The Lovely Cookie and I just got back from a two week vacation in Hawaii. While we were away, my mom house and pet-sat. I asked her to write a few short snippets about her visit to the big city. The first one deals with her trip to the Bob and Barbara’s Drag Show.

Back in May when my son Johnny asked me to pet and housesit for two weeks I jumped at the chance. You have to understand where I was coming from, literally and figuratively. Go to the most rural and isolated part of Virginia, turn down a long dirt road into a farm, go through a small forest, and there you will find our house. Come in and go to every window. Climb onto the roof. You will not see a person, a house, or a car. The only sound you will hear is frogs croaking.

I craved the fun and challenges of being in the city, and my time spent in South Philly with three cats and a dog more than met my lofty expectations.

The first couple of days went by rather uneventfully, other than locking myself out of the house a couple of times. The first time I locked myself out I tried to alert a police officer of my plight:  a locked out out-of-towner with no keys and no phone and just a bag of dog poop, and he really didn’t know what to tell me. (Johnny’s neighbor had a key and let me in a little bit later).

Then one of Johnny’s friends (Chet Bumstead) invited me to a drag show. I called Johnny to see if Chet was kidding. He wasn’t. Then I found out that the show started at 11:30 p.m. I haven’t been to a party that started at 11:30 p.m. since college! I tried to renege, but Chet wouldn’t hear of it.

If you have not been to Bob and Barbara’s on a Thursday night it’s high time you went. The crowd was enthusiastic and fun. Between the lip synchers on stage, people from the audience would go up on stage and dance in the spotlight.

I had edged my way to the front of the crowd so that I could fully experience the night life of the city. Suddenly, the hostess who was emceeing the show approached me and said, “I’ve been watching you all evening.” She took my hand and beckoned me with the other hand to the dance floor. “No I really can’t,” I said. “We’re all family here,” she responded. And the next thing I know we were dancing together in the spotlight before hundreds of adoring fans!