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mishap, writing out careful nots. At the last moment, I take a mild sedative to quiet my nerves. Now I am thoroughly prepared. Nothing can go wrong. Nonetheless, the moment I step on stage, a cold leaden sensation takes me in the stomach and panic makes me tremnble.

I am perfectly convinced that this reasonless fear stems from the memory of that awful moment in the Saturday Afternoon Club. From far away, I hear the echo of unwanted laughter.

Like the piano lessons, we all looked upon attending the church as a chore, but there was no escape. Mother tolerated no excuses. Every Sunday morning, rain or shine, she sent us off to St. John's Presbyterian Church and it would be well over three hours before the last "amen" liberated us. First, there was an hour of Sunday School.  I liked that because it was primarily Bible history. My favorite character was, and is, Ruth. The story of Moses' struggle to lead his people out of Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea fascinated me. Ever since, I have kept the Bible