Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 20:18:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: LCabrillo 
Subject: [VP] OT!  OT!  OT!  A Way Belated "Hello"


Before you you see the same auditorium and the same heavy velvet 
curtain from which Marcia emerged so artistically a couple of 
weeks ago. (Hi, Marcia, hope you don't mind me borrowing your 
stage. It's just so...well-crafted!)  From behind the curtain are 
heard urgent whisperings.

"But I don't wanna!"

"Shut up and get out there, McGee," a flamingo-like voice 
commands.  "Remember, I know where you live!"

More mumbling, unhappy but resigned. Shifting protrusions appear 
along the curtain as the hapless victim searches for the opening. 
With the assistance of a hearty shove, she emerges and reaches 
for the microphone, refusing to meet the audience's eye. Being 
taller than Marcia, she doesn't bump her head, but is unable to 
get the microphone to disattach from the stand. Muttering to 
herself, she steps up to the mike, and in the flat, tense voice 
of a kidnap victim reading the ransom note at gunpoint, says,  
"Hi, my name is Linda. I've been on the list awhile, but Flamingo 
said that since I've been gone for a few weeks and we've picked 
up some new members, I should introduce myself."

The psychic members of the audience pick up the subliminal P.S.: 
"Besides, I think she found out that I never introduced myself 
the first go-around..."

"Um...I discovered Starsky & Hutch fandom in 1984 and was 
welcomed in by Lucy Cribb, who sent me home after a visit with 
*all* her SH zines in a large laundry basket."  The memory cheers 
the victim...er...speaker, and her voice grows stronger, while 
she actually establishes eye contact with some friends in the 
audience. "I felt like I'd fallen into Paradise, with all that 
fabulous reading material!  I'd been told of the slash concept, 
and wasn't sure how I'd feel about it. No homophobia, but I was 
afraid it might somehow diminish my respect for the characters. I 
knew that some of the zines she'd loaned me were slash but didn't 
know which. Read several gens happily and then picked up "Who You 
Know..."  The first slash story I read was 'The Last Charade,' by 
Ro, and the rest is history."

More self-consciousness. "Um...I do a little writing, and with 
the help of some terrific friends, have managed to put out an S/H 
zine a year for several years."  Looking back towards the 
curtain. "Is that enough?"  With a gulp of relief, the speaker 
mumbles, "Thank you," and escapes gracelessly back behind the 
curtain.

"There," Flamingo trills, happy now that she's had her way. "That 
wasn't so bad, was it?"

Linda
