Last Tues (June 11th) was the last Uncommon Storytelling of the year.
I went down and managed to find close parking, so I was already in a good mood.
Jim invited me to sit with him. It was like being invited to the big people table at Thanksgiving. The featured teller for the evening, Donna Dettman, was there along with her friends Sue Black, Linda Gorham and Stacy Can’t Remember Her Last Name.
When I sat down, Sue asked if I was a student. I said “Yes” before realizing that I wasn’t and corrected myself. They immediately started grading me on hair, clothes, hygiene, storytelling technique, etc, and offered to introduce me to Donna’s daughter, who was sitting by the window. I told them that I was taken. Linda said to me, “What about an older woman, honey?” They started laughing. “Forgive us, honey, this is the after effects of road rage,” they said.
I decided to tease back. “The question is, can you handle a younger man?” I asked.
Stacy didn’t even blink as she said, “No, the question is, how many of em?”
I knew I was outnumbered and outclassed.
The night was fun. I was really tired but dinner pumped some life into me. The open mic section was really varied. Somber stories bumped into tacky ones with abandon.
At intermission, Linda gave me a pin she’d made for advertising. She pinned it on my collar and I told her it felt like we were going to a dance. She laughed. Jim said, “I feel like you’ve moved on to a younger man.” She told him, “Jim, you know I love you, but you got married.”
Donna’s featured teller hour was really cool. I’d only heard her tell once before, some lightweight stories, but her personal ones were really strong. The most memorable would have to be the Boob song, about the wacky things doctors said to her during her bout with breast cancer.
After the dinner, I realized that the season was over and next season I’d be a featured teller. I started thinking about the variety of the pieces and how I was going to have to come up with some new tricks so as not to bore the audience with an hour of my set style. And wow, that big people table feeling came back.