here was nothing to say, really, and anyway two old ladies were almost immediately seated beside us. A waiter came over to our table and announced: "Your ticket gets you two drinks. What will you have?" The guy next to me murmured something inaudible. I ordered Budweisers. The two older ladies ordered Bloody Marys.

Minutes later, the waiter came back and plunked down two plastic buckets filled with ice and Buds. The ladies got four Bloody Marys put in front of them. The really dressed and coiffed one took a sip and rolled her eyes. "My God! These are strong!" she said.

The less glam, more practical and homey one sipped hers and said "They usually water down the drinks at the casinos. At this rate, I'll be drunk by the time the show begins." " wouldn't want it any other way," I said, and that got us talking. The two ladies were from North Carolina, staying in Vegas for ten days. We talked about the beaches in North Carolina.

Fresh from the experience of looking at cinema gods and goddesses in their prime, I looked at these two older women and imagined their twenty-thirty-year-old selves. They seemed to get a glimmer of what I was thinking. You know, I thought, I'll bet they weren't so much different back then.

Meanwhile, this frowsy, crazy-eyed looking woman was walking around saying "Programs, 's programs." Whenever anyone stopped to buy one, the frowsy lady suddenly got very animated and declared: "After the show, will personally autograph it for yew. And yew can also get your picture taken with Debbie. Either with your own camera, or we'll have a camera set up and you can have a picture developed right away, pick it up in the gift shop for ten dollars."

S