Thanks M.Ted. What you describe is basically how Sheila Stewart performs. The story is just an aside inserted into a conversation. I'm not sure that it is particularly easy to do - it's just that she makes it look easy. Certainly something to strive for. Of course we have largely lost the more informal settings that storytellers once had. Nowadays we have an MC who is anxiously watching the clock to check that we performers do not exceed our allotted time-slot. It's all a bit rigid.