"We are born astride a grave - WaynesWorldStage.com

meet me. After arriving in the mountains, hisfirst request was to talk to me privately. We wentfor a walk in the woods. We walked for a while insilence and then he said, "You're not going to geta cent. Do you still want to marry her?" I said, "Ididn't know you had a cent." We continued towalk. Then he stopped and took out his wallet. Ithought he was going to offer me money to notmarry her. Instead, he pulled out a photograph ofan enormous young woman; I'd say about 250pounds. "This is Joan before she lost weight.She'll probably gain it back. Do you still want tomarry her?" I was stunned. I didn't know about"the weight" and it came as a big surprise. But Ilooked him in the eye and said, "Yes." Wereturned to the theatre without a word. Joan ranup to us and asked, "How did it go?" Her fathergrumbled, "He passed the test."Joan's father was quite a character. Hehad been one of the last of the "medicine men"that traveled from town to town, selling tonicsand elixirs. While in York, Pennsylvania, he meta man who had an idea for a business but neededa partner with a talent for sales. I don't knowmuch about the business they started except thatthey later sold it for four million dollars. Joantold me that every kid in grade school knew thatone of the teachers was being kept by a "sugardaddy." They made jokes about it. Of course, as98