Thanks for all your hard work Karen! Can't wait to read it in its entirety. Jodi-

Wasn't she the winner of "America's Top Dog?" When Gomer said that yes she was, Barnaby mentioned that he is a scout for "America's Got Talent" and he would love to have Margie on next year's show. Well, Gomer got so excited, he was stuttering and stammering and grabbed Barnaby's hand and shook till it almost fell off. Barnaby gave Gomer his card and said that he would get in touch with him for an audition. Gomer grabbed Margie and they jumped in "My Mother the Car" and he was telling Margie about all the the things they were going to do if they won. In the meantime he had to work on some new tricks for the show.

so they all decided to head over to "Mister Roger's Neighborhood", if anyone could restore calmness it would surely be him. He called his cousin "Captain Kangaroo" to help entertain the crowd, but "The barefoot Contessa" stepped on a rusty nail and had to be taken to...

I once lost a good friend because I told her I was in a panic that she was about to marry a guy who had "swept her off her feet", promised her the moon, &, as I found out later, already driven wedges between her & me...he'd done this before & knew exactly how to isolate a woman & control her. He was a detective for a drug manufacturer; he never said how he got started in that field, but I later wondered if he had been in law enforcement & had been forced to leave. I tend not to see red flags; if *I* can see the guy is bad news, he's probably a serial killer or some such. She was angry, she was defensive, she cut me off. They married, he got her to quit her job so he could "take care of" her, leaving her completely dependent on him. He got her to trade in her economical car on a big sedan that she "deserved". only thing, since she wasn't working, she couldn't get a loan, so new car was in his name. She knew he'd been married twice, since there were a couple of kids he had to explain; after the marriage, she learned that he'd been married 5 times. One of the women had died young, of a heart attack if I remember correctly. She came to me once looking for a safe place to stay...& missed him so much that she called him to come get her. I came home to find him *in my house*. He smirked at me. I stormed into the house & told her he wasn't to walk through that door again, & she drew herself up to her full 5'2" & frostily told me that that was fine. She carried each of her belongings outside, & he carried them to his car. It was the last straw. I'll do anything for anybody, but this put my life in danger, & I never spoke to her again. I did see her at the grocery store one evening, with him hovering very close to her; she was as thin as a rail, she had shadows under her eyes, & she looked very fragile. Years later, I googled her & found her obituary. No cause of death was listed. She had been in her late 50's. I apologize for the long story, but the moral, if there is one, is this: When a bad man worms his way into a woman's confidence, there's nothing you can say or do that will convince her; he's already brainwashed her, already taken control, & time & experience are the only things that will convince her that he's a predator or abuser. If I had it to do again, I think I'd get *a man* to talk to her about the danger signs; if I had it to do again, I'd love her & go to her wedding & make sure she knew that I was there for her. but, sadly, I'd send her to a shelter to protect myself.