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Show 64 I know just how homely I are, I know that my face ain't no star- But I do not mind it Because I'm behind it. He poked a meaty forefinger at his audience. The feller in front gets the jar! The teenagers thought Frazier was hilarious. Parker wondered if they'd press for the other ninety-nine, but just then, a plump woman in a blonde wig insisted that Dyna bring the mike to her table. "Have you heard this one?" she asked, dimpling: My glasses give me eyesight My dentures serve me well, My bra gives me an uplift, But I miss my mind like- Dyna gasped. "Don't say it on the air, please!" "Mae West" got such a hearty round of applause she had to recite the verse again. This time Dyna let her finish it. The only really reluctant participant was Oscar. Dyna couldn't get him to the mike, no matter what. "Didn't you ever memorize anything?" she persisted. "Twinkle, Twinkle? Hickory Dickory Dock?" Still he shook his head. "I know, your social security number!" About that time Derek Eccles and John Anzak began a low chanting: "We want Os-car. We want Os-car . . ." The other kids took it up, but not Parker. He knew how Oscar felt. He obviously didn't want to make a spectacle of himself, so why didn't Dyna just let it go? Finally . . . giving in . . . Oscar stood and made his way to the microphone. He walked 6tiffly, straightening his tie as he went, his dignity somehow still intact. Parker could tell he was terrified. Concentrating on the back wall, Oscar read his lines from some invisible cue card above their heads, his voice registering somewhere between a mumble and a silent prayer. "Let the lower lights be burning," he began. "Send a gleam across the wave. Some poor dying, fainting seaman . . . you may rescue, you may save." |