In South Carolina ...

Last week, Mark paged me and asked me if I remembered the funny situation in South Carolina -- there were few, I asked him to elaborate. He said, "The cashier where we got the gas! And Erin is laughing at this right now." I burst laughing out loud. I remembered.

At the time, Mark paged me -- he was in Albuquerque with Erin, another great friend of mine. I was in Philadelphia when Mark reminded me of the "gas attendant" incident.

Two years ago, few months before I left for New York, it was Gallaudet's spring break -- I was working at an agency, Mark pleaded me to go with him to Atlanta and maybe to Myrtle Beach? I could not but eventually, Mark convinced me to go. I managed to get my boss to believe me that a relative of mine died in Atlanta. So off to Atlanta.

It was fun. Lots of drama in Durham and Atlanta. Then on the way to Myrtle Beach -- we stopped for gas in South Carolina near Augusta, Georgia. At that time, the papers were talking about Bush's ultimatum for Saddam Hussein, and that Congress approved Bush to use the Armed Forces to attack Iraq. The deadline passed, but nobody knew when Bush will order to strike. It was very tense moment for the world, I guess.

Mark and I stared at the white trash girl who worked as a cashier in a convenience store while we filled the rental car with gas, Mark asked me to ask her what she thinks of the whole Iraqi situation. I wrote on a napkin and hesitated to give it to her. Mark took it from me and passed it to her. She reads it carefully. Then stared at me, then Mark. Then wrote down.

We were expecting to read what she thinks of the situation -- but this was not what we expected.

"We must support Bush's decisions. He is our President."

Mark burst out laughing. I shot back, "Do you have a brain of your own?" Then we left the store.

All the way to Myrtle Beach, Mark and I would chat about things then added, "We must support Bush's decision. He is our President." We'd use her comments everywhere we talked, food, ocean, hotel, traffic -- we'd say "We must support ..."

Even at a restaurant, the waitress would be perplexed when Mark said, "We must support Bush's decision. He is our President!!!" in ASL to the waitress. I'd try to suppress my giggles.

That's how crazy we were during the break.

R-