THE OL' SWITCHEROO!

Quite awhile ago I told you that I had a couple of good stories that had to do with Dr. Clarence Wyngarten, our campus health center doctor at the Harvard of Evangelical Christianity. I posted the first story; now it’s time for the other. The reason for this is the link on The Occasional Glass of Wine Non-Denominationalist’s blog to the article about Big Lar in the New York Times. Larry Ross played a key role in this story.

For some unknown reason Big Lar and I played Masters of Ceremonies at the annual talent show at Alma Mater. I think Larry actually was asked to do it and since we were good buddies and he didn’t want to do it alone he brought me into it. Basically, we did comedy routines in between acts and then introduced the acts.

We rehearsed and rehearsed our routines. We got other people involved in the skits. We really worked hard on this because it had become a rather big event on campus. You might recall that it was at the talent show each year that we had the Billy Graham Impersonation Contest. I had a pretty decent impression of Dr. Graham myself but I never could have won that one! Some of these guys were really good!

Anyway, I began to feel ill just a day or two before the talent show. I was running a fever and it got worse and worse. On the day of the talent show I decided to go into the health center and see Doc Wyngarten and get a prescription for some antibiotics. That was a huge mistake! He took a look at me and slapped me into one of the beds in one of the little hospital rooms there. He told me I was too sick to go back to the dorm because I would just infect my roommates. I tried to tell him that I never saw my roommates but it didn’t do any good.

There I was, lying in a hospital bed on the afternoon of the talent show. What in the world was I going to do? Big Lar came in to visit me. He asked me if I thought I could still do the show and I told him I could but they wouldn’t let me out! He just laughed and told me to leave everything to him.

Just after dinner time Big Lar came back to visit me again with another guy. I don’t remember who the guy was but I do remember thinking, “Who in the heck is this guy and why is he wearing a long overcoat, fedora, and sunglasses at night?” Then it dawned on me. The little guy was just my size! Big Lar closed the door while I jumped up and put my clothes on. The other guy climbed into the bed and rolled over and faced the wall. I donned the overcoat, fedora, and sunglasses and walked right out the door to Pierce Chapel and my engagement at the talent show!

Everything went off just fine. I don’t know how. I felt worse and worse as the night went on but we made it through. I put the disguise back on and Big Lar and I headed back to the health center. To my horror, we found it was closed and locked for the night. We pounded on the door until a nurse came to tell us they were closed. We insisted that we had to see Moorhead and find out how he was. She told me that “I” was fine because “I” had been sleeping since dinner. Big Lar told her that he had promised to come back and tell “me” how the talent show went without “me.” Somehow he convinced her that he would only stay a minute and she actually let us in where we managed the switch one more time.

I miss Big Lar! He’s so big now I wonder if he would even remember me!

You guys are great! Thanks for stopping by!