Today is INTERNATIONAL GOOF-OFF DAY. Don't I just wish?

Because it was Pauline who asked...
Hey, I've known her almost half my life, and I don't remember her ever asking me for anything! So if she wants a story, she gets it. (Or part of one, anyway.)


excerpt: Jenny Do & Jenny Don't (part two)
"Wait, wait, wait!" Jenny Do cried, putting down her comb and hurrying-- but not running-- out of the bathroom herself. "Don't run in the house!" she called after the strange girl.


But Jenny Don't never did as she was told, so she was already racing through the hallway and galloping down the stairs.


Along the way, she managed to snag some of the pictures hanging on the wall with her snarled hair, so that they were now tilted crazily in all directions. She banged her elbow against the upstairs telephone, so that the receiver fell off the hook and was now making that annoying engk-engk-engk busy signal sound. And she had rumpled up the hallway carpet, especially the fringed ends that Lenlen the helper was always careful to keep perfectly straight and just so.


"Don't be so careless! Don't make such a mess!" Jenny Do called out, but of course the damage was already done, and Jenny Don't had vanished down the stairs.


So poor Jenny Do had to straighten out the pictures, put the phone receiver back on its hook, and try to smoothen out the rumpled carpet as much as she could. By the time she was able to go downstairs, Jenny Don't was in the living room, her face practically pressed up against the screen as she lay on her stomach watching TV, gleefully thumping her feet again and again on the nearby wooden coffee table.


"Jenny, don't sit so close to the TV!" Jenny Do scolded. "And don't thump your feet on the table! And don't ignore me when I'm talking to you!"


"I do what I like!" Jenny Don't exclaimed. As she jumped angrily to her feet, she accidentally kicked the coffee table, knocked over a potted plant, and almost toppled the TV, except that Jenny Do managed to steady it just in time.


Luckily, the plant pot didn't break, but it did spill water all over the floor. Jenny Do was still worrying about whether or not the soil-filled water would leave a stain on her mother's Persian rug, when she heard the front door slam open with a terrific thump-creak-bang!


"Jenny, don't bang the door like that!" Jenny Do cried out. "And don't leave the house without telling Ate Lenlen!" But the naughty girl was already racing outside, leaving Jenny Do with no choice but to chase after her. In fact, she was moving so quickly that by the time Jenny Do got outside herself (closing the door responsibly behind her), Jenny Don't had already crossed the yard and was already running straight into the street.

TRIVIA QUIZ
How, exactly, was Aragorn the rightful heir to the throne in The Lord of the Rings? (I'm such a geek!)


answer to Saturday's question
Hector Boiardi was an Italian immigrant who moved to the States at the age of 17, in 1914. After a stint as a chef at New York's Plaza Hotel, he moved to Cleveland in 1929, where he perfected his spaghetti and meatball recipe at his own restaurant, Il Giardino d'Italia. The sauce was so popular that customers kept asking for bottles to take home, which eventually led to the creation and distribution of the Chef Boyardee brand of sauces, cheeses, and dry pasta. And yes, that is his face on the label.


Saucy people: Ron, Amie, Angela, and Ariel. And we will not pour marinara down Vin's Smartypants because Jonette has to wear them too...