MOM'S THREE WISHES SAGA 6:

ANECDOTES

1. My friend, Steve Dykstra, who won the first prize, almost lost it! He was getting ready to go to Connecticut for Christmas, when the phone rang telling him he had won the trip for two to Hawaii. "Sure I have," he said sarcastically. When asked who he planned to take with him, he replied, "My dog" and hung up! On the way to the train station, he suddenly remembered that I had asked him if I could use his name in the contest – though dimly, as I had asked him at his annual Winter Solstice Party, when he was already three sheets to the wind. At Union Station, he called the magazine and said, "I understand that you just had the contest drawing."

"You must be Steve Dykstra, because he's the only one we've called," they answered. He had to confess. I wouldn't believe he waited two weeks though to tell me. I have given up on first prize.

2. For Jack's prize money, I put cash in a card underneath the Christmas tree. Since He knew nothing about the contest, he was so shocked and thrilled that he gave me a hug and a kiss, which surprised everyone with his delightful spontaneity.

3. My two poorest friends won the contest: Jack is an unemployed actor and Steve was on unemployment for four months. So, no taxes were due!

 ---Luck up on luck!

4. One of the contest pictures was of a hand, holding a cigar. I was virtually sure it was the hand from Winston Churchill's statue in front of the British Embassy. But in driving by to verify, someone had placed a branch of holly in his hand, hiding the cigar

 ---an honorarium or an obfuscation?

(I produced the manuscript on a "Mag-Reader" machine—pre PC.

Assembly of the book was quite an ordeal—requiring the assistance of Liza!)