And Your Bird Can Sing

ah yes, katie howell and i go way back. in 1990, we spent three weeks preparing the duet dance number, 'we're a couple of swells', for the 4th grade talent show. she was to be judy garland and i fit the role of mickey rooney because i had shorter hair. yet on the day of our big show, katie became mysteriously ill and had to bail. having no other choice - as they say in the business, THE SHOW MUST GO ON - i performed by myself. it's not easy to do a solo duet; the dance moves are all off and one voice doesn't carry as well as two. it was the single most traumatizing event of my entire life. today, after more than a decade's worth of therapy sessions and several trips in and out of rehab (pain killers), i've finally learned to forgive katie.

OK, fine. Maybe I lied about the rehab part, but the rest of it is fact. However, Katie and I would eventually drift apart -- through different schools and whatnot-- because friends often do that.
Until one evening, some years later, we would meet up in NYC. She would look the exact same, except now she has boobs, and I still have the shorter hair. Now we talk about real life boys, instead of Ken dolls, and on an avenue in the LES, we would hand off cigarettes for Red Bull. When deciding what to do next, it would hit us, just like one of Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney's revelations, "Hey, I know, we can start a show!"

"Hey, I know, we can get another drink!" And there you have it; we picked up right where we left off, because friends often do that, too.