f2fb friend #110 jeff barnes was conceived in a manner quite unusual: his family’s next door neighbor had a laughing buddha statue on the front lawn.
“rub the buddha’s tummy and make a wish,” the neighbor told jeff’s sister.
“i wish. . . for a younger brother,” jeff’s sister said.
and that’s how jeff barnes came to be.
we met for the very first time in person at the chili’s in morgantown, west virginia. he was a fan of my grandfather fritz leiber. he showed me an autographed book by fritz as well as a brief note written to him by fritz in 1982. i nearly cried when i saw fritz’s handwriting. i was put up for adoption when i was three, although i was sent to live with fritz and my grandmother jonquil from when i was a year old until a year and a half. but i didn’t meet fritz again until 1985. i realized that jeff had more meetings with fritz than i did altogether before fritz’s death.
jeff brought with him his girlfriend gita. and they brought me a present of a hedgehog who will travel with me as does my fiance mr. william clark (f2fb #60).
speaking of fiances, jeff was accompanied by his girlfriend gita who pulled from her bag a quilt she had made. just about the size of an ipad screen. look at the detail on this:
out of the quilt, she pulled two korean hujoo dolls–their names are nyssa and kip. kip is a vampire. nyssa is named for the female sidekick to dr. who.
nyssa used to have a facebook account. i don’t think that a doll having a facebook account is all that unusual. i have a cat who is a facebook friend (nipper — f2fb #95). i have a couple of friends who have double accounts (for instance, mc kato and winston chang –f2fb #49 and #4 respectively). and i have a fiance who has been dead for more than a hundred and fifty years (mr. clark, f2fb #60). but facebook had it in for nyssa.
i think because of jeff’s unusual conception he is able to fathom having a stepdaughter named nyssa and a son named kip. the fact that the two dolls travel in gita’s bag, spooning each other in a quilt, seems a bit incestuous. but who am i to judge another’s lifestyle? especially dolls?
and it is a measure of jeff’s charm that i started to think it wthe most normal thing in the world to eat dinner with hujoo dolls and a hedgehog. i have extended an invitation to gita and jeff to join me in chicago when next they travel. i know southwest airlines says your bags travel free, i sure hope the same thing is true with kip and nyssa!
tomorrow: i end up meeting the future miss america and i have a facebook problem that threatens to derail the whole project! i need help!
arlynnpresser 
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