imkittymyers at hotmail dot com
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
SNAP OUT OF IT, BEN!
I have adored Ben Stein ever since I began reading his Ben Stein's Diary in The American Spectator back in early 90s. I wrote him a letter and he called me! I screened my calls back then (telemarketers) and the answering machine kicked in. “Hello, this is Ben Stein.” As though I wouldn’t recognize his voice anywhere. I wore that little tape recording out. I think what impressed me most of all was his utter devotion to his son, Mr. Tommy Perfect. So it pained me terribly to read his latest missive on Mr. Tommy Perfect, who now drives and has his own car. It sounds as though Ben is trying to be his son’s pal instead of his father. As to that policeman ... He did the Steins no favor at all, least of all Tommy. Read the whole thing.
Scared at 60
You know how crazy I am, so the following little drama will probably come as no surprise to you. Tommy yelled at me that he wanted to race along Olympic Boulevard west of Barrington, where the road was wide and deserted. I said it was fine, and we peeled out. I won by the next block. I should say, to be accurate, that Tommy's car did not make a peeling noise because it has four-wheel drive. Mine made a peeling noise. My wife was telling me I was insane.
Tommy wanted to race again. We did. Again, I peeled, and he didn’t. This time he got way ahead of me. Alas, moments later a police cruiser appeared behind him with its lights flashing. The car pulled Tommy over and I followed them. But the police, staring at me intently, motioned to me to stay in my car. They then went over to Tommy. Then they came to me. "We're just giving him a warning, because we know who you are and we like you," said a policeman. "But you should talk to your son. He refuses to admit he did anything wrong."