Eric arrived on the scene not long afterward. We filled him in on the way we were handling things, and he organized an impromptu Silly Walks competition. I competed in the first round and made it to the finals, where I took second by wrapping my forearms around my thighs and hopping for ten feet... still hurts.

First was Blackmail. Don Klees led it, with the help of Jenny [Hoffman], who was acting like Vanna White. Don read the cards we'd written until someone in the audience would stop him from reading the rest. Eric pointed out that no money was being exchanged, but we assured him that wasn't the point, anyway.

Then, Eric hosted the Spot the Loony competition. We all sat on the steps while he brought out four contestants at a time, usually bringing in someone who hadn't written a card. We voted on the loonies by making a "dingaling" sound when he pointed at them. My sister won the first round. On the second, Eric brought in two children who were on the campus with their mother. The way we determined lunacy was, first, by the biography Eric would read from the 3-by-5 cards. Then, we would ask them questions and we would evaluate the answers. Then, we would vote.

Chad [Underkoffler] asked the kids, "What's your favorite cartoon?"

They said, "Looney Tunes!" They won, unanimously.

After each loony won, Jenny, still in her Vanna White role, would write them out a "I was a Loony in the Spot the Loony Competition" certificate.

I was in one of the last rounds, and Eric had misplaced my card. I hurried up to write another one for him. I won the loony prize, by standing on one leg, wearing my police shirt and a ribbon that said "St. Loonie's Up-the-Creek Bun and Jam NEW MEMBER" and a purple mask, and by answering questions with totally non sequitur responses, such as "Another fruitbat, please!"

         

Then, after I'd been awarded my prize, I ripped off the mask and demanded, "Stop this! This is getting too silly!" I told the audience to leave and ushered Eric offstage. He led a rebellion of parading Monty Pythoners, who circled the Old Main lawn humming the Liberty Bell March and singing, "Sit on My Face." [Note: One hopes the children had left by then.]

Cathy and Steve had done a good job of getting contributions. Eric took over for them, as we all spread out over Old Main lawn and solicited (Eric more than any of us, and especially to the young ladies). Then we took a break and went down to the [College] Diner for some food. [Note: The Diner was the favored Pythonite hang-out after meetings or events. The servers feared us and always stuck us way in the back so we couldn't bother the other patrons. But they failed to understand the power of "Ni!"]

After we left there, I went home with Andy and Beth, and Eric took the bucket and the sign and continued to panhandle... ooops, I mean beg... oops, I mean ask for contributions for the American Cancer Society, to be given in memory of Graham Chapman.