Ten-Finger Exercises

Smoldering campfire now extinguished

Too bad.

Erik Stark had to put out the dialogue campfire, but it was getting pretty cold out there. Still, it was fun, and we had a good time. Learned some new songs, ate lots of somemores; wish I felt like one more now.

         Good job, Erik.

I finally have the flu, and it's too cold sitting in the bathroom to be creative, so I'll use my last campfire story for my blog.



IRONING


Hi, honey, it’s time to wake up.

Okay, okay. Hey, you didn’t take a nap with me?

No, I’ve been ironing.

I thought you were gonna work on some dialogue and then come take a nap.

I worked on the dialogue while I was ironing.

You’ll have to explain that to me. How did you do that?

Well, when I ironed your Hawaiian shirts, I told them how good they were to remind us of the fun we had in Hawaii.

Yeah, and what did they say?

Don’t look at me like that. They said, “Thank you. We’re happy to be of service.”

I thought they’d say something like, “Aakapalaapoa oauni aki ami.”

What!

Don’t they speak Hawaiian?

They probably do, but I don’t; and you certainly don’t either.

Okay, so what else did they say?

One said to hang it with your blue pants, so you’d know to wear them together. The other one said, “How ’bout a Mai Tai?”

That’s more like it. Did any of the rest of the ironing talk, or are they the only outgoing ones?

The black plaid shirt said it was nice to be worn again, and it was glad you fit back into it.

Um.

And the blue chambray said, “He-e-e-re’s Johnny!”

Why would it say that?

That’s how old it is, way back from Johnny Carson days.

I suppose it’s one I haven’t fit into for awhile either. I’m surprised it’s still around.

It looked like an old friend, but yes, I have been tempted to send it to Goodwill. It still kind of feels funny to me to iron shirts for you that what’s-her-name bought and ironed for you.

Why should that bother you?

I don’t know. I guess because she was a more meticulous ironer.

Why do you think that?

I don’t really, but it sounds nicer than “compulsive.”

Any other good dialogue?

No, can’t remember any.

So what do you want to do now?

How about a Mai Tai?