Here's one:

It was a new show, an aerial act, and one of the stage managers found out I was an engineer.  Asked me to check out "the lashings", the moorings as it were, that held two young scantily clad ladies onto platforms suspended by cables 100 feet in the air, higher than Epcott .  Well averting my eyes when possible I did notice that the they were not properly rigged, especially if the winds were strong.  With some disclaimer I pointed with authority at the anchor points and said, "Those should be more properly secured!".  This meant a trip to the hardware store for them, and great seats for the me and the Mrs..

The show opens uneventfully, Mickey Mouse meets Buckminster Fuller on a Dumbo Drop sized Golf Ball silhouetted by  a clear black night.  We didn't mind the show, quite a gala -  if you were into that sort of thing.

The topper, a term coined by Harold Lloyd, was an - excuse the term - "pull out shot" reminescent of a bad Rod Stewart video, I braced myself for that one.  The director probably thought an aerial cam  sliding out from between the legs of the center showgirl was some Rennaaisance Fresco, but for me it was just bad taste.  I turned around only to see a familar looking face with sandpuke eyes in the back row of the balcony staring at me.

This tallish thin fellow, perhaps black, at least mulatto, looked at me like he knew me, and I was well enough known that he could have.  I nodded and thought about my genealogy.  I wondered if I had black people in my family tree.  I looked back at him again, not trying to be too obvious and his eyes met mine again.  His face morphed into Abe Lincoln where the one side was covered with a long thick beard, only the hairs were Afro.  I shook this wierd and temporary thought aside.  This fellow acted like he wanted to talk to me.

The events of the show slipped from my mind as he got out of his seat and came down three rows to mine.  We were sitting towards the front of a balcony with few rows so I excused myself and made my way to the aisle to meet him, not wanting to embarass myself or disturb the other attendees.  I should have made eye contact with my wife to let her know what I was doing, but I didn't.

I kept thinking I knew this face, but I couldn't remember from where.  I'm a little embarassed about that, what with age and stress and all, not all facts come instantly to the fore as they did when I was younger.

He led me down the aisle, towards the back of the staged seats, and outside of the stadium like facility.  He led me by saying, "I have something to show you".  I could tell by his tone that he did, that it was important.  His greeting, his rising to meet me and his stride all said he knew me, why shouldn't I go along?  I knew him from somewhere.

We got to the back of the stadium area down on the street, back into the real world and the lights of the show were but a glare in the sky.  He walked me to his car and pulled out two pictures.  They were pictures of my wife and I but a few days before, taken on the beach, playing around in the sand in jeans with the cuffs rolled up and T-shirts like we were kids, but of course our kids weren't there since it this particular vacation...

A 4th of July of thoughts rushed through my head, but I didn't let him know that.  I am calm under fire, this is my trademark.  I asked him, "Why are you showing me these", avoiding the stress of the question I wanted to ask, let the viewer understand.

As we walked back towards the stadium slowly he looked out in front of himself and said, "Because you have money"...