Dan's teacher requested a meeting with his mother. He was 16 and I was 14. He asked me to call the school as Mrs. O'Sullivan and say I couldn't come. Thinking anyone over 40 was old, I tried to sound like an old Irish woman. In the phone booth, a sweating Dan pacing outside, I failed.
Could you call Mike Palmateer for me?
ReplyDeleteDoes he like old Irish women?
DeleteLaughing now.
DeleteOh Susan, I so wish there was an audio-recording to go along with this post. And how did you manage to not start snorting/chortling like an Irish snorting/chortling beast halfway through the call?
ReplyDeleteI'm chortling now, Helen! Oddly, when I was young I was very good at keeping a straight face. But no longer. Today, if something is funny, I find it hard to keep from laughing. I joined an improv group for a while, and loved it. (Imagine performing an improv "Cinderella" as gangsters--with me as the Fairy Godmother.) But stopping myself from laughing was a struggle.
DeleteI'm the same way... sometimes I laugh so much when I start telling a funny story that I can't even get through the first couple of lines. Naturally, it's difficult for others to share in my laughter (and sometimes I fear I appear a trifle unhinged).
DeleteWarning, Helen: I think it gets worse after retirement. Now that I'm alone all day, when I do get out I'm sure I often sound a little euphoric. Or unhinged.
DeleteMe too, Helen. There are some stories I just cannot tell all the way through because I am laughing so hard.
ReplyDeleteOh, and this story made me chuckle.
Delete