Dream VIII

Bill Warren, author of "Keep Watching the Skies" was giving a lecture about the Three Stooges. He mentioned, jovially, that he was not a fan, but he thought their career was an interesting one. When their first contract expired, they were without another for nineteen and three-quarters years. He then read a series of smaller spans of time (four months, two and a half months, etc) between their other contracts, until the present day.

Then, they went through several "Curly" substitutes until they found Curly Joe DeRita. He was thought to be the perfect complement to the existing team.

Mr. Warren continued to say that the class was going to be allowed to watch the filming of the Stooges' latest short feature, which took place in a large marble swimming pool. So, we all put on our trunks and stood in the other end of the pool (behind the cameras) while the Three Stooges did their antics for the film.

For at least this short, Curly was the aggressive one, and Moe was very meek and deferential. Curly kept yanking on Moe's hair, and I could see where the wig was beginning to come loose. At one point, the wig came completely off in the water when Curly accidentally flung it, and it landed (and sank) near me. I reached into the water, fished around a moment and caught it, then gave it back to Moe, and the Stooges were very thankful. Moe was particularly friendly, and wanted to show me a cat who could swim underwater.

Someone handed him a tabby cat, and he plunged it underwater, then released it and waved toward me. The cat started pumping its legs and slowly swam underwater toward me. It surfaced in front of me and climbed into my arms. Moe told me I could keep the cat.

I wrapped the cat and myself in a bathrobe and made my way to an outdoor meeting we were having at work. The meeting was dull, and I don't remember anything that was said. I was waiting for an opportunity to show off the new cat, but one never came.

The assistant to the president of the company was there, with two pre-teen boys who were her children (in November of 04 she had her first child, a daughter). They were interested in the swimming cat I had. "Are cats difficult?" one of them asked her.

"Yes," my wife answered, before I could say the same.