Dead Horse. Nonono. (See Valentine's Day thread, if ye care. He proposed to me unawares. Hi, DH! Say, I've got the Time, if you've got the Ale.)

I Relate to RangeRoger's Reminiscence Re the Last shall be First. Certainly my last is the best. Only she's in Manhattan just now & I ain't. Mah.

However. 3rd grade. Betsey Brown. Round, cute, brown hair, lovely smile, sparkling eyes, winning laugh. Veryvery smart; I never had a chance. Took my Home Planetarium to her house to show her the 40-watt heavens projected upon the ceiling above, and with the oul' constellations, just like me, a-climbing up the walls. Now Hawking says (well, his voicesynthesizer does) that the universe's structure may be like the shape of a finite saddle but Ohhhh, that magical night the whole of the cosmos was a cubical bedroom unbounded in 10 dimensions bordering on Infinity, with the only illumination the G.E.-powered Belt of Orion twinkling athwart the closet door. / Diddeneenyaaah Cabbage&Spinach, she got bored with me lecturing (now can ye imagine *that*?? Jeez) after 15 minutes & turned on the lights; and we're talkin' the THIRD GRADE here annyway, whaddaywant? / But I loved her from afar through 6th grade nonetheless. Then my family sent me awa' to a school out of town. All boys. (Hi, Horse!)