We are such fools when we're children. How could I have ever thought that Betty or Veronica or Supergirl (who WAS just a girl) or even Mary Worth's niece could have fallen for me? A shy weird kid with an unnatural fixation on dead Black musicians....a neighbourhood curiosity who talked to himself while playing endless games of rubber-ball toss, against the wall: "Mantle's now at bat...Fielding throws that vicious slider...Mantle strikes out!"

And Barbara McNutt? Ha ha, don't make me laugh! Why would the most popular girl in grade eight want to even be seen with an underachiever who's only clain to fame was that he could draw cartoons ridiculing various teachers?

So why didn't I just try to hang out with Irma Kowalchuck, or Jane Johnson (other nurds like myself) or fantasize about lesser cartoon women? I'm sure there were perfectly nice girls in "The Hulk", or "Slime Woman", or "Domesto-Girl".

Ahhhhhh, the human condition.

Rick