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Hi, My Name Is Megan...and My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose (So Random)

I had the most random yet interesting encounter with a stranger while I was participating in the MENC All-Eastern Honors Choir in Hartford Connecticut. Two nights of the conference, we were bused to concerts by Barrage and Empire Brass. The first night, on the way back to the hotel, I sat near the front of the bus because there were no seats farther back. In a minute, another, large bass II sat down across the aisle from me and stared at me.

I was rather disconcerted by his focus on me, but you can only imagine how I felt, then, when he leaned across the aisle, extended a hand, and said in a quiet monotone: "Hi, my name is Megan...and my love is like a red, red rose." I merely returned his stare, trying to smile because he looked like he wanted to bite my head off.

Then, all of a sudden, he snapped out of his frightening gaze and asked, "Do you know Hans?"

That's how it began.

Megan (whose real name was Timothy): "Hans...he tells me he lives in a castle under the ocean, and it is completely made of dolphins.

"Every summer, he comes out of the ocean...and he burns down the cities!

"You should have seen him in World War II...He and his rogue army of manatees attacked Germany! It was AMAZING!"

By this time, of course, it was all I could do not to laugh hysterically. The kid next to me had his head between his knees to shield the fact that he was, indeed, laughing uncontrollably.

Megan continued, "His mother is an Amazonian porpoise, but he is an elephant...I don't know how he does it.

"Hans...he tells me he can run up buildings."

I said, "That's impressive."

Megan: "No it is not. You can too. I can't...because I'm fat.

"Hans, he tells me he wants to be an ocean himself when he grows up. I want to be a first-class fishtank...or Australia. What do you want to be?"

I told him that I wanted to be a doctor, and the guy next to me said he wanted to be a musician.

Megan: "Oh, a musician...You know, as a musician, you have to play music every day...I don't want to do that. That's....scary!

"When you're a doctor, will you drive a big car or a little car."

I said, "I probably won't drive a car because I'll probably live in Africa or something."

Megan: "Africa...why Africa?"

Me: "Well, there are a lot of people over there with AIDS."

Megan: "I don't understand...Why would you go to Africa; I mean, I don't even have an aid."

Me: "No, no. It's a virus."

Megan: "A virus...What does a virus do?"

Me: "Well, eventually it kills them."

Megan:

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