....HAD NOT ABSORBED THE MESSAGE OF "WALKING FREE!"

Guess who was first in line to buy a book??? Guess who gushed and mushed more than any other lady there about..."the nobility of salvaging wasted human potential!!"

Guess who I sent running with her hand over her mouth in shock when Rosezelle was not keeping an ear cocked in my direction? Mrs. "My-Rock-Are-Bigger-Than-Your-Rock"..had bought three books from us and asked me..if I would autograph them with the quote of her choice. I did so,
She asked me if I would take out my hearing aid so that her friend, who was standing beside her,..could see that I was really hard-of-hearing!!

"I don't wear a hearing aid," I explained,.."Because they irritate my ear canals,..but I will gladly take out my glass eye for you or remove my wooden leg,..if you have that bad of a need to see a prosthetic device in action!"

When I took off my glasses and reached towards my right eye,..the two women fled!!

Rosezelle..is going to KILL me!!