That Ballerina Guy

Yesterday I was sitting at a restaurant waiting for my family to arrive when a woman came and sat next to me. I complimented her on her skirt, and she asked me where I was from. I told her I was now living in South Africa, and she interrupted me, "MANDELA! Do you know him?" I explained how we all knew OF him and that he was a great leader, but that no, I didn't know him personally. She looked at me skeptically and then said, "What's WRONG with you?"

Before I had a chance to answer (and I wasn't quite sure what to say, in any case!) she asked me, "And that, oh, what's his name? That ballerina guy?" I was trying desperately to follow her train of thought and come up with answers to these loaded questions when it dawned on me - "Oh, do you mean Archbishop Desmond Tutu?" "YES! Do you know HIM?"

I was afraid to answer but I had no choice. When I explained to her that while I knew of him, both he and Nelson Mandela are quite famous and busy, and most people don't actually.... She interrupted me again to say, in a loud, exasperated voice, "What is WRONG with you??"

Just then her husband came back and she got up and left without so much as a good-bye. As for me, I'm still trying to figure out what to say!